The TV House - Side Bedroom, Before/During

Side Bedroom Before

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Sept. 2nd 
11pm EST

When I started tearing into the side bedroom, I realized that this was another room that had at one time been a porch.  (Like the Octobath and the Sunroom.)  I figured this out because of the layers of flooring more than anything else.  As a bedroom it had carpet when I took over which covered a layer of plywood that was on top of weathered tongue and groove flooring. 

Although this was one space in the home that would be used in the same way (as a bedroom), I still had structural and re-design issues to address.  The floors were extremely springy and the kitchen design would impact this room's closet.  A bedroom without a closet is not really a bedroom, so I knew I had some serious work in this part of the house as well.

Windows overlooking The Holy Corner outside.

Side bedroom during, showing footer holes.

The TV House - Bathoom, Before/During

The hall bath before the
window was moved.

American Rehab Charleston 

DIY Network
Wed., Sept. 2nd 
11pm EST 

The master bath was also a hall bath.  There was a spot in the floor next to tub that was rotten, it was a little out of date and too pink for my taste, but it was okay.  To create symmetry on the outside, we moved the bathroom window over several feet (during the pilot episode) and this is where the redesign of this bathroom started.
 




Bathroom during. 
The window was relocated during the pilot episode. 

The TV House - The Small Bedroom, Before/During

The Small Bedroom w/ one window
& the back of the fire place. 

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Sept. 2nd
11 pm EST

The TV House was originally a two room home that was about 550 square feet with a large front porch.  I believe the first addition to this house was the back porch.  And that makes sense.  If/when possible, I know I'd sure want an add-on outside the back door?  It was certainly a great way to dodge raindrops while unlocking the back door (if they locked them way back in 1900's Summerville).  Charley Brown, the original homeowner, would have been able to sit out back and look over the back half of his property and the woods, maybe even spotting deer, squirrels, rabbits, and descendants of the colorful birds I see here everyday.

 

I don't have a way of knowing when it was enclosed, but when I took ownership it was a cozy bedroom with two closets.  The living room fire place protrudes into this space and to me that seemed like an opportunity to do something special here when we re-worked things.  There was one window that I felt sure could remain as-is and two closets that flanked the door leading from the main hall.  When I pounded lightly on several spots, I could hear things falling inside; small pieces of wall/studs so I knew we'd have some structural issues to address after demo.

Like many other spaces in The TV House, this was a room with potential.

 

The back of the fire place and one of this room's closets on the left.

Sm. bedroom Closet #2.
The wall on the right was once an exterior wall.



The Small Bedroom, During.
 

 

The TV House - Kitchen, Before/During

Believe it or not, this is the kitchen.
Imagine a refrigerator, right-center of the photo
where that door is leaning up against the wall.

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Aug. 26th
11:30 pm EST

The TV House was originally built as a two room cottage with a big six foot wide hall running through the middle of the house from the front porch to the back door.  There was a living room on the right with a fire place and a kitchen on the left that also had a fire place.  When I bought the house, the fire place in the kitchen had been removed and this room was a large, cold bedroom with a door from the hallway/foyer, another out onto the sunroom, and two original windows that looked out onto the front porch.  There had been two other windows on the side, but one became the opening to the sunroom, while the other was covered with plaster so well it was nearly impossible to notice. 

 

The question from some has been, "Ok Trent, how did you know there used to be a fire place in the room if it was gone when you bought it?"  First off, there was a mongo sized brick base in the crawl space that was clearly the remnants of an old fire place.  Secondly, there was also some triangular shaped patch work on the metal roof above this part of the house that served as another clue.

A major goal on this project was to transform this part of the home, and the kitchen in particular, from one of the least used areas to the main living space for this great old house.  Did we do it?  Tune in Wednesday to find out.  :) 

 

This is also the kitchen looking at where the orig. FP was.
Can you picture a full wall of kitchen cabinets on this wall? 



The kitchen after demo. with the octagon room behind.



The remains of the original fire place that I
discovered in the crawl space before I took ownership. 



A view of the kitchen from the side bedroom,

The TV House - The Side Door & The Holy Corner, Before

The side door leading to the sunroom

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Aug. 26th
11 pm EST

The side door of The TV House was one of three doors that led to the back.  I've never hesitated to relocate or eliminate an exterior door that I felt wasn't working right on one of my projects.  I moved the back doors at both The Fire House and The Cottage, and eliminated a door at The Bungalow that was unnecessary and interfered with foot traffic flow... which is always important to me and something I'm mindful of when I redesign a floor plan before a project really gets going.  (see Step 6 - Sketch out the Floor Plan).  The side door didn't need to be taken out or re-positioned, but everything around it had to be considered as I re-worked the floor plan.

