In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right.  

The first time interior designer Shannon Tate-Giordano made over the powder room in her Massachusetts home, in 2017, she set out to spend the least amount of money that would make the biggest visual impact. She painted the builder-grade vanity black and tacked on some side cubbies for extra storage, painted the floor in a way that made it look tiled, and hung an extra-large round mirror. “I got supercrafty, and I was happy with it,” she says. But fast-forward six years and the inevitable (if you’re a designer, anyway) happened. It didn’t feel like her anymore: “I like things to be a little bit more refined now.”

This go-round, Tate-Giordano set out to spend a little more money on the project. She specifically had her heart set on hand-painted Moroccan floor tile. Her house, though, had other plans for her budget. As she began to prep the floors for reno 2.0, a valve burst, spewing water all over the bathroom floor and into the basement ceiling. As she and her plumber began pulling out the insulation downstairs to air it out, they discovered preexisting mold damage—a problem that came with a steep $30,000 price tag to fix. “It totally threw everything off,” recalls the designer. She moved forward with the powder room project, but with limited funds to dedicate to the space, she decided to go the DIY route once again.

The Receipts 

Tate-Giordano estimates that her original plan of installing Moroccan floor tile would have run her around $4,000 for materials and labor. By skipping that step and deciding to tackle the new vanity and Roman Clay walls herself, she suspects she shaved off nearly $9,500. The only jobs she hired out were to a plumber to do the sink hookup and to an electrician to install her pendant light in a new location. Her total cost came in just under $3,000, excluding a $680 pendant she received for free. 

Here’s a look at some of the materials she ended up purchasing along the way. 

• Anthropologie mirror: $398
• Rejuvenation drawer pulls x 4: $80
• Etsy faucet: $250
• Etsy sink drain: $70
• Portola Paints wall finish: from $28
• Bed Bath & Beyond sink: $148
• IKEA vanity: $350
• Hennepin Made light: gifted (usually $680)

Ahead, in her own words, she looks back at her budget-friendly revamp.

Fake the Look of Tile With Stencils

Because the existing floor is Marmoleum (a water-resistant and sustainable alternative to linoleum), I was able to dry it out enough so that I could glue it back down, sand it, and prime it for paint (it takes paint very well!). Then I cut a star-shaped stencil out of card stock with a razor blade. I used a Sharpie to outline the design and ended up eyeballing it because I have very little patience for a level—I think it looks pretty straight. I filled in the shapes with a mix of colors in Benjamin Moore’s Porch and Floor Paint Finish. It took a while…my back was killing me. 

Start With an IKEA Vanity Base

The old vanity was nothing to write home about, and the cabinet was impractical for storage. I definitely wanted to switch to having drawers. Not wanting to build something from scratch, I bought an IKEA Godmorgon vanity for the shell and custom-made the sides and the drawer fronts out of walnut-stained plywood with a solid wood trim. 

A local stone yard in western Massachusetts had three full slabs of this red travertine, and they told me they’d had it for nearly 15 years. Nobody wanted to buy it! The slabs were three-quarter-inch—the perfect thickness for my vanity. It was a total score.

Double-Check Your Drainage

I was looking on Pinterest and watching videos of how people turn bowls into sinks, and I was like, Yeah, I’ll do that. I went to HomeGoods and found a bowl that was the perfect color. (It was similar to a $500 concrete sink I was eyeing on Etsy.) I felt so smart and so accomplished; I even drilled it for the drain and had the plumber come in and hook everything up once the countertops were in. 

Then, an hour later, I tried it out. All the water was staying inside the bowl. I was so annoyed with myself. Of course, this wasn’t make any sense; why would it drain? The pitch wasn’t high enough. I thought maybe I’d just order the $500 sink, but then I found this hammered copper one at Bed Bath & Beyond and really liked the way it looked. I switched to that, and it was supereasy. I actually figured out how to change the plumbing and I didn’t have to hire someone twice to do it.

Amp Up the Wall Texture With Roman Clay

I had used this Portola Paints color, Rustic, on another project recently, and I thought it was a really nice combination with the warm red travertine counters. I prefer Roman Clay over limewash; it has this really smooth, buttery finish. I applied three coats with a metal trowel to make sure I couldn’t see any of the wall underneath, then added a sealer.

Find Balance by Going Off Symmetry

Hennepin Made reached out to me and offered its Lacuna globe pendant light. Because all of the plumbing is skewed to the left of the mirror, I thought it would be cool to hang the fixture to the right, to fill that void. It’s not a bathroom that I do my makeup in, so it didn’t have to be bright. I wanted it to feel more like a hotel.

I reused my existing art; I felt like it still fit. I started frequenting an antiques shop when we first moved here.  

In the end, I’m actually way happier with how these cost-saving measures look. I like them way more than my original plan, so it’s very satisfying.

Get the Look

Lacuna Globe Pendant, Hennepin Made ($680)

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Godmorgon Vanity, IKEA ($349)

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Ball Cabinet Knob, Rejuvenation ($20)

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Clara Mirror, Anthropologie ($398)

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The post An IKEA Vanity and Floor Stencil Kept My Powder Room Budget Under $4K appeared first on domino.

It’s a tall order to find a stunning dresser that is also affordable. Large armoires are an investment (both budget-wise and from a square-footage standpoint). So what do you do when that dream piece does not exist? Cue IKEA, a can of paint, fresh knobs, and a few other craft supplies. 

