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1925 Craftsman bath
Our efficient (small) 1925 Craftsman home features just under 900 square feet on the main floor with another 200 square feet on the typical half second floor. As home to my wife, two children, two...
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Kitchen remodel
1 commentThis is our kitchen remodel that spanned 6 years. We started in 2003 on our 1960's ranch style kitchen and had made pretty good progress by 2006. Then we had a big flood from a burst pipe...
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Hotel Bath to Home Bath
When my wife and I bought this house three years ago, we knew the first thing I’d do was to remodel the bathroom. Our first impression of the existing bath was a confused...
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In-Law Bathroom Project
Luckily the inlaws had an extra bathroom and a whole lot of patience while this renovation was going on. Working every Saturday for 9 months has finally paid off!
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1850's Mill Workers Cottage
This kitchen is in a 2 family house that was a neglected rental property for many years. It was in really poor shape. I gutted as litlle as possible and did all the work my self including...
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Transformation of a dim galley to an inviting, open, gourmet kitchen
Purpose of the Project: To turn a drab, dimly lit, plain, galley kitchen into a dramatic and open space for a young professional who enjoys cooking and entertaining. This was a very ordinary condo...
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Craftsman Kitchen
A complete renovation of existing late 40's kitchen remodel to a 1915 craftsman. Existing Marlite wall and ceiling finishes were removed. Existing T&G fir paneling was removed...
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Award Winning Restoration
1 commentWinner of the Griffin Award for residential rehabilitation in Asheville, NC, this home went from "in the rough" to "high-end, green restoration". As part of a whole house restoration, the...
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FROM OLD TO NEW
OUR KITCHEN WAS COMPLETELY GUTTED. IT ORIGINALLY MEASURED 12X17, AND AFTER THE ADDITION IT MEASURES 18X26. IT HAS A WALK IN BUTLER'S PANTRY AND A WORKING ISLAND THAT COMFORTLY SEATS 4. THERE'S A...
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1970's Bathroom Renovation (Product from Lowes / Work done by Me)
This half-bath still had the original wild looking yellow wall paper the 1970’s before we launched our attack on this room. We chose to buy all our products, materials and tools...
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1970's Master Bathroom Renovation (Product from Lowes / Work done by Me)
This small master bathroom still had the original shower doors from the 1970’s! Not only was this room ugly, but it was in desperate need of repair. The original shower was cracked...
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50 Year Old Kitchen Update
This is a kitchen remodel we did for a neighbor and it is one of our favorites. The original Kitchen was over 50 years old. The project included relocating the door to the Garage, opening a...
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Turning the Corner
2 commentsI tend toward obsessive when it comes to efficiency, so for me the layout of our kitchen was labored over during many a restless night. Back in 1952 when our house was constructed, I’m sure the...
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1970's Bathroom Renovation (Product from Lowes / Work done by Me)
This bathroom was straight from the 1970’s! Not only was it ugly, but it was in desperate need of repair. The original tub / shower was cracked, flaking apart and leaking. The...
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1970's Kitchen Remodel (Product from Lowes / Work done by Me)
Here’s our 1970’s kitchen with what’s left of the ugly wall paper, mustard yellow countertops, crooked kitchen cabinets, leaking plumbing fixtures, broken appliances, a wobbly...
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Bad to Fab Bathroom in 3 days
1 commentThis was a bathroom from the '80's in my mother's house. She wanted to remodel it and update it in order to make her house more competitive when she goes to sell it. In this project, I gutted the...
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Bathroom Renovation
This is a conversion of 1970's his/her bathrooms plus two closets and a hallway into one modern bath and separate toilet room. I am not a professional contractor (I am a Surgeon), but all the...
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1925 Kitchen Renovation
Our 1925 bungalow in Asheville, NC, had seen many frightening updates in the last 80 years. As part of our whole-house restoration, we tackled the dysfunctional and ugly kitchen, whose...
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Our Kitchen Renovation- from cottage hodgepodge to country elegant
We decided to redo the kitchen and used Signature Gallery in Royersford, PA for the kitchen design and cabinet construction. With their help we decided on tiger maple and black distressed...
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Dingy Kitchen Gets Spiced Up
I am a part time remodeler and full time police officer. This was the first project I took on as a semi-professional renovator. This home is a 100 year old house in the downtown- Little...
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Want to see the winner entries?
Fine Homebuilding editors are a finicky bunch, and opinionated too. So the task of narrowing down the nearly 150 entries from our “Before and After: What’s Old is New Again,” kitchen and bath contest to just five winners wasn’t easy.
After the field was narrowed down to a group of fifteen, the editors convened with coffee and notebooks into a conference room equipped with a projector (for easier viewing). After going back and forth, and sometimes cringing, a few entries kept rising above the others, and viola, we found our winners.
Thanks to all who entered, and congratulations to the winning participants who will be mailed a new, DeWalt 18V 1/2" XRP LiIon Hammerdrill/Drill/Driver kit.
To view the winners, and a few runners-up, click here.


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