Culled from readers and editors over the years, here are 10 nuggets to help you renovate and decorate without spending a fortune. Taken together, they suggest both a timeline (plan ahead!) and an approach (listen to the house). Take your time. Seek advice from other renovators, reliable contractors, and a designer who can help you avoid pitfalls.
Restoring architectural elements damaged over time requires ingenuity and labor but it isn’t necessarily difficult. Two recent projects—one pro, one DIY—show how perseverance brings wood ornamentation beautifully back to
useful life.
Houses of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s are now old enough to suffer from the indignities of age as well as constant assaults made to “update” them. Applied thoughtfully, modern materials and methods will make them better than new.
Not every old house is destined for restoration in full period style. But more can be saved from demolition if tax credits are used to justify rehabilitation costs.
When Bill Ticineto and Jill Chase added a period-appropriate verandah to their 1920s-era home, building a new porch railing for the steps to their side yard was a necessity. Here’s how they did it.
Regardless of the condition, restoring antique lighting fixtures is one of the best ways to maintain your old house’s original character. Here we give you an enlightening tutorial about saving vintage fixtures: safety, cleaning, replacing missing parts, and special finishes.
Does your old house restoration project include sprucing up painted wood floors? A few days’ work and a little know-how can leave wide boards beautiful for decades.
Since the urban-pioneer days of the 1970s, the residential restoration movement has been fluid and ever-changing, adopting new techniques and modern materials along the way.