I love a great makeover, and I’m a sucker for sunrooms, so this is one before and after I had to show you. When Jenna Sue moved into her house, it had a sunroom, but it was pretty blah, as you can see, with beige carpet and vertical blinds.

But it’s boring no more, with new flooring, comfy seating, and lots of beachy blues to cheer the space up. Take a look!

She got these Brimnes day beds at IKEA. That metal end table was black, but she spray painted it Valspar’s Exotic Sea.

The new flooring only looks like wood–it’s actually tile, which is more practical for a room like this (wish I’d thought of that for my sunroom!).

She built the coffee table on wheels herself and says it only took 2 hours, “including waiting for the paint to dry!” (DIY details here.)

I think her black cat might be the best accessory in the room, though:

For more photos and all the details about the makeover visit Jenna Sue’s blog. She runs a design business in Florida and has more inspiring room makeovers you’ll want to see.

P.S. If you missed the before & after of mine: Julia’s Sunroom.

Hooked on Beachy Before & Afters?

• A Beach House Makeover on Tybee Island
  
• A Dark Living Room Goes Coastal
• A Beach Cottage Remodel
• See ‘em all!

Remember Bronson Pinchot, the actor best known for playing Balki on the sitcom Perfect Strangers? Since then, he fell in love with the small rural town of Harford, Pennsylvania, and started buying old, neglected houses that he felt deserved rescuing. Now he has a show on the DIY Network called The Bronson Pinchot Project that follows along as he restores them with his crew of local contractors.

After getting sucked into a marathon of episodes last weekend, I thought it would be fun to show you some of his dramatic before and afters. Take a look!

This early 19th-century Greek Revival was the first house that he found in Harford. As he writes on his website:

“It was a July day in 2000. I had only one day on the East Coast before I was due to travel West. I’d seen a very cropped photograph of the house, which then was choked with trees (dying locusts) and wildly overgrown lilacs, and painted yellow (with plenty of fat bugs trapped forever in the sloppy paint job) and with the columns bending bowlegged in all directions and criss-crossed with scarifying spiraling cracks, and their bases rotted out and replaced with concrete.”

He could see the potential in it, though: “When I opened the door, the smell of cinnamon toast caressed me. I fell head over heels. Only a few years later, after year-round work under tarps with turbo heaters in the winter, it looked like this. And it had its own TV show.”

It also inspired him to buy more old houses in the town that were in bad shape.

In one episode, he gives the “Christmas Cabin”–an addition added onto the back of the house (above) that he thinks will be the perfect spot for a tall 17′ tree–a makeover. Here’s how the addition looked before:

And the fireplace wall after–with a mantel salvaged from an old house (one complaint–the afters are often still being shown at the end of the episodes while credits flash over them):

As you can see, he remodels houses so they look, well, old. Most of the salvaged wood he uses is not repainted because he likes the patina of it.

He began collecting architectural salvage in the late ’80s and now has houses to use a lot of his pieces in–like that fireplace, and the bust above it, which was so heavy it had to be built into the wall.

New (old) French doors were added to the room for more light, leading to the garden:

The kitchen in the Christmas Cabin before:

And after:

Bronson loves to disguise refrigerators and other appliances. In this case, the fridge is stealthily hidden behind this cabinet (below)–see the handle he’s reaching for underneath it?

One of my favorite episodes shows him transforming the exterior of another house he owns in Harford, called Decker Court. It was built in 1840, and let’s just say he saw potential in it that I never would have. Here’s how it looked before:

And after:

That picket fence was from the 1800s and had been stored in a local barn for decades before he put it back to use. It kind of fascinates me how he leaves everything looking weather-beaten and worn. This looks like a building you’d find on a back lot in Hollywood. I could see it being used in a period film of some kind.

The kitchen inside Decker Court was pretty blah, too:

He tore it down to the studs, uncovered the original wood floors, and gave it the look of an old country kitchen:

This time the fridge is hidden behind what looks like built-in shelves. Those pieces of china are glued to the shelves, and if you pull on one of them, they open to reveal a fridge behind:

Would I want to live in houses that are “newly aged” and countrified like this? Probably not. But I think it’s fun to see how he has a creative vision for these old houses and executes his ideas in unusual ways. They’re almost like art installations. And I could totally see him working as a set designer, couldn’t you?

