Country Home editor Kathy Barnes cures her ailing house with a redo full of practical, storage-rich ideas. Here’s her story.

At just over 2,000 square feet, our Des Moines home—a two-story brick Colonial with a one-room addition tacked onto the back—had served us pretty well. But after two kids (and their stuff) arrived and started crowding us out, my husband, Chris, and I decided we needed a design intervention.

We concocted a plan to tear off and rebuild the rear addition, and to move the kitchen to the new space. We zeroed in on our must-haves: energy-efficient windows and a wood door to deliver old-house charm; storage solutions galore; and, most important, products that would improve indoor air quality for our asthmatic son by minimizing allergens and chemical offgassing, such as Icynene spray foam insulation and zero-VOC paints. The final layer was all about style: sparkly lighting, pro-style appliances, a sleek faucet, and linear cabinet hardware.

See our finished remodel in the September 2008 issue of Country Home magazine (beginning on page 62). And read my monthly diary of our adventure, complete with lots of photos. — Kathy Barnes