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NARRATOR: Not everyone lives
in a three-bedroom, two-bath tract house in the suburbs,
or wants to.
But you might be surprised to find out
that some people will turn almost anything into a house.
The minute I saw the place, I seen what it would look like.
NARRATOR: A coal barge, a fortress, a windmill.
My first thought was,
"Well, she'll never get an architect."
And then, my next thought was,
"She'll never find a builder to build the thing."
Well, she found a local builder, and...
...and got it accomplished.
Stick around,
and we'll give you a tour of some amazing living spaces,
as well as meet the homeowners whose creativity and vision
made it all possible.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
This first house is a waterfront home in Gadsden, Alabama.
But it's not part of a luxury enclave of lake homes.
This retreat is a former pump house,
but now it's home to Mike Urioste.
Industrial-loft homes are hard to find in this part of Alabama,
so when Mike discovered the old pump house,
he was quick to turn it into the loft of his dreams.
25-foot ceilings and the original brick-and-steel beams
anchor his open-loft design.
This is what the appeal of loft living, to me, is,
is the openness.
You have a kitchen...
and a living area all together.
So, when you did have friends and family here,
you're together.
To be able to look at the river at any time,
it just makes it the best place to live,
I'm telling you.
NARRATOR: Mike's home is two floors of spacious living.
Beyond the living room and contemporary kitchen,
there's a sitting room, dining area,
and a nautical-themed bathroom
in honor of the Coosa River right outside the window.
Downstairs, we find Mike's master bedroom and bath,
along with two guest rooms...
and another bathroom.
Mike loves to entertain, so he put in a game room
that opens up to the floor above and added an indoor gym.
The pump house was originally built
to send water from the river to a steel mill
about 6 miles away.
When Mike bought the building,
it had been closed for several years.
The minute I saw the place, I seen what it would look like.
NARRATOR: His vision for an industrial-loft home
wasn't something his friends readily embraced,
including the local building community.
URIOSTE: Well, a lot of people thought I was crazy.
It was hard to get the contractors to even work with me
on this project.
It had transformers on top of the building,
transformers on the side.
It was filthy. The deck had an overhead crane.
It was just a mess.
Inside, there was no floors in here.
The windows were broken. It was an eyesore.
NARRATOR: Mike removed the transformers,
and in their place, he created a beautiful yard
with plenty of outdoor entertaining space.
Inside, the original building was nothing but machinery
from the basement floor
all the way up to the ceiling five stories above.
The biggest challenge of this place
was actually putting the floor in.
The large space, having to span the distance without columns,
and then building two floors -- That was a lot of work there.
NARRATOR: Former pump house employee Jack Schwartz
remembers how the building originally looked
before Mike got ahold of it.
There was motors in here. There was one big motor.
I forget exactly what the horsepower,
but it was pretty big to pump water that far.
And it had a line that was 72 inches diameter,
and I could walk through it.
I had to bend over just a little bit.
NARRATOR: Mike preserved
a portion of the original pump house
by keeping the basement intact.
Everything looked like this at one point.
These pumps was actually what discharged and charged
the steel mill, the blast furnace.
So, you can see the size of these.
And above us, you can see the ceiling
is where we put the floors in for the first level.
And the height is about 27 feet.
We're also sitting about 8 to 10 feet below sea level
in this room right now.
NARRATOR: Mike took care to build an outdoor oasis, too.
Several decks and catwalks connect the home to the river
and to the boathouse.
Inside and out, Mike's house is a grownup's playground.
URIOSTE: I just feel like I'm on vacation.
You got the pool. You got the pontoon boat.
It's just a lot of fun.
NARRATOR: This dirt road in Southern Georgia
leads us across swampland to an 800-acre farm.
It's here, among tall pines and grazing cattle,
that Penny and Jim Woodward have built their home.
But if you're looking for a traditional farmhouse,
you won't find it here.
In fact, you won't find a house at all.
PENNY: It was my idea.
We looked at some silos on the property
and took one look and thought, "Wow, look at all this space."
But Jimmy had his doubts about wife, Penny's, plan
to turn a circular, metal grain bin into a home.
My first thought was, "Well, she'll never get an architect."
And then, my next thought was,
"She'll never find a builder to build the thing."
Well, she found a local builder, and...
...and got it accomplished.