He now owns 5 houses, 2 stores, and this tiny Post Office in Harford, which reminds me of the one my grandmother worked at when I was little (he uses it to store salvaged items for future renovations):

Have you been watching the show? Check the DIY Network website for dates and times of upcoming episodes (looks like more are airing this weekend). Bronson announced on his website that the show was picked up for a second season, and they’re starting production on it now. Can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve!

P.S. Love Before & Afters? I have an entire page devoted to them. Click here to check it out!

More Posts About HGTV and DIY Shows:

• Yard Crashers Host Ahmed Hassan Replaced
• Sandra Rinomato Quits Property Virgins
• The Truth About Designed to Sell
• See ‘em all!

When I saw soap star Deidre Hall’s house featured on HGTV’s new show Celebrities at Home, I fell in love with this big back porch, which she calls her “outdoor family room.” I mean, wow. Gorgeous.

I searched all over for photos of it, to no avail, and finally resorted to taking pics of her (very down-to-earth, you-wouldn’t-guess-a-celeb-lived-here) house while watching it on TV.  Take a look!

Deidre, who is best known for her role as Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives, gives us a tour of her kitchen and explains all the changes she made to it:

Here’s how the kitchen looked when she bought it, with a wall in the spot where she’s standing (above), dividing it from the family room:

She knocked down the wall, replaced the granite countertops, and added beadboard to the backsplash:

Don’t care for the balloon shades–I wouldn’t want to block so much of the windows–but I like the wood-topped island.

Her house reminds me of Kitty Bartholomew’s cottage in Santa Monica with the traditional, kinda country and vintage touches–and the red. Deidre says she likes to add accents of it to every room.

Deidre looks at her new beauty book How Does She Do It? in the adjoining family room:

This room used to be the dining room, but she moved things around. She wanted a more casual gathering space off the kitchen.

Nothing is pretentious here. She said her motto is that every room needs to be “comfortable and safe”–meaning that it doesn’t matter if people mess things up or break anything. You can put your feet up on the furniture.

The highlight of the tour for me was the big porch that she built onto the house after moving in. Here’s how the back of the house looked when she bought it in 2005:

And now:

Lovely!

She says the porch was designed in such a way that the rain doesn’t blow in much at all. I’d love to know how they pulled that off. Every porch I’ve ever had got soaking wet after a storm, so I have to quickly clean it off when dark clouds roll in. This white sofa (which used to be in her dressing room) wouldn’t have lasted one season on the screened porch we had at our last house. But boy, it sure looks pretty!

I love it when porches have fireplaces.

The TV is stowed behind those panels over the mantel:

These two armchairs were custom-sized to comfortably fit a man and a woman:

She calls it her outdoor family room and says it’s where her family plays games and watches movies.

HGTV usually replays these episodes, so be sure to watch for this one if you want to see more. In it, host Nancy O’Dell also visits Tia Carrere’s modern, light-filled home in the Malibu Hills.

Her house was very different from Deidre’s–much more contemporary.

Tia managed to stay pretty classy this season as a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice. Anyone else watching that train wreck of a reality show?

Whose style is closer to yours–Deidre’s or Tia’s?

The network just picked up 13 more episodes of Celebrities at Home, which is hosted and exec-produced by Nancy O’Dell. Can’t wait to see more!

More Celebrities at Home:

• Diane Keaton
• Andie MacDowell
• Kitty Bartholomew
• Tracy Porter
• See ‘em all!

If I had seen this house when it was for sale in West Seattle–even with its fabulous city views and reasonable price tag for the area–I would have kept on driving. Fortunately there are people with better imaginations than I have, and better renovation skills, because now that it has been remodeled from top to bottom, it’s a real charmer.

You’ve got to see this “after” to believe it. Here’s how it looks now:

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw it. I’ll bet this house, which was built in 1926, has never looked happier.

