Melody’s Updated and Expanded Salt Lake City Duplex

published Apr 3, 2016

We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.

Name: Melody
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Thanks to Apartment Therapy we had plenty of ideas when we remodeled our downtown 1906 SLC duplex five years ago. Utah is not known for its style, so we ended up doing most everything ourselves (since most contractors couldn’t understand our aesthetic).

(Image credit: Submitted by Melody)

The renovation took us two years, lots of heartache, and endless DIY thinking. But in the process we dug out the basement, added an addition on the back and increased the square footage of both sides of the duplex from a combined 1,300 to 3,600 square feet while still maintaining its original envelope. On top of those challenges, we reclaimed almost all of our materials, like junior high bleachers used as flooring, to bowling alley wood for stair treads and countertops.

(Image credit: Submitted by Melody)

I am a pianist (one of the classical pianist siblings from The 5 Browns) and my husband and I did most of the work. I would come off my international tours, only to be using tile saws and commercial floor sanders (pianists and saws/heavy machinery don’t really mix).

Thanks, Melody!

• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour & House Call Submission Form.

Filed in:

House Call

Reader Submissions