Can You Believe This House Used to be a Dilapidated Toolshed?

An architect and an interior designer put the tools to the test for this impressive renovation.

In 2009, when Alan Orenbuch and Bryan O’Rourke settled into the home they had purchased as a weekend retreat in upstate New York, they gave little thought to what Orenbuch describes as an "unfortunate" shed, perched on stilts on a nearby slope. The main house, an idiosyncratic modernist experiment that the architect John M. Johansen designed in 1974 as his own residence, was the draw and the natural focus of their initial attention. Orenbuch, an architect, and O’Rourke, an interior designer, took meticulous care to preserve the character of the house by refurbishing the interior and furnishing it with vintage items from O’Rourke’s collection. 

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