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00:00What makes a building a home? Oh my goodness. That's a WOW in all caps. I'm
00:05Vern Yep. Hi. It's so nice to meet you. And I'm traveling across the country
00:09following the people who are stretching the definition of home to its limits.
00:13We need your help. We need your advice. From abandoned churches and schools to
00:17defunct firehouses and factories. Brave builders are giving these architectural
00:22relics a new life by turning them into one-of-a-kind family homes. It's never
00:27easy but you don't get this kind of character with a house that you can
00:31just go buy. Oh my gosh. Can they make their larger than average dreams a
00:36reality? As a designer myself I'm eager to learn and help them. This is the one. I
00:42think it pulls in all the colors. As they turn these unconventional spaces into
00:47their forever homes. This is Home Reimagined.
00:57Alongside the Saginaw Riverbank sits the charming maritime community of Bay City,
01:08Michigan. I'm in love with the historic district, mom-and-pop shops, and its
01:14architecture. I'm on my way to meet one of the town's newest residents, Whitney
01:19Anderson. Whitney threw caution to the wind to buy a beautiful old church. This
01:25church sat abandoned for six years before Whitney bought it. She's been working on
01:29this project for nine months already but there are still a lot of challenges she
01:33needs to overcome. That's dramatic. This is a 3,500 square foot church from
01:421898. Whitney purchased it for $45,000 and she'll be converting it to a home with
01:47one bedroom and one bath. There is absolutely no mistaking that this is a
01:52church. You immediately see the stained glass windows. You see all the
01:57interesting roof pitches. Gothic architecture is typified by elongated
02:02lines and spires. It obviously and clearly needs attention.
02:07Hey! Hi, Vern! Welcome to my church! I'm Whitney. I bought an abandoned church and I'm
02:14turning it into my house. It's so beautiful. Isn't it? Definitely worth saving. Absolutely. I can't
02:20believe it's mine. I'm obsessed with old buildings and I'm equally obsessed with old
02:25stained glass windows. So I had been searching for a church to turn in my
02:30house for, gosh, ten beers. I need to know what the backstory is here. I was living in
02:36Brooklyn when I found this on the internet. I instantly knew as soon as I saw the
02:39stained glass windows that this was going to be my house. When I was a child in
02:43church, I would stare at the windows. I just kind of kept doing that as I got
02:48older and just the obsession with stained glass grew and grew and grew and it just
02:53made sense. I wanted to find the oldest possible church that I could afford and
02:58make it my house. This church was calling to you, basically. Yeah, I'm all in. I moved
03:03here not knowing anyone. I do miss the energy of New York, but I kind of needed a
03:07slower pace. I love Bay City because it's maintained its small-town feel. It feels like
03:13home. I blew up my entire life to make this happen and I don't regret any bit
03:18of it. This church was an evangelical church. Then it was apostolic and it was
03:25abandoned six years ago. I love this shape out here. One of the coolest things
03:32that you see right off the bat is this rounded section of the church, which is
03:36called the Rotunda. You are gonna completely restore this? Yes. On the
03:41outside, I want to take it back as close to the original as possible. I want to
03:47shine up the stained glass, fix the leaky roof. I don't love the glass doors, so I'm
03:52hoping to replace them. And then the entire church is gonna get a makeover with
03:56some paint. Do you have like a timeline? I want to be done by Thanksgiving to avoid
04:01the winter weather, but I also really want to celebrate the Christmas season in my
04:04church. And how much do you plan on doing yourself? I've had some experience
04:08renovating old homes before this. I will try anything. I actually took an
04:13abandoned dentist office and turned that back into a single-family home. And so I
04:16know every time it's gonna be a can of worms, but I'm prepared for that. I am
04:20going to do as much as I can. I love the challenge. Obviously, there's financial
04:25benefits to that too. I want to know that this is a true labor of love. I cannot wait to
04:30see the inside. Can we go in? Come on in, yeah. Okay, great. So in this world of
04:34renovation, we say that things can be done quickly, they can be of good quality, or
04:39be done inexpensively. But you can usually only have two of those. Whitney wants all
04:45three because she wants to get it done by Thanksgiving. She wants to get it all
04:49done for $150,000, and she wants it done right. So it's going to be interesting.
04:55Whitney. Wow. I totally get why you were floored. The space itself is so cool. And with these windows.
