Who doesn’t love the moment in a magazine makeover where the mousy housewife is transformed into a raving beauty? Well, the same is true for home transformations. Nothing gets our renovation blood pumping like a ramshackle or outdated ranch or dreary colonial transformed into a dream home. Local contractors share some of their amazing success stories and the behind-the-scenes details of how they turned ugly ducklings into swans.
Dunwoody
Mosaic Group (architects and remodelers)
Porch addition
Biggest challenge: For clients who loved to entertain, but had a nearly unusable backyard, the challenge was transitioning from inside to outside in a seamless fashion. Finding materials, including tigerwood and bluestone, that required little maintenance was also crucial.
Proudest moment: Mosaic Group co-owner Rick Goldstein was thrilled when the homeowners told him “that the project exceeded their expectations.”
Grant Park
Distinctive Remodeling Solutions
Whole house renovation
Biggest challenge: Distinctive Remodeling Solutions owner Mark Buelow was tasked with taking a neglected 1910 home chopped up into four apartments and unoccupied for several years and making it work for a young family without losing its historic integrity.
Proudest moment: “We kind of brought it back to its original look and feel,” Buelow said of a home that now blends in perfectly with its historic neighborhood.
Roswell
Distinctive Remodeling Solutions
Front porch addition
Biggest challenge: “Getting the right design that would blend the new and the old,” Distinctive Remodeling Solutions owner Mark Buelow said.
Proudest moment: “It was the talk of the neighborhood. It really just transformed that house,” observed Buelow, who especially loves the porch’s bead-board ceiling stained a rich brown to match the front door. “You don’t expect it, and it’s a really neat wow feature.”
Marietta
Distinctive Remodeling Solutions
Whole house renovation
Biggest challenge: Making the homeowner’s vision of creating a European-inspired castle (complete with a turret for the client’s study) come to life within the requirements of Marietta’s historic district.
Proudest moment: Despite a budget that grew by 30 percent over the course of the job, Distinctive Remodeling Solutions owner Mark Buelow said, “The client was just thrilled with it.”
Roswell
Distinctive Remodeling Solutions
Kitchen, mudroom and laundry renovation
Biggest challenge: For Distinctive Remodeling Solutions owner Mark Buelow, the biggest challenge was also the job’s biggest pleasure. His client was very hands-on and design-savvy, which meant keeping careful track of the details to make sure her needs were met.
Proudest moment: By thinking creatively, the designer and the contractor were able to create a multipurpose space in the laundry room. The washer and dryer are hidden inside cabinets so that when the owner has company, it serves as a secondary space for entertaining.
Roswell
Distinctive Remodeling Solutions
Kitchen and family room renovation
Biggest challenge: This out-of-date ranch featured a disjointed floor plan with a cramped 12-foot-wide kitchen, an enormous great room and badly integrated spaces.
Proudest moment: The greatest accomplishment of the project, Distinctive Remodeling Solutions owner Mark Buelow said, was the great flow between the kitchen and family room. “It just looks like it was meant to be that way from the very beginning.”
Buckhead
Hawthorn Design and Construction
Whole house renovation with second-story addition
Biggest challenge: Though the home occupied a great corner lot and was structurally sound, it was too chopped up and constricted to accommodate a family that often hosted out-of-town guests. Especially troublesome was a badly done breakfast room conversion on the back of the house with a noticeable drop between the kitchen and breakfast area. “The owner said, ‘I don’t care if it costs a million dollars, if I gotta take that one little thing out, I’m going to do it,’” said Hawthorn Design and Construction owner Steve Prittie.
Proudest moment: Working with his wife, designer Deborah Coleman, on the project, Prittie said the new entry was the home’s crowning achievement. “As soon as you walk in the front door, the sightline is phenomenal. It’s so much more welcoming now. It exudes the homeowners’ personalities.”
Ansley Park
Hawthorn Design and Construction
Whole house renovation
Biggest challenge: Working with the home’s bizarre original architecture. That included a stone chimney plunked in the middle of the home that blocked a window, and a very badly executed attic conversion.
Proudest moment: By opening up the rooms, the renovation allowed for increased light and better circulation. The homeowners now have spectacular views of the Ansley Golf Club course from their new and improved front porch. “This is a place you want to come for the holidays,” said Hawthorn Design and Construction owner Steve Prittie. “It’s so much more welcoming than it was before.”
Druid Hills
Renewal Design Build
Whole house renovation
Biggest challenge: The owners of this 1924 home in the Druid Hills historic district wanted more square footage, but according to neighborhood specifications, the house could not protrude beyond its original width, said Renewal Design Build project designer Michael Nualla. “The new addition was not allowed to be seen from the street when standing directly in front of the house.”
Proudest moment: “We found brick that was almost an exact match of the old wire cut brick,” Nualla said. “After the masonry was finished, standing back and not being able to tell where the new brick started and the old brick ended. We had accomplished our goal to make the new addition look like it was always there.”
