HGTV Stars' 25 Best Before-and-After Makeovers

When you're midway through a transformation in your own home, grand reveals (and happily-ever-afters) can feel impossibly far away. Consider these dramatic pairings a visual pep talk: Time after time, HGTV's design pros have battled through design dilemmas and found their way to fairy-tale endings. (Plus, "The Quest for a Beautiful Bathroom" sounds much better than "the weekend you spent ripping out and replacing nasty tile," no?)

Pre-renovation, Drew Scott’s Galveston beach house looks more like a west Texas outlaw’s shack. What could be quirky-cool coastal architecture is all but invisible beneath muddy '70s textures.

Drew peeled away wood, stone and whatever had been climbing the wall above the fireplace and resurfaced his living room in cool, nautical white. The now-graceful staircase gets plenty of light, and the fireplace is a showpiece rather than a time capsule.

This Mississippi kitchen is groaning under the weight of outdated cabinets and appliances, an awkward dropped ceiling and three grotty layers of floor covering. What was wrong with the original pine?