By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
TRAVERSE CITY -- It was a snowy December day in 2008 when the Traverse City Fire Department gathered outside Fire Station 2 to pose with their new ladder truck for a magazine story on first responders.
The minutes ticked by, the chill turned to cold, and still there was no photographer.
Then, from around the corner, came a surprise Fire Chief Jim Tuller and a handful of city officials had been keeping from the employees for months: hunky carpenter-model-HGTV star Carter Oosterhouse and a television crew, in town to give the 1960s fire station a much-needed makeover.
The sleek remodel, one of two the Traverse City native and his crew completed over four days in February, will be revealed Friday on the HGTV holiday special "Carter Comes Home."
The show airs at 5 p.m., with encores set for 2 p.m. Dec. 24 and 9 a.m. Dec. 25.
Oosterhouse, star of HGTV's "Carter Can" and "Red Hot & Green" said his first holiday special was an opportunity for the Los Angeles crew to work on meaningful projects that would have real impact on people's lives. Besides the firehouse, the show remodeled the East Bay Township ranch home of Susan Campbell, a single mother of five, including two with severe special needs, and the guardian of a sixth, also with special needs.
"Usually when you do a makeover it's for a family, and people who want new stylings," said Oosterhouse, who lives in Los Angeles but has a place in Traverse City. "But this was a necessity, something the guys really needed. The last time the fire station had anything done to it was probably 20 years ago."
The secret
The show has been one of Traverse City's best-kept secrets, said former city commissioner Deni Scrudato, who was mayor pro-tem last fall when she got a call from "Carter Comes Home" casting director Tina Seiler seeking the city's assistance. Scrudato enlisted the help of outgoing city manager Richard Lewis, who used his new BlackBerry to sneak over to the fire station and snap photos of the existing fire station kitchen and lounge area scheduled for remodeling.
Only Tuller and former fire department chief Ed Fisher also were in on the surprise.
"As fire chief you're tasked with a lot of things that only the fire chief should know, but this was a challenge," Tuller said.
The Eighth Street fire station was originally nominated by Fisher for a makeover on "Carter Can," HGTV's top weekend show, which features only home remodel projects, said Producer Patrick Jager.
When the idea of a holiday special featuring both family and civic projects came up, "they were the first people who came to mind," he said, adding that the show solicited nominations of deserving families for the other half.
The projects
Campbell, who retired from a children's mental health agency to provide respite, foster and adoptive care for children with special needs, was nominated for the show by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan.
"She still had the couch from her college dorm," said Jane Knudsen, who has worked with Campbell and her children through the volunteer organization. "She's had other priorities."
Fire Station 2 was built in 1968 and patterned after California fire stations of the time.
"We'd been trying for a number of years through our budget process to come up with money for kitchen renovations but the money was not available for that kind of work," Tuller said. "We were making little repairs on our own the best we could."
Aided by friends, businesses and family members, including brother Todd, a Texas contractor; brother and sister-in-law Tyler and Erin, former owners of Bay House Design in Traverse City now also living in Texas; sister Sienna Penick, a Los Angeles interior designer; and parents Mary and Roland of Traverse City, Oosterhouse gutted the area and turned it into a space that combines sleek, masculine style with function.
"We always work together at home but not really in front of the cameras, so it was really fun," said Oosterhouse, who spent his high school and college summers working construction jobs for two local companies. "We resorted to our own family ways: who takes the lead, who takes control. It's usually my brother Todd telling everyone what to do, but luckily there are cameras and it's my show."
The work
After moving the firefighters to the garage and bunk areas of the station and sealing the rest from view, the crew got to work. They removed the industrial dropped ceiling to expose the original vaulted tongue-and-groove paneling and beams, added fans and track lighting, and tore out the divider that separated kitchen from lounge area to turn the rooms into one big space.
Then they painted it from top to bottom and replaced the original linoleum with industrial laminate flooring that looks like hardwood.
Some furnishings were refinished, others added, in shades of red, black and steel.
New were leather sofas and chairs, end tables and an entertainment center, blinds, air conditioning and a wide-screen TV.
In the kitchen, high-end cabinets and countertops were installed along with a stainless steel farm sink and appliances, from a commercial-grade six-burner stove and natural gas convection oven, to a sub-zero refrigerator with glass door and the station's first dishwasher. The piece de resistance: a large kitchen island with a polished concrete top inlaid with a stainless steel replica of the fire department patch.
"They're two of the toughest materials, and that represents our fire department," Tuller said.
Some of the fire chief's favorite touches are the little ones: the banner given to the department by visiting New York City firemen after 9/11 and the treasured replicas of old fire insurance plaques -- all handsomely mounted and displayed -- and the original kitchen chairs from the old Cass Street fire station, refinished a firehouse red.
There's also a massive new Visual Control Center with sliding boards on tracks for displaying charts, maps and other emergency information.
The reveal
Campbell got a double surprise: first when the TV crew that came to interview her as a "finalist" for a makeover announced she'd actually won, and then when she learned that four rooms were remodeled instead of just one.
"Basically we did the whole first level except for the bedrooms and bathrooms," said Dan Brady, Oosterhouse's longtime friend and owner of Dan Brady Painting and Wood Restoration. "Her whole basement was flooded with stuff so a bunch of volunteers came and put racks on the wall and big bins and then organized everything for her."
A storage bedroom also was transformed into a retreat for Campbell, who is on call for her kids 24 hours a day.
"It's so nice to have it like this," Campbell said, "and they have definitely taken into consideration how to keep my little guys safe."
The value of the firehouse remodel is estimated at $130,000 -- a "significantly bigger" budget than for "Carter Can" episodes, Jager said. The only cost to the city and the fire department was between $200 and $300 for incidentals like paint, caulk and inspections to finish up the work, Tuller said.
He said the renovation has been a morale booster for the department's 27 employees, most of whom rotate between the city's three fire stations. When the makeover was finally revealed, there was "a lot of big smiles and not a lot of talking," he said.
"It was warm, it was appealing, it was comfortable," Paramedic Larry Mueller said. "People couldn't wait to sit in the chairs. It's like home."
Of all his design shows, this is "the one I'm by far the most proud of," Jager said, adding that the community's "immensity of goodwill" is unique.
"It still makes me cry when I watch it," he said. "Traverse City has always held a special place in my heart. Carter jokes that I'm going to run for mayor."
For more pictures of the Traverse City Fire Station remodel, click here.
For more information on the remodels, see www.hgtv.com/carter-comes-home/show/index.html.
