A resourceful renovation

Most buyers wouldn't go near a condemned house that had been foreclosed. Especially one that had visible water damage, a falling-down porch and lots of basics missing -- including the kitchen sink.

Jennifer and Chuck Shepard didn't let that stop them.

They had been hunting for a fixer-upper in Eden Prairie when they toured the bank-owned mutlilevel house. At first, they were appalled by its condition -- the floors bounced, there were holes in walls and every bathroom had been stripped. Then they walked into a bright solarium at the back of the house.

"I told Chuck that we should turn it into a kitchen," recalled Jennifer. "We looked at each other and realized there wasn't a kitchen."

What the 1970s home did have was an acre of land and 4,000 square feet that would offer plenty of room for the Shepards and their two children. It also had two massive bay windows, an open floor plan and a solarium that would make an awesome kitchen.

The Shepards, who had remodeled two previous homes themselves, were confident they could replace the floors and patch walls, as long as the foundation was solid. Plus the price was right. They paid $180,000 for what was listed as a "tear-down."

"It was an ugly duckling that just needed our time and patience," said Jennifer. "We could picture it as our fairy tale home."

On the day they moved in, the Shepards called the city to turn on the water.

"It was like a waterfall in the basement," said Jennifer. "There were holes in the pipes."

Because the pipes had frozen while the home sat vacant, they had to hire a plumber to replace most of the pipes in the house. Within the first month, they had sunk $30,000 into the house. And they hadn't even started.

"We thought we had made a big mistake," said Jennifer. "But we looked at the silver lining. At least we had running water."

So they forged ahead on what would turn into a two-year home improvement project with themselves as the crew.

"Jen was my crew," he said with a laugh. Even the kids, Charlie and Katherine, pitched in to help with painting and cleanup.

Almost every square inch of the home needed work, including updating some of the 1970s design elements and removing remnants of poorly done remodeling jobs. By the end, they had pulled 14 building permits.

Chuck installed new windows and rewired the electrical system. Jennifer laid travertine tile on the floors of the foyer, the family room and the kitchen. They retooled all four of the home's bathrooms, because every sink and toilet had been ripped out. And while Chuck was caring for sick children at St. Paul's Children's Hospital, Jennifer was hanging wallboard in the revamped master bedroom, where they had decided to install a challenging vaulted ceiling.

DIY kitchen

Although Jennifer was a willing laborer, she admits the master bedroom walls almost did her in.

If the master bedroom was her breaking point, the solarium-turned-kitchen was her true labor of love.

For months, the family had been washing dishes in the laundry room sink and cooking in a microwave oven, so they were ready for a real working kitchen. Chuck built a center island accented with beadboard and deck posts. Jennifer got bids for cabinets and white carrara marble countertops. Because the kitchen was so large -- 22 feet long -- the bid for installed marble came in at $22,000, well beyond the family's modest budget.

So Jennifer Googled "carrara marble" and found a local stone restoration business that was selling salvaged marble. Although it was dingy gray and spackled with graffiti and high-heel marks, Jennifer took a chance and bought 20 slabs for $700. She spent countless hours sanding off layers of grime and eventually exposed the veined white marble, which they cut and installed on the center island and countertops.

The finished island in the kitchen is Jennifer's favorite place to sit and watch the sun rise each morning. "I remember how much work I put into it and how exciting it was finding it," she said.

The Shepards finished the massive makeover this spring -- just before Scarlett was born. "I was laying tile in the basement bathroom when I was six months pregnant," Jennifer said.

"Even though it was stressful when we had no water and had to go to McDonald's to use the bathroom, we got our dream house out of it," said Chuck.