BEFORE & AFTER: SMALL SPACE RENO

Back a couple of years ago I was renovating a small apartment above my office. This was an extremely small space with a tiny bathroom, kitchen and two small rooms. As soon as I saw the space I knew I wanted to open up the wall between the two small rooms, to make one larger room as the main living area. This would help with light and would open up the whole space.  Also, I was able to lift the old linoleum floor and uncover the original wooden floors underneath. My Dad helped me lift the many layers of old flooring, you can see the floor removal on the right hand side of the first picture. Here it is as the floor is coming up and the wall starts coming down.

Great to see the light is starting to come through from the other side.

Finally opened up! Love seeing through to the other side.

Here it is opened, now time for drywall, lighting and paint.

Here it is painted.

And here are the results! The space was featured in House & Home small space issue in September 2012, see the spread here: http://www.debnelsondesign.com/?page_id=48

BEFORE & AFTER: AN OLD BATHROOM GETS A NEW LOOK

A bathroom renovation can become extensive pretty quickly. In my case I not only renovated the bathroom, but I actually moved the second floor bathroom to a new location. The house was built in 1844 and had several additions over the years. The original second floor bathroom was over an addition, and when the house was being gutted, all the plumbing was being redone. Since the plumbing all had to go, I also wanted to move all of the new plumbing to be accessible in the basement of the house (previously pipes were running out into crawl spaces and under additions). I was able to layout the house so this worked, and I was so happy to have all the brand new plumbing easily accessible in the basement. The planning of the bathroom took some figuring out. There was a very small room at the front of the house that I felt like would be the best spot to take over for the bathroom. I wanted to use the original pedestal sink and claw foot tub – I especially loved the old chunky hardware on the sink and the tub. There was a time when I thought I wouldn't use the sink, but I'm so glad that I did.

Here is the original bathroom in it's first location before the renovation.

This is the small room that I thought should be the bathroom. Here it is before.

Here it is with me trying the sink in the space, I wanted to see how the sink and tub would look in here. The guys kindly moved the very heavy tub and sink into the space so I could get an idea of how it would look and fit.

I decided I loved it. The start of the plumbing for the tub:

Here is a close up of the sink hardware and electrical wiring being done above it.

And when the changes really start...new drywall, lighting is now in....and PAINT! At this time I also had the base of the claw foot tub painted black.

And finally the finished, renovated bathroom.

BEFORE & AFTER: CABINET

Back when I was working on CBC TV doing a regular segment called Deb on a Dime, I was always looking for inexpensive furniture. I'd often go by Value Village and check out the second hand furniture, and this is where I found this cabinet. I wanted to show this makeover because you really can decorate on any budget. Sometimes it means you'll have to get your hands dirty and Do-It-Yourself but you can find some great treasures. The things I always look for are the size and shape of a piece of furniture, everything else can be changed. For this project I needed a narrow cabinet and this one fit the bill. It also provided a pretty good amount of storage inside the unit. I picked it up for $9.99, here it is before:

It definitely wasn't pretty but I could see the potential. I spray painted it white and I covered the glass doors with frosted vinyl. It didn't take a lot of time, or cost much in materials, to totally transform the cabinet. Here it is after:

BEFORE & AFTER: A FIREPLACE GETS A MAKEOVER

When I purchased my house I loved the original details – and since the house was built in 1844 there were some beautiful, old, unique features. I especially liked the fireplace in the living room and even though I was starting a renovation, I wanted to keep the fireplace intact as much as I could. Here's how it looked before:

Like any renovation, the list of things to figure out and research was extensive. I felt like I got a fireplace PhD pretty quickly! I had a few obstacles to figure out – and I really wanted to keep a wood burning fireplace. I thought about just leave the whole thing alone. But on the flip side of that, the old chimney had no liner or flue, and the firebox opening on this fireplace was huge. So basically I had a giant opening in the living room and in the winter all of the heat would go up the chimney. But the first summer and fall after the renovation I kept the original fireplace (just painted it) to make my final decision. Here is how it looked then.

By the fall when the weather was getting cold, the lack of efficiency didn't make any sense, so I started looking at wood burning inserts for the fireplace. There were a few I liked, but of course I wanted something flush that didn't look like wood stove stuck in the fireplace. This also would still mean buying wood, chopping, starting fires every day, etc.

In the end I went to a propane (or gas) insert, the biggest reason was the ease of having it. I realized I would likely have the fireplace on in the morning before work and again for a couple of hours in the evening, it didn't make sense to start up a wood fire only to have to put it out again. The convenience of propane made sense for me – although I miss the smell of a wood burning fire.

The propane insert hunt took some time, I wanted something that looked authentic and I went with one that had double doors on it which I think suited the house. I had to rebuild the hearth and surround to make the insert fit in the wide opening of the firebox and the mantel. It all took some time to figure out and calculate the right proportions (how high to raise the hearth, etc.). In the end I'm happy with the decision and with the look!

BEFORE & AFTER: OFFICE MAKEOVER

A few years back I did an office makeover for House & Home magazine. The homeowner worked from home and desperately wanted a new office that was organized, had storage solutions and looked stylish. The room had nice high ceilings, but was so empty it actually echoed! I knew it needed to have drapery and a rug to help with the sound. Here is the room before:

I also wanted to add some colour to the room, so I went with a soft green grass cloth on the walls. I added a new desk and vintage chair (I love this desk chair), and bookcases behind that. I added a large white credenza for storage and made a burlap covered cork board above this. In the opposite corner there was room for a comfortable chair for her office guests.

For people that work from home having a nice home office to go into every day can make you feel more organized and hopefully more productive!

Here are more 'after' pictures from House & Home magazine. All 'after' photos by Donna Griffith.