Split Level Makeover...

• I found these photographs of a makeover I designed several years ago for television...I remember driving up to the house and realizing it was a "split level" or what some of us call a "raised ranch" style...The kind of home where you walk into the house and you have a choice to go upstairs or downstairs right off...

• I grew up around houses that were built like these and it was a style I was familiar with but it was also a style that I found to be daunting as a designer...Basically, the outside of the house is a difficult look to redesign because of its split level layout...

• However, in this case, the inside of this home turned out to be one of my favorite home design makeovers ever...As I say in my book, when faced with challenges - it sometimes forces you to do your most creative work...

• What I loved about this project is that the living room and dining room were spaces you first saw when you walked up from the foyer...Before, they were rooms that the family didn't use very often...They were used mainly for holidays and entertaining but not for everyday family living...Sound familiar?

• Following the makeover, the family had spaces that they could truly enjoy and use everyday...I don't have the before images for this project but it is dramatically different (especially with the new ventless gas fireplace that was installed)...

• I believe that many family homes are in limbo with design...Many times, families have told me that they purposely don't have guests over to their house because it does not reflect their style or that it is just not like their dream house that they want to have someday...

• My thought is this - why not makeover a space in your present home now to make it more like your dream home you wish to have?  Why put off living in the rooms you pass through everyday?   Use the spaces and enjoy them...Sometimes it's all about learning to see the environment in new ways...Which is exactly what I did with this home...I had to get beyond the layout issues and see the great potential that was there for these finished spaces...