05:07When the light comes in, it's otherworldly. And this is just normal light. When you get the sunrise,
05:14and then the sunset glows through. And there is a warmth across this entire space. Yeah. Do you
05:21have any idea how big these magnificent windows are? They're 20 feet tall. The cool thing about
05:27the windows is they've been here since 1898. Oh my gosh. And they're intact. Yeah. These are art
05:34pieces. So there's a chimney you can't see behind the purple wall where that cross is. I want to expose
05:39it. And then cut in large windows on either side. Because as you can see, I don't have anything for
05:45ventilation. Music to my ears. I've never heard better words. These stained glass windows are so
05:53incredible. I would never want to touch them. But at the same time, nobody really wants to live in a
05:59home where you can't see the outside. How much square footage are we looking at? Including the
06:04rotunda is just over 3,500 square feet. That's a good amount of square footage. We're not going to put
06:09partition walls up. Or are we? I don't think so. No. That was my number one rule. No walls. No walls in
06:16this entire area. Anytime that there's a break in just the flat surfaces. And there's lots of great
06:22breaks. That helps us separate spaces without having walls. You've probably already thought about where
06:29things are going to go. Absolutely. In here, just open dining and living room. And then in the altar
06:36area will be the kitchen. In terms of a design style, I definitely want to have influences of my
06:42personal aesthetic, which is traditional and classic. But I'm pretty eclectic. But I don't want
06:48to lose the church feel. And so I want to make sure that everything mixes well. I'm planning to repurpose
06:54the wood from the pews into a floor-to-ceiling library wall. I fully intend to take two or three
07:01of them and turn them into a massive dining table. I love the fact that you're preserving
07:07the materials from these pews. What if you saved the ends and shortened them and put them together
07:15to make individual chairs? That's a brilliant idea. And then the other cool thing is I'm going to be
07:20cutting an arch. So that way you can connect this room to the rotunda, which is going to be my bedroom
07:27and the bathroom. Whitney has the most amazing ideas. There's a lot to really highlight and treasure
07:34here. But there's also a lot of scary challenges. The minute you put something in this room that's of
07:41residential scale, how do we not make it feel like it's a church that's holding furniture? When you have
07:48a space of this size, fewer things but bigger things are really going to help bring the volume down.
07:56Okay. To where it feels like a home. I will say something that I've noticed. I'm short, Whitney,
08:03but like you put me on the down slope. There's an 18-inch difference. Yeah, well maybe you should be on
08:10the shorter side. Let me feel taller for once. Come over here. No, no, no. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
08:14Come back here. This floor is completely sloping this way. Yeah. Which makes sense for a church. Of course,
08:20yeah. Maybe not so much for a house. Definitely not so much. I can't level it, so I need to replace it.
08:26We want to honor the great architectural elements in here, but now it's moving on to its next life
08:32as your home. This comes with so much history, so many stories, and you're just going to add to it.
08:41I know. There have been thousands of gatherings and celebrations that have occurred between these walls
08:47and windows, and you know, even the people that say, oh, there have been funerals in here. It's a celebration of life,
08:54and I feel so proud to be able to usher in a second life where I can host and gather people inside.
09:03There's a whole other side of the building. Do you want to go check it out?
09:06Yes, I do want to go check it out. This place is incredible.
09:09The fact that I own this, I just got goosebumps because it's not lost on me that my dreams actually
09:16is coming true. Sorry. Excuse me. Yeah, I'm doing it. I own this place. This is going to be the bedroom.
09:30This is a wow room. And look at the shape. Who gets a round wall in their bedroom?
09:35With these windows. Huge feature. The wainscoting is really nice, and I love how it's continuous,
09:42and I love the fact that this floor is actually level. And these floors, they look like they're in okay shape.
09:49I honestly would love to just buff it, polish it up, reseal it, but I want to keep as much of the patina as possible.
09:56I 100% agree with you. Okay.
09:59So, you know, aside from the acoustic panels not being all that good looking, there is or was a problem?
10:07A little bit of a problem. Luckily, that is old damage. There is no current leaking.
10:13I've put a new roof on, but before the roof went on, there were literal human-sized holes in it,
10:21and so all of the water was just running right through there.
10:25It's a water feature.
10:25Yeah, it was, yeah. Just the steeple part of the roof needs to be finished, but everything else is completely watertight.
10:34Clearly, the acoustic ceiling tiles need to go. There is a plaster ceiling just a little bit above this.
10:41I think the best plan is to try to maintain the plaster ceiling.
10:46You're coming through this arch.
10:48So this is going to be the arch that we were talking about on the other side.
10:51Exactly. I don't want people to have to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom,
10:55so I'm thinking just a very small hallway, one right here that just goes straight to that wall.
11:01This will actually be my future bathroom.
11:04Obviously, you can see this used to be a small kitchen, and so it's not a complete kitchen,
11:10but it at least has plumbing, so it makes sense to make this a bathroom.
