A Toronto-area family is breathing new life into an old funeral home in Dresden.
The 19th century DeBurger Funeral Home closed in 2016, and although it has changed hands a few times since then, has been vacant for several years.
Enter Heather and Arryn Blumberg, who learned about the property in an online blog. Their interest in the gothic building then caught the attention of a television producer, who proposed creating a reality show about the family’s planned transformation of the 12,000 square foot building from funeral home into private residence.
Heather Blumberg calls the experience very well organized chaos.
“The production company and the crew that we worked with were absolutely amazing, they were so lovely and they made the whole thing fun. It was a year of everybody in hour home with us trying to settle in.”
As one might expect, renovating a nearly 200 year old building comes with its share of adventure and intrigue.
“There’s been a lot of things going on, some good finds in the house, some interesting moments that you see captured,” Heather says.
Once the camera crew is done for the day, the family takes over behind the lens.
“We did a lot of iPhone footage as well, so literally every aspect of what’s happening is captured in one way or another and nothing is made up, everything you see on the show actually happened.”
The couple say reaction from their neighbours and the community as a whole has been very positive.
“People have been fantastic,” Arryn says. “They’ve been obviously very curious, and because of the show and everything else we haven’t been able to have as many people through the house. It’s been nice that people are able to see what we’ve been doing over the last year and a bit.”
The family has put a concerted effort into include local trades as much as they can.
“Nearly everybody who’s been through or has worked on it is from the area, I think with the exception of some kitchen appliances we had to get brought in from Toronto, we’ve also sourced everything locally,” Arryn explains. “We’ve really tried to involve as many people as possible, so it’s nice the get to see themselves in the show.”
Various familiar faces pop in and out of the story, including contractor Dave Depencier, funeral director Jason Badder of Badder Funeral Home, artist Sarah Steele, and an assortment of other local tradespeople and Dresden residents.
The Blumbergs say renovations to the home are only half-finished, but they’re excited to see what the future holds. Whether that future plays out in front of the camera remains to be seen.
We Bought a Funeral Home is now streaming online on Discovery+, with new episodes every Saturday through the month of October.