Renovated Beyond Middle Class Means

In high-end suburban enclaves, the idea of home is changing. Families with the income to tackle major renovations are pulling out the stops. This article follows the changes one home and the families who lived in it from its creation in a 1920's suburb through the present.

"Juliet B. Schor, a Boston College sociologist and the author of "The Overspent American," classifies the burst of spending on home improvement in recent years as "competitive consumption going on in the top 20 percent of the income distribution.""