11:13My challenge is I have no idea how to do the layout.
11:17I think the good news is that you have plenty of space.
11:21You know, in fact, you have so much space, I think you should build a second bathroom.
11:26Off the hallway, you could put in a small powder room just for guests.
11:29That leaves plenty of space for a private bathroom here, accessible from your bedroom.
11:34I'd put the tub under the stunning stained glass windows, remove the extra door to make space for a toilet and a shower,
11:41and then I'd put a sink between the shower and the entry door.
11:45Wow. A lot to think about, but I love what you've said.
11:48The ideas are the easy part.
11:50I'm excited to take his ideas back to my contractor and redo the plans and see what kind of magic we can make in there.
11:58You know what? I've got a couple hours. Can I help you with anything?
12:00I have been dying to see what's behind that purple wallpaper out where my kitchen's going to be.
12:06I'm hoping that I can find some brick to expose.
12:10Why don't we go find out?
12:11Okay. Whitney thinks that there's brick back there because she can see that there's a bricked chimney from the exterior.
12:18I'm pretty sure that there's going to be brick behind this plaster wall, but this church is over 100 years old, and so is that brick.
12:26So I'm not sure what kind of shape it's going to be in.
12:28Best case scenario.
12:29I would love to expose the chimney.
12:32There's only one way to find out.
12:34Yeah.
12:35Let's just knock some holes in it and see what happens.
12:39Goodbye, purple.
12:43All right.
12:44You want to do the honors?
12:46Oh!
12:47Get in there, Vern.
12:48Okay.
12:50Yeah.
12:53Oh, let's...
12:54Do you see it?
12:57Congratulations.
12:58We found brick.
12:58That was a win.
13:00Should we keep going?
13:01I think so.
13:01Why not?
13:02Okay.
13:02I'm glad that Whitney is happy with the brick that we've exposed thus far, but this is just a small portion of the overall wall.
13:09I'm concerned about what's behind the rest of it.
13:11Oh, my gosh, this paper.
13:14Do you need some help taking that off?
13:20Yeah.
13:20Ooh.
13:21You all right?
13:23I'm fine.
13:24This is good-looking brick.
13:26Yeah.
13:26You're the first person to probably have touched that brick since 1898.
13:30I actually think leaving this brick, this color, works.
13:35Yeah.
13:35And I don't think, like, you want to paint this brick.
13:38No, not at all.
13:39I would really take a look at the colors of the stained glass end of the brick.
13:44Yeah.
13:44And think about the cabinet color and a countertop.
13:47Sure.
13:48That works with it.
13:49I love it.
13:50Cool.
13:50Anytime you need me for anything, give me a call.
13:53And once you see what's going to happen with the floor, let's do a video conference.
13:56I love it.
13:57Yeah?
13:57Sounds good.
13:57Yeah.
13:58Moving forward, I think that Whitney really has to keep the details of this church in mind
14:03and not let them get overshadowed by other elements that she introduces.
14:09And that's going to be impacted by the scale of what she puts in here, the number of things
14:13that she puts in here, and how detailed and complicated those things are.
14:18Major progress today.
14:20It's been an awesome day.
14:21I know.
14:22I've been super busy.
14:31First was getting all those pews out of the way.
14:35I need to save all these pew parts so that I can reuse them to make my library wall.
14:40Once I got all the pews out, the floors with the 18-inch pitch got removed.
14:45Then I finally can level out that floor.
14:48And in order to do that, we have these custom 44-foot-long eye joists.
14:54Just like that.
14:56Here we go.
15:00Perfect.
15:01I am loving working alongside these guys because I am definitely very hands-on, not only to save
15:09money, but to challenge myself and to really put my stamp on this.
15:12This is my forever home.
15:14Look at this floor.
15:16Yes, yes, yes.
15:18I really want to be able to connect this main living area with the rotunda.
15:23So I'm literally just going to cut a hole right in the middle of the wall.
15:27It'll be a nice arch that mimics the shape of the stained glass windows.
15:31Because I want to honor pieces of the history of this building.
15:35And that's what's going to make this archway sing.
15:38Oh no, that post looks structural.
15:43I have a couple options right now.
15:45One of them being remove the post.
15:48Obviously, costs for that are going to be wild.
15:50And then the other option would be just moving the arch to either side of this post.
15:55The problem with moving the doorway over is that all the sight lines I've been dreaming
15:59of having would be completely obliterated if I moved to even left or right.
16:05Doesn't matter.
16:12Hey, Vern.
16:13Hi, Whitney.
16:14Can't wait to hear about the progress.
16:16Check it out.
16:17Oh my goodness.
