Renovating & Remodeling Skills & How Tos

The kitchen in John and Kaija’s Brooklyn co-op began life as a narrow galley kitchen, but a previous owner had the smart idea to tear down the separating wall to half-height, and top the remaining wall with a countertop. This made the kitchen a lot more spacious, but the new countertop, inconveniently located at bar height, wasn’t particularly useful for prep work, and storage was still an issue.

Few things in decor are more polarizing than the retro pink bathroom. Some people hate them with a passion, and some people really, really love them. Unfortunately, when Chase and Lauren bought their more than 50-year-old house in Austin, they didn’t have a choice. Lurking behind all that pink tile was something even more unappealing: extensive water and termite damage. The pink bathroom had to go.

Nathan Rittgarn doesn’t list the square footage in his professional project submission of this kitchen, located in a pre-war Brooklyn Heights one-bedroom apartment. But you can see from the before photos above, it’s not particularly expansive. Coupled with the fact that the apartment’s “entryway” dumps you right in front of this small space, and it’s clear this room needed an update not just for aesthetics, but for function, too.

Finding your dream apartment in New York can be hard. So Austin found the next best thing: a less than dreamy apartment that could be turned into his dream home. All it needed was an improved floor plan and a little tlc. The apartment, which hadn’t seen a renovation since the 70s, had beautiful tall ceilings, but was broken up into a series of awkwardly cramped small rooms. A new floor plan — and a few new finishes — was the key to realizing the apartment’s potential.

Unless you’re incredibly wealthy, finding a dream home in New York City can be a real challenge. That’s the position Holly and Christian found themselves in when they started house hunting: the apartments they could afford fell significantly short of dreamy, but they didn’t want to leave Greenwich Village, a neighborhood where they had lived for many years. So they found the next best thing to a dream home: a fixer-upper that, with a little work, could become their dream home.

Faced with an awkwardly shaped ceiling, Catherine and Bryan had to get creative and totally rethink the space of this bathroom. From Catherine: This bathroom was the only room in the house that needed some {major} love. It was the only bathroom on the second floor, and awkward was an understatement. Our biggest priorities when renovating the space were: 1. Ditch the tub and replace it with a shower that’s more comfortable to use (and prettier, of course!).

Twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott—also known as HGTV’s Property Brothers to anyone with a cable subscription—make a great team. As a realtor and a licensed contractor, respectively, they’ve been buying and flipping houses on and off camera for more than a decade. But their latest project, “Brother vs.

We moved into our house in summer 2011. The house, built in 1944, was in good shape, in a great neighborhood, and priced very competitively. However, aesthetically it was a bit lacking. The previous owners had owned the home for 50+ years, and the most recent updates to the kitchen and main living area had been made in 1974.

Almost a year ago, my husband and I moved back to our hometown of Long Beach, CA. We found a gorgeous two bedroom 1930s apartment in our favorite neighborhood. Our landlords updated the space with grey floors and fresh paint. It was almost perfect . . . except for the terribly outdated entryway. It’s the only carpeted, unpainted space in the entire home, and the first thing you see when you arrive.

This ‘before’ kitchen wasn’t nearly as dire as some we’ve featured — it was just, well, awkward. A previous renovation left the kitchen floor covered in a dreary ceramic tile, with an awkward curb that guests continually tripped over.

This is the story of a kitchen that was once so small that it could barely be photographed. Having bought a place of her very own in Manhattan, Evelyn was living the dream, but her kitchen left a little something to be desired. Besides being (a bit) on the small side, it also featured a leaky dishwasher, cracked floors, and barely-there workspaces. After living in the apartment for a few years, she knew it was time for a change.

This week Camille is sharing her real life rental challenge and how she transformed her dingy carpeted entryway stairs (with her landlord’s permission!) into something more welcoming, yet still temporary. If you want to see the first post, check out the before photos here. My husband and I decided to DIY this project ourselves, and broke it down into manageable steps, each of which could be completed in a weekend.

This week Camille is sharing her real life rental challenge and how she transformed her dingy carpeted entryway stairs (with her landlord’s permission!) into something more welcoming, yet still temporary. If you want to start by hearing all the plans, check out the before photos here. Updating an old home is filled with challenges.

