Chuck Alcorn makes his living as an urban planner, so you'd expect his first house to be deep in the heart of the city. He's also on the board of Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh, which means he believes in bringing back to life old structures through restoration and/or creative renovation.

Even so, it was a giant leap for the 27-year-old to purchase a 100-year-old fixer-upper in Lawrenceville a little over a year ago. People usually hire contractors when they're remodeling an entire house. Here was Mr. Alcorn planning to do everything himself despite knowing zilch about home repair.

Seriously, the Pitt grad had never so much as hammered a nail, let alone lay carpeting or install kitchen tile.

"My sisters thought I was crazy," says Mr. Alcorn, a planner with Riverlife Task Force.

What he lacked in experience, though, he made up for with a fearless enthusiasm, a knack for creative problem-solving -- and a 20-something's facility for finding how-to directions on the Internet.

The home's transformation from '70s Drab to Bachelor Pad is so dramatic that it was named a runner-up in the 2009-10 Renovation Inspiration Contest, small project category (under $50,000).

Now in its fourth year, the contest is co-sponsored by the Post-Gazette and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh and judged by a panel of local design professionals and PG staffers. Criteria includes appropriateness of construction and materials, functionality and imagination.

Mr. Alcorn, a Washington County native, doesn't own a car, so when he went house hunting last year, he limited his city search to communities with good public transportation. In Lawrenceville, he discovered not just a great commute -- it's an easy bus or bike ride to Riverlife's offices in the Gulf Tower -- but a neighborhood chock-full of "fun things to do and places to go."

The prices also were right for a first-time home buyer: His three-bedroom row house on a narrow, one-way street, cost just $85,000.

All told, Mr. Alcorn would spend an additional $25,000 on the year-long project. Hired professionals handled the really technical jobs: Mike Banfield of Copper Dog Electric rewired the entire house, and South Side carpenter Zac Stahl installed bamboo floors in the living and dining rooms; contractors also blew cellulose insulation into the walls. But Mr. Alcorn tackled everything else on his very long to-do list.

The effort, he says, "really, really" surprised his parents and not just because it turned out so well, but because like lots of kids, "I hardly did anything at home."

Luckily, two of the home's best architectural features -- working pocket doors and a built-in corner china closet in the dining room -- were in great shape, with their faux-painted wood grain finish still intact. He'd have to revamp a broken hearth with self-leveling cement and a coat of paint, and replace the lighting fixture with a chandelier from Home Depot.

A larger challenge was a side-facing window. The previous owner had disguised its non-view with siding and curtains. Mr. Alcorn had a better idea. Why not dress the space with a colorful piece of local art?

Not just any artwork, mind you, but a glass panoramic mosaic of Lawrenceville by Edgewood artist Daviea Davis, whose work he'd seen at Pittsburgh Glass Center. The commission, which he backlit so it glows like a translucent rainbow of colors, depicts the neighborhood in all its glory, from the banks of the Allegheny River to the Big Blue Yonder.

Mr. Alcorn revealed his own artistic talent in the kitchen. Who knew you could renew linoleum countertops with a coat of Rust-Oleum paint? Or create a backsplash by cutting a roll of aluminum flashing into 4-inch squares and attaching it to the wall with Liquid Nails? He did both (total cost: less than $50, plus five days of hard labor). He also installed new vinyl floors and painted the chocolate-colored cabinets a bright white.

"It's a dramatic difference," he says.

Mr. Alcorn primed and painted the entire house, laid FLOR modular carpet tiles (made with renewable and recyclable materials) on the second floor, replaced a drop ceiling with aluminum tiles in the second-floor bath and spent days scraping adhesive off the guest room walls after taking down ugly paneling.

It took several more weeks to scrape all the brown paint off the attic's original pine floors, revealing their nutmeg glow. But the sweat equity paid off: Now painted a soft gray and blessed with interesting angles, this serene wide-open space, where Mr. Alcorn gathers with friends to watch TV or simply hang out, is easily one of the prettiest rooms in the house.

