Restoring a House in the City : A Contemporary Owner's Guide to Renovating Town Houses, Row Houses, and Brownstones with Great Style

How to turn an old home into a jewel on the block.

What do a fashion mogul, a Williams-Sonoma executive, a museum curator, and a design-savvy actress have in common? Good taste, of course, but more than that: a shared passion to "bring back," to carefully restore and artfully embellish, their houses.

They are among the twenty-one real-life renovations featured in this essential resource—from stately town houses to brownstone fixer-uppers—to give the true experience of creating an urban oasis on any street. Whether hunting for rare chandeliers, salvaging floorboards for new tabletops, or removing walls to let more light in, all the nuts and bolts of restoration are here. In Boston, a young family's renovation takes three years and includes every modern amenity (a media room, home gym, elevator), but saves most of the original interiors (window shutters and seats, marble fireplaces). A Baltimore couple—both stars of the graphic design world—must reconcile their cutting-edge tastes with their traditional surrounds.

From furniture and color to rooftops and terraces, Restoring a House in the City offers a treasury of inspiration and ideas, as well as a lavish illustrated tour of some of the best done renovations in the business.

Ingrid Abramovitch is a journalist who has written widely on design, architecture, and lifestyle for The New York Times, Elle Decor, Cookie, and Departures. She has also been an editor at Martha Stewart Living and House & Garden. Ingrid lives in an Italianate brownstone in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two daughters.