A glimpse of the exterior of her Shadyside house used to fill Carol McCague with dread. A tree was growing out of a chimney, mortar was crumbling between the bricks, and who knew what was lurking beneath aluminum siding on the third floor.

"I'd come down the street, look up and feel like, 'Oh, jeez, what are we gonna do? Let me get inside so I don't have to think about it,' " she said.

Now, as she nears her house on Howe Street, her eyes rise to that chimney -- where blown-glass finials color the sunlight purple and amber -- and her mood lifts.

"The sun shines on those glass balls, and I just get a sense of well-being," she said. "Where I used to have this feeling of dread, I now have a feeling of joy."

Last year, the 1880s house where Mrs. McCague and her husband, Jim, raised five children was a finalist in the first Renovation Inspiration Contest sponsored by the Post-Gazette and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh. As the entry deadline for this year's contest approaches, the McCagues' house provides a lesson in how to update an old house for modern living without ruining it.

One key to the successful renovation was its general contractor: Michael Sciarretti and his City Dwellings Restoration Co. Initially hired to rebuild and repoint the chimneys, he and his subcontractors ended up also cleaning, repointing and painting the entire house; replacing sections of roof, box gutters and nearly half of the third floor's fish-scale shingles; installing new porch columns and ornate ironwork; repairing water damage from a roof leak; and transforming the two-car garage into an exercise room/guest house.

From his first visit in early 2006, Mr. Sciarretti knew the house needed much more than repointing. But seeing the forest didn't blind him to the trees, or in this case, the sapling sprouting from the chimney. Mrs. McCague couldn't believe he was already thinking about details such as chimney caps topped by iron and glass finials.

"I didn't want to see standard aluminum box caps on that house," the contractor explained. "Because it was Victorian, I wanted it to be design-oriented and a little more whimsical."

To create his vision of a traditional onion ornament, he turned to glassblower Tom Brown of the Pittsburgh Glass Center in Garfield and to iron artisan Jeremy Groznick for the ornate cage-style caps. They made five 5-foot-tall finials -- one for each chimney -- and a smaller one for the garage.

The colors in the glass were inspired by the ones the McCagues chose for the house, which had been dark red brick with stark white trim. It's now a more Victorian cranberry, sage, putty and terra cotta. The porch, which had been held up by railroad ties, was dressed up with new round wood columns and curvy Italianate iron railings and fretwork made by Red Star Iron Works.

The contractor, who got his start in his family business, Sciarretti Asphalt Paving of Braddock, entered the McCagues' six-month-long exterior renovation and "green" garage project in the contest's $50,000 or more category. But interior changes the McCagues have made since they bought the house in 1982 are also deserving of an award.

The late designer Peggy Casey created lavish window treatments for the huge windows with leaded-glass transoms in the living room and dining room, both with 12-foot ceilings. She also suggested dramatic oxblood red walls for the living room and persuaded the McCagues to reduce the dining room's three-quarters-height wainscoting to chair-rail height.

"She said, 'It's not original. You've got to make this change,' " Mrs. McCague recalled. "And she was right. Suddenly, you could see the fireplace mantel and all those details that had been buried in the paneling."

Ten years ago, designer Mary Cunningham suggested covering the living room's oxblood with a much cooler and more welcoming pale aqua, which they did, and helped with the colors and design of a kitchen renovation and adjacent TV room addition. Both have a Tuscan feel, with Venetian plaster walls, dark leather furniture and an arched hearth around the stove. Recently, designer Lynn Smith has helped with color and furniture choices.

Hanging over the table in the kitchen is a small crystal and brass chandelier that Mrs. McCague found in a neighbor's trash.

"The quality of the junk in Shadyside is so good!" she said, laughing.

Her favorite find was a red velvet boudoir chair that became the centerpiece of the downstairs powder room. Mrs. McCague made two of her children stand guard by the chair while she went to get the car.

The McCague children, who range in age from 19 to 36, were the inspiration for some of the renovations. When they started to cook, the kitchen island was cut in half and turned 90 degrees to make room. And when Mr. Sciarretti wondered why the family didn't use the garage, they liked the idea of making it a place to exercise and hang out with their friends.

The cozy space now features recycled rubber flooring and carpet tiles, bamboo wainscoting, salvaged sliding doors and a bay window from Construction Junction and a combination heater/air conditioner that is hidden from view by repurposed window shutters from Gardenalia.

"I do sustainable building and restoration," Mr. Sciarretti said. "Anytime there's an opportunity, we do it."

Mrs. McCague credits her contractor and his talented subs with making sure the project was finished on time, within budget. Well, not the original budget, but one she and her husband could live with. Mr. Sciarretti's bill was about 20 percent more than the original maximum the couple set, which they declined to disclose.

"We had faith in Michael. We knew he was looking for a breakout project, and that, for the rest of our lives, he would have people with jobs he was bidding on drive by our house," Mrs. McCague said.

Not that she minds. She still remembers the first time she and her husband saw the house, after looking at 50 others.

"Some Shadyside houses have extremely formal first floors but no place to really live. This house was formal, but we knew we could have the kind of life we wanted."