When you’re lucky enough to live in a home with beautiful historic architectural features, you probably want to highlight those features with your decor. Paint can work, sure, but maybe not in this icky green color? That’s what Danny and Lyndsay faced when they moved into this Portland, Maine rental. So they used the power of paint to cover up the unpleasant green, refresh the space, brighten the home and turn the focus on one charming architectural feature in particular.

When is a staircase more than just a staircase? When standout details like these take stairs from just a convenient way to move from one floor to another and into the realm of functional sculpture. Whether there’s a remodel in your future or you’re just an architectural junkie, you’ll find plenty to love about these beautiful staircases. Above: A particularly striking staircase in a Seattle home from Archinet.

Range hoods may not be the most glamorous kitchen appliance to shop for, but they’re definitely a must-have to avoid lingering odors and keep your kitchen air as fresh as possible. Here’s a shopping guide to get you started when looking for a range hood. Like all the other appliances in your kitchen, there are a few factors to consider when buying a range hood.

Sarah Kahl’s house in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago has four bedrooms on two finished floors. But she wants to get more out of the wide-open semi-finished basement. There’s already plumbing for a powder room, but Sarah wants a full bath down there. Her budget is $15,000 for everything. In this series, expert Alex Bandon answers your specific renovation questions.

When Holly and Christian bought their two-bedroom, two-bathroom co-op in a 1920s building in New York’s Greenwich Village, they knew it would need a little work. The apartment’s kitchen wasn’t in great shape (you can read all about its transformation here), so, while renovating the kitchen, they decided to refresh one of the apartment’s aging bathrooms as well.

April turned this beige, catch-all “pool house” space into such a crisp and gorgeous home office it is almost unrecognizable! From April: Hi all! I’m April from Uncookie Cutter. A while back we moved halfway across the country into this crazy house in which every room needs a makeover. One of the reasons we bought this house is that we knew this junky “pool house” would make a great office for my husband, who does the majority of his work from home.

Only a few months after buying our first home and moving into this 1927 fixer-upper, I found out that I was expecting my second child. We knew it was going to be a big project, but we didn’t realize just how urgent it would be for us to transform this darling little house into a home for two little ones. So almost immediately, we shifted gears and got to work on a shared nursery and toddler room for our now 2.5 year old son, Adam, and 3.5 month old daughter, Edie.

While Joanna Harrison has done a stellar job decorating her family’s small Silver Lake cottage, she’s lucky the preservation-savvy developers at bettershelter got their hands on the decaying structure before their demolition-hungry competitors. The company restored the historic home before renting it to the Harrison trio, making Joanna’s renovation process more about adding functional style and less about, um, not dying.

Want to create a bit of a separation between the rooms in your house, but still let light flow through? Want to add architectural interest to a boring or unremarkable space? French doors are good for that. Of course, you can use them at the boundary between your house and the outdoors, too, but french doors are especially nice when used as a interior transition between rooms.

Betsy and Manny bought this 1920s “Kit House” in Savannah after outgrowing their 400 square foot studio apartment in Brooklyn. They remodeled the whole home (while respecting the home’s architectural charm), but the kitchen’s outdated and dilapidated vibes had to go. They ripped the cabinets out, stripping the the kitchen down to the studs. The result is a gorgeous space that fits their personalities and the architecture of the home!

Hissan and Sophia found their dream home in Brooklyn, but the kitchen was less than ideal. Besides the out of date faux-cherrywood finish, the cabinetry also seemed squatty and inappropriate in the space, adapted to a room with much lower ceilings. In their quest to renovate the kitchen and make it more appropriate for the space, they also wanted to rework a long but awkward hallway, a necessary but not particularly attractive part of the unit’s floorplan.

House hunting in New York often involves a few compromises, and for Brandi that compromise was buying an apartment with a kitchen in need of a serious overhaul. The backsplash tiles were cracked and yellowing, the wall oven didn’t work, and the hinges had so many layers of paint on them that the cabinets wouldn’t close. And to top it all off, everything was painted a particularly unappealing shade of olive green.

These closet makeovers look expensive and difficult to pull off, but are actually extremely easy. In addition to being gorgeous, most are also affordable, and super renter-friendly. Here are nine ways to get your storage style in line with the rest of your decor…. Above, this closet is a major improvement, both inside and out. Room for Tuesday both did a massive purge and re-organization effort, and then finished the space off with newly framed doors and agate pulls for added style.

