A Very Brady Renovation producer offers sneak peek of HGTV series

Yes, there will be an actual second story with bedrooms and working bathrooms — but Greg’s attic hangout will have to move to the carport-turned-rec room.

The producers behind HGTV’s hotly anticipated A Very Brady Renovation gave attendees at SCAD’s aTVfest in Atlanta Friday an early sneak peek at the four-episode series bowing in September. One of the more pressing challenges facing the project — which involves transforming the 2,000 square-foot home in North Hollywood, Calif., that served as the exterior shot on The Brady Bunch into a 4,000-plus replica of the family’s original abode — is adding a whole new level to the structure.

The iconic North Hollywood home is only one story, so the producers are building a deeper, sunken living room to accommodate the master bedroom, the kids’ bedrooms, and that classic Jack and Jill bathroom. Greg’s attic, however, is moving to the carport since they couldn’t go any higher on the house.

The overall plan is to recreate the interior of the house from the show’s first season in 1969. Yes, the producers know that Greg’s attic didn’t come until later seasons but the room is so iconic they simply had to include it.

“The real house is nothing like the studio set,” showrunner Bob Kirsch told the crowd. “The big staircase in the house on the TV show led to nowhere.”

Kirsch revealed some oddities about that house that did — and didn’t — appear in the original series. Even though the exterior shot of the house featured a big window on the left side over the stones (see above), the real home doesn’t have one. There was also a real window to the right of the front door that was inexplicably covered up for the show.

To accommodate Alice’s big kitchen, the family room, and the backyard, the production has to add a whole new wing to the back of the North Hollywood house, Kirsch said. All of the original cast members who played the Brady kids — Barry Williams (Greg), Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Christopher Knight (Peter), Eve Plumb (Jan), Mike Lookinland (Bobby), and Susan Olsen (Cindy) — will help with both the demolition and the renovation. Plumb, in particular, showed particular interest in recreating Alice’s bedroom and bathroom (the latter of which viewers never saw).

“Eve is the only one on the project who gets to work on a room from scratch,” said Kirsch.

HGTV talent will also participate in the renovation, such as Property Brothers‘ Jonathan and Drew Scott, Mina Starsiak and Karen E. Laine (Good Bones), Leanne and Steve Ford (Restored by the Fords), Jasmine Roth (Hidden Potential), and Lara Spencer (Flea Market Flip).

For now, the network doesn’t know what it will do with the house once the show has aired this fall. But a total of 22 parties, including former NSYNC member Lance Bass, bid on the property before HGTV swooped in with its grand plan. So somebody could end up buying the house and having their own “Sunshine Day.”

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