Not sure if this show was on HGTV or DIY channel, but it was on last night. Has anyone else seen this show. Its about how people bought commercial and light-industrial properties and converted them into their homes.
I really like the c.1928 three-story bookstore renovation/conversion and would love to have done something like that myself. Then there was this guy that bought his old highschool (in Idaho, and only ~5,000 SqFt) and turned it into a bachelor pad. The most impressive was the pants factory ~30,000 SqFt that a couple bought and renovated into their home. They used only half of the available area, but it now has seven bedrooms, a gym, and a basketball court amongst other things.
Its nice seeing that I am not alone in this interesting aspect of non-traditional home-spaces. I set the episode to be recorded during the middle of the night so the wife could watch it later (she had already gone to bed by the time it came on last night).
Replies
Have seen all kinds of renovations in the arch mags. There's the obvious ones . . . churches, factories, warehouses, etc.. Then there are some less obvious, like the auto garage with the converted oil pit.
I've often wondered about the old factory/warehouse concept myself. Having a monstrous space and only taking up a small portion of it wouldn't bother me in the least. It's the security issue that bothers me. Most of those buildings aren't in the best places, and there's lots of broken windows and other openings for someone to sneak in. I work in a lot of these areas, and some of the methods how people manage to break into these properties are actually pretty ingenious.
No matter what renovation project, though, it's a labor of love. I think the vast majority of these projects require more in time and materials to fix them than they would to build new. Anyone buying into something like this solely to save a few bucks is going to get hit in the face quick with the wiffle ball bat of reality.
I like the rezoned concept. My wife and I almost bought a hundred year old fire house to live in. It was for sale for a couple years, and then suddenly someone had a higher offer than us when we tried to buy it. The building was a wonderful ornate 2 story brick building with plenty of room inside for all of my cars and machinery. It still sits there, but is only being used for storage. It was going to be a lot more work than our current fixer-up home has been. In some ways I'm sad, and in some I am happy that it did not happen for us.
Anyway as for the show...Rezoned... Some neat places are shown, but it is done in an irritating way. They have a generic host that doesn't appear to have any building, remodeling, or even DIY experience. He is fast talking and irritating. The editing is done in a way to be very fast moving and flashy. You will notice that they will often go back and forth between the same pictures, and use a strobe flash between some of the scenes. Actually very little footage of the home is shown.
It's played on the HGTV network, and my wife Tivos it so we get to see all of them. I'll still watch it, but it makes me grind my teeth. Maybe someday there will be a show like this with a goal of showing the home well, with a host that is educated in building and history. There have to be other Norm Abrams like hosts out there.