A Very Brady Bunch Renovation

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sudsomatic

sudsomatic

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Last year the home used for exterior shots of the famous Brady House went up for sale. There was a lot about it online and even a post here on the forum. It was the first time anyone ever saw what the inside looked like in the 50 years since the show first aired. Turns out not only was the inside nothing like what the show looked like (understandably so as it was never meant to match one to the other) but that it was almost a time capsule home in that the owner hadn't changed much inside from the time it was built. Here's the link to seedub's thread with pictures https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?76299

 

There were stories about the bidding war with the Boy Bander  that almost won it but was outbid by HGTV at the last minute. It worked out in a good way because HGTV had a huge project in mind, to save the famous exterior but renovate and rebuild the interior to match the show.

 

It's an ongoing job and a series based on the project is scheduled to air in the fall. Part of the project involves essentially making the home a living Brady museum set and they are looking for vintage items to fill the home that match what appeared on the show.

 

Being a big Brady Bunch fan I've visited the site to see updates as they add them. It dawned on me if anyone here might not have seen this it would be interesting to others like myself so I wanted to share the link  https://www.hgtv.com/shows/a-very-brady-renovation

 

Check out their scavenger hunt section, they are looking for viewers that collect mid century artifacts (that were part of the original sets) to add to the house for true authenticity. I like that attention to detail.

 

Although I collect I have nothing they need, but secretly I've always wanted that horse statue to place at the foot of my staircase.

HGTV Insider

Get the behind-the-scenes scoop of HGTV shows, stars' weddings, pregnancy announcements and exclusive house tours straight from the source at HGTV.com.
www.hgtv.com www.hgtv.com
 
 

 

A very interesting project. Of course the actual house will never match the studio one, but they can certainly give it the feel. I can get over how, how the original cast looks so, so old. Yeah I know, Bobby should be in his late 50's by now. But still.
 
There are a bunch of snippets on YouTube about this house and the renovation.

My first thoughts were...how stupid! Doesn't everyone know the inside of the house only existed on a sound stage..the outside shot were only that..shots.

Then when I saw what they did to the time capsule house, I was mad. They took a perfectly lovely, well maintained,original home...and GUTTED it right to the studs. All to make it look like a house that never existed. If I were neighbors on that street I would be furious with the attention.

I will not be watching the Property Brother whores when they host this show on HGTV.
 
I agree with Jim.  The brothers have reached their super-saturation point on the airwaves.  The same thing happened to Rachael Ray on the Food Network.  Fingers crossed that it happens to Guy Fieri sooner rather than later.  The brothers will eventually end up on a third rate celebrity reality show.  Well wait -- that's exactly what this renovation is going to be, with washed-up BB cast members included.

 

I find it amusing that, after all of the renovations under their belt where they ruthlessly rip out MCM kitchens, now they're looking to create an authentic one.   The term "whores" is so spot-on.

 

I was never a Brady Bunch fan.  Maybe I was too old for it, or simply didn't find the show entertaining.  What happens to the subject house matters little to me, but I predicted that the brothers would end up involved in the project when it was revealed that HGTV had won the bidding war.  The hype leading up to the first installment on HGTV is going to be off the charts and annoying, that's for sure.
 
It's True..

Never been a fan of HGTV or other "home" networks. I hate the uppity buying families that have way too much money to blow and look way too judgemental over everything.  The designers that never listen to the people and just do whatever they want anyway and use waaaaaaay more pillows than any human being could ever need in a lifetime. And especially the construction crew that demolish and destroy (because it makes better TV) rather than try to preserve.

 

That's one of the things I hated about the renovation of the Brady House (or any old home) when I started watching the short clips. The house inside before was amazing! Not just the inside but the elements outside as well. As I mentioned in my initial post it was more or less a time capsule home of the late 60's early 70's and very cool.

 

So you start to watch the clips on the site or YouTube and see them do things like sawing away parts of the banister on the short staircase so they could sledgehammer it more easily just for the dramatic effect of seeing Maureen McCormick whack at it a coupla times, it boils your blood. It's sad and ridiculous! I've taken out several old banisters from old homes, the right way, in about the same time it took to saw and hammer and clean up the fastenings after.

 

As much as I hate how the awesome structure that it was wasn't celebrated for and preserved 'for' what it was I know from reading that most to all potential buyers, outside of the small few who were interested in the Brady angle, only wanted it for the land value solely. The house would most definitely have been completely destroyed and one or multiple modern homes or properties built in it's place. So if losing it's original interior to be renovated as a "TV home come to life" preserves the facade it's not all bad.

 

I see the "awful" in this project.. don't get me wrong. But the kid that never grew up inside me, that lived on Brady Bunch reruns growing up and still has a vintage mindset in this way too modern world thinks it's quite groovy.
 
I know....

That there were mixed feelings on this when I first posted about it a few months ago. But for anyone interested in seeing it, the first show will finally air this Monday at 9 EST on HGTV.

