Renovating & Remodeling Skills & How Tos

Risa’s bathroom update is such an impressive mix of super sensible (shout out to dark grout!) and totally gorgeous (those fixtures!) in a small space. From Risa: Our small townhouse bathroom (in Philadelphia) was the color of mucus. The kind you see when you have the flu. This bathroom was kind of like having the flu. It made you sick and achy all over just looking at it. No amount of elbow grease could get this thing looking clean.

The average backyard pool is an inviting but oddly unnatural thing: a rectangular hole filled with water, in which nothing grows thanks to a regular infusion of chemicals. It’s a far cry from the swimming holes of old. But a new wave of green pools (also known as natural swimming pools) is changing all that, bringing the experience of backyard swimming a little closer to nature, and transforming the private swimming pool into a much more environmentally friendly prospect.

After about a decade with a builder grade bathroom that was fine but not really his style, Jonathan made some gorgeous changes to his space. Turns out patience truly is a virtue, at least when it comes to glamorous bathroom renovations. From Jonathan: I bought my house nine years ago, new, and my master bathroom was complete with builder grade fixtures, lighting, brown walls, brown ceiling and travertine tile, as far as the eye could see.

Aubrey brings up the very important (and totally technical) design concept of finding the right vibes in your space. Sure, you could make some smart upgrades that would save on labor and make the space more aesthetically pleasing, but sometimes when the space just isn’t right you have to commit to a big ol’ project. From Aubrey: I would love to share my story of our newly remodeled kitchen.

One of my absolute favorite elements of our living room design is the IKEA Billy bookcase hack that TJ Breil of Slab Woodworking rescued. I say rescued because we attempted to create a hack of our own, using the bookcases you see here and a shelving unit, to fake the look of built ins. We got as far as putting it all together but the process of making the unit look “built in” was a dud.

Road tripping across the country sounds dreamy enough, but Becka’s gorgeously renovated camper makes the whole excursion so glamorous! From Becka: My husband and I decided that we wanted to invest in memories with our son before he started school so we purchased an older, used 5th wheel RV and gave it a big makeover to take on a cross country trip this summer (that we are currently on!) I want to inspire people to think outside of the box and see the potential in the older RV’s.

When Alexia purchased her first house, she got all of the freedom and joy that come with homeownership as well as some very ’80s bathroom tile. With a trip to IKEA, some lucky finds and some smartly shopped tile, Alexia was able to create a soothing space on a budget. From Alexia: My house is from the early 1980s, the bathroom was carpeted when I moved in (I stripped and sanded) and the ‘before’ tiles were the original builders décor.

I was driving by the intersection of 16th and South Van Ness in San Francisco one day when I spotted what looked like an Eero Saarinen side chair (with metal legs) in a pile of discarded furniture. I turned my car around to take a closer look, and turns out it IS an authentic Knoll Saarinen side chair(!!!). The upholstery was in poor condition with rips and stains, but other than that, the chair looked like it’s in a solid condition.

We’re all about the goings-on inside of your closet, but sometimes the outside needs a little love and attention. Anne hits all of the functionality & beauty buttons with her new closet. She not only had the closet fixed to fit the space and her needs, she added some gorgeous color and pattern to her spare room. From Anne: My old closets had ugly doors, and too much space behind walls. I wanted to open up the access and have sliding doors.

Aniko’s living room certainly wasn’t awful, but it didn’t feel like her. With a little white paint, some stylish DIY action and an excellent pink rug she totally lightened up the space and gave it a ton of character. From Aniko: Our poor little family room went through multiple stages since we’ve lived in the house. I tried decorating it many different ways, but we haven’t done any major projects in the room.

This Before & After is all about the pursuit of a beautiful dream. When they bought their co-op in Manhattan, Laura and Peter had a dream, the same dream that animates the hopes of millions of New Yorkers: an in-unit washer and dryer. In pursuit of their dream, they intentionally bought in a building that allowed retrofits of washer and dryer connections.

