The ugliest house in the world

This little gem was a house that someone converted to a duplex back in the 70's. My goal was to make it a single family house again priced for a first time home buyer.

Since the house was vacant, the neighbors left sacks of leaves. Thanks neighbor!

The outside entrance bump out would become closet spaces for bedrooms on both levels.

This entrance would be removed

It had a lovely kitchen

And an even nicer bathroom.

They got their vengeance with the color scheme

 Marvin the Martian from Bugs Bunny!

Not sure what the color palette was on the cabinets

A really narrow passage for the upstairs apartment needed to be made wider

Upstairs kitchen

upstairs bathroom

Opened up the kitchen wall to the family room, its already better

Found the original stairs hidden behind a wall cabinet

opened up the steps upstairs to give it a bigger landing

43 tons of waste were taken out of the house, 33 tons of it were recycled

97% of the wiring was redone. Some of it had been put together with scotch tape

The area where the old stairwell was on the side of the house became a large closet

Spray foam insulation. Behind the scenes stuff that costs a lot but you don't see.

Starting to wrap the house for the new siding

gutted kitchen

A peek at the new hardwood

A pass through from the kitchen to the dining area

Bathroom fixtures going into place.

Old tilted porch came off and a window was added on the right side after side door was removed

Upstairs bathroom fixture

Upstairs bathroom taking shape

Upstairs landing is more open and trim work is in place

Remember Marvin the Martian? This was his room.

Upstairs family room

The upstairs kitchen is now the master bedroom

Kept the staging light,  just to accent the kitchen

Making a cabin into a cottage

The wonderful thing about design is that everything in the world is up for grabs when it comes to making it better. This cabin located on Medicine Lake is a great example. It was mouse infested, dog infested and was an eyesore to the neighbors, but the location was perfect, just a few steps off of the lake and the original fireplace was a must-keep.

We got into it and gutted it down to the 24" spaced studs. The bathroom floor was so rotted the tub almost fell through.

The framing was reinforced so we could vault the ceilings in the tiny space.

 Spray foam was used to ensure the right r-value and snug up the whole cabin for our Minnesota winters and warm summers

Sheetrock! Believe it or not, there are some beautiful hardwood floors under that white dust.

The original space between the house and 3-season porch was opened up and insulated to become part of the family room area. This gave us an extra 250+ square feet that was really needed and also gave you the ability to see the lake when in the kitchen.

 Vaulted ceiling in bedroom and closet laundry area.

 Selecting paint colors that will work with the log siding

 The first sanding of the original red fir floor. It was in really tough shape but I knew that it would be beautiful when restored.

 SInce it was going to be a rental unit, Stock cabinets were used and inexpensive 24" travertine tiles were used for the counters.

 Fireplace is all cleaned up and I replaced the bad mantle beam with a chunk of Douglas Fir from a turn of the century windmill.

 The flag artwork was created from the saved 1938 newspaper insulation from within the walls.

 We used the same travertine in the tiny bathroom but cut it in half and staggered it to keep with the proportion of the floor plan.

 The same stones used in the fireplace had been used in the original foundation as well.