16:18That's incredible.
16:20Isn't it?
16:21So nice to know that that's nice and level now.
16:23Absolutely.
16:24Oh, and there's our exposed brick.
16:26Yep.
16:26I love it.
16:28I think it's just a really nice contrast point.
16:31And it's going to be beautiful as a backdrop to your kitchen.
16:33One of the things I'd love to hear your feedback is, remember how we talked about connecting the
16:38rotunda with the sanctuary?
16:40As we were cutting, you know, this future arch, you can see that beam right in the center.
16:47Crazy thing is, not only is that hand-hewn and part of the original 1898 structure, but
16:54it actually supports the rotunda ceiling and the entire ceiling and roof of the sanctuary.
17:02I think you should just leave the post where it is.
17:05I would celebrate it.
17:07I love the rawness of it, and I love the history that it imbues into the project.
17:13I'm really glad to hear Vern thinks I should keep the post.
17:15I really didn't want to have to spend the money to remove the post, and I definitely
17:21didn't want to lose the view of the stained glass windows.
17:24As soon as he said I could keep it, I was done.
17:26Thank you so much.
17:28It was so good to connect with you again.
17:30Yeah, and I'm here.
17:31If you have any other questions, if you need anything, just let me know.
17:34Awesome.
17:35All right.
17:35Thanks, Vern.
17:41So I need to pick some paint colors for the exterior of this building.
17:46I don't want to keep it white.
17:47My favorite colors are blue and green.
17:49I've already found a blue that I like.
17:52It's a deep jewel tone that I love.
17:54But I want to see if there's any greens or coordinating colors that might work.
18:01Oh, wow, yeah.
18:03That goes really well with the blue, which matches the window.
18:07It's good, but I do want to check the other ones just in case.
18:10I can already tell that this is not the color for my house, so I don't know.
18:17That was easy.
18:19Nope.
18:20Next.
18:21All right, so last but not least, let's just go real wild and put something up there that's
18:26not blue or green.
18:27I like this yellow.
18:29It's summery.
18:30Let's see what this looks like.
18:35Ooh.
18:36Ooh, I like it.
18:37The blue matches the stained glass window, and because I love these stained glass windows
18:43so much, and blue is my favorite color, I think it's kind of a no-brainer.
18:47Blue it is.
18:57I am finally getting my steeple roof put on.
19:00When I first showed up to this church, there were literally human-sized holes in the roof.
19:04So right away, I put the new roof on, and all that's left to do is the steeple.
19:10What's happening up there right now is basically they're going to rip everything off and start fresh.
19:16I'm excited to get the steeple waterproof because it is actively leaking every time it rains.
19:20I'm freaking out right now, man.
19:26Six hours ago, we started removing this old roof, and it was 100 degrees and no rain, and now it is raining.
19:35I can't have any more rain.
19:37I don't know what the heck I'm going to do.
19:38I look up, and miraculously, they have all the underlayment stapled just in time.
19:48And all of a sudden, the sky just opened up.
19:52And we're talking buckets of rain, and nothing's coming inside.
19:57And I got really, really lucky.
19:59Hi, Whitney.
20:11Hey, Vern.
20:12What are these photos that you sent me?
20:14I've been doing a ton of research trying to see what can I dig up about this church.
20:19These are a few of the things I've found so far.
20:21I love it.
20:22This is a cookbook from my church.
20:25I actually found this on an online auction site.
20:28It was made in 1954, but check out the photo.
20:31There's a front porch.
20:34That is really good information.
20:37Am I seeing another picture of the church below?
20:39Yes.
20:40I would really love to open up everything and have this open porch again.
20:44I think that's a really good idea.
20:47I'm just so happy that I found the photo on the Internet of what this place used to look like originally with the open porch,
20:54because I've always hated that enclosed porch.
20:56It was just an eyesore.
20:58Even though it was designed to be a church, I think the front porch makes it feel much more residential.
21:04And I can see you being out there all the time.
21:07Absolutely.
21:08I can't wait to have all the landscaping and just be able to enjoy the porch.
21:13Whitney, thank you so much for sharing these things with me.
21:15In the meantime, keep up the good work.
21:17I'm here if you need me.
21:19Call me anytime, email me, send me anything.
21:21Um, I want to come back after you've removed the front entrance area.
21:25I really look forward to seeing you on site again soon.
21:29I can't wait to be there.
21:31Good luck.
21:31All right.
21:31Thank you, Vern.
21:32Bye.
21:33Okay.
21:33Bye.
21:38We are two months away from Thanksgiving.
21:40Ew.
21:41Yeah, this has got to go.