One of the hardest parts about room makeovers is envisioning what it all might look like. Before you spring for all the materials, how can you be sure it will look great when it’s finished? When working on Tara’s rental kitchen, we tried out some different design options on Photoshop, playing around with various design options. Mind you, these aren’t digital masterpieces. But they do help you see how different paint colors look, or what pattern would do to the floor.

When Maxine of We Love Home moved into her home she inherited a less than ideal kitchen. Not only was it pretty blah aesthetics wise, it was basically falling apart. Not one to be deterred, she saw this as a golden opportunity to design her dream kitchen. From Maxine: In my old flat, I inherited an almost-new kitchen so could never justify changing it. I hated it though. As it is had been designed by for someone else, by someone else – it never suited my needs.

We love the idea of keeping the tile in a vintage bathroom, but unfortunately, sometimes that’s just not possible. The lavender tile in the bathroom of Laura and Matthew’s Brooklyn co-op was cracking in several places and needed to be replaced, and storage in the small, cramped room was almost non-existent. They envisioned a new bathroom that would be clean, modern and bright — while still maintaining a bit of the quirky character of the original.

Sam hated her kitchen, but she and her husband couldn’t afford to make real changes to it. Being on a budget meant they had to prioritize and focus on the floor — her least favorite part of the room. From Sam: I really really hated our kitchen, but we basically couldn’t afford to make real changes to it because each change begets another change and the whole thing really needs more work than were personally willing/able to put into this house and at this time.

Wood paneling and tile and fluorescent lights, oh my! Heather’s basement was lacking a cozy charm and full of standard issue basement problems (we’re talking about you, mold) so she flexed some serious DIY muscle and turned the space into a warm, family friendly hang out. From Heather: This basement remodel was a heavy lift. We started out with a linoleum and wood paneled jungle, complete with mold, mice, mildew, and hardly a beam of natural light as far as the eye could see.

Some rooms are blessed with really great bones. Things like original wood cabinets, brass hardware, and hexagonal tiles to name a few. But even when these features are in great shape, it can be hard to incorporate them into a modern remodel — especially when your contractor, your mother, and your neighbor are all telling you to gut the space. So how do you decide what to keep and what to toss? Well, if you’re like me, you default to saving every original feature you lay eyes on.

Purchasing an apartment in New York is no small feat (financially or otherwise). Rima knew she wanted to renovate as soon as she bought her Brooklyn co-op, but was a bit hesitant about pulling the trigger. After four years of dreaming of a new kitchen, she finally worked up the guts (and the money!) to make a big change. Her previous kitchen had a problem common to a lot of NYC kitchens: lack of space.

It took Rima five years of living in her Brooklyn apartment to finally embark on the renovation of her cramped kitchen — but when she did, this first-time remodeler decided to really take the plunge and upgrade her bathroom, too. A complete overhaul transformed this dated space, unfortunately lacking in storage, into a sleek, streamlined small bathroom with a classic look that’s sure to please for years to come. In the newly rehauled bathroom, subway tile covers the walls.

Chokers, Tommy Hilfiger, Wynona Rider. The ’90s may be back but Kirsten really wanted them to get out – and stay out – of her kitchen. With a little help from her husband, she was able to create a classically cool galley kitchen that won’t be going out of style anytime soon. From Kirsten: When we first looked at this home to buy, I remember thinking that the biggest transformation needed to be the kitchen. It was dark, too enclosed and feeling very 1990s.

Erin and Tobin had been living with a bathroom that was fairly functional, but cramped — and in desperate need of a modern update. The two creatives decided to tackle the project themselves, but as anyone who has ever taken on a remodel knows, projects can take longer than expected. This “weekend endeavor” turned into a six-week transformation, but the result was well worth the wait!

Tara Bellucci, our News & Culture Editor, just moved into a new apartment in Boston’s South End this fall. The space definitely needed updating but, since Tara’s renting, a full on, rip-it-all-out reno just isn’t in the cards. She got permission from her landlord to make a few changes — simple inexpensive updates to make it more livable and inviting. And yes, a whole lot less ugly.

New co-op owner Kate Moskowitz recently acquired a New York rarity: an apartment with stairs. Her triplex space has great bones but needs an update to become the simple and contemporary space she wants. Kate has $12,000 to bring the space — particularly the kitchen — up to grade. In this series, expert Alex Bandon answers your specific renovation questions.