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Malm 6-Drawer Dresser, IKEA ($300)

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Tarva 6-Drawer Chest, IKEA ($330)

From Hemnes to Malm to Tarva, all the Swedish retailer’s offerings can be made to look custom if you’re willing to dig out your toolbox and pick up a few extra materials from the hardware store. Choose your favorite look from these 15 IKEA dresser hacks and put aside a weekend to get to work. 

Slap on Slats

The beauty of the six-drawer Malm dresser is that it’s basically a big blank canvas, given the piece doesn’t have any hardware. Kayla Nelson saw it as an opportunity to add some color, personality, and texture. For $200 she covered it in 228 slats cut from MDF and coated it in Gray Heron by Behr. 

Turn It Into a Nightstand, Part 1 

DIYer Jenna Sue has noticed a shortage of large nightstands at an affordable price point, so this creation, which all started with a three-drawer Malm piece, is her giving the world what it craves. Her design hinges on adding pieces of trim at the base of each drawer to give it more of a traditional look, painting it in a chocolaty red hue, and tacking on brass knobs from Amazon. 

Turn It Into a Nightstand, Part 2

Ryia Jose (the blogger behind Kin and Kasa) wasn’t in need of a dresser for her daughter’s bedroom, but she did need a nightstand. So she turned IKEA’s Rast dresser into an ideal storage piece for $75 total by leaving off the toe-kick and bottom drawer, adding fresh feet to the base, cladding the drawer fronts in fluted wood trim, and painting it all in a dark blue. 

Add Definition

After struggling to find a campaign-style dresser for less than $1,000, A Beautiful Mess’s Elsie Larson spruced up a Malm staple with Lewis Dolin bar pulls (they actually cost more than the furniture, but she says the overall savings is still significant). Next up? Corner braces, which she spray-painted to match the shiny brass rods.

Wrap It in Raffia

Rather than drop a cool $4,000 on a piece like Serena & Lily’s raffia-covered Blake dresser, Drew Scott, the YouTuber behind Lone Fox, hacked his Tarva piece for $220. After applying a strip of fine raffia cloth to each of the drawer fronts with Mod Podge, he secured trim around the door edges and painted the wood parts in Benjamin Moore’s Pale Oak.

Beef Up the Pulls

For less than $20, Paper & Stitch blogger Brittni Mehlhoff upgraded her Moppe mini storage chest (a great dresser alternative for a small space or nursery). Her trick: ¾-inch-thick pinewood dowels. She cut the pieces down to size, sanded them, and wrapped them in strips of leather. 

Spice Up the Texture

Erika Lauren of Peony and Honey also used dowels for her DIY—but not the typical wood kind. She cut up rolls of foam, painted them a nude tone, and glued them to the surface to create a channel-quilted look. 

Create a Peekaboo Effect

After assembling her Tarva dresser, blogger Kourtni Munoz of House on Longwood Lane made rectangular cutouts on the drawer fronts using a jigsaw. Then she stained the whole piece so it had a weathered oak finish and stapled cane webbing to the inside of the openings for a beachy-chic feel. 

Build a Dresser Out of Billy Bookcases 

Who said you have to actually start with a dresser? In the awkward hallway that leads to her primary closet and bathroom, Callie Plemel of Home on Harbor installed three IKEA Billy bookcases that were previously in her library and used the framework to design an integrated dresser from scratch. Her construction-savvy husband added drawers to the bottom half of the central bookcase, accounting for one small pullout on the top for jewelry. 

Elevate It (Literally)

IKEA’s Ivar three-drawer chest technically doesn’t come with hardware, but blogger Janelle Burnett changed all that by adding Pretty Pegs’s Greta legs and Stina knobs to two of the dressers (she displayed them side by side to make them look like one piece). The additions were designed specifically for the brand’s furniture, so they attach seamlessly. 

Turn It Into a Changing Table 

Skip specialized nursery furniture by transforming a basic Tarva dresser with some white paint and a colorful pad. Blogger and photographer Erin Kelly sewed the fabric for this cushion herself. 

Go Nuts With Knobs

In order to replicate the look of authentic Jenny Lind furniture, Angelica Kalatzi of My Dear Irene glued flat-back ball knobs around the edges of the drawers. The bright white primer (the blogger used Kilz Adhesion sealer) instantly disguised its dark brown surface. Covering up the knobs will be your biggest time suck, so Kalatzi recommends listening to a captivating podcast for that part.  

Get a Hold on Things With Leather Pulls

It only takes one unexpected material to turn a basic piece of furniture on its head. You don’t have to buy fancy premade pulls for this update. Create your own straps with leather and brass screws. The paint color is all up to you. 

Craft a Mini Library

Can you spot the second IKEA hack? After painting this dresser green and adding sleek knobs to it, Megan Gilger bought two brackets from the company, painted them white, and installed them above the makeshift changing table. She topped the supports with basic wood planks from Lowe’s. Between the cubbies and the shelves, there’s plenty of room for books. 

Go Two-Tone

Shifra Jumelet stained the bottom portion of this dresser a rich brown tone and painted the top a crisp white. But the real surprise was when she swathed all the knobs in a dark dye to create an optical illusion. No one would ever guess it isn’t 100 percent bespoke.

The post A Malm With Sage Green Slats and 14 More Elevated IKEA Dresser Hacks appeared first on domino.

It’s a homeowner rite of passage: Within the first few weeks of moving in, after having spent most of your life savings on this house, something will go wrong. The water heater will go kaput, the basement will flood, or you’ll hear little critter feet scurrying in the attic. Cue the flying cash emoji. It’s not a great feeling—especially if you’re a first-time homeowner, as home services marketplace Angi’s latest report reveals.