21:42And I know that Whitney's working really hard to transform this 1898 church in Bay City,
21:48Michigan into her home.
21:50I want it all out of here.
21:51I don't want to deal with any future mold problems.
21:54She's been busy laying the subfloor in the sanctuary.
21:57Framing the new hallway and the powder room.
22:03Installing the arch between the living room and her bedroom.
22:06I am making an archway.
22:09And putting up drywall.
22:12I really can't wait to see the progress that she's made.
22:25Whitney!
22:25Hey, Vern.
22:27Welcome back.
22:28I can't wait to hear about all the progress.
22:30Tell me what's been happening.
22:31I think the biggest thing is that my steeple now has a roof.
22:34I can see that.
22:35It doesn't leak anymore.
22:37A place that doesn't leak is a huge plus.
22:39Obviously, the next biggest change is we started opening up the front porch.
22:43They're going to start building the porch actually today.
22:46It makes a huge, huge difference.
22:48It feels a lot more like a house, too, without those big, like, metal commercial doors.
22:53I can see that blue.
22:55I can see that blue starting to, like, creep on over.
22:57Slowly.
22:58Such a tremendous difference already that as soon as I get the paint and the landscaping,
23:03we're golden.
23:03I'm hoping there's also been progress on the inside, right?
23:06Oh, my gosh.
23:06You want to go take a look?
23:07Let's go see it.
23:08All right.
23:08I don't think people realize how difficult it is to transform a structure that was never
23:14intended to be a home into a home.
23:17With a church like this, it requires even more intensive work.
23:20You know, it was designed to house a huge number of people.
23:24It's built on an impressive scale with everything reaching up to the heavens and big, huge, wide-open
23:29spaces.
23:30So it's all kind of done on a massive scale.
23:33Whoa.
23:33You have been busy.
23:38A little bit.
23:41The first thing that I'm noticing, you have a flat floor.
23:45Houses typically don't have auditorium-style floors.
23:49Having a floor go from being angled to being level really takes it from feeling like a church
23:54to feeling like a home.
23:57Look at this.
23:58The makings of a kitchen.
23:59I know.
24:00Windows that I can see out of that open.
24:02Having just those two windows already makes a tremendous difference.
24:06And the brick is exposed.
24:08I finally have kitchen cabinets.
24:10Wow.
24:11I know.
24:12That's a lot of boxes already.
24:13It really is.
24:14What do they look like?
24:15I have one right here.
24:16These kitchen cabinets have a very simple and contemporary look.
24:20That's what makes them so perfect.
24:22It is a newer style door.
24:25Yes.
24:25I wanted to kind of keep the palette pretty clean in here.
24:29So I went with this off-white.
24:31And I'm going to do a navy island.
24:33Oh, bold.
24:33Just for a pop of color.
24:35Uh-huh.
24:35I'm trying to add a second island.
24:37More of a furniture look.
24:39Okay.
24:39And so I want to source that piece.
24:41Really, I'm dying to show you the arch with the post.
24:46Wow.
24:52I really love that post.
24:54It's those nods to what this structure used to be.
24:57They take it away from being just an ordinary home.
25:00Walk me through what I'm seeing in front of me right now.
25:03I love to read.
25:04It's been a dream of mine to have a massive library wall.
25:07I wanted to have some base cabinets so that I can have storage that's hidden.
25:12Storage is always great.
25:13The horizontal tape pieces, that's where the shelves will be.
25:17There's going to be shelves there as well, right?
25:20Not just this wall.
25:21Yeah.
25:22And the shelves will all be made out of the old pew parts that I see.
25:25Oh, cool.
25:27You know, the main planks will be obviously used for the library wall.
25:31But then the ends of them are going to be turned into dining chairs.
25:34Yes.
25:34And then there's a couple pieces we might even be able to turn into my dining table.
25:37I love that you are still going to go through with that plan.
25:40This looks like quality wood.
25:42Yeah, so it's actually solid white oak.
25:45Shut up.
25:46Oh, that's so great.
25:47Throwing that away would have been a sin.
25:51And I'm so glad that you're keeping the history of the church and the meaning of these integrated
25:57into the new place as your home now instead of a church.
26:01I would love to show you the rooms over here.
26:03I'm dying to see them.
26:04I have the makings of my primary bedroom, but I also have a powder room.
26:10I'm so glad that you decided to take the advice and have something separate for your guests.
26:16That's going to make a huge difference for them, but it's also going to make a huge difference
26:19for you.
26:20And I scored the most beautiful antique French doors that will go here.
26:25So it'll be a double door that opens out, but they have all that glass so that when I'm
26:30in my room, I can still see my stained glass window.