The entire project (purchase, rehab, and resale) was managed by Will Heaton & James Dainard, owners of Heaton Dainard, a full service real estate investment firm in Bellevue, WA. Here’s how the living room looked before they got to it:

And now:

The Dining Room before:

And now–a much cheerier space to eat in:

They opened it up to the kitchen, which used to look like this:

But now looks like this:

The house had 3 bedrooms and 1 bath to begin with. Now there’s an additional bedroom in the finished lower level and 3 full baths in the house. It was pretty scary upstairs before the reno:

The new master suite:

This is one of the three bathrooms in the house, and it’s not even the biggest one (the master has a large marble bath), but I think it’s charming:

The views of Seattle from the house ain’t bad, either:

It last sold for $300,000. They expanded the living area from 1,400 square feet to over 2,200 by finishing the lower level and expanding the second floor, and now it’s back on the market for $629,000.

Like it? For more photos and information, check the listing by Heaton Dainard. Many thanks to Meredith for telling me about it!

Hooked on House Makeovers? Click Here to Visit My B & A Page!

When a reader named Andrea wrote me about the old brick house she and her husband bought and renovated in Northern Kentucky, the before and after photos blew me away. It’s beautiful now, but here’s how the exterior looked before they fixed it up:

A little bare, right? So much better now with all the finishing touches–like landscaping and columns!

On her blog Oak Ridge Revival, Andrea talks about their adventures in remodeling. The kitchen was pretty small and outdated when they moved in:

They knocked down the wall between it and the old dining room and gave it a total overhaul. Here’s how it looks now:

It’s night and day, really, from the old to the new.

Now it’s open to the dining room (below). The old kitchen was in the space where the table and chairs are now–they swapped the rooms in the reno.

An old sun porch became a huge mudroom off the kitchen, too, that I’m more than a little jealous of!

The house had an addition built onto the back by the former owners, which Andrea says “resembled a Country and Western bar. There were actually guns and cowboy hats hanging on the wall!”

Now the room is light, bright, and family friendly:

The baths for the kids had a long way to go, too. Here’s how they looked before and after:

Andrea says, “Our architect, Ashli Slawter, of A. Slawter Architecture, suggested these simple changes. When I first laid eyes on the bathrooms, I thought for sure they would needed to be completely remodeled. Thanks to her suggestions, we were able to give the bathrooms a big update with a little money.”

How sweet is this pink and green bath now?

The bedroom makeovers are beautiful, too. Here’s how one of them looked before:

And now, looking fresh and current:

Head over to her blog Oak Ridge Revival to take the rest of the house tour, get the details about the remodel, and see all of the jaw-dropping before and afters. Many thanks to Andrea for sharing her home with us!

Hooked on Before and Afters?

• A Sears Kit-Home Kitchen Makeover
• A New Kitchen with Vintage Appeal
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This poor bungalow in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood was built in 1911 but had seen better days. There were iron bars on the doors and windows and bullet holes in the siding. Worse–two people had been murdered in it. But when Kara O’Brien saw it, she knew she had to buy it: “It was just so sad looking. I thought, I need to fix it up.”

I’m not sure I would have seen the potential that they did in this “hybrid Craftsman bungalow with Victorian detailing,” as she describes it. But she and her partner Paula Rose began renovating it in 2005 and the results are pretty amazing. Here’s how the house looks now:

Kara and Paula own Laughing Sun Renovations, and their experience with projects like this shows.

When this bungalow was featured in This Old House magazine, Kara wrote:

“Sadly, the house had fallen into terrible disrepair from years of sitting vacant. Before renovation, it was a home to squirrels, birds, bugs and the floor system had vines growing up between the joists and the rotted floorboards. Adding to the wildlife, the home was chopped up into three apartments; its grand rooms bisected by makeshift walls.”

This photo of how the living room looked before the renovation gives you an idea of the state that the house was in and the challenges they faced:

Hard to believe it’s the same room, but here’s what the dining room looks like now:

Gorgeous quartersawn oak wainscot with unique detailing was salvaged from a late-1800s mansion in Tennessee for the center hall:

The bungalow was built as a spec home in 1911 by builder Frank Ruggles: “The house was light-filled and featured original wavy glass windows with interesting mullion patterns, heart of pine floors, an original but deteriorated sunroom, and a magnificent original dining room mantel.”

After uncovering a former fireplace behind some drywall in the living room, they restored it with a beautiful salvaged mantel and tile that makes it looks like it has always been there:

They had help with the project from architect Brent Drone of Antiquity Architectural and custom cabinet maker Greg Michael & Sons in Atlanta. Here’s how the kitchen looked before the reno:

And after:

There was a sunroom that was being used as a kitchen in the house by one of the former tenants:

Here’s how it looks now–with homeowners Kara and Paula in it:

I love to see a house like this given a second lease on life. For more photos and information about the renovation, visit Laughing Sun Renovations and This Old House (photos by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn and the homeowners).