Erecting the silo was no problem.
It was up in just one week.
But this particular silo
needed windows and walls to make it a home,
a task which proved quite challenging
for the architect and builder.
Round is the biggest design problem on the project.
How do you put square windows into a round wall?
NARRATOR: Windows and doors were custom-made
to accommodate the curves on the outside of the house.
And inside, flexible, galvanized tin
was used in place of traditional Sheetrock.
JIM: I personally like that
because you're always trying to hang something
in Sheetrock --
You know how difficult that can be.
Self.
...Penny can just move it around herself.
It makes it a lot easier on me.
I'm sure the local hardware store is wondering
who in the world is buying up their stock of magnets.
That unique design feature
turned the popular fridge magnets into wall magnets,
allowing sons Blake and Brooks more room to express themselves.
Penny's silo design included spacious, double decks
around the entire exterior.
And in a nod to the industrial inspiration of her home,
she used culvert pipes filled with concrete for the columns.
She also had an outdoor shower installed after having learned
a very muddy lesson in her previous house.
When the boys and I go 'round in the woods...
It's muddy and dirty.
...you can't help but come back dirty.
It's easier to get all the dirt off outside
and go inside
rather than make Mom mad and get the house all dirty.
Inside, salvaged building materials complement the decor.
PENNY: This coffee table is made from an old Westinghouse sign
that I have actually had in storage in a barn
for several years.
NARRATOR: Other salvage hunts turned up more discarded items
that were put to good use.
A fireplace mantel and porch railing
became the Woodwards' bed frame.
Retro fixtures all over the house
lend to the eclectic design Penny wanted,
both inside and out.
If they ever decide to move,
they can recycle their entire home,
a house that at one time had the storage capacity
of more than 1.5 million pounds of grain
but now simply houses the Woodward family
in the place they call home.
Our next homeowner oversaw her heavenly renovation
under the watchful eyes of patron saints.
NARRATOR: Our captivating tour of homes
created from unlikely structures continues
with a visit to the American west,
where Tony Frassrand
meets a woman whose leisurely afternoon drive
turned into a divine real-estate transaction.
The mining town of Silver Plume, Colorado, was built
around this tiny Catholic church.
135 years after it was erected by Irish and Italian immigrants,
architectural engineer Kendra Paschall took on
the daunting task of renovating it and turning it into her home.
How did you find this place?
Well, a good friend of mine and I -- he's an architect --
we were driving up in the mountains,
talking about how cool it would be
to renovate an old church or an old barn.
And we stopped to get gas,
and I grabbed one of those real-estate guides.
And there it was on the back.
It said, "Quaint little church in mountain town for sale."
KENDRA: I love old architecture --
the character of the stained-glass windows,
the arched windows,
adding modern, contemporary touches to it.
NARRATOR: The contemporary touches Kendra added
include the kitchen, built along the church's natural curves...
...and a small bedroom in what was once the choir loft.
Two more bedrooms are found behind the former altar.
The spacious living area
is nestled under a beautifully restored painting
over what was once the church's nave.
Kendra had a distinct vision for the old church,
and she recruited a contractor she knew she could trust,
her dad.
MAX: I think one of the things here that makes this feel
so warm and cozy and homey is Kendra's selection of colors.
If you look around, you can notice
that a lot of the tones in here
are replicated from the stained glass itself.
And you got the natural door, the white woodwork,
two tones of green...
Spanish red, Tucson red.
[ Laughs ] One of those colors.
It really just has a deep, warm feeling.
NARRATOR: Kendra and her dad
faced several renovation challenges.
We used one level of scaffolding with a platform
and a ladder strapped securely to the scaffolding,
and we could roller back and forth.
Yeah, I was on the scaffolding on the ladder.
Building turrets on either side of the choir loft
allowed for additional bathrooms
and made the balcony large enough for guest quarters.
But the process was quite demanding.
This is one of the bathrooms.
NARRATOR: Of the three bathrooms in the house,
only one is restored.
The other two are in progress.
FRASSRAND: You don't seem like the type of person
who takes no for an answer
or really lets obstacles set you back.
No.
Wow, look at this.
The wood stove.
1875.
FRASSRAND: Wow. And it works.
It will heat the place up.
It also makes a mess.
[ Both laugh ]
NARRATOR: Uncovering special details during the renovation
was fun for Kendra.