In its survey of 1,000 recent homeowners, 19 percent say that unexpected costs were the most surprising thing about owning a home, and 43 percent of the youngest respondents (18-to-24-year-olds) were uncomfortable with how much they had to shell out on home maintenance. 

But while Angi found that first-timers are more likely to invest in a home project early on, 30 percent have regrets—specifically about the kitchen. Forty percent of the remorseful wish they’d remodeled the space right off the bat. Other top projects they would’ve gotten out of the way: painting, new flooring, and a bathroom renovation. If you’re in the same boat, we’re here to remind you that there’s plenty you can change about your current kitchen while you save up for a total transformation. Here are three in-between updates to consider:

Forgo Cabinet Doors Entirely

Are your cupboard fronts a style that no amount of paint can improve? In Leanne Ford’s first iteration of her guesthouse, she kept things charmingly bare bones, hanging gingham curtains in place of cabinet doors.

Board Up Your Backsplash

One day, creator Emily Jane Lathan’s London kitchen will become a bedroom. Until then, a mini makeover is tiding her over. Covering up the uneven plaster walls with tongue-and-groove MDF sheets instead of a typical tile backsplash helped Lathan keep the budget under $4,000.

Give the Hardest-Working Hardware Some Love

Fresh knobs and pulls are a game changer, but don’t overlook the inner workings of your cupboards either. Wildflower Home blogger Marynn Udvarhelyi swapped the old exposed hinges in her kitchen with hidden ones that also happen to be soft-close.

The post 40% of First-Time Homeowners Regret Not Doing This Project Right Away appeared first on domino.

Renovations are pricey—those involving the heart of the home, even more so: According to the Real Remodeling Costs calculator on Houzz, the average cost of a kitchen remodel rings in anywhere from $13,700 to a whopping $44,100. So when you find little shortcuts that can save a few bucks, it’s best to go ahead and take them. Maybe it’s peel-and-stick tile for the backsplash you’ve always wanted or heading to a certain Swedish retailer for your new cupboards. The problem is, IKEA cabinet doors aren’t always the most stylish…and that’s where these companies come in. 

The brand’s cult following has spawned an entire generation of companies aimed at dressing up pared-back basics. You can get slipcovers for your Söderhamn sectional and legs for your Besta—though we’re most interested in the zhuzhed-up fronts that will transform the most basic of cabinetry. If you’re planning an upgrade involving IKEA cabinet doors—even if it’s not for a few months—these makers will convince you to ditch the sledgehammer. 

Fronteriors

Pairs best with: Sektion, Besta, Pax, and Billy cabinets.

The price point: Fronts-wise, you can score a simple solid-color drawer front for a Sektion cabinet starting at $46, or invest more than $450 on a cane door replacement for a Pax closet. The “shop the look” section of the website is the quickest way to get an idea of how much a full hack (doors, sides, and top included) will run you. 

What it’s known for: IKEA is famous for its very flat, very boring cabinet fronts, so we’re guessing part of the reason you’re interested in hacking yours is because you want to add some fresh dimension and texture to your piece. Fronteriors, which is constantly releasing stylish drops, is the place to go if you are craving a hint of linen, a row of slats, closed-cane weave, or trendy oak veneer. 

Cane Closed Weave Door for Besta, Fronteriors ($197)

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Green Framed Oak Door for Sektion, Fronteriors ($190)

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Plykea

Pairs best with: Sektion cabinets.

The price point: The cupboards alone vary but begin at an estimated $2,750 for a small kitchen to $6,450 for a large kitchen. 

What it’s known for: If a colorful dinnerware collection is as bold as you’re willing to go, these are the fronts for you. Plykea offers three different materials—each customizable in a number of hues—but is best known for its classic Scandi style: simple, timeless, and categorically minimalist. They’re best served as is, sans decorative pulls or knobs. 

Birch Ply Doors, Plykea

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Formica Faced Ply Doors, Plykea

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Kokeena

Pairs best with: The Sektion, Pax, and Godmorgon systems.   

The price point: Since everything is tailor-made to your space, you’ll have to reach out for a custom quote. 

What it’s known for: Traditional but make it eco-friendly: The Portland, Oregon–based brand is so committed to sustainability that it’s one of the core values of the company. (It uses low- to zero-VOC paints and varnishes and relies on recycled plant fibers to round out its materials.) This means you can’t go wrong with any of the polished wood doors, but don’t sleep on the Townsend Home collection if you’re craving a deeper dose of color. 

Sage Cabinet, Kokeena

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Moss Cabinet, Kokeena

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Reform

Pairs best with: All IKEA kitchen systems. 

The price point: An average kitchen design is between $20,000 and $30,000.

What it’s known for: The eccentric rich aunt of the kitchen cabinet family: There are luxe finishes, yes, but they’re paired with funkier features like color-blocked fronts and little round handles. This is because of the numerous architects and designers Reform routinely collaborates with, from Norm Architects to Cecilie Manz; it’s high-end on a budget. 

Frame Cabinet Fronts, Reform

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Basis Cabinet Fronts, Reform

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Superfront

Pairs best with: The Metod and Besta systems. 

The price point: Expect to shell out between $39 for a tiny drawer and $293 for a larger cupboard. 

What it’s known for: This collection is all about prints. Pick between fish scales, geometric shapes, and stripes to add a bit of texture in place of cookie-cutter IKEA cabinet doors—or mix and match your lowers and uppers for some real pattern play. 

