Photo: Adrienne DeRosa © 2015 Houzz Although the couple expected to run into the usual issues of renovation, they soon learned that the house was in worse shape than they thought. While they had planned on some cosmetic changes and utility updates, it was soon apparent that the amount of neglect had taken a tole on the home. "We knew we would be living through some level of chaos," Catherine explains, "but didn't expect ti to be nearly as bad as it was, which was a complete gut-job of the entire house!" Once the paneling and carpet were removed, and drop-ceiling dismantled, the special qualities of the house began to reveal themselves. Starting with a clean slate allowed the Williamsons to create the space as they wanted it to be. In order to allow more light to pass through the downstairs, Bryan created pass-throughs from the living room to the dining room. "We didn't want to take down the entire wall because we wanted to keep as much of the original layout as possible, so this was a good compromise," says Catherine. Having the open volume between rooms has also proven very beneficial for larger gatherings as well, as guests may converse more easily from room to room.