These stencils used on the church ceiling
are now framed as art on Kendra's walls,
and several dozen of the original pews were also reused.
KENDRA: Originally, the pews were about 10 1/2 feet long.
So, what we decided to do was to shorten up the pews,
take the existing backs,
and use those for both the backs and the seats.
And then, my dad took
the boards that were originally the seats
and made the dining room table out of it.
Wow. That is awesome.
This is all -- Exactly.
...sort of broken down into different components
and made into a beautiful table.
So, to be able to reuse the material in this church
was a great opportunity.
These are the original stained-glass windows.
Wow.
I really enjoy the openness of stained-glass windows,
so I really wanted to maintain that open feeling.
NARRATOR: When Kendra and Max first began their renovations,
some in the town of Silver Plume were skeptical.
When you heard that someone had bought the place
and they were gonna live here,
turn it into their home, what did you think?
I was heartbroke. I was actually devastated.
NARRATOR: Pat and Gail Buckley own the local bakery in town
and weren't thrilled to hear an out-of-towner
was planning to buy the church property.
We thought somebody was gonna come in and just gut it
and level it and, you know, just change it in its entirety.
What's going on? How you doing?
KENDRA: I realized there was a little bit of scrutiny,
but I think after the people realized
that we really weren't going to affect the integrity
of the main part of the church,
that we were going to leave it open,
I think that eased a lot of minds.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: And the Buckleys had a bigger reason than most
to be worried.
This was a very special spot for you two?
Yeah. I walked down that aisle.
I saw her walk down and went, "I'm getting married."
"Do you believe that?"
NARRATOR: Kendra has invited the Buckleys
back to renew their vows
and continues to welcome family and friends into her home.
KENDRA: So many fun things to do up here,
and just being able to bring the entire family here at holidays
has definitely made it 100% worth all the time and trouble.
NARRATOR: Our next home is a floating fortress
that used to run coal between France and England.
NARRATOR: So far on our tour of unusual living spaces,
we've met people who saw potential
in boarded-up buildings, like a river pump house
and an old mining town's church.
You'll find our next unusual home in London
just up from the Tower Bridge,
moored at Cadogan Pier on the River Thames.
This is my river yacht Ocean on the River Thames in London.
Welcome aboard.
NARRATOR: The owner
of this former, 110-ton French coal barge
spared no expense when converting it
into a luxurious houseboat.
Belowdeck are two levels of living space
with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
On the bridge, Craig wanted to add a living area.
So, this is where I enter the bridge.
When I first walked in here, it was about this high,
so I had to duck down.
I was, like, walking like this. So, we decided to blow it out.
NARRATOR: He raised the ceiling 3 feet,
added tri-fold doors,
and an 8-foot span of windows over the bow.
We created these windows.
And you push a button, and both of these open up.
NARRATOR: What was once the cargo hold of the coal barge
is now a living room with mahogany floors
and furniture custom-built in Italy.
The modern design is accented
by one significant, antique feature,
the original ship's wheel.
CRAIG: Coming from the bridge onto the galley, which I love.
This kitchen is a great place
to cook for my kids, family, and friends.
NARRATOR: The Italian marble-topped island
has a built-in cooktop with a fridge
and dishwasher hidden underneath.
So, everything you need here.
And then, it's really close to the 8-person table,
where I entertain.
NARRATOR: Below the dining area are the sleeping quarters.
So, right now, I'm entering the master bedroom.
Really calm place to sleep... and inspirational.
I have my signed picture from Muhammad Ali.
And this is a signed guitar from the Rolling Stones.
I can walk right in to the master bathroom.
NARRATOR: This elegant bathroom features granite tiles
from floor to ceiling, his-and-her vessel-style sinks,
and a porcelain, claw-footed tub.
CRAIG: Nice place to wake up in the morning
and get ready for the day.
NARRATOR: Craig's son uses the third bedroom,
and both of his children have their own bathroom.
CRAIG: This is my 11-year-old daughter's bathroom.
She's gonna turn into a teenager,
and she needs her own entrance and exit,
so we created one for her.
Check this out.
Daddy will never know that she's leaving.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: The trap door places you on the teakwood pool deck.
The pièce de résistance is the swimming pool.
On a warm day, it's a nice, cold pool.
