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NARRATOR: Not everyone lives in a three-bedroom, two-bath
tract house in the suburbs,
or wants to.
You might be surprised to find out
that people will turn almost any building into a house.
I think it was one of the ugliest buildings
in the neighborhood.
It had bars on the outsides of the windows.
It was just pretty ugly.
NARRATOR: A clock tower?
A post office?
A soda shop?
I thought, "I'm gonna live in what?"
Stick around, and we'll give you a tour
of some amazing living spaces,
and you'll meet the individuals whose creativity and vision
made it all possible.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
Our first stop is Dublin, Georgia,
and the home of Will and Jennifer Carter.
Like many kids who grew up in this small town,
Will Carter loved coming to the post office
so he could go through the revolving door.
As he got older,
his appreciation for the beautiful building
grew to the point of wanting it for himself.
WILL: I told my wife a long time ago
that I'd like to own it one day, and we do.
Will remembers the impact of walking into the ornate lobby.
So when he and Jennifer began renovation,
they decided to keep it as intact as possible.
With the exception of some of this glass,
it's all original.
MAN: Granite and marble
and these terrazzo floors!
Yeah.
Look at this!
NARRATOR: Beautifully crafted trim work
frames the original 18-foot windows,
which lead the eye up to a triple-domed ceiling
in this dramatic entryway.
Off the entry way is a guest bedroom
and a whimsical nursery with its own en-suite bathroom.
Also on the main floor is the master bedroom suite.
Jennifer and Will integrated
the original woodwork and fixtures into this room.
Customers would walk up to the teller windows here
and make a purchase.
And the clerks and workers had, you know,
their cabinet system and drawer system back here.
And this was, of course, separated from the lobby area.
So this is where they purchased postage.
NARRATOR: The post office's vault
is now Jennifer's closet.
MAN: The U.S. Postal Service seal?
JENNIFER: It is.
Oh, this is awesome.
It still functions and works.
What's the combination? Do you know?
[ Laughter ]
Oh, he doesn't know.
I know, 'cause this is my closet.
Look at that! 1912!
NARRATOR: The rich, dark paneling
continues into the master bathroom
and down the main hall into the kitchen,
where an enormous window floods the room with light.
In the morning, the sun rises on this back wall,
provides a lot of great light.
So to capture that,
we just brought an acoustical ceiling up at a very sheer angle
to capture the windows.
NARRATOR: Will's kitchen design
retained the exposed brick and original oak floors
as a backdrop for the modern stainless-steel appliances.
He's very, very good at creating
and seeing the vision that I don't always see.
He has a niche for that.
Oh, she's just being nice now.
[ Chuckling ] No.
The last room on the main level is a game room
where the old postal workers' mail-sorting counters
have been refinished into a stunning bar.
The second floor was once used as a courthouse.
Back in the '20s, this is where court was held.
But today, it's Will and Jennifer's great room,
where the turn-of-the-century windows and original oak floors
complement Jennifer's contemporary decor.
This room used to be the judge's chambers.
[ Chuckling ] Oh, yeah?
This is where he hung out, made his decisions.
Ahh.
There are two more bedroom suites on the second floor,
including this one with a very unique feature.
This is original to the building,
and it was the postmaster's peephole.
What did the postmaster do through this?
I guess to see who might be stealing stamps.
[ Laughs ] I don't know.
Just checking on his employees?
Just, really -- Yeah.
Oh, you got to be kidding me.
And on the original plan, it shows.
I mean, it was the postmaster's peephole.
Oh, my gosh.
But just the fact of knowing that it's there
would keep you honest.
Yeah. Yes.
There's even more living space
in the basement of this post office.
And old storage room is now a home gym.
The old boiler room has been transformed
into a party room, complete with a dance floor.
The post office was built in 1912
and served the bustling town of Dublin.
Although the building was in decent shape,
Jennifer was still hesitant with her husband's plan.
I was not on board.
We purchased it for, I thought, just to maybe do a renovation
and make commercial or something like that.
And the more we got involved,
he wanted to do residential and live here.
And I got on board quickly, but not at first.
I tricked her.
Yeah.
Renovating a space this size required a lot of labor,
so Jennifer and Will took on much of the work themselves.
That's one thing.
You got to get in there and do it yourself.
We rolled up our sleeves, and we did it.
WILL: We've done our share.
