Do HGTV Shows Renovate the Rooms You Don't See?

Are there unfinished rooms hiding behind these walls? (Photo: HGTV)

After watching an episode HGTV’s Fixer Upper or Property Brothers, I’m often left wondering about a bedroom—or even an entire floor—that clearly needed work, yet wasn’t shown in the final reveal. Did the homeowners just shell out 100 grand for a half-completed house?

HGTV is notoriously hush-hush about the behind-the-scenes scoop on its shows, but the Scott brothers, hosts of Property Brothers and Buying & Selling, do offer some answers on their website: “The homeowners decide which areas of the house they would like to focus on. We want to capture their complete experience of finding and creating their dream home and in an hour episode we can only show so much. That being said, Jonathan and his team usually finished the entire home.” 

So in the case of the twin-brother team, at least, the show is only documenting a fraction of the renovation—and the budget being discussed is only covering that part of the project. “After the viewing parts are fully renovated, the team goes back to the rest of the house to ensure buyers have their dream home,” according to a profile of the Scott brothers on Newsvine. The segment you see on screen usually takes four to six weeks to complete, though, in the real world, an undertaking of that size would require closer to 10 to 12 weeks of work, the brothers say. 

What about unseen rooms on the smash-hit Fixer Upper? In an interview with Hooked on Houses, Joanna Gaines revealed that she and husband Chip sometimes only focus on priority rooms, due to clients’ budget restraints, leaving the homeowners to make cosmetic updates—think painting and installing carpet—after the show has wrapped. “Other times, we finish the spaces for them after the reveal and this is separate from the budget shown for TV,” she said. “We help them finish their renovation even when the cameras aren’t rolling. It all depends on budget and our clients’ priorities for their home renovation.”  

This Mansion is "Rehab Addict" Nicole Curtis's Next Big Project

In Detroit, broken or boarded-up windows and crumbling facades have become the unfortunate norm. But even in the midst of a blighted city, Alfred Street stands out: Just four houses—less than a quarter of the original number—remain, leaving a field, oddly spacious, in the middle of a city. Perhaps the most famous among the final four homes is the Ransom Gillis mansion, a looming brick structure, standing proudly, though now a bit forlornly, on the corner of Alfred Street and John R Street.

The once-stately brick home, built in the Venetian Gothic style for a Detroit dry goods merchant, has been abandoned for decades—until now. Nicole Curtis, host of DIY Network’s hit show Rehab Addict, has undertaken the daunting task of renovating the 5,000-square-foot mansion. (She's partnering with Quicken Loans for the pricey project.)

Ransom Gillis, the original owner.

Over the years, the Ransom Gillis home's purpose has shifted with the times, transitioning from a private residence to a rooming house in 1919, and then, in the 1930s, a storefront was added to the structure. 

The decline of the Brush Park neighborhood began as early as the 1910s, when wealthy Detroit residents began to favor the suburbs over Alfred Street. By the 1920s, all of the homes had been converted to apartments or rooming houses, unofficially signaling the end of the era of opulence. In 1946, a writer called the neighborhood “blighted,” stripped of its elm trees and old-money families, with only “dismal” homes remaining. Now, nearly seven decades later, the description is still unfortunately fitting. 

There have been attempts to save the Ransom Gillis mansion—in the 1970s, the 1980s, and most recently, in the mid-2000s—but all have failed, leaving the home vacant since the 1960s. (The city did shore up its roof and foundation about a decade ago, which may explain why it's still standing at all, after so many years of being unoccupied.) In March, Curtis, a Detroit native, announced her plans to breathe new life into the structure. The renovation is part of a $70 million plan to revitalize the Brush Park area. 

The storefront addition, which has since been torn down.

The exterior alone makes the home worth restoring, but what can you expect to see on the eight episodes of Rehab Addict that follow the home's transformation? The mansion has 11 fireplaces, space for five bedrooms, and a potential master suite with 20-foot ceilings. (See a sneak peak of the interior here.) "It's a happy home," Curtis told Curbed.com. "Every day when I come here, I have goosebumps. If I have goosebumps, that's a good thing."

(Photo: Curbed.com)

(Photo: Curbed.com)

(Photo: Curbed.com)

The home in its glory days. (Photo: Wikipedia.org)

The decline begins... (Photo: 63alfred.com)

Curtis has already started her overhaul of the place, as evidenced by these photos from Google Maps, taken in August:

Curtis recently tweeted a picture of the gorgeous new window she commissioned for the home. If this is a sign of what's to come, the home is going to be a showplace!