- This will be my dining room and right now it is the storage area.
- [Narrator] This is Relocated, where we toured the living situations of people who choose
to live off the beaten path.
- I am a person who have experienced homelessness, so it was really important when the pandemic
happened that I found some stability.
And so, stability came by purchasing a home.
I'm Christopher Corbett.
I am an urban planner, and I relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October, 2019.
People probably think I live in a regular home, a light starter fixer-upper.
But no, I'm like knee-deep in a lot of renovations.
Pittsburgh is made up of 90 amazing neighborhoods.
As an urban planner, it is very rare to find a city that's made up of diverse architecture,
people, race, income.
It's all here in Brighton Heights.
It's been a goal of mine for I can't remember how long, to be a homeowner.
It just so happened that when I purchased the home, I decreased my monthly expenses
by $400.
I think that speaks volumes to how affordable the city is though, right?
Come inside and I'll show you around.
I think everyone who loves renovations and historic homes love a good pocket door.
And so this will be my dining room.
And right now it is the storage area.
And this will become the new living room.
There was like walls here.
So I took those out.
I wanted a larger kitchen.
So I'll do flank cabinets here.
And cabinets on this side.
My range is going to go on this side.
I'll build in the refrigerator and we'll have overhead as well.
My living arrangement is very unusual because I am living in my property during construction.
Some people may think, "Oh, well that's the normal, to get something reno'd and live in
a room.
I'm actually living in a room with a dog.
So welcome to my studio.
Basically, this is where I live and I work.
I usually eat dinner here.
All of my cooking material is here.
I have my grill.
Have a wok.
My induction cooktop and a microwave.
There's a lot of work to be done.
And currently I think my setup right now is conducive to my living.
You know, having a few things to cook with, using just a few outfits.
I'm having a time in my life though.
Upstairs to level three.
So my main bathroom is about a four-piece.
So I'll have a tub, the shower, the toilet and then I will have the vanity here.
We're now in the main-bath bedroom.
And so this will become the vanity.
This was actually a find from a local shop here.
I'm really grateful to be living in the space because a lot of times I think you can come
into a space and kind of walk it out and say like, "Okay, I'll put a dishwasher here.
I'll do this here."
But to live in it, you actually get a better feel for the functionality of the space.
A wall will be built here.
So this side will become a study-nook for about two people.
So two kids can work here or an adult can work here.
I can work in my office.
A pocket door will be here to enter into this guest room.
Directly off the stairs, we'll have what will become my office.
Somewhere I can come with the dog and like lounge and watch TV.
Definitely do all my work here too.
This living arrangement should be done by early summer.
I don't know how true that is.
I don't have a least favorite part of this.
It has actually been my dream to renovate and to do a complete custom kitchen.
But a lot of the things that are in this house was on my wishlist.
From a vestibule to a full-sized kitchen.
Pocket doors.
This is honestly, it is my dream home.
A money saver has been living in the property and doing a lot of the work myself.
And it's surprising, cause I didn't know I had these skills.
When things got really hard and I didn't understand how to frame a wall, I'll turn on a YouTube
and came up with a mantra that I can, I must and I will.
My longterm goals for this property is to live my life and become a family here.
A really important factor is I didn't want to flip a property.
It's important for me to become a staple in the community that I reside in and add it
to the stability of it.
My favorite part of the process has to be getting a chance to know the neighborhood.
You know, I have a barber here, there's a coffee shop not that far, meeting my neighbor.
Just the other weekend I was out in the yard, digging up roots, a neighbor came across the
street just to help me.
So it's things like that, that you didn't know you need until you had it.
And so I'm very grateful to be in the neighborhood that is so supportive and inclusive.
My only advice to someone who's thinking to renovate or to live in construction, to know
your limits, to be patient with yourself.
Know that everything can not be done in one weekend.
And ask for help.
Well, thank you for visiting my home.
To follow along with the renovation and to check in to see how I'm doing over the next
few months, follow me on Instagram.
For more stories like mine, make sure that you subscribe to Bustle.