This side door is next to what I call the Holy Corner... like in Holy mackerel!, Holy buckets!, Holy moly look at that hole in the side of the wall!   Really... we had daylight shining thru an opening the size of a golf ball!  Unless you want birds, snakes, lizards, and other critters coming inside for shelter, this is not good. 

Even though this corner is on the exterior, when working from the outside it's referred to as an interior corner.  Inside and out, this part of the home has been a major issue for me from day one.  The way the rain came off the roof was something of a jacked up mess.  We started with a metal roof/asphalt shingle valley that caught the eye in an avoidable way and the water collected between the brick/stucco steps and this interior corner.  This spot is where the original part of the house meets two previous additions; the sunroom and the side bedroom.  It needed reworked/cleaned up for aesthetic reasons, but functionally as far as drainage and managing rain water, it was a part of the house that I'd been anxious to address.

More expansive view of this side of the house.

The TV House - Sunroom, Before/During

The sunroom looking at the original exterior wall on the
left and the old octobath door.

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Aug. 26th
11 pm EST

The sunroom was and is the room that links the octagon room, the original part of the house, and the back/side door together.  In some ways, because of it's strategic spot, it looks like it may have served as something of a large hallway between these rooms and door to the outside.  It has a triad of windows that allow great light into the house, but early on I had plans to open things up (see The Perestroika/Glastnost Approach).  My intent was to make it more apart of the other rooms and in doing so, more apart of the rest of the house.


The sunroom with the back/side door on the right.



After Demo. - The view into the sunroom
from the octagon room during demo.

The TV House - Octobath, Before/During

The windows of this room look out onto an
active corner in this historic part of town.

American Rehab Charleston

DIY Network
Wed., Aug. 26th
11 pm EST

When I opened the door and saw the octobath, it filled me with hope and right away I was thinking, "This is my kind of house,"... because, this is an example of the type of room that would be a deal breaker for other buyers.  However, for me it was like a figurative open door that made me feel I had a chance to get this special old house.  It was a signal of opportunity and potential.  As we made our way back to the front of the house, my realtor shook his head and diplomatically said, "I just don't know what you're going to be able to do with this place."  He was being polite.   

I won't say I saw it exactly the way it is now, but I could picture this part of the home being radically different than it was in October of 2013.  I had a sense for how this room in particular would look differently and I felt even stronger about how it would feel different.  It all started when I walked into that front bathroom with 8 sides, five windows facing a busy corner, a tub without running water, and a floor that had obvious structural issues.   It looked rough and I loved it.



This was the narrow door
of the octobath.

The octagon shaped room during the renovation 

American Rehab Charleston 2.015

It looks like we're going to be on TV again next Wednesday, August 19th on the DIY Network from 11pm - Midnight.  This would have been my paternal grandfather's 108th birthday.  (Thanks for supplying me with all those nails Grandpa;)         



We were on last fall when we worked on the front porch, the exterior, and built the arbor in the front yard (see American Rehab Charleston).  I believe they're going to re-air the pilot and then at 11:30 they'll share what we did in the living room and foyer.  Below are some pictures of what we started with and what it looked like before we put it back together. 

Living Room - Before

 

This has been an exciting project and I'm glad family and friends will get a taste for what I do from their living rooms in other parts of the country.



Just some quick background as far as the timeline/details that has led up to this series:  I was contacted about doing something with DIY/HGTV in Oct. 2013.  The network sent a crew to film me for a couple days in November.  We filmed the pilot episode (that re-airs at 11pm) in March 2014.  It was initially broadcast on DIY last August and then shown again a couple times in Sept.  In October we were picked up for five more episodes and a much bigger production crew returned in December and filmed until February.  Editing and production started in March and involved people here, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Minneapolis, and probably some other places I don't know about. Dozens of talented people that were fun to work with.     



Living Room - During

This two year ride has been exciting, intense, and full of more once-in-a-lifetime experiences than I think I can count.  It's been a completely unbelievable and amazing thing to be involved with.  I'll forever be thankful that I was able to do the show and that everyone who wants to see it will have the chance in the next few weeks.   It's full of great history of both Charleston and Summerville, SC as well as educational tips about renovating old homes.   As I said once before, this great 109 year old house (The TV House) is the star and I am the host.  I hope you all enjoy it.      



Serious Termite Damage
 

Will we be able to save this fireplace? 
Tune in to find out.

American Rehab Charleston - Aug. 27, 2014