Meredith moved into a lovely mid century modern home with a decidedly not mid century style kitchen. Ten weeks of living through a renovation with three kids led to a gorgeous, window-grate free update. From Meredith: My husband and I bought this dated, yet lovely mid century modern home in River Forest, Illinois in September 2015 and immediately saw its potential to be something great. He is an architect in Chicago and I am a stay-at-home mom of three with a background in fashion and styling.

All this week we’re talking about bathroom renovations, starting with Ashley’s recent remodel, and following up with tons of helpful posts about the process! So you’re well under way on your bathroom renovation, but it’s time to choose a grout. While this step may seem unimportant in comparison to the bigger pieces of the renovation, the material and color of the grout can have a huge impact on your bathroom’s design and function.

All this week we’re talking about bathroom renovations, starting with Ashley’s recent remodel, and following up with tons of helpful posts about the process! Cement tile is a Pinterest dream come to life. Installing it, however, can be tricky if you don’t plan ahead and do your research. If you’ve laid ceramic tile before, you’re headed in the right direction — but there is still much more to learn before you start.

Phew. This project was a squeaker. Ashley found out she was pregnant after the renovation was planned and wound up photographing the final space at about thirty-seven weeks. I think she’s pretty happy she didn’t bring her new baby daughter home while the paint was still drying. Take a look at the finished space!

The good eyes over at Mignonne Decor were able to overlook the 90s sitcom floral pattern of this chaise and see it for its true potential. They not only re upholstered this bad boy, they used a total unique mix of textiles to do so! From Johnelle: Mignonne Decor is a furniture and design shop based in Berkeley CA. We specialize in transforming the old and unwanted into fun and funky statement pieces! We reupholster, re-stain, repaint and repair, all in house.

There are two groups of people when it comes to cast iron tubs: those who believe in their preservation, and those who believe in the almighty sledgehammer. If you’re the latter, this post is not for you. For those of you who believe in preservation and love a good soak in a nice, deep tub, we think that tub should look its best. Here’s how we took ours from an eyesore to eye candy.

All this week we’re talking about bathroom renovations, starting with Ashley’s recent remodel, and following up with tons of helpful posts about the process! There’s just something about soaking in a huge, luxurious tub to melt away all the stress of the day. When remodeling, the question is what kind of tub should you get: built-in or freestanding?

All this week we’re talking about bathroom renovations, starting with Ashley’s recent remodel, and following up with tons of helpful posts about the process! Changing out the faucet on your bathroom sink can be a pricey project. Fortunately, not every bathroom faucet is created equal. There are so many shapes, sizes, finishes -and price ranges to choose from. So where do you start?

Name Location Years lived in Room Room Size Ashley and her husband moved from Denver to a small town in Illinois a couple of years ago, buying an old 19th Century home in the process. It came with a real doozy of an upstairs bathroom. Since the couple is pretty hands-on (Ashley does a lot of DIY projects here at Apartment Therapy) they planned to tackle the space themselves.

What sounds like a totally stressful situation, moldy walls and dilapidated cabinets, had a silver lining for Kessie. She was able to transform her kitchen into a space she loves, and live to tell the tale! From Kessie: After purchasing our very first home we realized we had mold in the ceiling and part of a wall of the kitchen. The old cabinets were falling apart when we bought the home and weren’t salvageable.

Moving from NYC to Chicago we were pleased to find a neighborhood that felt very New York in the Gold Coast. Giving up life in NYC was sad for us, but living in Chicago offered the opportunity of a larger apartment and this apartment specifically offered amazing views of Lake Michigan. A virtual blank slate, the apartment had not been updated in over 30 years.

After buying a home that had been in her family for years, Katie knew there were changes to be made. Her open space updates took her space out of the ’80s. From Katie: My husband and I bought a 1980s ranch home from my grandparents. The home has been in our family for 20+ years. We knew that every room needed to be touched but that idea excited us because it has given us the ability to make our house exactly how we want it! The biggest project to date has been a brand new kitchen.