On a cold day, I heat it up.
NARRATOR: Craig has designed his luxury home
to take him far beyond the Thames.
With a captain on board guiding the way,
Craig plans to navigate every major river in the world.
Danube, Volga, Rhine, Mississippi, Amazon, Nile --
Be great.
NARRATOR: Our next home is found in the Dutch town of Alkmaar,
one of Holland's beautiful, pristine, rural communities.
When in Holland, you are bound to see
one of the country's most famous icons, the windmill,
like this one, the Slootgaard Mill,
now simply called home
by Annemarie and Robin Gusen and their daughter, Christa.
The Slootgaard Mill is one of the oldest and largest windmills
of its kind in the world,
and although the windmill is still in good, working order,
the pump machinery has been removed
to create the Gusens' lovely home.
Robin is a retired naval officer
who feels very comfortable working with wind and sails,
so living in the windmill feels natural to him.
Downstairs, Annemarie has converted
the first three floors of the mill into a home.
The open first floor is anchored
by an incredible central staircase
that separates the large living room from the dining room.
Every nook and cranny of the open living space
is filled with mementos.
The bedrooms are located on the second floor.
Large support beams are common in Dutch design
and are a main feature in the master bedroom.
On the third floor, there is just enough space for one room.
Robin claimed this area for his office,
and Annemarie found it perfect
to display their antique maritime bell collection.
And up on the highest floor,
Robin has his own spectacular version of a man cave.
It's here where he turns the sails of the mill into the wind.
With a turn of the giant wheel,
the entire top portion of the mill rotates.
The sails have a wingspan of almost 300 feet
and can travel up to 80 miles per hour.
The Slootgaard Mill dates to 1591,
and like most windmills in the region,
it was built to pump water from these low-lying lands.
Before the 14th century, Holland was mostly bogs and swampland,
susceptible to frequent flooding.
In the 15th century,
the development of dams and other water-control technology
meant the water could be drained from the land into the canals.
Soon, windmills like this one
started popping up across the country.
Today, about 1,100 mills still exist.
With the mill turned to catch the wind,
now all it takes
is some wrangling of ropes back on the ground,
unfurling the cloth on the sails,
and with a quick push, the windmill is turning again,
a reminder of the building's function
before it became home sweet home to the Gusen family.
Next, one of Chicago's most famous criminals
brought his getaway cars here,
and cleaning up after him took months.
GLASSMAN: The back of this place was just stacked up
with vehicles and all kinds of junk.
NARRATOR: Now what appears to be an ordinary storefront
actually has ties to Chicago's most notorious gangster,
but we'll get to that later.
We sent our own Tony Frassrand to the South Side of Chicago
to investigate.
Hey. Hey.
You must be Evan, huh? How you doing?
Hi, Tony. Good morning.
The first thing you notice when you enter
artist Evan Glassman's home is his sense of humor.
GLASSMAN: Obviously,
you wouldn't expect doors on the ceiling
and I wanted to just kind of play with people's sensibility
and what's going around them and make it interesting.
Interesting it is,
and it's a theme we see throughout the house,
such as in the yard -- the yard inside the house.
I wanted to live, you know, naturally, more so.
This is awesome.
When I need to take a shower --
[ Chuckling ] No way.
Oh, my God.
That's your shower. Cool.
This former storefront and auto garage caught Evan's attention
as the ideal place to have both a home and a gallery.
There's some original floor.
That's kind of what I first noticed.
Like, there's a beautiful slab here.
It was all drop ceilings and really, like, old --
[ Laughs ]
After polishing the concrete into more suitable floors
throughout the house,
Evan turned his attention to the ceiling,
where his renovation uncovered huge skylights.
Heck yeah, they do.
...and that's part of the original building.
We could barbecue in the garden now because of the skylight.
I got some nice updraft.
Nothing like barbecuing indoors.
NARRATOR: Past the garden is the heart of the home --
a large kitchen and bar.
GLASSMAN: And there's a large pass-through here,
so when there are parties,
this will serve as a bar area, as well.
Very nice. You got to have a bar, right?
A bar is critical.
Well, you know, this is a big, beautiful kitchen now.
But do you know what went on here back in the garage days?
Well, when I came in to look at the joint,
this was, like, just full of motor oil.
Evan's first project was creating a master bedroom.
