When we first met Brett, Fallon and their three adorable kids to discuss renovating their home for our upcoming Pilot on the HGTV/DIY Network, we instantly knew they would become like “family” to us. Â Walking into their home for the first time, we felt like we had been there before. Â You see, Brett and Fallon bought a “fixer upper” like Chris and I did when we bought our first home. Â They were able to look past all of the little (and not so little ;-)) imperfections, and instead focus on their big dreams and vision of what that home could be. Â Like us, there came a day that they were super eager to get started making those changes, and decided that right then was the perfect time to start demo’ing pieces of their home in hopes of rebuilding it in the “near future”. Â Well…we all know how that goes…that near future turned into some months and then some years (Sound Familiar?? It did to us!! We had been there too!) and now they were in desperate need of help. Â Luckily, the stars aligned perfectly and we were all in the right place at the right time.
The Lewis’ home is a late 1970’s early 1980’s Contemporary Cedar sided house. Â You know…one of those homes filled with different interesting angles that catch your eye at every glance. Â As beautiful as this style home is, it’s also one of the harder homes to renovate and redesign due to so many different heights, angles, twists and turns. Â Chris and I definitely had our work cut out for us on this one, and we knew it!
Some BEFORE’S…
We were tasked with a two week renovation turn around time and a very small budget.  We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but Chris and I were definitely up for the challenge. First things first though, time to get dirty!  Gotta break this baby down to build it back up!
Our son Caleb even got in on the fun!
We are so thankful for the support Daryl Sims of SPM Solutions gave us throughout the Lewis’ Renovation. There is no way we would have made our two week deadline without him!
Cabinets going in…
With such a small budget, we knew we had to get creative. Â Normally flooring is one of the most expensive purchases a homeowner can make. Â Not this time around! Â These wide reclaimed hardy pine tongue and groove planks came from a small family owned lumber yard off the beaten path up in the sticks of Georgia. Â There, this wood is called “Tree Trash”. Â Instead of being dumped in a landfill, people drop their unwanted trees off here to be repurposed into something useful. Â Pretty cool huh?!? Â Not only did it save the Lewis’ a TON of money, but it saved a few trees as well!
The large stone slab for the island threw us slightly over budget, but I had to have it!
A little mud and paint to clean up all the imperfections goes a long way.
Once demo was done and we were in the process of building it back up, it was time to put our personal touch on the Lewis’ home.  From reclaimed, salvaged and upcycled materials we made sure to put all of our creativity into this renovation. By digging through abandoned old barns, train depots and architectural salvage yards, we were able to uncover some of the coolest reclaimed materials around.
After “shopping” for some really cool and unique pieces, it was time to do what we do best, get creative and get our hands dirty with some custom work. Â By putting a little sweat equity into salvaging and upcycling all of our cool finds, we were able to help the Lewis’ achieve luxury designs at a fraction of the cost!
We found this great vintage ladder at an architectural salvage yard in North Georgia. Â It soon became the perfect library ladder for the Lewis’ new storage space.
Chris designed and built a gorgeous farmhouse dining table out of old shipping pallets we picked up from a historic train depot up in Acworth Georgia.
We turned a beaten up old mid century modern 9 foot long credenza we uncovered in a barn outside of Atlanta into the perfect storage and entertainment center…First I had to pry it away from Chris who wanted to use it as his therapy bed while in the workshop trying to “work things out” in his head. 🙂
We took the old beaten up wood paneling off the back of their breakfast bar…
Added some hidden extra storage.
Chris plained down the wood paneling to it’s original finish, and sealed it with some rub on poly which really made the wood grain pop!
Next on our list was the large stone fireplace in the middle of their living room. Â We knew Fallon hated the look of that fireplace and wanted it drastically changed. Unfortunately, tearing out a stone fireplace can get super expensive and our budget definitely wouldn’t allow that! To save money, we decided to paint the fireplace a bright clean white and freshen up the old mantel with a few rich coats of gel stain.
Lastly, the decision to utilize all the crazy heights and angles that make this home so unique to add much needed storage to the Lewis’ lives, turned out to be an awesome idea! Â This reclaimed walnut wood built library unit wasn’t just a beautiful statement piece, but functional too!
Two weeks of blood, sweat and tears (figuratively AND literally…lol) and we were ready to hand the Lewis’ back their new family home.
Come on…let’s check out the “AFTERS”!
Two weeks later…yep we were pretty exhausted…but SO HAPPY that the Lewis Family loved their “new” home!
Now on to our next project!!!
Creatively Yours…
“Custom…Reclaimed…Restored…Remodeled. We do it all! Send us a note.”
