Home Town: The Littlest House in Laurel

Rena Register (right) and her best friend Nicki (left) discuss the possibilities for her new home with Erin and Ben.

The living room has been completely transformed with newly restored wood floors, new sheetrock, a bright color palette and casually comfortable furnishings.

Erin’s remodel included opening up the living room ceiling into the attic above to create a vaulted space. Accenting the new and expanded scale of the room is a tall antique library ladder that belonged to Rena.

The newly remodeled kitchen now boasts all new appliances, custom cabinetry and granite countertops in dramatically patterned gray. The sink is original to the house — a truly authentic farmhouse sink — now integrated into the new stone countertops.

One of the kitchen walls was removed, and a cased opening added, to unify the kitchen and living room. "We thought opening it up between the two rooms would make all of it feel so much more spacious," said Erin. "We added the post and beam so it would feel like it was here forever." The laminate floor in the kitchen was pulled up, revealing the original wood flooring beneath.

The kitchen features a pantry with a solid wood door salvaged from the property, now installed as a barn-style sliding door. The new backsplash was custom cut for the space in a scalloped design sketched out by Erin. The decorative backsplash uses the same veined granite as the countertops. "Even though your kitchen is small," said Erin, "that doesn't mean it can't be luxurious and have little high-end moments like that."

Erin characterized the newly reconfigured and upgraded space as "a small but mighty kitchen."

Other new highlights in the kitchen include open shelving, recessed lighting and a new vent hood. The unpainted wood used for the cased opening and support beam is milled cypress for a textured and rustic look.

An adjacent space gets turned into a toilet enclosure and compact laundry room with a stackable washer-dryer and pocket doors .

“I have a sentimental heart so that’s why we wanted to talk about this house,” said Erin, before renovations had begun. "Maybe you think it's seen better days and it can't be saved, but I think differently. Forget how sad it's become and try to imagine when it was new."

The front door has been refurbished and painted in a muted blue. The metal patio furniture had belonged to Rena's great-grandmother and was discovered by Ben in a backyard shed. The furniture was cleaned up and painted in pale pistachio green. A wooden window box custom built by Ben and planted with fresh flowers adds a live green touch.

Because of the age of the house, and the fact that it had never been updated, the renovation included addition of central heating and air conditioning. "This is the smallest house we've ever done," said Ben, "Making it efficient was really easy. We replaced all the windows and it's got all-new insulation." A bonus feature on the side porch is the vintage refrigerator, salvaged from the old kitchen and still operational. Erin painted the diminutive sized fridge in pistachio green.

The home's original small and oddly-shaped tub also gets repurposed, just off the side-porch, as an outdoor doggie bath.

Ben works on building a custom table for Rena's kitchen. The finished tabletop will contain carefully matched segments of mahogany, maple, walnut, oak and pine — edge-glued and refinished to create a striking pattern of varied wood tones.

Much smaller than its contemporary counterparts, the vintage refrigerator is will be ideal as a novel lagniappe on the side porch — and handy for keeping cold soft drinks and the like.

Erin assists as Ben installs the vanity in the new master bath.

Ben finds a novel use for the bathroom sink supply-lines.

Ben and Erin work together to install new stone countertops and custom backsplash in Rena's renovated kitchen.

Erin puts some last-minute touches on the living room staging before the final reveal.