Although doing it themselves helped keep costs down,
Jennifer admits sometimes she'd push for changes
Will had to veto just to keep them under budget.
I'm not good with the budget. I just see and want.
But he's really good with the budget and numbers.
And that's really kept us in line.
Will's childhood dream of owning the post office
became a reality in the form of a stunning home
that pays tribute to its historical past.
It just feels like home. And I love being here every day.
JENNIFER: Yeah.
And I love coming home every day.
Next, we're traveling to western Ireland
to the tiny town of Westport,
where picturesque old stone churches like this one
are common sights all across the countryside.
But what is unusual here is that inside this particular church
is a contemporary home.
Architect Andrew Lohan and his wife, Jackie,
found Kilgallán Church when they were on vacation in Ireland.
It was a deteriorating, abandoned mess.
But when they saw it,
they knew they could make something out of it.
ANDREW: We came and had a look,
and we both thought it was fantastic.
We just fell in love with it.
It had no roof. The tower was falling down.
NARRATOR: The church's original entrance
is now the entrance to the home,
leading to a spacious living room set
where rows of pews once stood.
The furnishings in the home
were cobbled together using Jackie's keen sense
of finding treasure in other people's trash.
I went down to the auction rooms every week
and identified this and that and the other.
So, a lot of what is in here was bought for virtually nothing.
NARRATOR: Alongside the living room is the bunk room for the kids,
a room Jackie and Andy rarely go into.
They can have their mates here and have them stay over.
And they're all coming and going and have a great time.
We actually don't mind if it's untidy,
so long as they keep the door shut, we don't care.
Got that one sussed. [ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: The far end of the church, where the altar once stood,
is now the kitchen, brightened naturally
by the enormous arched church windows.
There is plenty of space in the cottage-style kitchen
for cooking and eating.
And when the unpredictable Irish weather is agreeable,
there's another eating area outside in the large yard
where a barbecue and gardens keep Andy busy.
ANDREW: We eat outside a lot here.
And whenever the weather's good, it's great to have a barbecue.
NARRATOR: Kitchen stairs lead to a catwalk system Andy calls "the gallery."
His design for the house is essentially a box,
drops down inside the empty church.
His idea is that someday the house will be removed,
and the church will be restored to a place of worship.
The gallery leads to two more bedrooms.
The master bedroom looks out over the kitchen.
JACQUELINE: This is the en suite.
This old-fashioned bath
was an absolute must on my wish list.
You sit in it,
hopefully with a little glass of champagne.
This is one of my favorite rooms in the house.
A lot of romance and fun about it.
NARRATOR: The renovation of what was once a crumbling, neglected church
into this warm and inviting home
took five years of planning and nine months of construction.
And for the Lohan family,
the result is a home that is simply divine.
Next, we go to the land down under,
where it's not uncommon
to see someone in this unusual Australian home
showering in a telephone booth.
NARRATOR: We're back, checking out unusual buildings
that some very creative people
have turned into interesting homes.
Now a house on the western Australian coast
that is part boat, part train, and part work of art.
This home is called 100 Hubble
and is located in Fremantle, Australia.
As you approach along the front walk,
you can tell by the wall made of toys
that maybe this house
isn't like the rest of the ones in this quiet neighborhood.
Once inside, a stone path leads to a courtyard,
where you're faced with the decision
to turn right into the train car
or left into the fishing boat.
Or, should you continue straight ahead,
you can settle into the outdoor living room,
or make a stop in the open-air bathroom.
Some people think it's a little bit strange.
But it's just a really playful and a great place to be.
This unusual home was built and designed
by a local Fremantle artist named Andrew Hayim De Vries.
Creating this piece of residential art
took over 20 years.
Once it was done, Andrew put it on the market for sale,
and Sarah and Richard Campbell were quick to snap it up
for their young family of four.
DE VRIES: Sarah and Richard were very enthralled
about the fact that this house has become a piece of theater,
a piece of public art.
We thought we'd like to have an adventure while the kids were still quite young,
and we always thought that that adventure
would probably involve travel.
NARRATOR: It's an adventure for the Campbell family
whether they are awake or asleep.
The railway car is a true sleeper train,
housing the two bedrooms.
At one end of the carriage is the master suite.
And the kids' room
is what used to be the conductor's apartment.
Andrew left the gauges
and other original features of the train intact
when he designed the sleeping quarters.
When it came time to create a kitchen,
Andrew turned to the nearby ocean for inspiration.
