When award-winning designer Jean Stoffer and her daughter, Grace Start, were tasked with transforming a brick 3-bedroom, 2-bath ranch in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they started with a “very-involved” layout option. “But the homeowner didn’t want to make too many structural changes,” says Grace, who leads the design team at Jean Stoffer Design and appears with Jean on the Magnolia Network show The Established Home.
Jean and Grace were up for the challenge of using a light touch to make a big difference. Though Jean is known for her high-end renovations, she says she relished the opportunity to make something look beautiful and function well on a budget, something she doesn’t often get the chance to do anymore. “We wanted the home to be nice, but also it was in a very quiet, modest neighborhood, so we needed to be very budget-minded and careful of overimproving,” she says.