This Old House: Season 24
The Winchester House; The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen
Season 24 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of This Old House Season 23.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Season overview
The Winchester House; The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen
Episode Guide
Season 24 Progress Shield
The Winchester House - 1
Oct 10, 2002
Host Steve Thomas recreates a homeward commute from the 1920s, returning by train to Winchester, Massachusetts, a town that retains much of its original early 1900s character. Wait
The Winchester House - 2
Oct 17, 2002
Host Steve Thomas checks in with general contractor Tom Silva and painting contractor Jim Clark, who are busy testing means by which to strip nearly 30 layers of lead-based paint f
The Winchester House - 3
Oct 24, 2002
Master carpenter Norm Abram arrives on site to find the demo crew suspended over the roof dismantling the top of the unused kitchen chimney. Architect David Stirling and homeowner
The Winchester House - 4
Oct 31, 2002
Host Steve Thomas lends carpenter Charlie Silva a hand in slowly jacking up the second floor, then general contractor Tom Silva glues and bolts reinforcing LVLs to the damaged floo
The Winchester House - 5
Nov 7, 2002
It's time to begin excavation on the new Kitchen foundation! Excavater Jeff Dervin brings in a backhoe to knock down the back entry porch. In the basement, master carpenter Norm Ab
The Winchester House - 6
Nov 14, 2002
Contractor Mark Dimeo uses a 30"" diamond blade to cut a new doorway into the existing basement foundation. Host Steve Thomas checks in with painting contractor Jim Clark to see ho
The Winchester House - 7
Nov 21, 2002
Master carpenter Norm Abram shows host Steve Thomas the new foundation for the kitchen addition and explains how to properly anchor it to the old foundation. General contractor Tom
The Winchester House - 8
Nov 28, 2002
Chimney specialist Mark Schaub meets up with host Steve Thomas in the Winchester living room and shows him why the chimney is smoking, with the help of a diagnostic ""fluecam."" In
The Winchester House - 9
Dec 5, 2002
Host Steve Thomas finds homeowner Kim Whittemore experimenting with Colonial Revival paint colors on the front of the Winchester house. For further ideas, they travel with building
The Winchester House - 10
Dec 12, 2002
Host Steve Thomas arrives at the Winchester house to find a surpirse in the backyard: the house to the rear is fully exposed now that the neighbors have cut down additional hemlock
The Winchester House - 11
Dec 19, 2002
The Winchester kitchen addition is nearly complete, and general contractor Tom Silva installs the last of the new historically accurate double-hung windows on the sun porch. In the
The Winchester House - 12
Dec 26, 2002
Using a 70"" tree spade mounted on a front-end loader, landscape contractor Roger Cook and arborist Matt Foti remove a healthy (but poorly located) blue spruce from a front yard in
The Winchester House - 13
Jan 2, 2003
With the weather turning cooler, Steve finds painting contractor Jim Clark under pressure to finish the exterior painting. On the third floor, Norm learns that Tom is off the job h
The Winchester House - 14
Jan 9, 2003
Steve arrives to find Roger out front hauling away the last of the dismantled driveway. Inside, Steve finds a recovering Tom Silva, fresh from surgery and walking with a cane, but
The Winchester House - 15
Jan 16, 2003
Steve visits Middlesex Fells Reservation - a 3-mile by 3-mile park shared by five suburban towns North of Boston - and climbs Wright's Tower to take in the cityscape and some vibra
The Winchester House - 16
Jan 23, 2003
With Steve away on assignment, Norm arrives to find Roger unloading and inspecting the last delivery from the garden center. On the sun porch floor, tiling contractor Joe Ferrante
The Winchester House - 17
Jan 30, 2003
In the second-to-last show, Steve and homeowner Kim Whittemore test-drive the new stainless steel appliances. Norm meets fencing contractor Mark Bushway to admire the entire custom
The Winchester House - 18
Feb 6, 2003
In the final show, Steve checks out the new garage storage system, including diamond-plated cabinets, toolboxes, and adaptable ""gear walls."" Window treatment specialist Kevin Mur
The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen - 1
Feb 13, 2003
For the first time ever, This Old House let viewers choose the project. A nationwide Dream Kitchen search culminated in an online vote, with the Smith family of Lake Forest, Illino
The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen - 2
Feb 20, 2003
The day begins in Lake Forest's historic Market Square. Built in 1916 by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, the square is America's first drive-up shopping center. Back at th
The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen - 3
Feb 27, 2003
The Lake Forest project is well under way as Norm works in his temporary garage workshop making the bracketed posts to be used on the breakfast room's exterior. Steve meets up with
The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen - 4
Mar 6, 2003
Steve and Norm arrive in Lake Forest to find local carpenters braving the cold, crafting custom cedar siding for the exterior of the kitchen addition. In the former greenhouse, Ric
The Lake Forest Dream Kitchen - 5
Mar 13, 2003
With temperatures hovering near zero, Steve brings Tom Silva to Lake Forest for the first time. Before heading to the project house, they decide to check up on project manager Jim