Hooked on Bungalow Before & Afters?

• Dorie’s Bungalow in Arizona Gets Its Charm Back
• An Old Bungalow Gets a Facelift
• Turning a Plain-Jane House into a Craftsman-Style Cottage
• See ‘em all!

If you watched Selling Spelling Manor on HGTV like I did, then you saw Candy Spelling moving all of her stuff out of the ginormous 56,000 square-foot house when it was bought by the 23-year old British heiress Petra Ecclestone for $85 million.

In W Magazine, Petra let cameras inside to see some of the work she’s had done on the old place. Here’s how the grand entry hall and staircase looked when we last saw it as Candy left for the last time:

On an episode of Selling Spelling Manor, a former neighbor dished with Candy that Petra had brought in a team that was remodeling the house and they were “painting everything black.”

Here’s how the entry hall looks now that Petra has given it a makeover:

According to W:

“The interior of the Manor, once the domain of acres of chintz…has been Petra-fied. Designed in three weeks and installed in nine, a feat that required 500 workers and the tireless attention of the celebrity designer-builder Gavin Brodin, the house has been transformed from an old Dynasty-like set to a massive VIP lounge.

“Five thousand square feet of white marble lashed with thick black stripes pave the foyer; black carpet streaks up the sweeping double staircase to the second floor. Dark velvets line the walls, and little crystals sparkle everywhere.”

Check out the March 2012 issue of W to read the story. (Photos by Roe Ethridge.)

Meanwhile, Candy Spelling downsized to a luxury $47 million penthouse condo in The Century building that has a mere 16,500 square feet–the size of her former attic! Hope she can make it work. I’m sure it’ll be an adjustment.

Her daughter Tori Spelling downsized this year, too, moving her family of 5 into a much cozier 3-bedroom home in Malibu.

Last week Tori announced on her website that they’re expecting Baby #4. Wonder if they’ll be building an addition onto their new place or if the babies will share a nursery?

• Tori & Dean’s New House in Malibu
• The House in Encino Tori & Dean Sold
• More Photos of Spelling Manor During Candy’s Reign

When I saw this beautiful Italianate-style house with the bright yellow door, I had to learn more about it. Known as “The Moorings,” it was built in 1864 and sits on Main Street near downtown Chatham in Cape Cod.

The current owners hired the architecture and construction firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva to restore the house to the way it looked in historical photographs. Here’s how the front of the house looked before the renovation began a few years ago:

It didn’t look bad, but a lot of changes had been made to the house over the years that took away from its original character. According to the PSD website:

“Antique photographs allowed precise recreation of the historical details of the unique entry hood-roof and brackets that had been removed. An arched attic window that had at some point been removed was replicated and installed. The decorative brackets that line the gables and overhangs were replicated and replaced in areas where they had been removed.”

Here’s one of the old photographs of the house, circa 1918, that they’re referring to:

Isn’t it fun to see old photos like that? The house used to have shutters and a more elegant gable above the front door. Here’s a close-up of the restored exterior (love it!):

The floor in the entry hall is new but was designed to look like it had been there from the beginning:

The wood paneling in this room is a show-stopper:

“The existing dining and living room wood floors, detailed wall paneling and ornate fireplaces were salvaged and refinished.”

Here’s how the kitchen looked before:

And after the renovation:

For their work on this house, they were awarded the 2010 Chatham Preservation Award.

It’s believed that one of the original owners, Rear Admiral Charles Rockwell, built the octagonal gazebo on the side of the house in the early 1900s. Here’s a closer look at it, which is where I’d be sitting right now if I could:

It makes me happy to see an old house like this get the kind of thoughtful restoration it deserves. For more photos and information about the remodel, visit the Polhemus Savery DaSilva website. (Photography by Brian Vanden Brink.)

Last year I featured a house PSD designed and built known as “Champlain’s Bluff“–a gorgeous summer home in Cape Cod:

To thank me, the architect John DaSilva graciously sent me an autographed copy of his new book, called Shingled Houses in the Summer Sun. I was pretty excited when it showed up in my mailbox. With a title like that, I knew I’d love it.

