Great Adaptations

This kitchen from the November 2003 issue of This Old House helped George Gerot convince his wife to choose a tile countertop in the remodel of their 1880 Iowa farmhouse. "We already had our project on paper, but this picture lead to the end result of our design," he wrote.

Not only was the Gerot's countertop outdated, it didn't provide enough space for both appliances and food prep.

The wood for the cabinets and built-ins came from walnut trees on the family's farm. And George got the countertop he had wanted in granite tile.

"My wife and I liked this kitchen from the 2004 Kitchen and Bath issue so much we remodeled ours to match," Jason Goeckler wrote of this kitchen that opens up into the family room.

The Goeckler's kitchen was wildly outdated and closed off from the family's living space.

Copying the broad archway, the Goecklers built a bar that provides a transition to the living space in their Emporia, Kansas home, so the family can enjoy their updated kitchen from both rooms.

"We shrieked when we saw this bathroom remodel in our October 2003 This Old House Bible/Magazine. It was as if someone read our every wish and printed it on these pages," Maria Heck wrote about this vintage bath.

A claw foot tub and old-style light fixtures give a traditional home a bathroom with a vintage atmosphere. Wainscot paneling and hexagonal floor tile are timeless finishes.

The small master bath in the Heck family's 110 year-old Pennsylvania Victorian hadn't been touched since 1972, and they were dying to update its gold and brown color scheme.

"We used your pages as the blueprint for what we hoped to achieve in this bathroom, a nod to the Victorian ancestry of the home." Maria Heck wrote. They replaced the built-in vanity with his and her washstands and chose old-fashioned light fixtures.

The shower and tub were hidden behind a shower curtain.

The couple mimicked the white wainscoting and neutral walls, and to breathe authenticity into the vintage room, found a claw foot tub as at a local salvage shop for $70, then had it reglazed and repainted.

"We've done so many projects that have been influenced by This Old House over the years that we can't remember which ideas were yours and which were ours," wrote Chris Schaflein of Centralia, Illinois. This time, the Schafleins were inspired by the marble-topped vanity in this bath from the April 2000 issue.

A single pedestal sink was hardly fit for this couple's bath that "does it all" with a shower, toilet, and laundry center.

The Schafleins divided the bath and laundry areas and put in a large marble-topped vanity sinks for him and her.

This shed from our March 2002 issue inspired Susan Peck of Norwich, Connecticut to start building. "When I saw the picture of 'The Perfect Potting Shed,' I knew that someday I would love to attempt to build it," she wrote.

"This shed is the first thing I have ever built," Peck wrote. She opted for light green and decided to forgo the cupola, but her shed is a near ringer for her inspiration.