GLASSMAN: Early on in the process,
this was kind of coming along faster than the other areas.
And I would just kind of hang out here,
and the sun would be filtering in.
And I would just start to really appreciate the place.
Another example of his quirky sense of humor --
a corner window that looks out on his car.
I get a good parking spot.
Hey, when you live in a garage, I guess, right?
[ Laughs ]
The car is parked in a large, bright space,
where he combined a dining area, living area, parking space,
and work studio all in one.
We're doing a lot of these backsplashes
with this filigree vine thing.
Evan's company creates custom mosaic-tile designs
and fabricates sink bowls out of copper and aluminum.
But Evan found the experience of renovating this garage
really tapped into a new interest.
I love doing mosaics and making sinks
and these other elements of a home,
but I feel like it's nice to do the whole project
and more interior architecture.
But like most renovations,
this one didn't go exactly as planned.
Oh, nice.
We were jacking up one of the front columns
and putting a new footing on it because that had rotted.
I was kind of pressing my luck a little bit,
so I jacked it up a little bit too high,
and the whole thing flipped off the jack.
Luckily, there was enough support elsewhere
'cause the whole thing came down about 6 inches.
Before it was a storefront,
the building was a glass shop, and before that...
Al Capone had a bunch of his vehicles
serviced here at one time.
That's what I heard.
The back of this place was just stacked up
with vehicles and all kinds of junk
from, like, 1960 on.
Now the junk is gone,
and the area is open and filled with life.
With lots of living spaces and clever design elements,
including the indoor gardens, doors on the ceilings,
and a parking space in the living room,
Evan says it's his utopia.
It's nice. There's a ton of space.
There's so many different living areas,
so it's not like I have a living room and a bedroom.
You know, the whole thing is a living room really.
So, it's good for get-togethers, parties.
It's just nice.
Our next house is a home on wheels
that tours the Australian wilderness,
and there's a lot more than meets the eye with this home.
NARRATOR: We're continuing our tour
of unusual spaces turned into homes.
Our next home is found in the Land Down Under,
that is, when you can find it at all.
Roaming the picturesque Australian outback
is this oversized motor home.
Its nickname is WORT -- W-O-R-T --
which stands for "weird, off-road truck."
And it's the place Rob and Christine Gray call home.
Rob is a nature photographer.
He and his wife, Christine, often spend
long stretches of time in the Australian wilderness
and needed a vehicle that would be part off-roader, part condo.
WORT began its first 38 years of life as an army vehicle
and then spent some time in the Australian fire brigade.
Then, Rob bought the truck
and transformed it into their 14-ton home on wheels.
Since then, they've logged over 20,000 miles.
ROB: Hit the road four years ago.
It's taken us that long to drive around Australia once,
and now we plan to just go around again.
And we'll do that until we get sick of it or dizzy.
Well, this is the main access from the cab
through into the house.
As you can see,
it's more clamber-through than walk-through.
This is the hallway
that connects the two parts of the truck.
And up here, we have the bedroom.
Full height here --
about 2 meters headroom with the roof up.
The roof's hydraulic.
And up here, we have access through to the roof.
Here we have the top of the roof,
which is the top of the bedroom,
which, in turn, is on top of the cab.
This whole roof folds down to about this level.
The hydraulic rams that do that are just here.
This is a TV aerial.
NARRATOR: And as efficiently as everything else
on this mega motor home,
when it's time to get rolling, the antenna simply folds away.
The roof is also equipped with eight solar panels
that give the truck's living space all the power it needs.
And up here, of course, we have the world's fantastic view.
We just park in a place like this where we get a nice view.
We sit here in the afternoon with a beer
and listen to the birds and watch the wallabies.
NARRATOR: A landscape like this always outside their front door,
and back inside, their industrial-looking truck
still has a home's amenities
squeezed into just 280 square feet.
Now, here, we have the hallway, which is also the bathroom,
a toilet, and a library all within about 2 square meters.
In here, we have the toilet and the vanity.
There's flexible plumbing going down the hinge point there.
And you have a little door that slides out, too,
if you need a little bit more privacy on the loo.
NARRATOR: Rob designed the interior
for ultimate efficiency.
The galley kitchen also does double duty.
This is the kitchen bench by day and a shower by night.
The bench lifts up.
[ Latch clicks ]
This piece of wall slides out.