Now Sarah fixes dinner every night in what used to be
the wheelhouse of an old fishing boat.
I'm getting quite used to cooking
in the wheelhouse kitchen.
I think, like the rest of the property,
it has quite a holiday feel to it.
NARRATOR: In a climate that gets very little rain,
an outdoor living area is ideal.
You throw it to Dad, okay?
Adjacent to the outdoor living room
is a space you wouldn't expect to be outside...
the bathroom.
The only privacy in here
is from the vines and leaves growing around it.
SARAH: Using the outdoor bathroom reminds me of being on holiday.
So it's lovely. It's quite a treat.
NARRATOR: With no room for a shower in his outdoor lavatory,
Andrew came up with an ingenious idea --
converting this telephone booth into a shower stall.
SARAH: It is quite a famous part of the house.
All of our friends who come over to stay
always want to have a shower in the telephone box.
NARRATOR: Sarah and Richard's experience living in the 100 Hubble house
with its crazy walls, train-car bedrooms,
and phone-booth showers,
has proven just the adventure they hoped to have
with their kids.
I still, kind of, pinch myself wandering around.
And I really love it, and love it as a family home.
Now it's high time we headed to Brooklyn,
where this clock at the top of a 19th-century warehouse
conceals an incredible apartment.
You live in the clock?
DAVIS: Well, behind the clock, yes.
Michael Davis saw this clock every day
growing up in New York.
I was attracted to this apartment as a small child.
I noticed it first as a young boy
traveling over the Brooklyn bridge.
And I just developed a sort of interest
and fascination with it.
NARRATOR: The clock-tower apartment
is on the top floor of the old Eagle Warehouse,
which was built in 1892.
The 10-foot-diameter clock still keeps time today,
but using a modern mechanism
that is far less noisy than its original antique motor.
DAVIS: That little box there is a DC motor.
So this clock is running 24 hours a day.
NARRATOR: The clock is the attention-grabbing centerpiece
of the living room in Michael's one-bedroom apartment,
a spacious dwelling by New York standards.
DAVIS: The entire place is about 1,200 square feet.
Bathroom is here.
This is my bedroom.
This is the master, where I sleep with my fish.
NARRATOR: The clock isn't the only view to the outside.
These skylights were part of the original building design.
They span the entire length of the building,
flooding the top floor with natural light.
This warehouse was renovated into apartments in the 1980s,
and, typical for the time,
the brick walls and high ceilings
were cased in with drywall.
Tony, let me show you something.
Here in the kitchen. Cool kitchen.
So, I'm just gonna get up here, if you don't mind.
[ Chuckling ] Okay.
When I bought this place,
this was the height of the ceiling,
actually a little bit lower than these cabinets are now.
I bet you must have loved that, that dropped ceiling.
Well, you can imagine how much.
I loved it so much that I took a hammer
and I took out the top of one of the kitchen cabinets
that were here before.
That's when I found five feet of ceiling height above.
NARRATOR: The ensuing six-month renovation
uncovered brick walls in very good condition.
The drop ceiling had partially obscured the clock,
so knocking it out helped restore the clock
as the home's centerpiece.
Its lettering and hands are original,
and Michael painstakingly maintains it.
But it's the view through the clock that really stops time.
Oh, I bet you get some peace of mind up here.
Oh, it's incredible.
Oh, man. This is outstanding.
Manhattan skyline right over there.
Mm-hmm.
Brooklyn Bridge right in front of us.
Mm-hmm.
Man, this is unbelievable.
This is home!
You live right here, looking out over this every day.
That's incredible.
Yes, it's beautiful.
Our next house is in Belgium,
where a cameraman turned a shipwreck
into a floating home.
NARRATOR: We visited homes built in a former post office...
an Irish church...
and even a train car.
Now we travel by canal
to the small Belgium town of Ittre
to visit the Grace of God.
The Grace of God is a 50-year-old cargo barge
that is now home to the Lebec family --
Pierre, Sabine, and their two kids Gasper and Lisa.
The barge is a two-level, three-bedroom home
with all the modern conveniences,
starting with the upper-level kitchen,
which Pierre designed himself.
The portholes in the kitchen cabinets
are part of the continuing theme throughout the kitchen --
circles --
which continue to the captain's table,
which is suspended out over the lower living area
on a circular balcony.
Down the stairs from the kitchen
is the former grain-storage area of the barge.