Geometric Fronts, Superfront

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Fields Fronts, Superfront

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Semihandmade

Pairs best with: The Sektion, Besta, Godmorgon, and now-discontinued Akurum systems. 

The price point: It largely depends on the size and style of your cabinetry, but to give you a good idea, pieces for a four-drawer Godmorgon vanity go for around $735, while the DIY Quarterline Sektion doors (you paint them yourself!) are $104 each.

What it’s known for: The Instagram-famous kitchens you see in all your favorite design stars’ homes. Semihandmade has teamed up with Sarah Sherman Samuel, Chris Loves Julia, and most recently Leanne Ford for various lines, culminating in an offering that has those classic vibes—e.g., natural-colored wood and Shaker silhouettes—but also includes a few more playful options.  

SSS Desert Grey Beaded, Semihandmade

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Supermatte Night Sky Shaker, Semihandmade

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Holte

Pairs best with: The Metod system. 

The price point: An example of a medium kitchen project is £12,775 (or $16,270) for the IKEA cabinetry, Holte fronts, handles, and countertop.

What it’s known for: For anyone looking for something punchier, don’t sleep on Holte’s vivid orange fronts and half-moon–shaped steel pulls (the cobalt shade is also a favorite). There are 120 total colors and six different handles, so if you’re on the hunt for something truly bespoke, you’ll find it in the mix. 

Cobalt HPL Front, Holte

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Mint HPL Front, Holte

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The post 7 Brands to Shop for Your IKEA Cabinet Doors Upgrade appeared first on domino.

Home Front is a weekly deep dive into the rising—and returning—trends, decor, and teeniest of design details fresh on our radar. Last week, Lydia, Domino’s home editor, put her favorite renovation hacks under the microscope.

Subscribe now to get the next Home Front newsletter, and read the full edition here.

The other week, I was interviewing a homeowner about her family’s Santa Ynez vacation home (coming soon on Domino!) and pointed out how I loved the bookcase at the bottom of her staircase. But it turned out it was much more than that: Push on the shelves and the whole thing opens up into the office. “When I was a kid, I always wanted a secret door,” she told me. You might be surprised to hear it, but there’s nothing I love more than being mistaken—when it comes to design details, that is.

On Board

“Oh, that thing you thought was a headboard? It’s actually just paint.” “No, that oven didn’t come in pink—it’s wrapped in vinyl.” I’ve interviewed hundreds of homeowners, designers, architects, and contractors overseeing Domino’s before-and-after content, and the cleverest of them always remind me that the best transformations are never as they seem. Sometimes the deception lies in the material itself, like durable porcelain countertops that only look like marble. In other cases, it all comes down to the way something is applied. Want to avoid spending thousands of dollars on a slab of stone? Line up smaller-scale tile for the same effect. I can show you better than I can tell you. 

Can you spot these renovation tricks right away?

1. DIYer Leah Hodson camouflaged her bathroom in this Calacatta Viola–inspired wall mural and, well, it rocked.
2. Little-known fact: Real concrete is pricey. That’s what has DIYers running to imitation treatments like Ardex’s Feather Finish, a self-drying, cement-based mixture.
3. Talk about a disappearing act. These Reform cabinets are sure to fade into the background—exactly what you want in a small space like my apartment—thanks to their reflective stainless steel fronts.
4. Salvesen Graham covered this London bedroom in De Gournay wallpaper to streamline the many closet doors in the space, but I love how it turned into adding a secret bathroom.
5. Home and garden blogger Cynthia Zamaria is no stranger to butcher block, but in this tiny galley kitchen, she told me she wanted to push herself. Cue stonewood, a golden quartzite that looks like it came from a tree, except you can actually set a hot pan down on it.
6. By using black grout with these dark large-format tiles, one Texas homeowner fooled me into thinking her shower was swathed in seamless slabs.
7. Combine two shades of blue paint (one light, one dark) on basic paneled doors, à la this Jersey City living room, and your space will feel plucked from a Renaissance painting.
8. Beloved British designer Beata Heuman disguised a powder room underneath a staircase with reeded detailing that I’d guess is easy to re-create with hardware store supplies.
9. Here’s hoping that making a walk-in pantry door indistinguishable from the rest of my cabinets will curb my 3 p.m. snacking habit.
10. An oversize dough bowl is an opportunity for a fresh powder room sink—just be sure to waterproof it with a combo of Watco Tung oil, a Varathane urethane oil–based sealant, and Olympic waterproofing sealant, according to DIYer Camille Styles.

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The post I’ve Covered Hundreds of Renovations—Here’s the Trick I Keep Seeing appeared first on domino.

When John McDonald, the founder of Semihandmade, called up Leanne Ford and asked her if she’d want to design a line of semi-custom cabinets for the brand, she had one request: “We have to tackle white oak.” Countless times, the designer has had white oak door fronts show up to a project only for them to have a yellowy orange tint to them (a result of the protective sealant). “One time, 10 of us spent the night with hand-sanders trying to get the veneer off,” recalls Ford. Her goal? To be left with an unfinished, natural look. “I was like, why doesn’t anybody have this ready for us as is?” she adds.

And so, with Semihandmade backing the exclusive collaboration—out today!—Ford drove over to Ohio and worked with some of the makers to concoct the perfect stain formula. Naturally, the designer had to weave in a warm white painted front option, too, using one of her favorite shades: Shoji by Sherwin-Williams. “I wanted this collection to be for anyone, any style, anywhere,” shares Ford. Her edit for the doors was equally tight, sticking to a classic Shaker, a flat slab, and another called Frame, which is basically a skinny version of the Shaker profile. While Semihandmade has been prized as a resource for IKEA kitchen hacks, this collection technically falls under the brand’s own semi-custom line, meaning you get all of the actual cabinet boxes when you place your order. 