And there, we have a full-sized, domestic shower,
hot and cold water, the whole deal, like a real house.
Pantry -- Full-size, sliding pantry.
And while we're talking about food, under the floor here,
we have about three months' worth of food
we can store at one time.
Once you've got your food out, of course you've got to cook it,
and that's where this happens.
Three-burner cooktop.
And up here, we have the land room or the office,
and this is where I do most of my work sitting in this chair,
looking at the view.
You could have a worse office.
NARRATOR: And at the back of the motor home,
Rob built his observation deck,
which hovers 6 feet off the ground,
perfect for spontaneous photo ops.
It was a fairly complicated thing to make, but I persevered.
And having done that,
this is probably the best part of the whole trek.
We go now?
NARRATOR: Rather than buying a regular R.V.,
Rob designed the WORT to have some custom extras.
A sofa folds up to reveal a door and drop-down staircase.
This motor home even has a garage,
the perfect fit for Rob's speedier form of transportation,
his motorcycle.
The motor home can only go about 45 miles per hour,
but Rob and Christine say they aren't in any hurry
and enjoy their lives at a more leisurely pace.
ROB: I'd say our quality of life has improved immeasurably.
How do you compare going to work in the rat race every day
with sitting out in the scrub, looking at the animals,
and photographing the wildlife?
10,000% better. How's that for a number?
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
NARRATOR: Our next house doesn't look so much like a house
as it does a submarine
or a plane or a helicopter or even a boat.
In the small town of Calhoun, Georgia, one man decided
to pay tribute to his love of transportation
by building a home using only salvaged materials
that either flew in the air or floated in the ocean.
This multi-level, two-bedroom house
is appropriately named The Crash Pad.
The Crash Pad's owner is Sam Edwards,
and his unique home bears a resemblance
to his colorful career as a pilot, carpenter, writer,
film producer, actor, chef,
and one-time presidential aide to Jimmy Carter.
Sam's place could be called a tree house,
as you can see from the branches of the huge oak
it's built around.
Sam spent years assembling his unusual home
part by part,
scouring salvage yards across the country.
Take a closer look at the house,
and you'll notice some more familiar items,
like a roof made out of a satellite dish,
and a toilet turned chimney.
The interior is slightly homier with cozy-looking living spaces.
The first room you come to is the kitchen.
And since Sam feels so strongly about the smart use of things,
he built it right around the branches
of the big tree outside.
Even the library has a colorful past.
The walls and ceiling are built out of plywood boxes
seized in a neighborhood drug bust.
And so, after the cops got all the pot out of it,
I ended up with the boxes.
And so, I decided they'd make a great library.
NARRATOR: And this lamp tells its own story.
It was made from an army dentist's chair
used in the Korean war.
Just beyond the living area is the bedroom,
which happens to be inside a 17 1/2-foot ski boat.
And the second bedroom feels a little smaller than that
since it used to be a twin-engine plane.
Sam paid just $300 for his airplane bedroom.
Just off the bedroom is the bathroom
built inside a submarine
that Sam says he found abandoned on a lake.
Finally, a Vietnam-era helicopter
has been turned into the TV room.
It seems adjusting to this home is easy,
as long as you have a sense of humor and maybe a helmet.
Our next home was built on the English channel
to resist cannon fire and protect British soldiers
fighting against Napoleon's army.
[ Train whistle blows ]
NARRATOR: Our next house
takes us on a 2-hour train ride from London, England,
to the quaint seaside village of Dymchurch.
Lining the vast coastline
are centuries-old, circular buildings.
The rather conspicuous structures
are called Martello towers.
Each of the 30-foot buildings
used to serve as military forts for the British Empire.
103 of these towers existed at one time,
and Martello number 23 is one of those still standing.
This 3-story fort was built in 1804
to defend the British shores
against the invading French army.
And now, it's what Guy Ruddy calls home.
To make this intimidating tower more homey,
he needed to change a few things, like the front door.
The original entrance was 10 feet off the ground
to keep out unwanted visitors.
Tired of climbing up a ladder, it took this homeowner two weeks
drilling through 6 feet of brick to carve out a new front door.
A building that used to house soldiers and artillery
is now a three-story beachfront home.
There's a guest bedroom and bathroom on the first floor,
kitchen, dining, and living room on the second,
and a huge master suite on the third floor.
