May 2013 -  see full article in Coast Magazine

After the four bedroom house sat untouched on the market for years, the list price came down - and Tiffany and her husband, Fred, a home remodeler,  were first in line to buy it.  "We knew that it needed to be totally renovated on the inside," says Tiffany.  "But that's what, attracted us to it.  We could start from scratch and turn it into an  incredible home for our family."

The couple tackled the project together, starting with the home's dark Ponderosa pine.   "It looked like an old hunting lodge inside," says Fred.  Tiffany adds, "I don't think anything had been updated since the 80's, but the structure wasn't necessarily in bad shape."  So, rather than stripping the walls and ceilings completely, they opted to cover them with glossy white paint, ridding the home of it's cave-like feel and instantly brightening the rooms.  To make the interiors more beach-friendly, Fred replaced the wall-to-wall carpeting with oak floors washed in weathered gray.  The layout - wide open living space flanked on both sides by wings featuring two bedrooms and baths each was just what right for the couple and their teenage daughters except for one minor setback: a small galley-style kitchen.  To increase square footage without taking away from the living and dining rooms, the McWhorters took down an exterior wall and borrowed space from a screened-in porch.  The kitchen was completely gutted of its dark-pine cabinetry, replaced with modern materials like a granite-topped island, stainless steel countertops and appliances, and a mosaic backsplash.