This dark half-bath off the kitchen of Sarah & Keith’s home needed a major refresh. It had a good layout in place, but the brown walls made it feel much smaller than its actual size. Sarah and Keith kept the existing configuration and plumbing, and focused on new fixtures and and fresh design plan to give it a brand new look. By brightening up the walls, and sticking with a classic color palette, the bathroom now feels much more spacious.

Sarah and Keith knew it was about time to leave their cramped ’90s kitchen behind. While functional, the space was outdated and closed off. They wanted a space that flowed seamlessly with the rest of the vibrant, contemporary house. They opened up the floor plan, and chose design elements like a neutral wall color and tile, white cabinets and light marble countertops.

Sophia’s 400-square-foot apartment on New York’s Upper West Side was the perfect size for one person. After her husband Leon moved in, the apartment seemed a bit cozy, but they made it work. Then came baby. Three people (and all that baby stuff) in 400 square feet was just too much, so they started looking for a place to buy. They looked, and looked, and looked, but none of the two-bedrooms in their price range were even remotely livable.

In the 50s, General Electric made the fabulous Wonder Kitchen—an entire wall unit with all the appliances built right in. The units came in amazing colors: Canary Yellow, Turquoise Green, Petal Pink, Cadet Blue and Woodbine Brown, all under one stainless steel counter surface. Letitia acquired one of these units, along with other matching cabinets, which were salvaged from another kitchen, and she renovated her dark and gloomy kitchen around this gleaming, wondrous wall unit.

Sarah and Keith had just begun a transformation on the basement space in their house prior to this “before” photo being taken. While previously a functional space, they wanted a basement the whole family could really enjoy together. They wanted a space that was as inspiring to be in as it was lovely to look at. IKEA shelving and some new chalkboard walls were the first step, but something was going to have to be done with the dingy wall-to-wall carpeting.

This “office” space that was shared by Sarah and Keith in their dark, uninspiring basement in their New England Craftsman Colonial didn’t seem to have a clear design or purpose — or you know, much style. But they lightened, brightened and turned this space around! When they removed the carpet and added new hardwoods, a neutral area rug and drapes, the space felt more open and each side had a clear purpose.

I love both blue and black kitchens and all their loveliness and drama, but after seeing 50 million of them over the past couple of years, I start itching for something new to make my eyes happy. So it’s refreshing to see another shade emerge lately as contender for the role of hottest kitchen color. We’re calling it “bruised” green —anything from olive to army to deep forest.

On a peaceful, sidewalk-free street, lined with trees and near a lake, is Matt and Amanda’s 1947 bungalow in the San Rafael hills of Pasadena. It’s not hard to see what attracted the couple to this house, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t need a lot of work. The house had a lot of potential (and light), but not a lot of personality. Matt and Amanda wanted to create a rich, unique Craftsman feel.

With low ceilings, white walls and track lighting, Matt and Amanda’s post-war den in their California Craftsman didn’t exactly inspire the soul. As two people working in a hectic and creative field (they’re both actors), they wanted to add loads of personality to their small den, while also creating a retreat. In short, they wanted to banish the boring. Their plan? Transform the blank canvas above into a room with English pub vibes.

When Matt and Amanda first looked at this house, they were able to instantly imagine fixing up all of the rooms — except for the kitchen. It was a dark, dated galley kitchen with a wall smack dab in the middle. Matt writes: “We went back to look at it one last time and I just sat there trying to visualize what the solution could be. When I realized it could be done, I did my best to explain the mess in my head to Amanda and we went for it!

Matt and Amanda knew they wanted to strip this entire bathroom down and create something new that was light and airy — that felt good to be in. As Matt writes: “The two rooms of the house that we had done by contractors were the kitchen and the bathroom. I was too afraid to deal with that much tile and plumbing. We had them gut everything. …We wanted a classic subway or old Italian restaurant vibe in here for some reason.

At first glance, this space above the bathroom in Brett’s apartment looked like an unfortunate eye sore. But Brett saw this area as more than wasted space. He had a vision, and very specific goals for the small space. And his DIY solution is both attractive and functional. Using 1/2 inch PVC piping from Home Depot and some standard wooden slats, Brett transformed this otherwise useless space into his bedroom!

When Tim Sheehan bought an 1860s Greek Revival home that had been abandoned for six years, the kitchen was crammed into a small room at the end of a hallway. The house was used as a rectory for 80 years, so a full kitchen wasn’t necessary when the home was first constructed. So Tim gutted the back hallway, knocked down a wall that once enclosed the tiny, impractical kitchen and removed sheet rock and a drop ceiling to reveal wood walls painted white.

