Before & After: A Designer Turns an Ugly Duckling Into a Luminous Catskills Retreat

Unexpectedly facing the renovation alone, a Brooklyn-based DIYer rallies the help of her friends to transform a dated home.

When Tiffany Jen found this Catskills home on Zillow, it had been listed for some 350 days. "That was not a great sign," admits Tiffany, a Brooklyn-based designer and motion graphics artist. But she and her then-partner had been house hunting for over a year, endured three failed offers, and gone on more than 100 tours in search of that "dream cabin in the woods," so they still went to see it. And despite being rundown, it held more promise than a long sit on the market might imply.

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Melissa Dalton
Dwell Contributor
Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing for Dwell since 2017. Read more of her work about design and architecture at melissadalton.net.

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