I G rand
I
P rize
« W in n e r
R EN O V A TIO N
W h o : Dana Liston and
David Ellis
W here: 1913 Venice,
California, bungalow
B est M ove: Restore
vintage character and
make the small house
livable for a family
Two years into her first house, Dana Liston was
convinced she had the right place, j ust at the
wrong time. She could look beyond the odd
’80s updates that included a tacked
-0 11
upstairs to envision a
charming bungalow like the one she grew up in. But a
slowing economy and topsy-turvy housing market gave her
and her husband, David Ellis, remodeling jitters. “Finally,
David said we just need to start living our lives and not worry
so much about things we can’t control,” Dana says.
Their subsequent remodeling represents 1,350 square
feet of determination. The couple borrowed a crow bar and
sledgehammer from their contractor (a neighbor they met at
a garage sale) and took uneven ceilings and crooked walls
down to the studs. Anything remotely salvageable went into
a tent in their front yard, including beaded board they
reused after pulling out thousands of nails. David, a real
estate broker and architect, taught Dana, an artist, how to
use his scale ruler, and she spent months figuring out how to
make better use of the layout and sketching every detail
inside and out. When she wanted ideas for a wraparound
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SEPTEMBER 2009 1 6 5