Now it's the living area.
It's only 16 feet wide, but has plenty of length.
So Pierre added a small indoor playground for his kids.
Beyond the play area is an office,
which Pierre has painted bright orange
to offset the dim light.
The bright color scheme extends into the sitting area,
where bright-red leather club chairs
and mustard-colored walls
are the perfect complement to the brass-framed portholes
Pierre purchased off a Korean ship.
On the lower level of the ship,
this underwater corridor leads to the bedrooms.
The master bedroom has whitewash floors
and painted paneled walls,
but the anchor of this room
is the princess-style bed with a gauze canopy.
In the master bath, an elaborate mosaic-tile design
wraps around all three walls.
Just down the hall are the kids' cabins.
Lisa's room is decidedly feminine
with lavender and pink in every corner.
Finally, at the end of the corridor, is Gasper's room,
which is in the bow of the barge.
He has put it to good use
with yet another rope for climbing.
Above the living quarters is the bridge,
which Pierre has claimed as his own.
All of these cleverly designed spaces
were imagined when Pierre and Sabine first laid eyes
on the 200-foot, solid-steel Grace of God in 1991.
The steel cargo barge had definitely fallen from grace
with little more than rotted floorboards
and decades of filth to show for it.
But it was still afloat,
and after 18 months of hard work,
Pierre restored the barge to glory
and moved in the family.
Now it costs Pierre only $100 per year
to keep the Grace of God moored at lock number 5
in Charleroi Canal.
Moving it is possible, but not easy,
so the family is content to spend most of their time
floating in their special home at the dock.
Next, we're in New England
to meet Boston-based couple Annette and Michael Miller.
This couple knew they wanted to leave the city behind
and move to the beautiful Berkshire Mountains
of New England, preferably near the water.
And sure enough, we're surrounded by water --
the lake in front of us.
And this was the place.
This is the one that we fell in love with.
But the place they found wasn't a house.
It was a 19th-century equestrian barn.
You needed to have a good visual sense
to see through the weeds and the mice and the cobwebs.
[ Annette laughs ]
You know, it was a mess.
NARRATOR: The barn once housed horses belonging
to Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edith Wharton.
But it had been abandoned for decades
when the Millers found it.
The two-year renovation began with a three-month project --
leveling the foundation of the barn
to make the structure sound enough to turn into a home.
Instead of demolishing the original structure,
they preserved as much as possible.
This is the original door.
This is the weather door that was facing outside.
And then we just hung them on either side of the door
which we made like it, but a modernized door.
MICHAEL: And it also has the shape.
That was the original shape of the door,
this rounded space at the top.
ANNETTE: These are 11-foot sliding doors.
VoilĂ .
To bring the outside in was very much part of the concept.
And with that sugar maple there,
it's just center stage when you look at it.
NARRATOR: Inside, the Millers only added walls where necessary.
The result is an open floor plan
featuring a living room, a dining room,
and a contemporary kitchen.
We definitely wanted a modern kitchen
in an old setting.
The blending of old with new is highlighted
in the stunning centerpiece of the barn --
the custom-crafted staircase.
So, we decided to build this stairway,
and it was quite a design problem
to get the curve of this railing and the curve of the wood,
as you can see, is quite a very narrow turn here.
This beadboard is over 100 years old,
and there's one coat of shellac on it.
And that's what brought it back to its original beauty.
NARRATOR: The master bedroom is in the main building of the barn
with a large picture window
with a stunning view out to the lake
on the back of the property.
During the renovation, the Millers added a hallway
to connect the barn to the old ice house,
now a four-bedroom guest cottage for their extended family.
With every window having a picture-perfect view,
Michael and Annette consider the renovation a huge success.
ANNETTE: Our goal for the project
was to have a wonderful, exciting living space
and something that would be visually beautiful
at almost every angle.
Having this piece of property surrounded by water
and the woods and being so private,
and at the same time, very old and historic.
It just seemed to fit.
NARRATOR: Our next homeowners tried their hand
at renovating a building that used to be,
among other things, a fraternity house.
NARRATOR: We're on a tour of some amazing homes
that originally were something very different.
Our next home is in Binghamton, New York,
where artist Tony Brunelli thought he'd found
the perfect space for his dream home,
until he got a whiff of the inside.
BRUNELLI: Well, the smell is something that you can't describe.
I could not believe that any human being
would live like that.