26:33That little bit of a change made the whole thing just make sense.
26:38So this is your bedroom.
26:40Is the bed there?
26:41It is.
26:42The best part of that is that's going to be my view in the morning.
26:47Oh, my goodness.
26:48Yeah.
26:48So far, I'm thrilled with what I'm seeing.
26:51So you're like on the precipice of the really fun stuff.
26:54I know.
26:55What do we need to do today to move you along further?
26:58I heard that the guys might be ready for us for some porch work, if you're open to that.
27:03Oh, yeah.
27:04Absolutely.
27:04It's beautiful here today.
27:05I want to be outside.
27:06Let's go outside.
27:13Hey, guys.
27:14We're here to help.
27:15Today's a big day because we're finally opening up the old porch.
27:19Since I found that photo on the internet, what this place used to look like, obviously,
27:23I had to take it back to that.
27:25Well, you want to jump in and start popping this thing apart?
27:27Yeah.
27:30I'm going to tap this wall out as we go.
27:33Okay.
27:33And then you guys will kind of grab this bottom, and we'll just walk it right down,
27:37and we'll curve over to the grass over there.
27:38All right.
27:40I'm keeping the same roof on the porch.
27:42That way, I can keep this original dental molding that's been here since 1898.
27:47So we have to make sure that we take all the proper precautions so that when we pull the
27:51walls down, the whole thing doesn't collapse.
27:54Okay.
27:55We're going to walk it out a little bit.
27:56We have to kind of do some delicate demo.
28:04There we go.
28:05So piece by piece, it'll all come down.
28:09Feels awesome when we pull that last post out.
28:13I've always hated that enclosed porch.
28:14It was just an eyesore.
28:16Got it.
28:17All right.
28:18Bye-bye.
28:19Looks great.
28:20And you managed to preserve all the dental molding.
28:22Yeah.
28:23We made it out of this one with some luck.
28:25Thanks for your help today.
28:26Thanks, Katie.
28:27Absolutely.
28:27So in the powder room, we're going big, we're going bold.
28:33First piece is this awesome vintage makeup vanity that I'm going to turn into the sink vanity.
28:39Check that out.
28:40Is this going to stay wood tone or are you going to end up painting it a solid color?
28:46You know, I haven't quite decided.
28:48I might just need that one crazy pop of color.
28:51I think the main event is the wallpaper.
28:54I have four wallpaper samples.
28:56I want to somehow incorporate botanicals and birds.
28:59For me, this is the one that I love.
29:02I think it pulls in all the colors of the stained glass.
29:05And the other thing that I love about it is these are really, really visually dense.
29:11This has enough openness throughout the pattern that it's just going to feel more balanced.
29:18And look how lovely it is with that vanity.
29:20That's going to be really beautiful.
29:22So what do you think?
29:23Are you into this one?
29:24That's funny because that was my number one choice.
29:27Oh, great minds think alike.
29:29Indeed.
29:30I love the beautiful contemporary wallpaper.
29:33Whitney is creating the juxtaposition of old and new.
29:36And it's really what I hope to see in the rest of the space.
29:39She has a lot of the hard stuff that isn't glamorous behind her.
29:48I'm pretty astounded by Whitney.
29:50I know how difficult it is to transform a place that was never intended to be a home.
29:55And she's tackling this pretty much alone.
29:58She's done a remarkable job.
29:59And I hope she can recognize that.
30:02And she can also see the light at the end of the tunnel because it's close.
30:06The next time I see you, you're going to be done.
30:09So keep that in mind because these finishing touches, all of those things are the really fun part.
30:16But they're also a really, really, really critical part.
30:19Make this reflective of you.
30:21I definitely love bold and saturated colors.
30:25But I'm going to have these white walls in the sanctuary area.
30:29This is really the only time I think I've ever had a white room in one of my houses.
30:33I'm going to make up for that by going super bold on the other side.
30:36The goal here is to paint it in a color scheme that really lets the stained glass windows shine.
30:42I love it.
30:43Yes.
30:43I love it too.
30:45Oh, absolutely.
30:46I could not be more inspired by what you're doing.
30:49And I'm so excited that you're on the precipice of actually fully living your dream.
30:59It's been about a month since Vern was in Bay City.
31:04And I've been super busy.
31:06I started working on the porch.
31:11I started painting the exterior blue.
31:13This is going to take forever, but I'm going to do it.
31:20On the inside, the pantry and the kitchen are really coming together.
31:26I love it.
31:28It's making me feel like I'm even closer to being done with all of this.
31:35The biggest challenge I'm facing with this place is blending old and new.
31:39So I need to find that balance.
