Cartoon House Comes to Life
To see this house is to be transported to the imaginary world of the Pixar film 'Up.'
National home sales may be deflated but there's one house that could be getting some liftoff for its Hollywood qualities.
A Utah builder has painstakingly built a house to be an exact real-life replica of the iconic animated home that took flight in the 2009 Disney film "Up."
The project started when Blair Bangerter, co-owner of Bangerter Homes, saw the movie "Up" which, with the help of a bunch of helium balloons, flies off to the wilds of South America with its 78-year-old owner.
"I saw the movie and instantly wanted to create it, my team and I knew it would be possible so we got right to planning," Bangerter told FoxNews.com.
The 2,800 square feet house has four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and two family rooms and has painstakingly been recreated to be the film's exact replica, from the colors to the mailbox to the painting of "Paradise Falls" over the fireplace. It also has a basement, which unfortunately will keep it from flying off, and custom appliances. The balloons are sold separately.
Bangerter Homes brought the home to life for the 65th Annual Salt Lake Parade of Homes, which opens July 29 and runs until Aug. 14, where the public can get a close-up tour.
The house is selling for around $400,000 and Bangerter is looking for the perfect buyer.
"I'm hoping someone with imagination will see the potential in this house. It's a very special house for a special family," Bangerter said.
While the asking price may be a little hefty for the Utah neighborhood where average home prices float in the $270,000 range, Bangerter hopes someone will be able to see past that.
A reason why the price is so high, Bangerter says, is because a lot of the house had to be specially made and designed to resemble the original house from the film.
Bangerter said that being accurate was more important than being economic in the building process.
"If we were going to do it, we were going to do it right. If spending more money would make it perfect, than that's what we did."
However, taking a cartoon home and making it life-size was challenging to build. The team found difficulties mimicking the pitch of the roof, the stairs, windows, and some of the small details of the house.
During the building process, workers often had to refer to the film to make sure they had every small detail right. Bangerter said he carries the movie with his laptop, and had to refer to it over 100 times during construction.
With the construction of the house complete, Bangerter and his crew are looking forward to decorating it for the Parade of Homes opening.
For those who say that Bangerter's project has just been a mere promotional tactic, he says it is something that has come from his heart.
"I'll be sad to say goodbye to it, its been a project a year in the making, but I hope someone with a great imagination will be able to call this place home."