NARRATOR: The human beings Tony's referring to?
It was originally a storage warehouse
for a wholesale grocer.
But when I got it, it was a frat house.
And you wouldn't believe the condition it was in.
NARRATOR: So, between the food and the frat,
there had been plenty of pungent odors through these doors.
But Tony recruited his girlfriend, Emily,
to help turn this smelly space into the loft of their dreams.
RAIMONDI: The first time I walked up here,
you're walking through the first two floors
going, "Oh, my God. Where am I going?"
[ Laughs ]
Tony's dream was to create a space
where he could both work and live.
The street-level Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts Gallery
was the first step.
It's two floors of contemporary paintings,
photography, and sculpture.
Above the gallery is the two-story loft Tony calls home.
There are three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom.
And up the final set of stairs to the top floor
is a brightly lit art studio.
Turning this former fraternity house
into a world-class gallery and loft took six months
and required a complete gutting of the space.
As he built it back,
Tony decided he wanted to flood the living area
with as much light as possible,
so he took out the floor above it.
You can kind of see where the beams were,
'cause the pockets were right there.
Figuring out how to remove
the enormous 22-foot wood beams dating back to the 1890s
seemed like a daunting task.
So Tony called in reinforcements to help.
And I got, you know, five of my strongest friends,
and we had a lot of testosterone going.
And it all happened within five minutes.
We got every single beam off,
and we were all kind of disappointed,
because we thought it was gonna be an all-day affair.
NARRATOR: The beams were repurposed
into this contemporary staircase along the exposed brick wall.
I like that the stairs are open.
BRUNELLI: It still retains the natural warmth
and character of the building.
NARRATOR: Throughout the space, the charm of the warehouse,
including the wood floors and brick walls,
is the backdrop for some stunning contemporary design,
such as the glass-block fireplace.
I wanted to make a statement with the fireplace.
I wanted the glass block to light up.
And then I wanted all of the colors of fire
to be represented in the fireplace.
The glass block actually warms up
when you turn on the fireplace.
NARRATOR: As the home came together,
Emily better understood Tony's vision.
But there were things about the loft
that didn't quite work for her.
When I moved in, the walls were all raw brick,
which isn't conducive to cleaning.
NARRATOR: So, while Tony was out of town,
she decided to solve that problem herself.
RAIMONDI: I always wanted the color green in the kitchen
because it's very serene.
So, while he was gone, I painted it green
and did a little bit of a faux finish
with the metallic bronze over it.
And if she would have called me up and told me
that she had painted the brick wall green,
I probably would have found the next plane home.
And then I looked at it.
[ Chuckling ] And I was like,
"I want to be mad, but I can't 'cause it looks so nice."
NARRATOR: Emily's backsplash complements the metal kitchen cabinets
and the massive center island
with its granite counter with inlaid tile.
It's valued at $80,000,
all of which Tony got for free from his art dealer,
who was redoing a New York City loft.
So, this kitchen was actually custom-designed
for his SoHo loft.
And a lot of famous artists literally sat at this table.
So it's kind of an honor for me to have this.
The three bedrooms are located on the second floor of the loft.
Two, separated by a sitting room and a shared bathroom,
belong to Tony's two daughters.
The master bedroom is a large, bright space
that looks out over the living room.
Since Tony had to build the bathroom into the space,
he worried that it would feel very dark
compared to the rest of the loft.
I came up with an idea
for having a rounded-glass-block wall
just because I wanted something different.
NARRATOR: The other very different thing is that it has no door.
Well, if you want privacy, you've just got to make sure
he's in another room of the house.
[ Both laugh ]
NARRATOR: A catwalk from the master bedroom
leads to a sitting area,
featuring windows original to the building.
And you can see all the brickwork is original.
And it has a nice texture to it.
Another of the building's original features
that somehow survived all those frat-house parties
is the elevator.
BRUNELLI: And as you're going up, it actually pushes the doors.
And the great thing about this elevator
is it probably was built in the late 1800s,
and it's still working today.
NARRATOR: Renovating this old building came from an overall desire
to help the urban revitalization of this neighborhood.
BRUNELLI: We've definitely created some sort of movement here.
Now everybody's coming and buying up property
and doing exactly what we're doing.
And people still think I'm crazy,
but at least they see merit in what I'm doing.