The top-to-bottom renovation proved so successful that his sister, Gerry, who a year ago wouldn't touch anything and actually declared the house "haunted," is now Mr. Alcorn's roommate.

"My parents are definitely proud," he says.

Future projects include cleaning up the basement and landscaping the backyard. He's also saving up to take down the aluminum siding and redo the facade.

"I came in here not knowing what I was trying to achieve," says Mr. Alcorn. "But I explored my options and did my research.

As a result, he says, "it turned out great."

By Kevin Kirkland

From Skyscraper cones to sky-baring windows, from chip-chopped ham to sandblasted brick, this 120-year-old building in Lawrenceville has undergone a transformation.

For 75 years, it was an Isaly's. Now, thanks to Brian Mendelssohn, it is a funky commercial space for his wife's store and two large bright apartments with a modern-industrial flair that's as delightful to old building lovers as an Isaly's shake was to legions of Pittsburgh kids.

"I wanted it to blend in historically with a hint of sexiness. It came out better than I was hoping for," says the 33-year-old president of Botero Development.

It was also better than all but two entries in the 2009-10 Renovation Inspiration Contest sponsored by the Post-Gazette and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh. The apartments above Rebecca Morris' Wild Card store on Butler Street between 42nd and 43rd streets were chosen as a runner-up in the large project category (costing more than $50,000).

In fact, Mr. Mendelssohn spent about $400,000 on top of the building's $140,000 purchase price in 2008. Some of that was for renovation of the store space, which boasts 16-foot original tin ceilings crisscrossed by track lighting and exposed plumbing that is actually sprinklers.

As much as Mr. Mendelssohn is proud of the commercial space, he says "the upstairs is the best part."

Reached by a new set of wooden stairs, the rear apartment seems at first to be a series of small rooms linked by a low hallway. But then the kitchen/dining room/great room space comes into view. With 14-foot ceilings, exposed old brick, refinished pine floors and 12-foot-high west-facing windows, it's brightly lit, even with no lights on a gray winter day.

The light -- and views -- are even better when you climb the stairs to the loft bedroom.

Light streams through a window 20 feet wide and 91/2 feet high, with a door leading to a 25-by-10-foot deck. Whether you're looking out over gritty Lawrenceville or down into the great room, the space seems much larger than 1,450 feet, with two bedrooms and two baths.

But what about all that sunlight? Isn't it hard to sleep?

No way, says Tim Finucan, who is renting the rear apartment with his wife, while Botero works on their house nearby.

"It's kind of exhilarating to wake up in this room," he said. "I've never had that much sun before."

The matching front apartment has the same loft space and winglike deck overhang that required hurricane bars to be imbedded in the window muntins. Mr. Mendelssohn said he decided to extend the roof because the beams came in so long. Leaving them full length created a more dramatic effect but added to the cost.

"We went over budget but kept to the original design," the developer says, explaining that Andrew Moss of Moss Architects in East Liberty refined his ideas into drawings.

Other elements adding to the cost was the sprinkler system, which was necessary because Mr. Mendelssohn was changing the use of the second floor (Isaly's never used the space above its stores). Firefighter of Sharpsburg installed the system of exposed copper and steel piping and PEXX tubing that cost between $10,000 and $15,000 for the apartments and store.

Other unique elements include a 6-foot bathtub ("so you can really lie down"), Travertine tile in the shower and on the master bath floor, a single appliance that is both washer and dryer, made in China by Haier, and all-electric heating, cooling and water that result in a single utility bill of $89 a month.

"This building could be rated LEED Silver if we wanted it," Mr. Mendelssohn said.

A native of Miami, he came to Pittsburgh for college, receiving a bachelor's degree in material sciences and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Meeting his wife, a Shaler native, helped persuade him to stay. But what really captured him was the vibe of neighborhoods like Lawrenceville.

It was enough to make him forsake the sun and sand of Florida for the northern light and sandblasted brick of a former ice cream palace.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.