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"Rehab Addict" Aims To Rebuild Neighborhoods One Home At A Time

DETROIT (WWJ) - A home in southwest Detroit, that had a date with the wrecking ball earlier this summer, is now getting ready for its close-up thanks to a reality TV star.

Michigan native, Nicole Curtis — host of the DIY network's "Rehab Addict" — has just completed a renovation on the home which will be part of her show in early December.

The 1929 Tutor style duplex sits on Campbell Street and was scheduled to be torn down in June.

"The first thing I saw was the medallion plaster work and that's when I said we have to save it. Miraculously, the four rooms with all of the great plaster work were not affected by the fire," said Curtis.DIY home

Curtis convinced the owner to let her have the house rather than face demolition and she put $65,000 into the home to lovingly restore the eye-popping plaster, wood work and overall charm to the home.

She told WWJ's Marie Osborne that when she started the project the back of the house was gone. "We had to rebuild four rooms, a back porch, a bathroom and part of a kitchen. It was completely burnt away."

As expected ... people told her she was crazy for approaching the project by she has a bigger mission.

"The housing stock that you have in Detroit right now... you can not rebuild," said Curtis.

"Once you save one house," she said."People just kind of come out of the woodwork and they start saving other homes.

Curtis says she's in agreement with mayor-elect Mike Duggan's ad vocation to save vacant brick homes in the city - Curtis says the wood frame victims of fire need to go - that she says - will help bring back Detroit.

DIY home
(credit: Marie Osborne/WWJ)

"I think this is a fabulous place, if I lived back in Michigan my address would be Detroit Michigan without a doubt," Curtis said.

Curtis says the way to bring back Detroit is through owner-occupancy.

The home will be on the market soon.

ABOUT THE SHOW: Working in Minneapolis and Detroit, Nikki discovers historic houses once the pride of the neighborhood that have fallen on hard times.

READ RELATEDHGTV's :"Rehab Addict" Saves Blighted Detroit Home

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