Ruth Gless and her husband, Frank Elmer, were prepared to walk into their bedroom, but the cameramen weren’t quite ready.

The couple waited while the crew fiddled with the equipment, then shouted out ‘‘Speed!" — the cue for host Tony Frassrand to listen intently to a story about closets.

Gless, 58, and Elmer, 61, live in a converted meat-distribution center at 41 E. Lincoln St. in Italian Village.

A door from their kitchen goes directly into their architecture and planning company — Lincoln Street Studio, which shares the 6,400-square-foot space with a business tenant.

They opened their home Saturday to Rezoned, an HGTV series that visits converted structures nationwide.

The concept was recently updated from its previous incarnation, called Building Character, in an effort to attract younger viewers.

The pair heard about the show from the Columbus chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

‘‘You see these things on TV all the time, and they said, ‘Do you want to be in one?’ " Gless said. ‘‘Well, sure!"

‘‘It’s cool," Elmer agreed. ‘‘What the heck."

The series will premiere Oct. 2, although an airdate isn’t set for the Italian Village segment, part of an episode that will also feature a bank in Montana, a cedar mill in Tennessee and an auto dealership in Kansas — all transformed into homes.

‘‘They all share that vision; they share that drive to get in there and do it," producer John Burshtan said of the subjects.

Elmer and Gless had no lack of creative touches to show the cameras.

The walls in their 1,600-squarefoot residence don’t reach the exposed ceiling; the trusses still read ‘‘Timber Structures, Inc., Eugene, Ore." The cinder blocks on the outside remain unadorned; inside, they are covered by corrugated, galvanized steel. And the floor, the original concrete, is painted a deep grape.

The home doesn’t have interior doors — even for the bathroom.

"You have to really want to live with someone to live in a space that’s so open," Gless said.

The couple, both architects, work together, too, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays except Fridays, when the office clears at noon.

They call each other "Ruthie" and "Frankie"; both sport round black glasses in the style of architect Le Corbusier.

During the weekend, Gless and Elmer enjoyed showing off their home to the small HGTV crew for a day.

The walk into the bedroom — which could have continued into the kitchen, then the living space, and back around to the bedroom again — allowed Elmer to explain the closets.

They were created after he bought the building in 1994, given that a big, open warehouse doesn’t have much closet space.

The solution: two freestanding structures — his and hers — made of particleboard, painted silver, with a tentlike canvas top to keep out dust.

By the time they reached the bedroom, the couple had become old pros at small talk with a TV host.

Lunch beckoned as the scene was finished.

Gless asked, "Is it a wrap?"

mwillow@dispatch.com