Want to put Ford’s cabinet collection to use just as she would? Look no further than her latest project: a historic home on Church Lane in Pittsburgh that the designer bought, renovated, and recently put up for sale. Ahead, in her own words, she shares seven tips for nailing a designer-grade kitchen all on your own.

Don’t Feel Confined by the Kitchen Work Triangle

Before getting on [Semihandmade’s] website, think about the layout of your kitchen. Are you someone who wants your stove to be in the middle of the party? Or do you never even turn it on? Think about all of that. People always talk about “the work triangle.” I have gone away from that many times in my life because I personally don’t mind getting the extra steps in. 

Hack Your Way to a Bespoke Island 

This is another fun hack: In the closet, we put the cabinetry line into a vintage island. I literally just threw it in there. And it’s beautiful on all sides. 

Confused About Door Styles? Start With the Knobs and Pulls

If you’re questioning your door style, think about your hardware first. Do you want it to be big? Do you want it to be small? Do you want it to be hidden? That will help you decide. Like this über-simple slab: It can take any hardware, anything. You can have the weirdest, wildest stuff. Or you can do what I did and powder coat the hardware so it goes away. The Frame is similar; it can carry more options. The Shaker is super-traditional, classic, and for that I’d keep to simpler, smaller hardware. 

Hide Appliances at All Costs

My nonnegotiable is panel-ready appliances. I never want to see the dishwasher. I never want to see the refrigerator. I want that to go away and be involved in the cabinetry.

Get Artsy With Your Countertop

I always do honed marble, not glossy. Let it get stained, let it get beat up. At Church Lane, we did tons of salvaged marble. We just overgrouted it and did wide grout lines—it’s a beautiful, artistic expression. Don’t worry about trying to be perfect; perfect can get very boring. 

Stock Shallow Closets With S-Hooks

We want to live this minimalist life, but we all have junk. This bedroom didn’t allow for deep cabinets, so we layered floor-to-ceiling boxes, and inside, we installed bars with S-hooks for hanging items like denim jeans. 

Know When to Stop Your Millwork

You don’t have to fill a kitchen with cabinetry, left to right. Semihandmade provides these side slabs that let you close it up so you can have space for a beautiful vintage table or a butcher block island. 

The post Leanne Ford Just Debuted Semihandmade Cabinets and Hacked Them Immediately appeared first on domino.

Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum never meant to become repeat brownstone renovators. Bordelon made it halfway through architecture school before he decided to pursue a career in real estate, while Slocum attended film school and then became a baker, which led him to helping build bakeries and ice cream shops. So, sure, they had a thing for design, but it wasn’t until the couple bought a historic 1890 Brooklyn brownstone of their own that they discovered their calling and became better known as the Brownstone Boys. Having worked on dozens of homes at this point, they know the joy of stripping layers of paint off a newel post only to uncover elaborate woodwork. Fortunately, their design tips can apply to just about any restoration, and they’ve outlined it all in their new book, For the Love of Renovating, out June 4. In this excerpt, Slocum and Bordelon reveal a few of the historic details they look to save when they’re working on a project. 

The best part about a historic home is all of the charming original features it comes with. One of our favorite things about renovating is working with the amazing artisans in their respective fields—wood restorers, plaster artists, stained-glass specialists, stone workers, and many more—to revive and restore these unique elements.

Wood Restoration 

The beautiful original woodwork in historic homes is really hard to replicate, as it was usually carved by hand. In some of the houses that we work in, we find it painted over with many layers of globby paint. A bad paint job on top of a previous bad paint job is not a good combination! One of our favorite things to do to transform a historic home is to strip the woodwork back to its original beauty. Seeing those many layers of paint come off is so rewarding. It’s like a walk back through time as each layer is removed.

Stripping wood is a tough job. We rely on professionals who have a lot of experience. Unfortunately, it involves chemicals that can be dangerous and techniques that can damage the wood if you don’t know what you’re doing. If it’s a smaller job or if you just want to give it a go, there are a lot of DIY products out there. We have found the most successful way is using a heat gun to remove the majority of the paint, then using a chemical stripper to remove what doesn’t come up with the heat gun. After that, the wood is cleaned with denatured alcohol and steel wool. By now you should be able to see the beautiful wood in all its glory. Continue to clean with the denatured alcohol until it’s completely freed from its paint prison! Once it is stripped completely raw, we like to put on something to finish and condition it. If you do want to stain it, now would be the time, but we prefer just putting on something like tung oil or a clear matte water-based polyurethane.

Floor Restoration

One common problem with old houses is crooked floors! Years of settling and sagging of the joists can cause this. It’s one of the things we look for when we first see a new project that’s an old house. If the floors have severe grades, we know it’s going to be a big job. Although underlying structural issues can be the problem, if a bearing wall below wasn’t removed or some other structural alteration done, it’s usually just a cosmetic issue. Unfortunately, it usually means the floors have to come up to fix the issue. Sometimes the original floors can be salvaged but often they’ll have to be fixed. The fix involves removing all of the flooring and subfloor until the saggy joists are exposed and then attaching a new piece of lumber onto the old joist (also called “sistering”) to bring it back up to a level surface. Since the floor sagging is what is causing the slanted floors, sistering brings it up to the highest point. Then a new subfloor can be laid and a new floor on top of it. If that sounds like a big job, it is, but unfortunately that’s not all of that. There are often other adjustments that need to be made as a result. As the floor comes up to its new level surface, you’ll need to adjust the doors, trim like baseboards and door casings, as well as the stairs, as heights may change.

