The Mind-Blowing Befores and Afters of the 'We Bought a Funeral Home' Renovation

The Blumberg family moved from bustling Toronto to the tiny town of Dresden, Ontario, to renovate a 12,000-square-foot former funeral home, an adventure captured in We Bought a Funeral Home. The three-story building with 38 rooms was a design challenge, as the family of four set about transforming rooms with an often gruesome history (hello, embalming room; looking at you, corpse elevator) into livable, cozy spaces appropriate for a family home. Along the way, the family encountered infestations of bats, frogs and the occasional ghost, along with more ordinary reno nightmares like flooding and an exploding construction budget.

The Blumbergs (left to right: Noa, Arryn, Heather and Rafferty with their dogs Pork, Beans and Satan) star in the delightfully dark series focused on the transformation of an Ontario funeral parlor in the tiny town of Dresden into a cozy family home, with mama Heather describing said family as "a bunch of weirdos." Though local contractor Dave is an invaluable partner in their reno, the whole family gets on board for this makeover. "We're a very handy, hands-on family," says Arryn.

The entrance to the Dresden funeral home was another generation's idea of grand, including elaborate molding on every square inch, a pitiful chandelier out of proportion to the size of the space, mauve wall-to-wall carpeting and a built-in planter that the reno team described as ludicrously overbuilt. We Bought a Funeral Home saw the transformation of these dated spaces into something far more personal, inventive and fun courtesy of Heather's inspired design vision.

Glossy, deep red paint, a dramatic chandelier that actually suits the scale of the room and the warmth of wood floors strike a very different note than the cold, generic feel of the funeral home's previous foyer iteration.

The dramatic transformation of the Blumbergs' entryway included Heather hand-gilding the steps, which created a lustrous appearance when combined with the high-gloss red walls. Heather is drawn to rich, saturated colors and jewel tones that bring a glam-goth aesthetic to the home.

Heather had all of her creative guns firing at once for this dreamy hallway forest created with saplings that the men in the family chipped in to help cut down. Heather embellished the trees with 2,000 butterflies, hand-applied leaves and taxidermied animals to create a fairy-tale still life in the home's entry hall.

A section of the funeral parlor known for sightings of the Lady in Blue, the home's resident friendly ghost, this winding staircase was ripe for a redo, and Heather was certainly up to the challenge.

Heather commissioned a local artist to create a forest idyll in a mural that decorates the staircase walls. A taxidermied owl and more butterflies only add to the sense of wonder. The original stained-glass window with its rich jewel tones blends perfectly with this woodland fantasy.

Dark and drab, even despite some charming curved windows, Noa's room was hardly the kind of space where a young girl would be inspired to dream and create. Luckily, Heather had a vision for how to transform this lackluster space into the room of Noa's fantasies.

A grimy, uninviting room was transformed into a sunny, open bedroom for Noa that highlights crafts, plants, nature and all the things she loves.

Noa's stunning bedroom looks like a set piece from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with its beautifully painted walls featuring scenes and colors drawn from nature and a pretty bed bedecked in flowers.

Pastel pinks and blues define this luxurious bathroom that foregrounds Noa's love of nature and slightly gothic sensibility with bouquets of dried flowers hung on the wall by ribbons.

The perfect cozy, light-filled spot for a young girl to daydream, create and sleep, Heather transformed the uneventful funeral parlor room into a lovely retreat for her daughter, Noa.

Raff's basement bedroom was a lackluster, uninspiring combination of low ceilings, fluorescent lights, walls the color of skin and dark louvered doors. In other words, a space begging for an immediate transformation.

We Bought a Funeral Home's teenage narrator Rafferty can now enjoy a chic, sleek bedroom, an elegant bathroom with a soaking tub, and a wet room and lounge space in the former funeral home's basement.

A stylish, masculine space featuring leather furniture and muted colors perfectly suits teenage son Raff's sardonic vibe.

Rafferty's gothic and New York City-inspired en-suite bathroom is just right for a teenager wise beyond his 19 years.

At the center of the life of the funeral parlor was this enormous parlor on the home's main level, where guests would come to pay their respects to dearly departed friends and family.

One of the most satisfying moments in the Blumberg family's funeral parlor redo was when the entire clan chipped in to remove the room divider, which would initially hide a loved one's casket from view during the funeral. Removing that barrier was a critical part of rebirthing a space associated with loss and sadness into a warm, sophisticated and comfortable family living room, dining room and open kitchen.

Though the family was skeptical about Heather's desire to paint the entirety of their living room/lounge, dining room and kitchen in shades of black, their resilient, supportive contractor, Dave, went with the flow and helped Heather realize her vision with this initial layer of pitch-black paint.

Heather and Arryn's living room manages to balance a moody, gothic vibe while offering comfort, style and a welcoming gathering spot for family and friends. Local craftspeople created a custom couch to fit both the mood and the space.

Heather transformed the large parlor where the bereaved gathered into a convivial, stylish meeting place for family and friends, though this time, under far happier circumstances.

On one side of the family's living, dining and cooking space is a chapel announced in glowing neon, where family or guests can sit for a reflective cocktail.

With its glowing pink neon sign, black paint and dramatic lighting, this pantry off the Blumbergs' kitchen suggests an Asian night market.

What can you say about a room where dead bodies are prepped for burial? This space needed a makeover stat! And what better way to contemplate the afterlife than by lounging in a (wait for it): cigar bar!

The funeral home's former embalming room has been cleverly converted to a speakeasy featuring a hidden entrance and a cigar lounge. The display on the left highlights the stainless steel embalming tools that the Blumberg family discovered had been left behind when they bought the funeral home.

The former embalming room in the funeral home has been converted to a speakeasy and a stylish family lounge with a cigar bar seen in the background.

Heather wanted to bring a lush, Victorian feel to this hallway, which she transformed into a plush parlor featuring furniture that was actually rescued from the former funeral home.

Homeowner Heather puts the finishing touches on the recently renovated family parlor, dominated by this slightly eerie, supersized vintage portrait of a small child framed by the amber glow of two vintage lamps.

This former funeral home embalming room has been converted into a speakeasy featuring a hidden entrance, velvet couches, unique artwork and a casket converted into a bar that can be moved between floors on the funeral home's former casket lift.