31:44And today I'm on the hunt for a key element, which is my countertop for my kitchen.
31:53Obviously, it's important to pick something durable and functional, but really it's most important to me to find something that's beautiful because that's what's tying the whole space together.
32:02Oh, so this, this is what I'm going for.
32:07Neutral, definitely has the veining, looks like marble, but is a quartz.
32:12Ideally, they have enough for what I need, so I'm going to go inside and find out.
32:16I'm going to need a minimum of four slabs.
32:22I got lucky that they had enough material.
32:25This is the Calcutta Adelio quartz.
32:28I think you made an excellent choice here.
32:30Let's start cutting.
32:39Whoa.
32:41I've never seen countertops fabricated before.
32:45That was pretty cool to watch.
32:46This piece is going to be for your island.
32:49We're going to continue on, cut the rest of your kitchen out.
32:52We've got three more slabs to do, and we'll see you in a couple days on the install.
32:58Yeah.
32:58In the last three weeks, things are moving forward.
33:08I mean, it's been quite an adventure.
33:12Most of the exterior is finally painted.
33:14I even started interior paint.
33:16I decided to go with a bold, very colored wall.
33:20It's just a fun way to dedicate a maximum amount of color to a small space.
33:25I've got cabinets set, countertops are started, flooring is in, powder rooms coming together.
33:32Oh, and the shelves for my library wall.
33:35Yeah, when I bought this stretch, it had 30 pews in it.
33:38And my goal since day one was to always reuse as much of that wood as humanly possible.
33:44So I used a lot of the wood for the shelves, but I am recruiting Jason's help today for yet another project.
33:52Barron came up with this brilliant idea to turn the old pew parts into chairs.
33:58All right, I have a new project for you.
34:00All right, let's see what you have.
34:01Are you ready?
34:01Yeah.
34:02Let's take this over there and get this next step going on these back.
34:05I have personally never seen a chair made out of a pew.
34:08It's something that literally nobody else is going to have.
34:11There we go.
34:14Part of the reason I wanted to buy a church is because it's a place that's been gathering people for over a century.
34:20So I love to entertain and I'm going to continue to gather people.
34:24So how cool is it that they're going to sit in the chairs from the original pews where everybody else sat?
34:30I'm going to continue the tradition of this building of gathering people.
34:33I'm pretty sure I just made the first pew chair.
34:39I just need nine more of them.
34:41Nine more.
34:41All right.
34:42We'll put that on the list to do.
34:48This is actually an altar from the church that I found actually in the rotunda.
34:54I thought this might be a cool island.
34:56Where we're standing, the kitchen actually used to be the original altar, but it's obviously too small for this space.
35:03Do you remember that door that was in the entry that went into the rotunda before we closed it off?
35:10What if we put it on top and have an island?
35:13That should work out okay.
35:14I love it.
35:18I have one week until Thanksgiving and there are so many projects I have to finish before I can move into my new home.
35:24Obviously, I need to do another coat and then I will do some more scraping and some cleaning.
35:31There's a ton of painting that needs to be done inside and outside.
35:35We'll probably finish installing the floor tile tonight and then once that's done, install my shower faucet and then put my clothlet tub under the stained glass window.
35:47In the kitchen, we need to install the countertops.
35:50I love it.
35:51It goes so well.
35:54I just hope I can get it all done in time.
36:03It's almost Thanksgiving.
36:06Construction is done.
36:07I still can't believe that I made it this far.
36:11And I am so excited because I have a very eclectic style.
36:16I want to make it look layered, lived in, comfortable, and inviting.
36:22Now that the dirty work is behind me, I'm excited for Vern to be here because I want to show him my new home.
36:30Oh my goodness.
36:31Oh my goodness.
36:32Wow.
36:33This is magnificent.
36:37Hey, Whitney.
36:38Hi, Vern.
36:40This is incredible.
36:41I mean, there's so much to take in.
36:44Number one, the color.
36:46Isn't that blue awesome?
36:47I love how it accentuates all the architectural features.
36:51The rotunda.
36:52The steeple.
36:53And the stained glass.
36:54Everything now feels like it's really kind of popping and coming to life.
36:58Yeah.
36:59It feels infinitely more like a home.
37:01I am looking forward to sitting on the porch, enjoying the view of the park, and just relaxing.
37:07You could almost say it's heavenly.
37:10So look what I found in the crawl space.
37:13Oh my gosh.
37:14It's the original letter board from the church.
37:18When do you think the last time this sign was out here?
37:21Oh my gosh.
37:22It could be as early as 1900.
37:25Oh my goodness.
37:26Yeah.
