How did this family of kids, a lady who can't even cook, and a dad who is afraid to walk across the gang-plank, take a rotting, splintering, houseboat, and in no time have it looking like they drywalled the interior, and perfectly painted it?

"How many people here think that the houseboat looked great first and the scenes where it looks so shabby were shot nearer the end of the picture after they had "aged" it????"
I was thinking the same thing!
amazing how some people don't get your question at all!

It's just a guess, but I suspect they had two houseboats. It seems to me that it would be easier to:

1. Acquire one old houseboat, cheap.
2. Build a nice new copy
   than to try to refinish an single houseboat, either aging or renewing it.
   That would allow them to shoot out of continuity, and do any reshooting needed, on either houseboat.

How many people here think that the houseboat looked great first and the scenes where it looks so shabby were shot nearer the end of the picture after they had "aged" it????
What do you mean exactly? The houseboat was completely devoid of paint at the beginning, then they painted it. Do you mean that it aged well toward the end? Or, are you referring to the interior?

what are they called.. those remaking show. right. shows that "remake" places.
"Makeover shows."

seemed to me like it looked pretty rugged with cracked paint and such when they arrived there, then later it looked like new. by the way, if i happen to sit through a.. what are they called.. those remaking show. right. shows that "remake" places. i think i always, or mostly atleast, preefer how it looked before rather than after.
i'm a drifter,
drifting from place to place,
everyday, i seem to walk a diffrent way,
i haven't got no standing point,
somewhere, some place, i know i can always go,
i'm a drifter,
i haven't found a home,
and i keep on walking, by these roads alone,
nobody looks my way,
i'm by myself, every night and everyday,
a drifter,
going where the wind blows,
trying to keep myself warm,
by some things that happen to come along,
when there is fall,
in my soul,
i'm a drifter,
many diffrent stories been told,
i'm one of them all,
and i seem to keep singing on,
on these drifters songs.