The rooms are cozy,
and the brick walls give a clue to the history of this home.
This guest bedroom doesn't have any windows
because this level used to store the weaponry.
The downstairs, beach-inspired bathroom
is a contradiction to the tower's rugged exterior.
The walls are lined with Spanish ceramic tile
and reclaimed brick.
A wide band of exotic seashells adds beautiful color and texture
and complements the porcelain, claw-foot tub.
One floor up is the spacious kitchen, dining,
and living room,
surrounded by the original brick-and-mortar walls.
Looking at the comfortable seating areas,
it's hard to imagine that 200 years ago,
this was the sleeping quarters for two dozen soldiers.
And finally, a staircase leads to the top-floor master suite,
which used to be the platform for a single 2 1/2-ton cannon.
Now, instead of keeping out approaching troops,
this home is a welcoming example of creative ingenuity.
Now, in Nevada City, California, Tony Frassrand is about to meet
the homeowners who cleverly converted this covered bridge
into a stunning cottage.
Oh, my gosh. Wow.
This is our humble covered bridge.
NARRATOR: From the outside,
it still resembles a traditional covered bridge,
but inside,
homeowners George Roberts and Guidita Soldavini
created a house full of contemporary, luxury touches.
Well, we tried on the outside
to keep the structural integrity of the covered bridge,
but inside, it is pretty modern and contemporary.
This is Guidi's design work.
SOLDAVINI: Yes.
Full-blown artist's canvas in here, huh?
Yes, yes.
You walk in, and you have the foyer.
And then, you come in,
and you have the little library, sitting area.
Then, you have the kitchen.
Then, you have a formal sitting area.
Then, we have the laundry and the office space.
The theater room.
I was in charge of this, and I blew the budget.
[ Laughs ]
And then, last but not least
is the bedroom and bathroom for guests.
NARRATOR: Adjacent to the kitchen
is an addition to the original structure
where an office and brightly lit, formal dining room
open to a large deck designed specifically for entertaining.
The two-year renovation
converting this bridge into an abode
started with some very practical concerns
like sealing up the space.
SOLDAVINI: Well, you could see the sky through the walls,
and you could see the dirt through the floor.
Okay.
...no water, no flooring.
It was just a barn.
NARRATOR: But getting from this to this
meant they had to raise the roof -- literally.
We had a problem with the wooden ceiling
because we wanted to keep the wood exposed.
But we had to insulate it.
So, we took the entire metal roof off,
built it up 6 inches,
insulated it, and put the metal back on.
With the roof raised, they were able to add a second floor,
accessed by two separate, spiral staircases.
On one end is a second guest bedroom,
and at the other end is George and Guidi's master bedroom.
SOLDAVINI: This is the master suite.
ROBERTS: It's got a beautiful view,
and because we wanted to save
virtually all of these clerestory windows,
we designed our storage so they would tie into
what would normally be the windowsill and --
Make closets.
FRASSRAND: Oh, look how smart that is.
This instead of our walk-in closet.
Wow. Phew.
We probably have more storage
than most people do in a conventional house.
NARRATOR: The next step in the design was taking advantage
of the spectacular views all around their bridge home.
ROBERTS: From the back wall out here was added,
and we went back to the same lumber mill
to have these beams cut.
And then, we've got a covered porch down below,
so it's a little cooler in the summer.
But up here, most of the year,
we can sit out here and have our coffee.
It's a good place to meditate, to kind of slow down.
NARRATOR: At first, Guidi wasn't sold
on the idea of converting a bridge into a house.
I saw a flier for a covered bridge, and she says,
"Well, what do you want to look at a covered bridge for?"
I finally talked her into coming over to the property.
When we opened up the front door and stepped inside,
SOLDAVINI: Yeah, it did.
...and she pretty much took over from there.
The main thing was the light.
It had so much wonderful, natural light coming in
through all these upper-story windows.
And even though it was narrow, it just had so much appeal
in that I could turn it into this contemporary-loft thing.
I don't know.
I just saw it, and when I walked in the door, I just loved it.
NARRATOR: This showcase home preserves the authentic charm
of a covered bridge on the outside
with a comfortably modern elegance inside.
Guidi and I told ourselves
we don't ever want to live in an ordinary house.
