Weird Homes

Three artists who have taken the concept of working out of the home to new levels. Don Thompson of Whiskey Creek, BC, uses a chainsaw to carve crazy critters out of stumps. Carlo Marchiori of Calistoga, California has turned his home into his personal art gallery and sculptor Hobart Brown can often be found welding in his living room.

Some folks have fantastic homes that you wouldn't find on an ordinary street. Hitchhike Mike has created for himself a little place in the wilderness on the wild coast of British Columbia. George Smith's 'Georgetown' in California is full of Hollywood dreams. Artist Larry Fuente has a home where the psychedelic 60s still reign.

This show celebrates three yards that have gone way beyond the basic patch of Kentucky blue grass. Cornelieus Evegroene's Ontario dairy farm has a herd of strange creatures mingling with the cattle. Everything from rocks to fine china decorates the yard of the Portuguese Brothers in Mendocino. Axel Stenzel's BC yard is a home to a menagerie of whimsical sculptures.

You can't judge a book by its cover and you can't judge a home by its exterior. One California home is an old brewery at first glance and a gallery of fantastic footwear once you get inside. If the shoe fits, it's probably here in June Moxon's Shoe Room. A little Abracadabra will get you into Richard Tuck's wizardly wonderland.

Do you need space on your mantle for your bottle collections? This show features a few collectors who will inspire you to make room for more. Washington's Bob McGiveron has crowded the nooks and crannies of his home with collections amassed over thirty-five years. There are more than five hundred exhibits in Harold Carlaw's military museum and more than six hundred cats crowd into Jack and Donna W

Most people keep their feet on the ground. Here are three homes that keep their owners up in the air. J.D. Higdon has occupied his Oregon tree house for 22 years. Come fly with Jerry McKinnon and his two flying saucers and visit Ontario's Mike Horne whose unique dome house revolves at the push of a button.

This episode features three men whose homes really are their castles. On an isolated island Karl Triller built his imperial residence by hand out of thousands of cement blocks. A kingdom in Ontario brought Peter Camani's childhood dreams to life, and in Colorado, a fire-breathing dragon protects Jim Bishop's incredible stone fortress he built by hand.

Pour some lemonade, pull up a porch chair and look out over these crazy yards. Yard sale treasures adorn Jim Perucca's Kansas City home. Cliff and Francis Bruce raise bulls, glass chickens, windmills and memorabilia on the grounds of their Ontario farm. Paul Hefti's Wisconsin yard is a jungle of pop bottles and other paraphernalia.

Three people who pour their hearts into their work and create homes that are Made With Passion. A witch's house in Milwaukee is actually where Mary Nohl creates marvelous concrete sculptures. Every inch of Carl Jennings' California home reflects his artistry and his passion. A dream inspired Andy Parashos to make a Greek temple of his formerly plain Toronto home.

Some people live in places that can make passersby gaze in amazement. One Roadside Attraction is Ross and Carla Ward's wild west Tinkertown: an acreage crowded with a little bit of everything. The attraction in Goderich, Ontario is George Laithwaite's crop of bizarre concrete creatures. In Mullinville, Kansas, people stop to see what M.T. Ligget has on his mind and on his often offensive signs.

Try out your sea legs on this show, which features homes that are Staying Afloat. Wayne and Katherine Adams built their West Coast home from salvage that washed up from the sea. A fishing village in British Columbia is home sweet floating home for artist David Dorrington. Rod Palm will welcome you aboard his home, a former ferry that is now high and dry.

This show introduces folks who have made room in their homes for things close to their hearts. Roy and Charolyn Bowins' Homemade Shrine is a celebration of all things Elvis. A former master plumber in Texas, Barney Smith, crafts a monument to the lowly toilet seat in his 'Toilet Museum'. In North Carolina we visit the bizarre home of Robert Seven, a man who pays homage to hilarity.