If you are lucky and have original floors that are relatively level, you can likely just restore them. A flooring expert who specializes in historic floor restoration is best. They can fill in damaged and missing pieces, sand everything down, and refinish it. One of the biggest questions is if there is enough wood left for the floors to be sanded and refinished. Since historic floors are made from solid wood, that’s usually not a problem. Our finish of choice is a clear matte polyurethane like Bona Traffic HD in extra matte.

Staircases

We have an affinity for original staircases. The banister, balusters, and posts remind us of all the people who have gone up and down, living their lives, over the centuries. We don’t mind a little squeak and will opt to keep what we have and repair it rather than replace it whenever we can. Let’s start with the banister. We’ve stripped paint from many balusters, railings, and newel posts, and we are always happy with what we see. You can rarely buy new balusters off the shelf to match, and that’s one of the things we love about them. When we have damaged or missing ones, we have them made at a local wood shop. We just take one over and the woodworkers spin as many new ones as we need using the same species of wood. Sometimes we have an additional handrail made as well. It can get a little tricky with curves, turns, and details you might find on a newel post. For that, we bring in a skilled woodworker who can replicate what we need. We know that might all sound expensive, but it’s likely less so than replacing everything.

Now for the treads and risers. You may have the same problem here as with some of your original floors: Often the original stairs sag and end up leaning to the side, making you feel like you’re in a fun house. Depending on how severe the lean is, we sometimes cough it up to a bit of character, but if it’s something that bothers you, it can be fixed. It usually involves removing the banister (so it can be replaced later). We’ve jacked up staircases and built in a new structure, and we have also leveled each stair individually and replaced the treads. A professional will be able to help you determine what can be done.

If they are in really bad shape, however, you may want to replace them. The treads can be sanded, and the risers can be stripped and refinished, but as you can imagine, stairs often take a beating over the years. This is another place where we don’t mind a bit of character.

If you want to save your original stairs but they are very squeaky, that can also be fixed to some degree. It may be possible to repair them from underneath. There is often plaster on the underside of the stairs that can be removed so that the structural workings are exposed. Screws, new pieces of wood, and glue can be used to stabilize what is moving around and causing the squeaks. After the repairs are made, the plaster can be repaired or drywall can be installed to look just the way it always did.

Fireplaces and Flues

If you’re lucky enough to have a home with a beautiful original fireplace, we are jealous! It’s one of the features that just screams “charm” in an old home. If your fireplace isn’t in great shape or isn’t functional, getting it back in working order might be high on your list of priorities. Some fireplace facades are just for show, and you might be okay with the charm they bring even if you can’t light a fire. We see a lot of marble fireplace facades and mantels that have been painted. We always wonder why anyone would do that! Fortunately, you can strip off the paint to reveal the beautiful stone. We like to use a peel-away stripper.

After the stripper is applied, it’s covered in special laminated paper sheets and left on for days until it is peeled off, taking all the paint off with it. It works great on marble. The stone can then be cleaned with acetone to remove stains and discoloring. If you have a wood fireplace facade, you may also want to strip off the paint or varnish. It works the same as stripping any other wood in your home. Wood fireplace facades often have tile or stone around the opening in the center, which can be in really bad shape. Also, and we are not afraid to say this, some of the colors or styles originally chosen (or perhaps replaced early in its life) just aren’t, well, very attractive. So if the tile is in bad shape and not that cute, we don’t mind changing it. We get to keep the beautiful original facade and mantel but breathe some new life into it by updating this feature.

If you do plan to use your fireplace for burning wood, you’ll want to make sure the flue is clean and operating properly. A professional should inspect it to be sure. The flue can be relined if needed so that it works again. Brickwork can even be done to repair the firebox or chimney.

“For the Love of Renovating: Tips, Tricks and Inspiration for Creating Your Dream Home” by Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum , Amazon ($32)

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Designer and Spaces founder Hollie Velten has a knack for underutilized rooms. She proved as much to her Chatham, New Jersey–based client when she renovated her basement in the depths of the pandemic, turning the 1,000-square-foot area into a place where her family can watch TV, read, grab a snack, and do homework. Fast-forward a year or so, and that same homeowner wanted to do something similar to the space directly above the basement. She wanted to give her entryway purpose. 

“A lot of these northern New Jersey homes are center-hall Colonials with a foyer where most people just put a console table and mirror,” says Velten. “It’s wasted square footage.” The brief was to turn what was just passive space into something usable for the family and guests. Velten worked with Partello Renovations and Ale Wood and Design to integrate custom millwork where a bulky closet once stood, all while drawing inspiration from her client’s California upbringing and the history of Chatham. 

Don’t Let a Closet Cramp Your Style

After an architect greenlit the removal of the coat closet adjacent to the fireplace, Velten’s team took it out, which instantly made the room feel less claustrophobic. “The house was begging to have it removed,” she says.

Plus the tiny mudroom by the front door is now outfitted with two small cubbies, a shelf, and Shaker pegs for stashing outerwear. Taking the closet’s place? A built-in bench. 

Velten’s inspiration was a mashup of sources. She wanted the seating to be made out of a warm, organic wood that would remind her client of her 1970s California upbringing. Then the designer dug up old photos of the nearby Chatham train station and found pictures of corbels with ring motifs. A lightbulb went off: She turned to the furniture designs of Viennese secessionists, specifically Austrian architect and designer Josef Hoffmann, whose bentwood chairs from the 1940s featured circular cutouts. All of this culminated in a nook that has perforated details, shelves for books, and a curved arm. 

