Brother and sister Steve and Leanne Ford are known for taking quirky and older homes and turning them into something wonderful (and still a little quirky).
This week the siblings are taking on Gino and Tanya’s 1890’s victorian home. Their young daughter Nora wants to be a designer some day and she’s pretty fed up with how boxy, closed off and outdated her house is. She basically tells her parent’s their design style sucks, so it’s time to call in some experts.
Nora wants the house to be a mixture of classical and modern and definitely an open floor plan. She would also really love an island in the kitchen. The Fords get a $75,000 budget and two months to transform the house.
The biggest project of this renovation is rerouting the basements stairs. I’ve never seen that happen before on a home design show. But they do it and make a beautiful art project out of it.
Another major issue with the home is that some of the renovation required them to destroy sections of the existing wood floors. And since the wood is so old, it’s impossible to find pieces to match. Leanne isn’t deterred, however, as she just decides to sand the floors and mix and match wood stains to make the different wood tones seem completely planned. It turns out to be artistic and very modern.
The rest of the house is bright and airy and now has a modern farm house feel. The walls call came down and you can see all the way though the house as soon as you enter.
I do think Leanne could edit herself just a bit. At every turn she was coming up with another idea for the house. At least she realized she didn’t need to adorn the walls with artwork because that would have just been too much. The design of the house was artistic enough. Overall, I was very impressed with the house even though I’m almost never a fan of the farmhouse aesthetic. Well done, Fords!
And it’s reveal time. Gino and Tanya are instantly obsessed with the subway tile used in the kitchen because of some sort of sentimental reason. I think they hooked up in the subway or something. And Nora loves the whole space even though she didn’t get her island. This mini designer is just happy she doesn’t have to live among bad taste any longer.
How long do we have to wait for Nora to get her own show on HGTV? I’m ready for it now! Until then, checkout the photo gallery from the episode below.
Restored By The Fords Season 1 Episode 6 Photo Gallery
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