 

 
 
"Never been a fan of HGTV or other "home" networks. I hate the uppity buying families that have way too much money to blow and look way too judgemental over everything. The designers that never listen to the people and just do whatever they want anyway and use waaaaaaay more pillows than any human being could ever need in a lifetime. And especially the construction crew that demolish and destroy (because it makes better TV) rather than try to preserve."

So true! What gets my goat is especially that. The women that turn up their noses at everything, and what they're looking at is way better than what I have in my kitchen.

I even saw a woman go into a house with a very new wood, granite and stainless kitchen and say she didn't like it.

I too also hate the waste in these programs. They destroy perfectly good and sometimes high end items for drama effect, when it could have been donated to a resale shop where someone like me who likes nice things but isn't so dumb to waste money on new crap, would be perfectly happy to have it.

I remember on older home redo shows such as Hometime, This Old House, even some HGTV programs, they used to show the crews carefully removing kitchen cabinets and appliances, bathroom items etc. I remember them saying on several of these shows that they were donating them for reuse. Liked this idea.

With the green movement being so big, I don't understand why that seems to have gone away in favor of this wasteful "if it's 5-10 years old it's outdated, so lets have fun destroying it" mentality.

Not a huge fan of 70s houses myself, or at least the plain ranch ones around here. I like some of the items but I don't want a whole 70s house. So for me, I just would rather buy a house from a more appropriate for me era. I would have a hard time destroying a time capsule 60s, 70s house just because it wasn't my style.

Also, where do these people get their money to buy such an expensive house. You have couples just starting out, with college debt, etc and they're already prepared to spend a couple hundred grand on a house and of course it all has to be brand new and up to date. Don't get it. TOO spoiled and entitled. Guess all that education and "prestige" of walking into a great job got to their heads.
 
Was watching Gas Monkey Garage last night about redoing a 1969 Plymouth wagon into the "Brady Bunch Car".

Saw a promo for the Brady Bunch Renovation after so switched to HGTV. Didn't get to see the show, but in the intro saw a few things.

Saw them installing a modern stainless steel (looked like Jenn Air?) wall oven and a glass cooktop in the kitchen.

However, did see a glimpse of small appliances and it looked like the avocado Sunbeam Mixmaster and Vista Blender made an appearance. Thought that was pretty cool.
 
Fan-of-fans,

 

  I watched that episode of Fast N Loud too, haha. Kind of a reverse of the renovation show.. and fun too.

 

The first episode (of AVBR) was really good. I was pleasantly surprised that they kept the visuals of the demolition pretty minimal. Don't misunderstand, they gutted that place for sure. But except for pulling down an overhang from the back of the house, and quick shots in a montage, they didn't make destruction a huge focus like HGTV shows are well known for and concentrated more on the rebuild and recreating.

 

One thing I liked was that they mentioned the previous owner in the beginning, talked just a little about her and mentioned how she was known for her rosebushes. Because the building plans didn't call for most of her landscaping they took the rosebushes and other plantings and gave them as gifts to her former neighbors as a peace offering for all the construction hassle, but also to keep them as part of the neighborhood. They did a similar thing with a palm tree from the backyard, moved it to the front of the house to replicate the way it looked in  the 69' opening vs destroying the tree and buying a new one from a nursery.

 

You mentioned the kitchen appliances, the show is segmented into several episodes and they are working on different rooms for each installment,  this episode didn't touch on the kitchen so they didn't show any more than what you saw in the previews, but the attention to detail you noticed, like the Sunbeam Mixer, were in play just as much.

 

For the premiere they tackled the Living/Dining room. They managed to mix old and new items in a cool way. They actually contacted Paramount and found that they had a very limited supply of props that were from the original show and or the 1990's films and it turns out they found a couple vases that were authentic including the famous one that Peter broke playing ball in the house, despite Mom always saying not to. They also found original objects that were authentic from the period but privately owned from where they crowdsourced on the HGTV site looking for replicas.

 

They also made recreations of the living room furniture using fabric printing to get that Mod floral print of the sofa. Thanks to Paramount they also found one of the horses used at some point either from the show, reunions, or 90's film. It was damaged so they used 3D scanning to repair it and restore it from a similar horse statue from the period. They even found a complete, 8 person dining table set just like from the original sound stage.

 

They also retrofitted the exterior and made the facade look like it did in the opening shots, most notably they put a 'real' window on the gable wall where only a fake one had temporarily been hung up before and never existed after principal shooting.

 

I'm a Brady nerd I guess but I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the kitchen and laundry room to see what ends up in there.
 
