'The Bronson
Pinchot Project,' fun
One-time sitcom star renovates his 1840 Greek Revival house
By Tom Conroy
Feb 8, 2012
Most homeowners dream about doing the kind of no-limits renovation that would make their house shine. Of course, what that really entails is having time and money.
Evidently Bronson Pinchot, the actor best known for starring decades ago in the sitcom “Perfect Strangers,” has plenty of both. In each episode of DIY’s new series “The Bronson Pinchot Project,” he supervises the renovation of a room in one of the properties he owns in the small town of Harford, Pa. He brings an obsessive enthusiasm to the job that, combined with the wish-fulfillment aspects of the show, makes for a diverting half hour.
In the premiere, airing this Saturday, Feb. 11, at 10:30 p.m., Pinchot redoes a room in his own home, a stately-looking 1840 Greek Revival house that he says was “mishandled for over 100 years.” Pinchot intends to transform what looks like a drafty addition into a kitchen and entertainment room that has a period feel.
For most of the job, he and his crew use salvaged design elements and lumber. When a piece needs to constructed from two or more parts, Pinchot calls it “Frankensteining.” When combining pieces, he even goes to the trouble to match the amount of “paint wear.”
That sort of attention to detail can’t come cheap. In order to create a French door, Pinchot’s carpenter, C.J., actually saws a hole in an salvaged door and fills it in with pieces from a salvaged window, adding a row of panes in the process. Pinchot’s “right-hand man,” Mikey, shops for 24 pieces of antique glass to fill the panes.
Some of Pinchot’s design choices are debatable. All of the appliances — even the stove and the refrigerator — are clad in old wood, raising questions about both sanitation and fire safety.
Pinchot, who says he has been collecting antiques since he was 11, can get excited about an old glass lampshade and choked up over a broken one. Although he was extravagantly obnoxious on the 2005 season of the celebreality show “The Surreal Life,” he comes across as humble and diffident here.
Pinchot is front and center through most of the episode, leaving C.J. and Mikey to communicate mostly with knowing glances and shrugs. The two sidekicks are naturally likable and comical, but not so much so that one suspects they’re ringers who were hired only for TV.
Given that most of us don’t have an antique home to renovate and can’t spend days supervising two professionals doing custom work, “The Bronson Pinchot Project” is more aspirational and inspirational than practical. Despite the channel’s name, folks should probably be warned not to try this at home.
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