BUDGET TIP

"Paint can take you a long way when used intentionally," says designer Mackin Thompson, who found creative ways to tackle this redo. "I wanted to give them a home that looks really nice but is very approachable."

DESPITE outgrowing their beloved 1920s Birmingham bungalow, Lisa and Andrew Yeager weren't ready to part with the place where they'd lived for the past 12 years. "The Crestwood area is very special. It's walkable, and our street dead-ends into the park, which has been a huge part of raising our boys," says Lisa, who has two sons, ages 6 and 11. "The whole neighborhood feels like home. We wanted to stay if we could, but [the house] only had one bathroom, and with four people, it just wasn't workable anymore."

When the couple decided to renovate rather than move, a mutual friend connected them with Laura Harris, a local registered interior designer who also has a construction-drawing experience, to draft a new set of plans to maximize the space. "We had a lot of nonnegotiables since we'd been living here long enough and knew what needed to change for us to be able to stay," explains Lisa. Top of the list: adding a second bath and bridging the basement staircase up to code in order to transform the storage zone into a finished living area (which now doubles as a guest room thanks to a Murphy bed tucked into a pair of bookcases).

Other must-haves included enlarging all the closets; closing off impractical doorways; and reconstructing the slanted utility room that ran the length of the back of the home to create a primary bath, walk-in closet, and spacious multi-purpose laundry room. "I had been living out of a closet only 12 inches deep since we moved in," says Lisa. "Having a walk-in is such a luxury in a house this age."

BUDGET TIP