Stash Your Phone Away

While the homeowner imagined her kids reading in the corner by the fireplace, she knew, realistically, it would be a screen-time spot. “We can’t deny that we have cell phones and iPads,” says Velten. For practical reasons, she integrated a cubby within the wall where they can store devices and charge them (there’s an outlet in there). The compartment is hidden by a hole-filled panel attached with magnets. 

Make Decorating a Family Affair

To mark the room’s new function, Velten refreshed the fireplace with Delft-inspired tile from Etsy that shows scenes of children playing. “These homes can feel very, very serious,” she says of choosing a motif that felt equal parts playful and traditional. She finished it off with a hearth made of a limestone remnant. 

Velten was initially hoping to plop in Tiffany glass windows where the recessed niche is located in the stairwell. But no dice. Instead she swathed it in an Antoinette Poisson wallpaper and added narrow shelves for displaying little vases (or even Legos). “It’s something the kids can have a role in curating, too,” she explains. 

Go Back in Time

While thinking about how train travelers used to carry precious hatboxes and suitcases adorned with shiny zipper closures, Velten infused the powder room with the same glamorous energy. “I wanted it to be kind of industrial and a little precious,” she says. The designer translated her vision with a copper sink from Watermark Fixtures and red-brown zellige wall tile topped with honed Viola marble bullnose trim. 

Stay Open

Opposite from the fireplace, Velten dressed up the existing bay-window bench with vintage floral fabric and custom shades. She intentionally didn’t stick another sofa in the middle of the room, leaving it open so the client can host parties (or so that the kids can do cartwheels).

When they want to use the benches for conversational seating, the family can easily pull up an ottoman or side table. “The homeowner has been really expressive about how much she uses it now and how it was completely inactive before,” says the designer. Case in point: Shortly after the reno wrapped, the family threw a holiday party as an accordion player performed for guests on the staircase. 

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In Renovator’s Notebook, homeowners open up about the nitty-gritty of their remodels: How long it really took; how much it actually cost; what went horribly wrong; and what went wonderfully, serendipitously, it’s-all-worth-it-in-the-end right.  

Square footage: 210

Year built: Late 1800s

Top priority: Remove the micro-kitchen on the top floor of a Brooklyn brownstone in order to add a much needed primary bedroom.

For the first two years that Aubrey Ament and Will Glaser were living in their Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, brownstone, it was a “construction sandwich.” The couple, who run the design firm GLAM Studio, started revamping their garden level shortly after they moved in, with the goal of listing it as a short-term rental on Airbnb so they could secure some extra income and put it toward their mortgage. They treated the floor above that, the parlor, as their living room with the eventual goal of building out their dream kitchen. And until that could become a reality, the couple and their then-newborn son, Theo, holed up on the third floor, where they installed a micro-kitchen they bought at IKEA for $5,000, a dining area, and a shared bedroom. This setup made entertaining an intimate affair, to say the least. “We were cooking Christmas dinner, and my sister-in-law is sitting on the bed while the pork is roasting 8 feet away in the oven,” Ament recalls. 

Then things quickly changed. Airbnb made it more difficult to have a listing in New York City, and the pair realized traversing up and down all of those stairs was becoming a nuisance for their two arthritic senior dogs. So they pivoted: Last summer, they nixed their Airbnb and instead started renting out the space to brands for photo shoots—it was a huge hit. “In August, we booked five different shoots and made three times as much as we would have from Airbnb,” says Ament. 

Ultimately, it gave the couple the financial confidence to do something they never thought they could afford: They claimed their entire brownstone for themselves. This meant they could begin building a true cooking space on the parlor level and trade in their tiny kitchen for a proper—and, most important, private—primary bedroom.  

The Receipts 

Here’s a taste of what the designers spent (and gained!) as they transformed their old kitchen–slash–dining room into a bedroom, including newly purchased furniture and decor. 

• Gut and patch old kitchen: $900
• Fireplace mantel and cast-iron insert: $0 
• Salvaged hearthstone: $500
• Mantel repair and installation: $1,000
• Sin ceramics for the shelves: $290
• Hook and Loom area rug: $525
• IKEA nightstands: $119 x 2 = $238
• IKEA bedside table lamps: $55 x 2 = $110

Total: $3,563

Selling the kitchen on Facebook Marketplace: -$3,500

Final cost: $63

Listing Our Old Kitchen on Facebook Marketplace

Aubrey Ament: The ramping up of our production shoots has allowed us to spread out over all three floors, ditch the micro-kitchen on the top floor, and add a much needed primary bedroom (before, we were squished into a space with our toddler, Theo).

The kitchen was designed to be temporary but ended up very cute in the end. The cabinets are IKEA Sektion with Voxtorp matte white fronts with integrated pulls. The butcher block counter is from Facebook Marketplace and cut to fit. The sink and faucet are from Home Depot, and the oven is a discontinued 24-inch Smeg gas range I found on eBay. 

We thought, hey, maybe we can sell the whole kitchen on Facebook Marketplace and that’ll help pay for switching this room out.

Will Glaser: There are people who want a relatively new kitchen with relatively new appliances for half the price. A good rule of thumb is to list it for 65 to 70 percent of what the value is, especially if it’s only a couple years old. We had some inquiries right away, but they were either lowballs or, in some cases, they wanted just one part of it. It took about a month to find a buyer who was actually interested. I was pretty stoked to get $3,500 at the end of the day.

