The Family Plan

For nearly 200 years, the little Georgian-style house on Aunt Peggy's Lane in St. George's, Bermuda — the site of the current This Old House TV project — has been a home to well-known Bermudians. It has housed a merchant, a blacksmith, and even a member of Parliament. In fact, that last resident, Delaey Robinson, is still the owner, though he's given up politics to run his family's bed-and-breakfast with his wife, Andrea Dismont. He also gave up living in the house, known as Harbour View, when he and Andrea married, leaving it vacant for the past eight years.

Now the Robinsons are ready to reclaim the circa-1805 structure as a home for their family, which includes two young sons. While the house has all the basics to accommodate the foursome, a little extra attention will turn this very traditional, boxy house into a gracious family home. Local architect Colin Campbell has come up with a plan to enlarge the house and connect it to a small guest house on the property, which will remain a separate bedroom suite for visitors. The main house's new floor plan will give the family a luxurious living room with access to an expansive veranda, a large kitchen, a powder room, and a formal dining room downstairs, and two spacious bedroom suites upstairs. Outside, the scruffy yard will transform into formal gardens with a small resistance pool and a spa, restoring the colorful charm for which Bermuda's houses are known.

The project is set to finish up in four short months, thanks to local builder Alan Burland's hardworking crew — and a generous budget of $700,000. Then all this classic island gem will need to bring it back to life is the warmth of the four happy souls who'll call it home.