DP Bogehegn’s Old Town cottage one of 5 local homes featured in an HGTV show shooting here

DP Jens Bojehegn will be on the other side of the camera when he hosts a segment about his historical Old Town house to be featured on HGTV’s popular “Small Space, Big Style” series.

It’s one of five Chicago homes that will shoot here April 19-23, marking the show’s second visit here in a year.

Four other Chicago dwellings?houseboats to cottages to studio apartments that are 279-, 476-, 500- and 700 sq. ft.?will demonstrate how clever planning can maximize limited space.

Each half-hour episode features four different houses. The petite Chicago homes will appear in various episodes in upcoming series.

“Small Space, Big Style” made a number of changes for the upcoming season. The most drastic was to allow each homeowner to host his own segment, rather than use an on-screen personality.

“We found that the homeowners did a great job being the host of their own space. When we cast, each person’s individual personality became just as important as his home. We then looked to see how well they thought out their small space and how they actually live in it,” Rockerman said.

Bogehegn said he connected with the show via the Internet. “I was simply tooling around and came across an ad for ?Small Space, Big Style.’ They were looking for homes under 1,000-square feet and my 740-sq. ft. cottage fit the bill,” he said.

“Getting on board was not too difficult. I just had to send in some pictures of my home, talk with the producers and quite quickly it became a done deal.”

As host of his segment, Bogehegn will display his storage ideas and show how a couple with a baby on the way lives comfortably in a small space.

Bogehegn’s charming 740-sq. ft. frame house is one of the last remaining Fire Relief Cottages that were built after the Great Fire in 1871. These prefabbed houses, designed for working people, were built in the suburbs, since post-fire codes mandated only houses of stone could be built within city limits. The houses were moved to the city when the building codes were later modified to allow wood structures.

The Bogehegn cottage has a single combined living room- dining room-kitchen, one bedroom, a bath and a laundry room. Its furnishings are Arts and Crafts’ “with a mission sort of influence,” he said.

He purchased it in January 2002 and moved in after four months of remodeling. His $80,000 rehab investment included a new kitchen and bath, a new floor, lots of built-ins and outdoor hardscaping.

“Small Space, Big Style” was originally created in 2003 as a solo one-hour special for HGTV by BrainBox Productions of Silver Spring, Md. It proved so successful that HGTV signed up for a continuing series.

Several Chicago homes were spotlighted during the 2005 seasons, said producer Sage Rockerman, “and our executive producer Nick Panagopulos loved them. He came back to BrainBox raving about the city and we knew we’d be coming back.”

Creative director/field producer Misty Tosh leads the Chicago crew of DP Sid Lubitsch, shooting in HD, sound mixer Bob Shortjay, tech PA/grip Alesia Barnhill and producer/PA Chezne McArthur. HGTV’s executive producer is Fay Yu.

Brainbox Productions are longtime producers of quality programming for Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, HBO, PBS, and other cable outlets. “Roush Racing: Driver X” is one of its most popular series in rotation on the Discovery Channel.

If your home fits the criteria for showcasing, find an application on www.brainboxtalent.com/smallspace. “Small Spaces” plans to return to Chicago in late May or early June.

Bogehegn is a partner in Zacuto Rentals, 401 W. Ontario, phone 312/863-3453. See www.zacuto.com.