NARRATOR: Next, we'll visit Bernardsville, New Jersey,
where a self-proclaimed offbeat architect
wanted a country hideaway,
so he hid away his cottage inside another building.
NARRATOR: We've seen homes made from fishing boats...
clock towers...
and an old horse barn.
And now we're going to rural New Jersey,
where we'll see a huge airplane hangar
that was built to hide the cottage inside of it.
When architect Adam Kalkin
bought this 1890s gardener's cottage,
he quickly realized it wasn't big enough for his family.
But rather than renovating the cottage,
he left it intact,
and instead, he built an airplane hangar around it
and turned the hangar into the extra living space
he needed for his family.
This unusual solution to finding space
for a growing family suited Adam,
whose work as an architect leans towards the unconventional.
I do unusual buildings which are conceptually very loaded.
NARRATOR: And this is no exception.
He's loaded his home with many unexpected features.
Instead of a traditional entry,
a windowed garage door opens to the living room.
The cottage-style decor sits on concrete floors
and is surrounded by sleek, modern
steel-and-glass elements,
creating the unique, cozy airplane-hangar concept
Adam envisioned.
On the far side of the living room
across from the original cottage
is a modular unit made of cinder block and glass.
This industrial-looking space has nine rooms.
So, actually, they're almost like tree houses,
you know, stacked up on each other.
NARRATOR: Adam's inspiration for this section of the house
are the Manhattan apartment buildings he left behind
when he moved his family out to New Jersey.
His two daughters live in these fancy cubes --
bedrooms on the ground floor
with a Jack-and-Jill-style bathroom they share
that's just their size.
You can see that it's designed at kind of 2/3 scale
because my daughters are very young.
And so a normal-height sink would be too much for them.
NARRATOR: Up one level from the bedrooms
is a reading area and a study nook for the girls.
Continuing up the spiral staircase,
the top floor offers the best views
to the beautiful countryside
and to the cottage on the other side of the house.
KALKIN: I like playing with scale, you know?
The idea of the cottage,
which is much larger than a person,
but in the context of the airplane hangar,
is a miniature thing.
So, in a way, the cottage has become a dollhouse
in this much larger structure.
NARRATOR: The human-size dollhouse
is relatively the same as when he purchased it.
KALKIN: The cottage, I tried to keep exactly as it is,
to treat it as a found object.
NARRATOR: Inside, Adam scrapped
the traditional cottage-style kitchen
in favor of a contemporary design using wood and metal
with stainless-steel appliances.
With a huge living room outside in the hangar,
Adam was able to turn the cottage living room
into a library.
I designed this room around this book which I wrote,
called "Addiction."
As you can tell, it has a lot of red in it,
which is a very high-voltage color.
And there is a lot of pattern in it.
It's bordering on psychedelia.
NARRATOR: The master-bedroom windows
look out over the main living area
and across to the girls' apartments.
KALKIN: We can see across the large space
into my daughters' bedrooms.
NARRATOR: And although there is no window to the outside in the cottage,
Adam built a cottage-size window in the hangar.
This house within a house is an architectural marvel
that has received a lot of attention from his peers.
But Adam tends to downplay how innovative his concept is.
KALKIN: It's not actually
anything necessarily new, technologically.
But it's the combination of all the things
that I think, for builders, that are somewhat mind-blowing.
NARRATOR: Mind-blowing or not,
the airplane hangar meets Manhattan loft
meets country cottage concept
is something you're not likely to find
anywhere else in the world.
Next, what started as a dry-goods warehouse
went through many renovations before becoming a home.
I think it was one of the ugliest buildings
in the neighborhood.
NARRATOR: We're back on our tour of unusual homes
that have been created from unusual spaces,
like wrecked cargo barges and airplane hangars.
Now we head to the Atlanta, Georgia, neighborhood
of Castleberry Heights.
Steve Messer and Calvin Lockwood were looking for a space
where they could both live and work.
They found it in this warehouse,
but the property definitely wasn't ready for moving in
when they bought it.
I think it was one of the ugliest buildings
in the neighborhood.
It had bars on the outsides of the windows.
It was just pretty ugly.
NARRATOR: The building had several tenants over the last 100 years.
It started as a dry-goods store.
And the freight elevator that carried goods up and down
still remains in the house.
LOCKWOOD: It's been very helpful, you know,
just to be able to pull it up
and not carry everything up the stairs.
[ Rooster crows ]
NARRATOR: At some point,
the building became a chicken hatchery.