Not only are the houses in the book gorgeous to look at, but it’s interesting to read his thoughts on architecture. For example, he writes:

“The houses we create should be fresh and of our time, yet they should also evoke the familiar and the timeless–they should be new and old at the same time. They should be extraordinary in their spatial and expressive qualities but also skillfully crafted and comfortably connected to the ordinary and the everyday. They should be restrained and exuberant at the same time; elegant, but whimsical and fun.” -John R. DaSilva

You can learn more about the book here and Polhemus Savery DaSilva’s work here. They have additional photos on their Facebook page. (Thanks to Marcia for telling me about them!)

Hooked on Before & Afters? Click Here to See More!

One of my favorite blogs is The House of Smiths. Shelley and her husband Cason are really creative, and it’s fun to follow their home-improvement projects. This one wowed me because it’s something I’d never seen before and would never have thought of doing.

See that standard coat closet? Shelley says they never used it for more than “a dumping ground,” really, so they opened it up and created a charming mudroom-like nook with a bench and storage for their family. Here’s how it looks now:

Shelley says, “It’s been such a fun, challenging, LONG journey to get from a boring closet with a door that basically blocked our entire entryway, when opened…to an airy, fresh, larger space that definitely brings personality, visual interest and comfort into our home.”

I love it. I also love that she says, “We’ve come to realize that our house doesn’t have to be the biggest, or filled with the nicest, most expensive, trendiest decor… it just has to make us FEEL happy.”

Visit The House of Smiths to see how they created this new space, step by step, and for all the source info. She also explains where all the coats and stuff went, if you’re wondering!

More Before & Afters:

• A New Kitchen with Vintage Appeal
• A Beach Cottage Remodel
• A Colorful Kitchen Makeover
• See ‘em all!

Who could forget the charming Italian villa called Bramasole that Diane Lane buys on a whim and fixes up in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun? I wrote a post about it a couple of years ago and discovered that it was filmed on location in Tuscany in a villa that they didn’t actually remodel for the shoot–they “just cleaned it up a little and filmed it in warmer, prettier light,” according to writer-director Audrey Wells.

The real restoration work on the real-life Bramasole began in 2006, four years after the movie was filmed here. Here’s how it looks today.

There are actually two buildings on the property.

This is the one Diane Lane’s Frances Mayes sees in the movie when she visits for the first time (for those of you who don’t know, it was based on a true story, but this is not her actual villa):

When she walks in, things are in pretty bad shape:

At the end of the movie, when the renovations are complete (supposedly, thanks to Movie Magic), it looks like this:

The real-life restoration work was much more extensive and involved more than just cleaning up. Here’s how it looks now:

You can rent the villa the next time you’re in Tuscany. According to Italian Villas, “Bramasole lies nestled on a hill just three minutes outside the ancient town walls of Cortona.”

The kitchen in the movie was much smaller:

According to the rental website, “Every bedroom on the property is unique with beautiful original features, hand woven Busatti fabrics and the highest quality bed linen. All bedrooms rooms have air conditioning, Wi-Fi, en-suite bathrooms and its own view of the surrounding countryside.”

A bedroom in the movie:

There’s plenty of room for everyone here, with 10 bedrooms and 10.5 baths.

Again, the bathroom in the movie was much more basic than they are now!

One of the updated baths:

The views from the villa are beautiful:

“There is always something to keep you entertained, whether it be a swim in the travertine pool, a soak in the Jacuzzi, a walk through the Medici parkland to visit the ducks on the lake, or a Bocce tournament with other guests.” Sounds like the perfect vacation to me!

For more photos and information about renting this movie location, visit Italian Villas. (Thanks to Betty for telling me about it!)

A reader took this photo of Frances Mayes’ actual Bramasole (her real house, not the movie version) while she was on vacation in the area and sent it to me–thanks, Joanie! You can see my original post about the movie with more pics and info here: Under the Tuscan Sun.

P.S. Did you watch the Oscars last night? I never miss it! If you think you know your famous movie houses, see how well you do on this quiz:

Can You Name the 10 Oscar-Nominated  Films These Houses Starred In?

Visit my Movie Houses page to see more, including:

• Secretariat
• Must Love Dogs
• Nights in Rodanthe