The previous owners of Amanda’s house had their hearts in the right place, it’s hard to argue with more storage, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Amanda made some super saavy storage decisions, switched up the lighting and got lucky with some surprise hardwood. Check it out! From Amanda: The previous owners of our house closed in part of the front porch to make a huge closet at the front of the home.

With some smart color choices on the walls and the floor, Lisa took her dining room from a little bland, to bold, bright and inviting. From Lisa: My husband and I bought a 1900 American Foursquare over the summer and have been steadily working to make it our own. The house hasn’t had any significant updates since the 90s so the work was much needed.

When we moved into our Victorian row in 2007, it was a pleasant-enough looking house. But my husband and I knew we wanted to renovate—especially the wood-paneled kitchen (even if it was white!). We decided to leave the kitchen as-is until we lived in it for a while and really used the space (we also didn’t have the funds at the time).

When we bought our little Laramie, Wyoming bungalow, we knew with a little work we could take the bland kitchen up a notch with some imagination, rearranging, and color. Given that the main floor is was so small (642 square feet), revitalizing the kitchen improved the vibe of the whole house.

I often think of custom made cabinets as a luxury, but for Maria, they’re a necessity. There’s no IKEA in Serbia, so Maria had to do all of the measurements and design herself, the result is a cool & sleek European kitchen. From Maria: I bought this one bedroom in July 2015 and had only month to renovate it. All major demolition, plumbing and electric work was done by contractors. By the time they left the place, I was almost broke.

My brother and I purchased a 1924 multi-family home just under a year ago. The house was in great shape but definitely needed some aesthetic updates and both kitchens needed a complete overhaul. It was important to me to keep the kitchen era-appropriate while incorporating a modern color palette and materials. We demoed the day after Thanksgiving and took the whole room down to the studs. My dad did all of the electrical work and plumbing and we hired a team to install the drywall.

Sometimes, you get caught up in the moment. Nicola started off with a short and manageable to-do list and then kept adding more to it, in the best way possible. Luckily IKEA helped keep her costs low as her to-do list grew.

We didn’t necessarily love this kitchen. My parents built the house in 1999, but the kitchen had a random, generic feeling to it. Oh sure, Mom dressed it up and tried to make it her own, but it just never felt right to her. We just started calling it “the room with the food” since we knew we could do better for her kitchen-wise. After my dad passed away from a long illness, my husband and I wanted to make their home as comfortable as she liked and exactly as she wanted it.

Oh, Scandinavian design. It truly is a small space inspiration. After Eric saw it first hand he came back revitalized and ready to rennovate. From Eric: I bought a small condo in 2001 when I was a student. I was a single dad and going back to university was a crazy move. But it was cheaper to buy than to rent so I went for it. When I walked into this 1923 building that had just been turned into condominiums, I thought “what is this place…?

This kitchen won’t be for everyone- but I love it to pieces! I decided early on to replace the upper cabinets but to repaint the lower cabinets as they were solid wood. The only problem was which color! I spent a lot of time on pinterest following the ‘OOooooh’ factor. Anything that made me make a noise of desire got pinned and I found myself pinning a lot of dark green kitchens… I’m all for interesting design but that seemed a bit too edgy even for me!

While not lacking in a certain crumbly charm, the bathroom in Colin and Orli’s Crown Heights co-op was definitely not a place where you would want to take a bath. Five different layers of floor tiles, installed on top of each other over the years, made for an unsettling drop when stepping into the tub. The subway tile walls were starting to look far too much like an actual subway for comfort, and thanks to many decades of water damage, the whole thing was falling apart.

Here’s a thing that’s bound to happen when you’re house shopping: you see a place where the previous owner has replaced the kitchen (or bathroom), ostensibly as a selling point, but the new kitchen or bathroom already looks incredibly dated. It’s especially frustrating if you really like the place otherwise, because then you find yourself in the position of either living with a kitchen that you really don’t like, or ripping out one that’s brand-new.