And after the chickens flew the coop,
the building housed a furniture showroom,
where it seems the '60s and '70s decor was never changed,
perhaps a hint as to why the furniture store
eventually went out of business.
And the walls were that avocado, you know, '60s green.
And the ceiling had acoustical tile.
NARRATOR: The first-floor showroom
seemed to be the best place to set up Steve's business.
I've been a commercial photographer for over 20 years,
and this is the place
that I wanted to have as my own business.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
NARRATOR: Chipping away at the plaster walls
uncovered full walls of gorgeous brick.
Bit by bit, I would start hammering away.
And it was a good way to relieve frustration.
NARRATOR: Once the first floor photographer's studio
was completed,
it was time to move upstairs and finish the home space.
Working with wide-open spaces,
they built walls to create two bedrooms, two baths,
a kitchen, dining room, and living room,
which turns into a home theater with the push of a button.
Doing most of the work on this huge renovation wasn't easy
and took over a decade to complete,
during which, there was a lot of sweat, frustration,
and some broken bones.
But Calvin and Steve now consider it
a worthwhile investment of time.
Their work, mistakes and all, adds to the home's charm.
'Cause we were talking about, you know, like,
if we had a million dollars to sink into it,
you could go ahead and fix it all,
but it wouldn't have the character
that you want it to have.
But year after year, they kept at it.
And now they seem happy with how it all turned out.
LOCKWOOD: It's our little piece of paradise in the city.
I wouldn't trade it for anything.
NARRATOR: Now we're going to dairy country in Wisconsin
where a Styrofoam cooler is being used not to hold beer,
but as a family home.
NARRATOR: We've seen people make homes out of everything
from airplane hangars to clock towers.
Now we'll visit the dairy state of Wisconsin,
where our next house has strong ties to the state food --
cheese.
Here in Darlington,
which is located southwest of Madison, Wisconsin,
the Thulie family have taken their affection for cheese
a little further than most.
BOTH: We live in a cheese cooler!
NARRATOR: A cheese cooler that is built entirely out of foam.
TED: Welcome to Schaum Heim. It means "foam home."
NARRATOR: When Ted heard
that one of these coolers was being torn down,
his plan of building a dream house
took on a new direction.
So he drove to Madison
in an effort to buy the foam panels that lined the cooler.
TED: When it was taken down,
it was gonna have to go to a landfill.
So I got the panels for free
and decided that maybe I could make a house out of it.
[ Laughing ] I don't know why. That's just the way it goes.
I thought, "I'm gonna live in what?"
KYLE: I thought it was pretty crazy.
I didn't really understand what he was talking about.
I just figured it'd blow over or something. I don't know.
NARRATOR: The Styrofoam home has polished concrete floors
throughout the main-level kitchen and living room.
The garage door installed inside
helps break up the large space
and serves as a window between rooms.
Upstairs, a balcony leads to bedrooms
for sons, Blake and Kyle, and the master suite.
And down the hall, a movie theater.
The goal was to create a very large space
that we could put a lot of the stuff that I'd collected
and had stuffed away for a long time.
ANGIE: He likes stuff.
Ted's collection is quite extensive.
I got these columns from a courthouse in Missouri.
I got the giraffes in California.
[ Laughs ] What?
I got this gas pump in Missouri.
I got this old streetlight in California.
I always wanted an elevator.
This is an old bricked-in cheese boiler
that I got out of a cheese plant,
and I took it, made it look like a train,
and we use it for our wine.
And you can see on the front of it,
he transposed the "T" and the "I" in his casting.
And this was the only one built like this.
You got to have odd stuff.
NARRATOR: Building the foam showcase
wasn't as time-consuming as building a traditional home.
TED: We dug the foundation for it.
Fairly quick to put up, once you get onto it.
The panels are 48 inches wide.
We siliconed the seams, painted the inside.
The outside's the natural color.
Don't know yet what we're gonna do with that.
When it comes by, it'll come by.
Not yellow. [ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: Coats of paint inside
disguise the fact that the walls are foam,
but Ted and Angie decided
their former life with the cheese company
shouldn't be hidden.
TED: There's still some dents in the walls.
But we left them in there for some character.
NARRATOR: With extra foam to spare,
Ted and Angie decided to use it
in the interior design plan, as well.
ANGIE: We decided to put this wall in.
We thought it would give the room a little more dimension.
