Sharon Danovich was smitten the moment she saw 6330 Glenview Place in Highland Park.

"Oh my God, it's a beautiful French cottage," she told her boyfriend, John Lupone, who has rehabbed other houses for resale with her.

He looked at the glass block windows, vinyl shutters and paint-spattered yellow brick and said, "Where do you see that?"

"Look, it's got great bones. It just needs some warmth," replied Ms. Danovich, clearly seeing the house as it could be.

After a six-month renovation, the house is much closer to her vision and is on the market for $169,000 through Berni Bishop-Pirollo and Erin Spalding of Coldwell Banker Real Estate (412-521-2222, ext. 214 and 213, respectively, or www.pittsburghmoves.com).

Ms. Danovich rehabbed the house with three potential buyers in mind: empty-nesters, young professionals and young families. With three bedrooms and two full baths, it's the right size for any of them. And maintenance should not be an issue considering that it has a new kitchen, plumbing and electric and a fairly new roof, heating and central air conditioning.

The two biggest projects were the 14-by-8-foot 1940s kitchen and 25-by-12-foot unfinished basement. The rehabbers and their contractor, Gary Caldwell, ditched the green steel Youngstown cabinetry, black laminate countertop, vinyl and linoleum flooring and apartment-sized fridge and range, replacing them with maple KraftMaid cabinets, gray granite tile counters, ceramic tile floor and stainless-steel Whirlpool appliances.

The basement, which was unfinished with a Pittsburgh toilet and camp shower and sink, now has hand-troweled stucco walls, Berber carpet and a full bath with Italian tile floors, brushed nickel fixtures and full-sized shower. The other full bath on the second floor got a new Kohler pedestal sink that goes with new beadboard wainscoting and the original black tile, which Ms. Danovich found beneath many layers of green paint.

The couple sanded and refinished hardwood floors, added an electric fireplace in the 17-by-13-foot living room and installed French doors in place of a balky sliding door to the screened porch, which got a makeover and new mosaic tile table made by Ms. Danovich.

She amplified the French cottage look with latticed Polaris vinyl windows, homemade board-and-batten wood shutters and a sunny yellow, blue and brown interior color scheme. Ms. Danovich is particularly proud of the light blue girl's bedroom she created with her niece in mind. An open house will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. today.

She and Mr. Lupone paid $69,216 in February for the house, which had a 2007 assessed market value of $75,000 (www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/search.asp). Eight other houses on Glenview have sold in the past four years (two sold twice) for prices ranging from $37,000 in October 2006 to $145,000 in July (www.realstats.net). Highland Park is in the Pittsburgh Public School District (www.pps.k12.pa.us).