When we purchased this home we knew it was going to take a while to make our way through the house, as every room needed work. We started with the first floor so we actually finished construction on the living room over a year ago. However, we’re slow decorators. We like to take our time and find the perfect pieces for the space on Craigslist, thrift stores and flea markets in addition to other retail spaces.

There’s a reason that black and white checkered floors pop up again and again, and that’s because they’re so versatile, straddling the line between casual and elegant, or classic and modern. They can look retro, Parisian, kitschy or crisp. They are also possible with a wide range of budgets.

We renovated our kitchen in June 2015 with a substantial amount of GardenWeb help. The kitchen is sort of an awkward layout. It connects an entrance hallway and the dining room. We were working with a narrow galley kitchen with a swing door on one end and a pocket door on the other. Our home is a mid-century modern that was built in 1952. Structurally, we opened up both ends and wrapped the cabinetry into the dining room.

After growing weary of their home state of Nebraska, Carson and Mel needed a change. Recalling an old pipe dream of theirs to travel to every state and file stories from the road, the couple started scouring Craigslist and abandoned shelter belts for vintage travel trailers they could rehab. They met ‘Craigslist Ray’ in a parking lot in Stuart, Iowa, where they purchased the trailer — soon to be known as Elsie — for $1,300.

Combining multiple patterns makes for interesting and layered spaces, and one of the more fun parts of pulling together a room — once you’re comfortable with doing it. It’s creative work in part, but there are also some guidelines to make it easier for us non-professionals. These bathrooms can teach us all the art of mixing it up.

Q: Hi! I hope you can help me with my kitchen dilemma. My husband and I are expecting our first child in 8 weeks and we plan to move into our new townhouse in just 4 short weeks. There’s just no way I can update the entire place in time before the baby arrives, but I would like to tackle the kitchen [see photos below]… I know our life will revolve around this part of our home and I want it to feel like our kitchen and not the previous owners’.

Pedro took his dark, somewhat hodgepodge, living space to a very clean and bright room with a unified look. And he managed to do it all without covering up or distracting from the rooms interesting bones! From Pedro: This is the project about the remodeling of a living room in my house in Oporto, Portugal. I painted the walls gray, put in a new laminated floor, painted the ceiling and the doors in white and put molding on the ceiling.

I’m happy to share with you the DIY makeover of my compact apartment kitchen, which went from dark and red to bright and white (mostly). The only thing professionally installed was the countertop, and the rest was a lot of hard work over a few months. For cost reasons, the layout, appliances, and cabinets are all the same. The details are as follows: Cabinet molding: F.D.

As someone who is often reluctant to listen to my sibling, I have to give Sanja’s sister major props for both her beautiful bathroom transformation and her ability to take her sister’s advice. Impressive on all accounts. From Sanja: My sister had a really cluttered bathroom, so I suggested she gut it and turn it around. It is a small bathroom (1.30m x 2.55m/ 14ft x 27.5ft) that was converted from half bath in the eighties.

This kitchen transformation is gorgeous for so many reasons (color! texture!) but I simply can not get over how much a difference the lighting made! A few brilliant lighting choices took this kitchen from small and dark to bright and inviting. From Shelly: We recently downsized from a 2,300 square foot home to a 800 square foot townhome. The small kitchen was dark, depressing and stuck in the 80s. We painted the upper cabinets white and bottom cabinets teal.

When it comes to Laundry Rooms, they tend to occupy the “out of sight, out of mind” spots in our homes. But after upgrading to a front loading Washer and Dryer that led to the removal of her closet doors, Sarah suddenly found herself airing her dirty laundry (sorry) at the top of her stairs. From Sara: When I bought my house I initially had the old school top load Washer and Dryers in a closet upstairs by all the bedrooms.

This family bathroom was original to the 1925 house – in which I grew up – and was basically unchanged except for an extremely rudimentary shower addition my grandfather had put in about 25 years ago.