And we thought when you came in the front door,
you wouldn't immediately see everything,
you would have to come into the room more
to see the rest of the living area.
NARRATOR: One thing you can't miss in the living area
is the ceiling.
[ Laughing ] I always wanted a sky in my house.
The ceiling was painted by me and some friends.
It was fun, a way to spend an evening.
NARRATOR: When the foam home was finally finished,
Ted and Angie let everyone who had a hand in its construction
leave their mark.
KYLE: This is all the people that helped out with the whole house.
You can see my hands right here with my name.
So it proves that I helped out with this.
This is mine right here.
They still fit. How about that?
You know, I like to help my parents out whenever I can.
NARRATOR: Although Angie was at first very skeptical,
she's now the foam home's biggest fan.
I love it.
Oh, she said she was never gonna say that.
[ Both laugh ]
I love it.
The more you can add, the better it gets.
NARRATOR: Our next home
is in the gold-rush town of Jackson, Wyoming,
where we meet Mike and Heidi Davies.
When Mike and Heidi first bought this old corner drugstore,
their plan was to turn the ground floor
into a rug showroom.
The renovation was the talk of the town.
Oh, I think that there was a general sense of shock, maybe,
that the old soda fountain was going away.
But Mike and Heidi surprised people
by keeping the soda fountain right where it stood
as a tribute to the building's storied past.
HEIDI: It's amazing how many people come in and say,
"Oh, I'm so glad you left the soda fountain."
And in the shop downstairs,
you know, the soda fountain is a beautiful work of art.
A work of art made of tile
with paintings from Jackson's past as a gold-rush town.
But the artwork isn't the only reminder of the past.
There's a lot of gum down there.
[ Laughs ]
I think that gum has been accumulating
since the late '30s.
When folks who grew up in Jackson come in to visit,
they're thrilled to see the soda counter
as a standing reminder of their past.
Young girls were working the soda fountain.
The old pharmacist was back in the back
smoking a cigarette and counting his pills.
NARRATOR: After turning the basement storage area into a workshop,
Mike decided they'd renovate the second floor of the building
into their own apartment.
But for Heidi, seeing was not believing.
Well, I have a pretty good imagination,
and I've fixed up some funky, old places.
But I couldn't see the vision, and I just sat down and bawled.
[ Laughing ] And said, "I don't think we can do it."
But Mike was convinced that the success they'd had
renovating the downstairs soda fountain
was reason enough to tackle the upstairs apartment.
So he started taking out walls.
Literally went after them with sledgehammers.
You just hit it until it loosens up,
and pwwwrh!
The whole wall comes down,
and you're left with all the lathe on the wall...
That's a boy thing.
It's a boy thing.
[ Laughs ]
It was a lot of fun. [ Laughs ]
Once the walls were down and they had a game plan,
they attacked the floors and couldn't believe it
when they struck the equivalent of flooring gold -- maple.
I think the most challenging part of the renovation
was, absolutely, digging down through three layers of linoleum
to get to that maple.
HEIDI: Oh, I was so thrilled.
I mean, everybody dreams about that.
"Let's peel it back
and see if there's good hardwood floors underneath there."
So, that was -- it was a real treat.
NARRATOR: Once completed,
the result was a bright and cozy three-bedroom apartment.
Two of the bedrooms are down the hallway off the kitchen,
while the master suite
is on the other side of the spacious living room.
I love this apartment. I mean, it's really warm.
The light is incredible all the way around.
In the middle of the apartment is an open-plan kitchen
with an island built from another treasure
Heidi found left behind.
It was one of the old, original counters from the drugstore.
And we found it in the basement,
stuck to the wall with syrup that had dripped down.
Blueberry, I believe. [ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: Doing most of the work themselves,
based out of the workshop they built in the basement,
was a way for Mike and Heidi to feel connected to the project.
And Mike says the renovation may have saved his life.
You know, I was out of shape.
I was working as a stockbroker.
I was heading for being fat, bald, and dead at 50.
So, when we got here, it was a big, quick turnaround for me.
SHULZ: There's a lot of history here,
and preserving the past the way they're doing it
is a wonderful thing.
NARRATOR: So, the next time you see a drugstore...
a cargo barge...
or even a clock tower...
remember, with a little vision and a lot of hard work,
you, too, could make it into a one-of-a-kind home.
And if you do, someone will probably say,
"You live in what?"