Not all artwork is created with paint and canvas; these three artists are working with materials that are really out of the ordinary. Tom Every has created an 'Evertron' in Wisconsin, a magical metal machine fuelled by imagination. Ken Glasgow is a British Columbia artist who thinks big - very big. Dan Slaughter from rural Indiana whittles wonders out of wood with a chainsaw.

A sense of humour is definitely an asset to enjoy these places. Frank Zeni's Houston home is a million-dollar temple built on a five-cent budget. Victoria Herberta has a passion for purple and a passion for pigs and she call her home 'Pigdom'. Ivan Dow is a child at heart; as a result, his fun home is the most popular place in the neighbourhood.

Some folks don't express their artistic nature by hanging a print on the wall - they make entire homes into works of art. Bruce and Julie Webb live in a gallery that is North America's best outlet for outsider art. Jacques Bilodeau has taken minimalism to new levels in his Quebec home whereas Dr. Bob in New Orleans is more of a...maximalist.

There's recycling, and then there are those who make gems out of garbage. Retired doctor Joe Smith of Austen, Texas crafts imposing sculptures out of industrial salvage. Vince Hanneman has an outstanding trash sculpture towering over his Texas home and Montrealer Ava Rave applies her decorative touch to other people's castoffs.

Pick up sticks, pick up bones and you are halfway to a weird home. Charles Stagg has crafted his home from concrete, bottles, sticks and a singular vision. Venzl Zastoupil, known as the 'Toothpick King' made miniature worlds out of nothing more than toothpicks and white glue. Bone sculptor Doug Edward creates art from road kills.

Miles of marigolds line the paths of the fabulous formal gardens of Ontario's Barry More, also known as Lord Barrymore. He's not the only one taking his garden beyond tomatoes and tulips; Adolf Bach has recreated a little bit of Bavaria in his Ontario yard and Larry Baggett placed stone after stone to create a monument to Missouri's Trail of Tears.

If these home-owners are feeling a little 'down,' it's only because 'down' is where their homes are - they all like living underground. Ed and Dianne Peden have a house in Kansas with a mission and a mission control; they bunk down in a missile silo. Sara St. Lawrence and Nancy Burrows each have an earthship - homes hand built out of clay and recyclable materials in the desert of New Mexico.

There's no plays like home according to these folks; they've furnished their houses with fun. Jason Cavalier and Andy Bradshaw have each turned their Montreal apartments into manors of martial arts mania. Sam Edwards' place in downtown Calhoun, Georgia is a little different - it's a tree house with a boat for a porch and a full sized plane for a bedroom.

These men have a serious appreciation for all things automotive. Bob Schultz likes anything that rolls or floats and he celebrates them all in his Rolls Royce Room. Ontario resident Cornelius Vlielander has a gas collecting vintage gas pumps and antique cars. In Alabama, Harvey Harry's love of hub caps has resulted in him being known far and wide as the 'Hubcap King'.

What do you do when you want a magnificent mansion but you're not a millionaire? In Montreal, Valerie Laidley has translated her interest in Africa into an exotic escape from harsh Canadian winter. Joe Formica spun a three-room California bungalow into an opulent Greco-Roman wonder. Memories of the golden age of Hollywood occupy every corner of Sam Mazza's San Francisco palace.

No cookie-cutter abodes here. In a lovely Victorian-era home in San Francisco, sculptor Marcia Donahue has raised the bar on decorative décor. Ruby Gay may be retired from big-game hunting, but that hasn't stopped her from "stuffing" her taxidermy museum to the gills. Chicago artist Mr. Imagination dares to be different; his home, artwork, even his clothes are covered in bottle caps.

What if you want your home to be about something more than shelter? That's when you have to approach your home with a radical attitude. Andrew Colquitt's graduate degree in art prompted him to create a home as statement. Brian Mantrop and Cathy Cashman built their experimental Ontario house with a back to nature priority. Tyree Guyton has spent ten years reclaiming his Detroit neighbourhood.