One Hip Joint

A 1925 Craftsman-style home in Minneapolis got a two-phase renovation that tackled worn-out basics while keeping the house's original look from the street. The owners started with the kitchen, then moved to the home's single, dated bathroom, replacing an old tub with a curbless shower, swapping a swinging door for a space-saving pocket door, and adding a wall-mounted sink and toilet to make the small room feel bigger. In the bedrooms, shallow, awkward closets were replaced with built-in cabinetry, including a Murphy bed (a bed that folds up into a wall unit) that lets a guest room double as a home office.

The biggest work happened at the roof, which was sagging badly enough to push a back wall out of plumb. Rather than just reinforce it with hidden hardware, the owners opened the roof structure, fixed undersized rafters, and added ties to stop further movement. Because the attic space was too cramped to be usable, they turned it into a vaulted living-room ceiling with a skylight, which also created room for proper insulation. The roof kept its original vented design, meaning outside air flows through channels in the rafters to carry away moisture, so the team had to find a new way to bring in intake air without altering the home's trim. They did it by hiding a vent strip behind the crown molding, preserving the exterior's historic details while fixing a structural and moisture problem underneath. The result is a house that still blends into its neighborhood but works much better for the people living in it.