So, I think we fulfilled our dream
with this one pretty well.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Our next house started out as a very small
and very inexpensive, temporary living space
but over time has been transformed into a luxury estate
that now sleeps up to 12 people.
NARRATOR: We're visiting homes
that were once something else all together,
like an old covered bridge, a river pump house,
and even a windmill.
Now we're headed to Australia
to visit a home that is off the rails.
Perched in the mountains of Mudgee, Australia,
sits a collection of 100-year-old railway carriages.
It's been years since these locomotives took a trip,
as they are now home to train-lover Scott McGregor,
and he's agreed to give us a tour.
This is my place, Ruwenzori.
Quirky thing about my place --
well, it's built of railway carriages,
which might be a quirky thing to some people,
but, to me, it's perfectly natural
because it was the cheapest option for me at the time.
But also, I'm a train buff, you see, so it's a passion, too.
NARRATOR: We're used to seeing gorgeous landscapes
from the windows of a train,
but this track-side retreat has its own lavish views.
And while many homeowners
have turned railway cars into small living spaces,
this is one of the few homes in the world
where three trains have been transformed
into an estate that can sleep 12.
McGREGOR: And so, here
is the kind of center of the whole setup,
which is a beautiful, big veranda
looking over the views and everything.
And the two main carriages we live in join this veranda here.
We've got the beautiful, old sleeping car on this side --
We'll have a look at that in a mo' --
and then the dining car here.
So, have a look at this.
NARRATOR: Back when he was a struggling actor,
Scott was looking for an affordable place to live.
An avid train enthusiast,
he began buying up old carriages for bargain-basement prices.
This one from 1890 was a steal at 150 bucks.
Scott's first investment was a new water system
designed to provide water to every car in his rail yard
in the most eco-friendly way possible.
I've put on some old railway pressure gauges,
and they tell me
how much water's in the top tank up there.
I collect all the water in the gutters, you see,
so I collect all my rainwater.
And then, in here, we've got a beautiful, old fuel stove.
Cooks a mean roast lamb, this one.
Galley kitchen. Basically long and thin.
That's the whole thing with railway carriages.
Talking of long/thin -- The dining table.
Many a fine party around this table, let me tell you.
And then, like all carriages, there's a back door, as well.
NARRATOR: Opposite the dining car and across the covered patio
is a luxurious sleeping car.
This carriage is like the pride of my fleet --
a 1927 Premier Sleeping Car from the New South Wales Railways.
It certainly didn't look like this when it was in service.
When I found it, it was like a trashed mess.
NARRATOR: Repairing, rebuilding, and polishing the original cedar
and installing a pressed-tin ceiling
transformed the car from a trashed mess into a treasure.
You got to remember, this is only half the carriage.
It's a monster.
These are the side doors
where people would have entered from the platforms,
and they would have been greeted by the attendant,
who had his little compartment here.
His little, cup-of-tea-making setup.
And somebody would buzz him,
and he'd know via the communicator at the top.
I've now turned it into a very handy, little toilet,
complete with an original, pull-down wash basin.
This is solid, sterling silver. Look at this.
So, the attendant would deliver his cup of tea
to whoever was buzzing him.
Let's say it's compartment number two.
[ Knock on door ]
"Mrs. Brown, your cup of tea. Good morning."
NARRATOR: Scott restored the car to its original 1930s charm
with rich walls and intricate ceiling design
and added an elegant bathroom next door.
And three cubicles of deep cedar
were converted into his master suite.
And so, with a bit of space opened up,
I've got enough room for a beautiful, queen-sized bed
with a glorious view, looking up at the pressed-metal ceiling
and the beautiful decoration.
So, all in all, about 80 feet
of solid, cedar paneling in this carriage.
NARRATOR: Right outside the sleeping car is a raised deck,
which is the perfect train stop.
Scott designed his secluded, railway retreat
as a place to relax and unwind.
25 years -- It's been a labor of love.
And when you travel and you're away,
you want to come back to somewhere
where your feet are firmly implanted on the ground.
And this is where I come to really chill.
NARRATOR: So, the next time you see a coal ship
or a covered bridge or almost anything
that doesn't appear to be habitable,
with a little vision and a lot of hard work, you, too,
can turn it into a one-of-a-kind home.
And if you do, someone will probably say,
"You live in what?"