Explore - Renovation

Tom Hanks is not known for horror films, but his 1986 flop, The Money Pit, has a terrifying premise: A seemingly small renovation consumes a couple’s life, devouring their reserves of time,...

Although postwar California modernism is generally associated with Southern California, the Bay Area’s own tradition has begun in recent years to be more widely acknowledged, and its surviving...

After searching in vain for an empty lot to build on, architect Brian White settled for a nondescript 1960s ranch that nobody else wanted—and proved that building from the ground up doesn’t always...

Designed and built in 1878 for Judge John Murphy, a 4,400-square-foot white structure has, from the outside, the undeniable characteristics of a classic San Francisco Victorian. Stepped back from...

Los Angeles is not all mini-malls and highways. As Eric Garcetti, president of the City Council, shows, it is eminently possible to live green in the City of Angels. By putting solar power and...

A mere eight miles from Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Georgian neoclassical plantation home, and just nine miles south of Old Town Alexandria, the colonial bastion that provides much...

Resuscitating a classic can be time-consuming and pricey, but when it comes to the rehabilitation of neglected masterpieces, one Connecticut couple finds it’s worth every minute and cent.

Tucked into the side of a scenic San Francisco hill, one of the city’s more diminutive houses battles everything from dry rot to obstructionist neighbors in order to grow up.

A pair of environmentally attuned architects combined adjoining properties in a Los Angeles canyon to house their modernist menagerie.

Leaving the bustle of Washington, D.C., architect Joe Day and his wife return to California and discover that life in a single-family dwelling isn't as isolated as they had feared.

In a code-happy L.A. suburb, how do you break the mold without breaking the law? Architects Alice Fung and Michael Blatt steer clear of anarchy with a little democratic design.

Or is one house better than two? For Santa Monica–based architect Jesse Bornstein and his family, both are true.

The renovation of Katie and John Eller's Park Street Residence in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco began with a referral from a friend: "She said, 'I want your architect and...

San Francisco residents Lisa Koshkarian and Tom DiFrancesco worked with architect Neal Schwartz to create an airy third-floor addition to hold their master bedroom.

Mill Valley, California, might not be a hotbed of modernism, but it was here, ten years ago, that Dwell came into the world alongside founder Lara Hedberg Deam’s first home—now...

When artists Ramona Trent and Anthony Pearson teamed up with architects Escher GuneWardena for a full-scale renovation, they bestowed a remarkable view upon an unremarkable bungalow.

In 1981, Londoners Anthony and Gillian Blee purchased the ultimate fixer-upper. The property in southwestern France was idyllic, but its old mill, built in 1822, and three flanking outbuildings had...

How a highly productive collaboration among a trio of creative Angelenas—and a good dose of Barragán—turned a dark and beleaguered mid-century house into a family home for...