'This Old House' helps pair realize 'that new kitchen'

By Steve Johnson
Chicago Tribune

Did you hear the one about the Lake Forest, Ill., family who got their dream kitchen rehab done at half-price and in just three months?

There is no punch line.

It actually happened to Heidi and Mike Smith, who have gone from a cramped galley to a top-of-the-line showplace in less time than many people take to choose backsplash tile.

Their secret? Perhaps the fact that their Christmas card this past year featured Norm Abram and Steve Thomas offers a clue.

So does the age of their home, a handsome but modest (by Lake Forest standards) brick Tudor built in 1928.

The Smiths avoided the ordinary renovation quicksand thanks to PBS mainstay "This Old House," the dean of home-renovation shows whose series of programs on their kitchen makeover began Feb. 13.

Heidi Smith, 36, who works part time in an interior design firm, said she considers her family's "TOH" experience to be "like winning the lottery," even though this particular lottery ticket will likely end up costing them $80,000 to $90,000.

Also featured in several project updates on NBC's "Today" show, their new kitchen is loaded with high-end freebies, from appliances to the under-floor heating system, and almost better than that, she said, has been the level of expertise the show has brought to what was originally a more modest project. "It's so much more than I ever imagined," Heidi said. "This has just been a dream."

"Trading Spaces" gets most of the press given to rehab TV these days, and two entire cable networks, HGTV and its sibling DIY, have gone hard after the "TOH" audience by focusing on similar themes.

"People in general are very curious about how other people live," said Thomas. "And renovating a kitchen or a whole house is the scariest project most people will ever undertake. They're spending more money than they've ever spent, faster than they've ever spent it. They need people to help them with the process."

But even with all the competition, when it comes to doing nitty-gritty renovation featuring people who are better with a block plane than a microphone, "This Old House" remains unmatched. Last year's 23rd season averaged 4.2 million viewers a week on PBS, while HGTV carries "TOH" reruns, renamed "This Old House Classics," daily.

The 24-season lifespan of "This Old House" has coincided with, perhaps even fueled, a rise in American home preservation.

"The presence of so many programs goes to prove how important homes are in this country," Abram said. "I see other programs where I know the person doing it is not a professional. On 'This Old House,' first and foremost, everyone is a craftsman."

Thomas, a home rehabber himself who had hosted a PBS documentary on primitive maritime navigation, stepped in alongside Abram to act as the viewers' representative, or "mountain guide," in his phrase, on these complicated projects.

This season the series expanded to a weekly hour, the first half covering the current project, the second half a homeowners' Q&A called "Ask This Old House."

The initial budget to gut and reconfigure the Smiths' old kitchen, replace an old greenhouse with an all-season room and relocate a powder room was $70,000, with what the couple described as some room for growth. "Of course they dug deeper," Irving said. "Never will they have the opportunity to do it this well, this quickly and this inexpensively."

Now, with all the work almost done, it looks like it's coming in somewhere around $90,000, said Kris Boyaris, whose firm, Lake Forest Landmark Development, designed and built the Smiths' kitchen. "But ... the project is worth double that," or probably more, she said.

But even if the cost estimates the show provides are nothing the viewer should use to plan his own project, Boyaris came away with renewed respect for the program.

"They tried very hard not to (stage) what they were filming," she said. "They did try to film what was going on."

She was most impressed, she said, by Abram showing up to, himself, lead the shaping and detailing of the Douglas fir beams that would support the new room.

"He totally is the real deal," she said. "I was so impressed."

Don't think the Smith family is not appreciative. Heidi Smith started transferring pots, pans and canned goods from her temporary kitchen to her permanent one a couple of weeks ago, preparing for the wrap party that will be part of a final "Today" segment and the final episode taping.

She was, she admitted, in a kind of nirvana that kept her from selecting a favorite feature, an emotional state almost as feverish as the one that had her crying during the delivery of the new cabinets. "It exceeded my expectations so much it's hard to define one thing," she said. "In general, it's the layout — it's so perfect in size — and the sophistication."

But perhaps the single most relevant feature in the new kitchen and adjoining eating area is the new TV, a 32-inch top-of-the-line plasma model and a powerful symbol in this kitchen that television built.

It was, of course, donated, and it will, of course, be used to watch "This Old House."