Ben gets some help from a capable assistant at his Laurel woodshop, Scotsman Co., as he works on a headboard for the Pryor home renovation.

The Parsley House had belonged to Cynthia and Herbert Parsley who bought the home in 1970 and lived there until recently. The house was actually built in 1940,. It came with 1820 square feet, two bedrooms, two baths, and it listed at $92,000. The front exterior features large front windows in a distinctive design. Beyond that, the outside was basic and ordinary with plain brick exterior in a hodge-podge of brown shades and trim painted yellow-gold.

The windows are cleaned up but kept intact. The brick exterior gets painted in acool blue-gray, and the original solid-wood front door painted in sky blue. The old fluted columns are replaced with a simpler design better suited to theoverall style of the home. A quartet of classic wooden rockers on the front porch completes the picture.

Michelle Pryor (center) is a high school teacher who is about to finish a PhD and has hopes of beginning a career as a school principal. She's an avid Scuba diver and generally has a love of the ocean and all things beachy. Here she and her oldest daughter Laken (left) get a look at Erin's house-portrait showing the intended improvements for the Parsley House.