How a family transformed an old house on their own.
Repair without designers and preparation – is this possible? The editor of the Remodelista portal, Isabella Simons, showed with her example how to restore an old house that has not been updated for decades.
Isabella and her husband purchased this house in a deplorable state: there was rubbish from the previous owners lying around, and there was a persistent smell of mold in the rooms. All the work had to be done from scratch, so the overhaul took about a year.
The kitchen was done in black and white, and open shelves instead of closed ones made the interior more airy.
In the dining room, some partitions were eliminated, and the area itself was combined with a library, living room and kitchen.
Isabella bought a gilded vintage mirror in Chicago at a sale – the bottom was rotten and needed to be restored. They also found a dining table there, eventually resuscitating it too. But the hostess built the hangings above the table herself.
The bedroom was equipped with a four-poster bed, for which a new headboard was designed. Isabella’s husband painted the bed frame, her mother sewed the curtains, and the family made the cornices from copper pipes.
They decided to equip one room in the house as a library. In order not to fill the entire room with shelving, shelves were installed up to the ceiling.
A vintage Swedish couch, made in the 19th century, looks great in the interior of a children’s room.
As for the attic, it was converted into a home office for Isabella’s husband, Brandon. To achieve this, another 42 m² was added to the existing area. Large panoramic windows were installed in the room, which let in daylight.