Yeah, to a point;

those shows are always about money. Isn't it all? It's on one of the tv's at the gym. I watch in between lifting sets. I don't care for what they did with the house.
I've watched many hgtv shows though, and we got lots of good ideas for our own renovations. Some of those craftsmen are excellent at what they do. For one, the guy who fabricated an engineered archway for an outdoor kitchen cupola. Were not doing one, but still have our basement to do. Most home owners don't have the time, or are not as handily savvy even as us. Still, our place has taken us 24 years to get it to where we like it. We recently refinished the floors in two rooms for the second time. Kids and dogs are hard on floors, etc. Money, money, money, and excessive greed. In everything from good food, to healthcare and prescription drug costs. Nothing can be free, but it's gone too far. Conglomeration has reduced competition and allowed for deep gouging, Sales people sometimes cheat hospitals out of millions, some doctors cheat medicare, and insurance providers, etc., etc., etc. Our son in law currently pays $1,300 per month for their family of 4's health premiums. It's good insurance, but still doesn't cover enough. Even what he had before being self employed. So with a 6 year old, a 2.5 year old, and his IBS, and my step daughters problems, he has had to put much of what they owe in co pays on credit cards. I know they are not alone in that either. He makes very good money too.
 
I watched the first episode of AVBBR and enjoyed it. It was great to see all the surviving cast help out. Although no Cousin Oliver?
Usually I'm not a big fan of destruction of original interiors, in this case it wasn't bad. The original wood paneling had been painted over at some point in the homes history. It is interesting to see them recreating the Brady set into the real home.
The only issue I had, is with finding props for the show, the TV looks to be late 70s. Definitely not from 1969.

Several things I found interesting with the remodel is the height of the house. They didn't want to change the outward appearance of the house, but needed to get a second story on the right side of the house. What they ended up doing is having a drone fly up to the roof to see how high they could go, before it was visible from the front of the house. I think they ended up having to lower the living room floor a foot or two. The addition they built onto the back of the house will house the kitchen, family room and Alice's room, on the main floor and then the two kids bedrooms and the bathroom on the upper floor.
Because of the height of the addition compared to the height of the original structure, the stairway had to be adjusted. Originally it had 12 stairs. For them to keep the same angle, they could only go with 11 stairs.

The left side of the house, where the fake window was, they actually put in a real window. That side had two stories. The upstairs is going to be the master bedroom (Mike and Carol's room) and then the lower level is actually going to be Greg's attic room. Since the height of the addition couldn't go any higher they couldn't actually build an attic space.

As someone else has mentioned, this episode just focused on the front of the house and the great room (Living room, dining room, and staircase). It will be cool to see the next couple of episodes.

One thing that I am curious about, that I haven't seen any responses on, what are the plans with the house, now that it is completed? I would think a museum or even a bnb type of situation would be cool.
 
Well

I just came across this myself and or course there was a thread about it already. I am a little surprised about the negativity. I am amazed that they were able to re-create the Paramount studio set inside this split level so convincingly. As someone who has a mid century home with all sorts of mid century stuff I really appreciate the time and budget that went into this.

Seems that some info was posted on the appliances in the original house and the folks on this site would be a great source to finish this project,

Anyway my job has me around projects all time, some I don't agree with and some are cool. I would have loved to treasure hunt for this 50 plus year old stuff.
 
Yeah, it's too bad about the appliances. It would have been so cool if they had come here for info on that. I wonder if they did any Google searches for avocado Maytags?
 
 

 

Northwesty,

 

   That's really cool. I don't have a true mid century home but for the last several years I've been slowly trying to make the inside of mine look like something from the 1960's to very early 70's with the things that I use and fill it up with. That's just the sense of style I like and not much into decorating for the sake of decorating but rather making your place feel homy. And to me there's just something very familiar and cozy about living in a real life classic TV show set.

 

I had the same thoughts you did on hearing about the project for those same reasons, and was just as amazed by what they accomplished in making TV 'magic' become reality in an actual physical space when it finally aired. I'm an amateur builder so the logistics that went into transforming one into the other was very fascinating to me. As much so as the 'fun part' with the scavenging for vintage items and putting the final touches in.

 

I get the negative thoughts from others here on the board too though. The original home was essentially a time capsule and was fully gutted and nearly completely changed except for the facade. It goes along with the feelings of this community in how uninformed and uncaring people toss perfectly good, well made objects in favor of something new and shiny just because they are somehow useless to them for being outdated and not on trend.  So for every no longer made wallpaper pattern covered wall, carved wood banister, and vintage intercom system they tore down, ripped off, or busted to pieces... it's akin to the feeling of seeing a mid century washer dryer pair heading off to the scrap yard.

 

The difference to me though is the demolition wasn't done to erect some ugly modern McMansion in it's place or splitting the property to put up a couple smaller homes. Or even keeping the structure but modernizing it in an ugly modern way. And that's what was slated to happen if HGTV or a similar minded person like Lance Bass hadn't stepped in to do this TV version remodel. It was inevitable that the house would have drastically changed/ been destroyed no matter what scenario befell it as I don't see anyone having bought it and preserved it, as cool as that would also have been.

 

Putting those feelings aside, and knowing the truth of all of what would have happened instead, it's hard for me not to enjoy the show, and the project, and the experience. I watched it again a few days later and still smiled when Sunshine Day started playing and the project officially started.
 

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