When Tim purchased his house in 2010, it had been abandoned since 2004, a year before Hurricane Katrina. The windows were left open and the walls were covered with mold. The property was what Tim describes as “marginally livable,” and didn’t even meet the requirements for financing. He would have to pay out of pocket to get a hot water heater installed, the electricity turned on, and have the mold re-mediated in order to secure a mortgage.

Chances are good that you’ve seen rubber flooring in a school, or a commercial building, or at your gym, but we’re here to make the case for why you should consider it as a choice for your home, too. We’ve rounded up plenty of inspiring photos of rubber floors in the home, along with seven things you might not have known about this incredibly durable, hardwearing material. 5. It doesn’t have to have that bumpy texture.

For years, well-intentioned renovators have been painting over wood trim of all kinds. White trim was good, or ever colored trim or even black. But wood trim, of the kind found in so many beautiful old houses, was deemed heavy, old-fashioned. Well, I’m happy to report that the pendulum seems to be swinging back in the other direction. So before you paint over that woodwork, take a look at these beautiful examples of wood trim done right.

When Chris and Amber renovated their Brooklyn apartment, transforming their kitchen and adding an extra bedroom for their son, they hadn’t originally planned on redoing their bathroom, too. Then halfway through the remodeling process, they realized that they never, ever wanted to do another remodel — and that if they were going to re-do the bathroom, it was now or never. The original bathroom was, in Chris’ words, “tired and shabby.

Chris and Amber had a problem common to a lot of New York City homeowners: a family that kept growing, and an apartment that stubbornly remained the same size. After the birth of their first son they decided to look for a two-bedroom apartment, but were unable to find anything acceptable in their price range. When the impending arrival of a second baby really raised the stakes, they decided that maybe the solution was to renovate the apartment they already had.

First of all, shout out to Tanya’s mom for choosing kitchen elements way back in the ’80s that wouldn’t look totally insane to our modern eyes. As smart as her choices were, time waits for no man and since the kitchen was showing its age, Tanya figured she would jump in and help her mom update her space.

April’s guest bathroom wasn’t making a great impression, so she started again from down-to-the-studs scratch. With some seriously impressive DIY skills the final product is a serene and welcoming space. From April: Our hall bath is the bathroom in the house that all of our guests use, whether they be overnight or just dinner guests. The room needed a major upgrade. We completely gutted the space to start with – down to the studs and slab.

After fifteen years of living in their one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, Deniz and Ramon had plenty of ideas for upgrades they could make to the place. So when they finally embarked on their long dreamed-of renovation, the result was some very dramatic changes indeed. Previously, the apartment, while quite spacious at 1,000 square feet, was broken up into small, choppy spaces. The kitchen, separated from the living and dining areas, had no natural light at all.

You may remember Nisha and Tim Stevens’ house in South East London. Having spent most of their budget buying the house, Nisha and Tim had to be creative when it came to decorating. Luckily the couple is pretty handy and they saved a lot of money by renovating most of their old kitchen themselves. Nisha’s Advice: Paint an ugly kitchen worktop with an oil based blackboard paint. Ours was a not-very-nice wood-look laminate which we sanded back and then painted.

Kitchens are the heart of the home, and islands provide kitchens with their heart: a place to gather, additional seating, more counter space, extra storage, and so much more. This collection of islands range from the ubiquitous IKEA STENSORP to DIY pipe and scrapwood versions to luxurious custom models with marble tops and wine fridges — but they all are essential to the function and life of their kitchens. Explore ideas to find an island that speaks to you: Do you have a kitchen island?

Homebuying in New York is one of those things that doesn’t always turn out like you planned. Jamie and Chad had their hearts set on buying a brownstone in Brooklyn, but when it turned out that everyone else had their hearts set on this as well, they wound up with an apartment in Ridgewood, Queens with plenty of space, its own backyard, and a bathroom that was well, interesting.

Apartment Therapy just wrapped up a makeover of a non-profit café called First Slice in Chicago, giving it its first facelift since opening in 2009. We are so happy that that we were able to give a little design boost to such a hardworking organization – they run the café to help support their outreach programs which feed 600 homeless and hungry Chicagoans each week.