15 Ways to Fix a Frankenhouse

Denese and Mike Butler are the husband-and-wife team who see nothing but potential when they are called in to “take on the projects that no one else will touch” on their HGTV series Fix My Frankenhouse. Denese, who started in fashion design and then pivoted to interior design, has a deep understanding of what her clients need and will sometimes gently guide them to make daring decisions they inevitably end up loving. Mike, a general contractor with years of experience building everything from custom homes to massive commercial renovations, can reenvision a space quickly and is able to execute anything his wife dreams up. This perfect pairing makes the disjointed, confusing and often dismissed homes they renovate no match for their combined talents.

This compact Cape Cod home was in desperate need of a more functional floor plan, so Denese and Mike made a bold suggestion to remove three closets to gain some much-needed square footage. Once these non-load-bearing walls were removed, they transformed the cramped entry into an open and airy living and dining space, with clear sight lines from one room to the next. Denese and Mike worked to incorporate clever storage in other places in the home to ensure that no functionality was lost in this dramatic transformation.

Opening up the entry of this home gave Denese the ability to design a custom dining banquette that can comfortably seat the homeowners' entire family. The table is designed to ensure that four or more people can sit here without anyone’s knees knocking into the table legs or each other. The rounded corners of the table and kid-friendly, wipeable faux-leather upholstery are also thoughtfully designed for this family with small children. And, perhaps best of all, the tops of the banquettes can be lifted to reveal a ton of hidden storage.

An awkwardly placed exterior door that led to a cramped space where shoes and coats used to pile up was reimagined by removing the door and walling off the windows. This allowed the space to be repurposed into a proper mudroom complete with tile floors, perfect for wet and muddy Boston winters. The mudroom also features custom pantry cabinets that compensate for the closet that was demoed to help make room for the stunning open-concept kitchen and dining room pictured here. The old exterior door was even able to be reused elsewhere in the renovation.

After relocating the homeowner’s dining room to a space right off of the kitchen to create a better flow, Denese created a design plan that would work to keep the rooms cohesive. The walls are painted the same creamy tones seen in the adjacent kitchen, and the contemporary lighting and furniture are similar to the fixtures and finishes there, too. The dining room does get its own dash of drama thanks to a floral wallpaper that Denese installed on the ceiling.

The kitchen of this home had a very large footprint to begin with, but was given an enormous glow-up thanks to Mike’s ability to reimagine the floor plan. The sink was relocated underneath new windows that now flood the space with light, and an L-shaped cabinet layout allows for storage galore. Denese took advantage of the rectangular shape of the room by adding a generously sized island with an attached breakfast table that features a white oak top and a reeded pedestal. The combination of natural and painted wood tones brings a lot of warmth into the space that is sure to be the family’s most popular gathering place.

This house had a vaulted ceiling with rustic beams that the homeowner, Nikki, really disliked; however, since they are structural, they had to remain. To make them make sense, Mike and Denese opted to remove the vault and close in the ceiling so the beams look more intentional. Denese painted them the same color as the home’s trim, which immediately gave them a more modern look.

Nikki and Adam asked Denese and Mike to return and renovate their extremely disjointed second story. In order to create the functionality they need, Mike reworked the floor plan to enclose the previously vaulted ceiling. The original beams became the wall structure of a light-filled sitting room and hallway that leads to the couple’s newly designed primary suite. “I feel like I’m in heaven,” Nikki said as she took in her new space.

This space had a narrow spiral staircase that the homeowners described climbing as “a death wish.” Mike and Denese removed the staircase to create a pony wall. The pony wall includes built-in shelving and a small drop zone for mail and keys right near the front entry. This house has another set of stairs that were kept, so removing this set of stairs wasn’t impactful.

Denese wanted to give this kitchen some bold but sophisticated touches, so she decided to continue the countertops up the walls and all the way to the ceiling. Since she did not bring in any new elements, like tile or paint, it makes for a very eye-catching design that doesn’t overpower the space.

This family home had a set of sliding doors that weren’t being used and were blocked by a huge pile of toys and games. Mike made the suggestion to remove the doors and wall the space in to create a large storage closet instead. This frees up the floor space so that the kids have more room to play. While it may seem like a big no-no to remove an entrance, Mike is a big believer in form over function, and this family needed storage far more than they needed an unused entry.

For a growing family of four, Denese and Mike created two spaces in one by adding a wall in the center of the long mudroom, allowing the space to function as both a convenient and tidy drop zone and a private work-from-home space that homeowner Annie desperately needed. As is often the case, in-home offices don’t necessarily need much more than a door, a window and enough room for a desk, so a lot can be achieved in a very small footprint.

When designing a home for a family, Mike and Denese are always looking for clever ways to use every inch of space for storage. For clients Russ and Annie, who have a toddler and a baby on the way, they created custom features throughout the house that will help keep clutter under control, like this built-in bench with a hidden toy chest.

Russ and Annie have a very common New England-style home, with a staircase right smack-dab in the middle of it. As parents, having clear sight lines from room to room is key, so Denese designed a custom railing for them. Not only is it architecturally interesting, but it also allows the family to see from one space to the other, making it easy to keep an eye on the kids.

When renovating spaces that are integrated into the roof lines, you can often be left with challenging angled walls. In this children’s bedroom, Mike and Denese make the most of this challenge by creating custom storage nooks that fit right into the angles and are the perfect place to store and display books, toys and clothing.