Buying an apartment in New York would have to be one of the most stressful things you can do in life (and I’m a mother of two!) After missing out on two other apartments in our search for a new home we were quick to pounce when we saw this one. When we first walked into the apartment we saw straight through the bad lighting and dark wood. The space had so much potential, with lots of windows and high ceilings and a view facing Prospect Park.

After a frustrating and unsuccessful 10-month hunt for a new house, I offered my Facebook friends a reward if they’d bring me a lead that converted into my new home. A local talk radio station picked up the story and put me on air to ask about my unconventional home search methods. I got a few dodgy calls from listeners (one man just wanted to take me out for a drink!) before a woman texted me to say she had a ‘kind of magic’ home she thought I might like.

We wound up buying our first home in Edmonds. The home’s previous owners ran an old folks living facility. Once the house was foreclosed on the owners abandoned ship and squatters settled in. We purchased this fixer upper in February of 2015. Short on cash my husband and his father took on the work themselves. My husband would work his day job from 5am to 1pm and then head up to the house and work into the wee hours of the night.

While I’ll never say no to drama, sometimes a subtle, relaxing makeover is in order. Jordan and Anton took their awkwardly laid out bathroom and turned it into a timeless retreat (plus storage!). Check it out… Thank you, Jordan and Anton!

My husband and I recently moved into a brand new townhome in San Diego, California. We absolutely love the new place but for some reason, the builder created really awkward and unevenly sized “designer nooks” above the fireplace. We tried to think of ways to design around them but ultimately we knew we needed to cover the holes up and create a mantle.

Our family room has a cathedral ceiling and a large, prominent fireplace. We wanted to make this room a standout, but our budget was more of a washout. By whitewashing the fireplace ourselves, and installing faux beams, we were able to make a big impact, on a not so big budget. We’ve always loved beams. But we didn’t love the prices. Luckily, we discovered faux beams, which sell for a fraction (like 1/5) of the cost of real wood beams. And guess what? They look real. Seriously.

When Adrien and Jon moved into their essentially turnkey home in Los Angeles seven months ago, they still had one major project to tackle. As a fashion stylist and owner of Adrien’s Closet, Adrien has a massive collection of clothing that she uses for shoots, styling sessions, and rentals, and even a dedicated spare bedroom in the house didn’t provide enough space to contain her inventory (more on her style here).

Our home was built in 1919. The bathroom had undergone multiple “updates” which included a huge clawfoot tub. When we moved in, the bathroom renovation was not our first priority but after about a week of living in a house with one bathroom with only 10 inches between the toilet and bathtub, it became our priority.

When my husband Mark and I purchased our 1890s brick row home in Frederick, Maryland, we knew the kitchen would eventually need some attention. There was really nothing wrong with the space… it was just utterly lifeless. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen had received some well-intentioned but poorly-executed updates. Everything was off-white: cabinets, countertops, linoleum floor, walls.

When Megan and Sam bought their New Orleans Victorian two years ago, they decided to tackle a complete bathroom renovation on their own. Thankfully, Sam has a lot of construction and renovation work under his belt, so the job was familiar terrain. Here’s what Megan had to say about the project: After ripping out all the ugly brown and beige tile on the floor and walls (and one trip to the hospital for stitches–always wear work gloves!

Jeremy and Elizabeth’s West Los Angeles townhouse has a lot to offer: high ceilings, a large roof deck, and loads of space. The pair likes to entertain and cook, so they spend a lot of time in their kitchen, which until recently had a few drawbacks. Cabinets over the range meant that there was no ventilation for the stove top, and they also prevented natural light from the kitchen window from passing through into the dining room.

My wife and I bought our house last year and there was a back house that was part of the property. At the time of the sale there was someone living in the back house so we weren’t able to see it (other than peering through the windows). In short, we had no idea what state the house was in but, from what we could could gather, it was a dump. Once we closed on the house, we finally got to tour the back house and we were in shock.