The IKEA kitchen is an easy “on and off” sort of system. There’s main support rails attached to the wall and the cabinets hook onto that. There’s legs that support it as well. But really, after you unscrew the cabinets, take off the doors, and take off the countertop, they just lift right off. A plumber had to come in to detach the appliances, and then the buyers came over with their van and moved everything out. 

A month later they called us and said, “Hey, we have some of your dishes.” We had accidentally left them in the dishwasher! It was a chaotic time, so the missing plates didn’t even register with us. They were really sweet and dropped them back off in a reusable grocery bag.

Gifting Backsplash Tile to Friends

Ament: We had our friends Sarah and Teddy over for pizza and wine, and we were showing them how we were taking apart the kitchen. We were like, “Hey, do you want these Block Shop x Fireclay tiles?” And they said, “Actually, yeah!”

Glaser: They were finishing out their basement and wanted a kitchenette. 

Glaser: We thought about chipping the tiles off the wall, but that seemed like a likely way to break a bunch of them. So we used a Sawzall to cut the tiles off with the drywall itself, because we knew we were going to have to replace the drywall anyway. We made four big panels of tile attached to drywall. 

Ament: Teddy came over a week later and grabbed them, and they ended up cutting the Sheetrock at their house to fit our tiled Sheetrock.

Restoring Our Neighbor’s Historic Mantels

Glaser: We were interested in the house next door because it had been abandoned for 25 years and it was an exact copy of our house. We were pretty sure that no renovations had ever been done on it, so we thought, maybe it has a bunch of original hardware.

A developer bought it and was demoing the entire place but told us we were welcome to look around and take things if we wanted them. We saw these gorgeous marble mantels on the parlor floor. The next day, we went over with chisels and full hazmat gear and carried them piece by piece into our backyard, where they lived for a couple of months until we were able to get them installed. 

To even buy a mantel new like that would be a couple thousand dollars, so even though it was $1,000 to repair and install each mantel (one is in our son’s room), you’re paying for two people to work a day and a half, matching up the pieces and gluing them in such a way that minimizes imperfections. 

Interestingly, there were no hearthstones in the neighbor’s house. The person who installed our mantels had a connection and was able to source those for us for $500 each. 

Keeping the Open Shelving (for Now)

Glaser: There was definitely a discussion around the most efficient way to have storage in a bedroom. Eventually, we want to build something out. But we thought the open shelves looked good, and we really don’t have a ton of budget left to do much more.

Creating a Haven for Our Toddler

Ament: The bedroom we had before was shared with our son, and we were tired of sneaking in at night and not being able to turn on the lights or make noise because we didn’t want to wake him up.

“Does a kid’s room really need a mantel?” We asked ourselves. But we are always keeping in mind our side business, and that’s a really big thing in New York: having multiple spaces where you can shoot. 

We took inspiration from other brownstone kids’ rooms and put the toddler bed to the right of the mantel, hung his mobile and some art above it, and got a full-size area rug that’s this really springy cotton that’s good for playrooms. This room can be a lot of things: You can fit a queen-size bed in here, you can turn the small alcove on the other side of the room into an exercise area or a sectioned-off bedroom for another kid. We are always down for flexibility.

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Summer is the season to add water to your swimming pool, buy that firepit you’ve been eyeing, and give your exterior a fresh coat of paint. But it’s also the time to say goodbye to things around your house that just aren’t serving you anymore. Thumbtack, the online directory that allows users to discover and hire local home-care professionals, is calling it “the great undoing.” 

According to the company’s new spring-summer trends report, many homeowners are focused on ridding their spaces of regretful design decisions, with wallpaper removal up +77% year-over-year and carpet removal up +57%. These projects both cracked Thumbtack’s top 10 list, following tasks like AC repair, plumbing inspection, and pesticide application. Other trending “undoings” not mentioned in the breakdown below include junk removal and tree trimming and removal.

The Top 10 Renovations of Spring-Summer ’24

1. Window, wall, or portable AC repair or maintenance 
2. Plumbing inspection  
3. Duct and vent repair 
4. Outdoor pesticide application 
5. Wallpaper removal 
6. Home waterproofing  
7. Sump pump installation or repair  
8. Smart home installation or repair 
9. Carpet removal  
10. Swimming pool inspection

We’re guessing allergy season got many people thinking about how their dated carpeting has become a cozy home for dust, and that with the announcement of some chic new wallpaper collections, they’ve started to rethink the chintz they chose five years ago. 

Just because these two projects are technically easier than, say, ripping out a concrete driveway, that doesn’t mean they’re free. Hiring a pro to scrape away old wallpaper costs $300 to $600 on average, but a DIY is certainly on the table. When design blogger Maggie Nelson and her husband, Ben, did it, they avoided harsh chemicals and instead peeled back the thick layers of paint and wallpaper in their house with a natural blend of equal parts hot water and white vinegar. They put the solution into spray bottles, applied it to small sections, let it soak for five to 10 minutes, and then chipped away using a scraper with a sharp blade. 

By Thumbtack’s calculations, ripping up old carpeting will run you $200. Although as homeowner Sade Strehlke learned, the cost of tearing out old carpeting can quickly soar above $3,000 when it involves renting multiple dumpsters, demolishing cabinets or millwork around it, and paying a small crew to tackle and oversee the labor. 

Once you’ve established a clean slate, you can focus on all the fun decisions—Installing white oak floors! Drenching your walls in paint!—come fall.

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