37:27I love that throughout this entire process, you have worked so hard to preserve the original
37:32characteristics of the building and to uncover original elements.
37:36Once a church, now a sanctuary of home.
37:39Yeah.
37:40That's pretty cool.
37:41Yeah.
37:42I'm really excited to show you inside.
37:44I can't wait to see you inside.
37:45Yeah?
37:46Should I go in?
37:47Yeah.
37:48All right.
37:51Whitney, this is incredible.
37:55The very first time I saw the church, it felt really abandoned.
38:00It was falling into complete disrepair.
38:03It really needed love.
38:05And now that Whitney has been working on it, it has been revived.
38:10It feels warm.
38:12It feels inviting.
38:14Let's talk about scale.
38:16These bookshelves are stunning.
38:21I just love how they turned out.
38:24Everything above the countertop area is 100% made of the old pews.
38:31I think it really helps anchor this entire massive space.
38:35The wood floor really helps transform it.
38:38I mean, it instantly kind of warms it up.
38:40And I think it just absolutely adds life to this space.
38:43One of the things that makes me happiest about this living room is this really beautiful balance of new things and old things.
38:53This feels very much like you.
38:56I'm a person that loves a lot of different things, so I wanted to find a way to mix them together without being overwhelming.
39:02This dining room table is stunning.
39:0895% of it is a white oak old pew parts.
39:12How big is this table, by the way?
39:14You know, 14 feet.
39:16Oh, just 14 feet.
39:17No big deal.
39:18Yeah.
39:19And it really takes that note to heart of having things be of the right scale.
39:23Because if you put a normal-sized dining room table in here, it would feel like it was meant for a dollhouse.
39:28Even the scale of these chairs, they're impressive.
39:31And I love seeing the profile.
39:33I love, you know, that it's clear what they used to be.
39:36Yeah.
39:37But now there's something new.
39:38And every time you're hosting folks here, there is an incredible story to tell.
39:44I want this giant table to be where my friends and family gather.
39:48That's perhaps the biggest honor that you've given this church.
39:52I want to talk about this former altar space.
39:55Yes.
39:56That's now your magnificent kitchen.
39:59I don't know that I have ever seen a bigger island.
40:03This one is actually 13 feet long.
40:05Wow.
40:06I think it was the right thing to do from a scale standpoint.
40:09I see two islands.
40:10The cool thing about the second island is the base of it is actually a communion table.
40:16The top is actually the original door for the rotunda.
40:19It's absolutely beautiful that it now has a new life.
40:22That original brick, it's interesting to kind of peel back the different layers of the building.
40:28Mm-hmm.
40:29I have to say it works.
40:31I love it.
40:32You know what else works?
40:33Mm-hmm.
40:34Is that post.
40:35I know.
40:36I'm so glad that I kept it.
40:38I wanted really to find a way to preserve it in place and that it can be a quirky element,
40:45a talking point.
40:47It is absolutely stunning.
40:48And you had such a wonderful suggestion of adding a powder room and I'm extremely happy
40:54to show you that I was actually able to do that.
40:59Oh, Whitney.
41:00Oh, it looks great.
41:02I think this wall covering selection was the perfect choice.
41:06I wanted to pack a punch and I wanted to have really good saturated color and then even
41:12the swan faucet.
41:14I'm really proud of this small space.
41:16And now people don't have to traipse through your bedroom.
41:19Exactly.
41:20To use your bathroom.
41:21How about we check out the new bedroom?
41:24Yeah.
41:25Let's go see it.
41:28Impressive.
41:29You are just surrounded by beauty.
41:32This is a really nice sized bedroom because the original space, I remember, included this
41:38space behind us.
41:40Yes.
41:41At some point you had discussed putting in a hallway.
41:43To me, this is a much cleaner way to do it.
41:46And I don't feel like this bedroom really sacrificed anything.
41:50Now, I want to see the primary bath.
41:53I think it's really spacious.
41:56It feels really great.
41:58Mm-hmm.
41:59I love that I was able to put my slipper tub underneath the stained glass window.
42:04I was able to incorporate this massive shower and even have a little bit of vintage flare
42:11with my repurposed vanity.
42:13I am really impressed.
42:18This former church was a gathering place where people came together to be part of something
42:24bigger.
42:25Hello.
42:26Hi.
42:27How's it going?
42:28Good.
42:29Holy cow.
42:30You're welcome.
42:31And I see those same things happening here now that it's become Whitney's home.
42:35Hi.
42:36This is a dream that she's been pursuing for so long.
42:39I hope that she just has many, many happy memories here.
42:42This is literally everything I've been dreaming of.
42:48Thank you all.
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