My husband and I bought our house 7 years ago, in the city of Laval, a suburb north of Montreal. The layout of the bathroom was typical of the houses in the neighborhood. Since the first day I set foot in it, I did not like anything about that room. The shower was so narrow that we had difficulty washing our feet. The bathroom was as demoralizing as a rainy day. I demolished everything, including the ugly shell-shaped soap dish and the strange podium around the bath.

My husband, Jake, and I recently purchased our first home. It’s a 1950s ranch and we have lots of fun projects we need to tackle to bring it up to this decade. The first thing we took on was our smaller bathroom. We were able to salvage the tile in the tub and the toilet but almost everything else had to go. We (mostly Jake) did all the work ourselves including demo, putting in new drywall, electrical work and plumbing. Our final budget was around $1200 for all materials.

We’re big fans of small updates and little tweaks round these parts. But we get equally excited when we see a space that has made some major changes. Taylor’s kitchen went from beige and blah to absolutely stunning, and the best part is you can tell she absolutely loves it! From Taylor: When we bought our house, the kitchen was pretty sad. There was hardly any counter space or storage. Over the years, we slowly replaced appliances until we were ready for a full renovation.

We recently featured a House Tour of Shena and George’s Formerly Blighted, Beautifully Salvaged New Orleans Home; owner George Peake’s transformation of this 19th century house from a decrepit property on the brink of demolition to the gorgeous home it is today is staggering. George graduated from The Tulane School of Architecture and has been renovating historic houses in New Orleans since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina forced him to rebuild his first property.

We bought our house a few years ago. Nate had wanted a tree house and I’d hoped for Mid Century modern. I definitely wanted a home we could slowly remodel to fit our needs. We purchased our place from a wonderful man who adored his home. He’d spent many years updating it and left it with us in wonderful condition. The owner before him built it in the 70s and there are lots of little details that we adore. I’m just now learning more about them…from our painter! Small town.

When you look at a lot of kitchens, you see a lot of white cabinets and white marble countertops and subway tile. And of course those things are lovely, but every once in a while it’s nice to see something totally different, a kitchen with colors or details or elements that completely set it apart from the rest. Here are five kitchens that are completely off the beaten path — in the best possible way.

This past winter I fell on ice and broke my wrist. As you can imagine, this made many things more difficult, including housekeeping. My husband and I (and now our two kids) have lived in the same rental apartment sans dishwasher for eight years. My husband had been campaigning for one for years, but I had resisted for two reasons: 1) why invest money in a rental apartment and 2) why give up valuable cabinet space in our already small kitchen.

I have see the future of tile and it makes me want to renovate my bathroom or kitchen…again. At Cersaie last month, which is *the* bath and tile show, I had a chance to see lots and lots and lots of examples of what’s next in that world. Here are some of the trends I saw: As technology improves, ceramic tile makers find new methods to create tile that looks and feels like completely different material.

Q: The apartment complex I live in gets kudos for recycling water- water used for bathing, cooking, washing, and cleaning flows down the drain, gets treated, and is then stored in a separate tank used exclusively for flushing toilets. While I applaud the initiative, the water is not completely treated (hence not reused for any other purpose than flushing) and is greyish black in appearance and leaves severe streaks on the toilet.

No matter the size of your home, it can be hard to carve out a spot to get inspired, practice a hobby or get a little peaceful work done. Whether you like doing crafts, want to find a quiet spot to write or get ready in the morning or just want to do your bills in style, you might find inspiration in the ways these real-life residents from our house tours found room to fit productive surfaces in their homes of all sizes.

Oriented Strand Board (OSB) is a man-made product created from wood bits, which are pressed and bound together by adhesive resin and glue. It’s like the turkey loaf of building materials. This humble stuff is mostly used as a substrate during construction projects, leaving other materials to bask in the spotlight. Some prefer prettier plywood, but others have managed to use it as a visible, finish material that is modern and beautiful. Is it for you? Read on….