Good Bones (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Tiny House, Huge Transformation - full transcript

I'm Mina,
and this is my mom, Karen.

And we're renovating Indianapolis

one house at a time.

Every rotten, nasty house
that we see...

- Oh!
- Holy moly.

...we try and buy.

Then with a little vision...

And a lot of hard work...

...we create beautiful homes
for our neighbors.

- Oh, my gosh.
- Wow.

I don't want to build
crappy houses for my neighbors.



I just don't.

- Are you crying already?
- It looks amazing.

Every tragic house...

There's the bathtub!

...deserves a second chance.

Holy God.
This smells awful.

Because underneath
all that mess,

we might find
some really good bones.

Okay, I'm gonna set up
this little camera.

All right.

Yeah, time to celebrate.

Celebration time.

House is done.

Snug up.



Snug up! Snug up!

So, it's done.

Do you love it?

'Cause I love it,

and I think,
from the beginning,

a lot of people
were very skeptical

that we were gonna get here,

that it was ever gonna be
a house again.

And it is amazing.

I mean, the transformation's
- really amazing.
- Mm-hmm.

Do you remember
the very first time

you came and looked
at this house?

Yes.

Before we start
going into all that,

we should probably tell them
a little bit about ourselves.

They don't know us.

Okay.
You're my daughter.

I'm her mom.

We love Indy.

I love Indianapolis
for so many reasons.

I love our sports,
dining, music.

- Art.
- Art, everything.

Theater.

And you get
all these amazing things

in what's actually
a pretty big city

with a small-town feel.

We live in Fountain Square
next door to each other.

Do you want to say anything
about that?

Up until now,

all of our renovations
have been in Fountain Square.

We've done like 17-ish
or something.

But so now we're branching out
a little bit.

Bates-Hendricks is immediately
next to Fountain Square.

It's separated
by the highway.

This is the first house
we've ever bought

in the Bates-Hendricks
neighborhood.

Well, it's perfect for us
because there's plenty of room

for renovation
at a very reasonable price.

Right.

It's a couple years
behind Fountain Square, I think,

in the level of rehabilitation
that's going on,

so I think it's gonna be
perfect for us.

That's not bad.
That's not bad.

So, we're going to check out
this house.

Wright Street?
Yes.

Someone else
was gonna buy it,

then it caught on fire,
so they were like,

"Hey, Two Chicks and a Hammer
should buy it."

So we did for $7,000,

but we haven't actually
seen it yet.

Most people would probably think
it's crazy,

but about 50% of the time,
we buy homes sight unseen.

'Cause there's nothing
we can't fix.

Wow. Bad.
I'm gonna go with "bad."

That's ours.

Ours is just
the worst one on the block.

I know the yard looks awful,
but this is actually--

This is all fixable.

I mean, paint the brick,
add new windows and siding,

and this will look like
home sweet home.

Bought it for $7,000.

If we put $125,000 into it,

safely, we could sell that
for $200,000.

That's gonna leave us
with about $40,000,

$45,000 profit margin

after commissions, taxes,
everything come out.

If we're lucky, a house
we're buying has had a fire

because then some of the trash
and poop has burned.

Yes.

That's how I feel
about fire.

Okay.

So, smoke damage so far.
No actual fire.

So, wait-- So, living room--
All this is living room?

Well, let's walk through.

All right, Mina,
look at this.

There's deer
and there's ducks.

The whole house
is wood paneling.

There's some extra-special wood
paneling in the living room--

It has deers... Put your hands down.

...and birds, seagulls.

Extra-special paneling
that has a woodland scene on it.

You know what
we're gonna do with this?

Nothing.
- We're gonna throw it away.
- No, no, no.

I'm gonna cut them.

So, every house
we've ever done,

Mom finds something in the house
that has meaning to her.

She cleans it.

She does something funky
with it

and puts it back
in the house

once we've fixed it up
and it's all done.

And I'm gonna clean them,
and I'm gonna frame them.

This is perfect.

Every house has a story.

And we are helping--This is the spiel.

No, we're helping the house
retell its story.

This is kind of her vibe-y,
hippie thing,

and I roll my eyes
when she says it

when we're in the house.

Like, "Do you feel it?"

Like, "It's a him,"
or, "It's a her.

And she's still sad right now,
but she's gonna be happy."

If we can take them off
in one piece--

- And throw them away?
- No.

But it's true.

You can feel a difference
in the house.

You said "we"
that whole time.

- No, we are. We are.
- And that's you.

Shh. Go crazy.

There's a door here.

I don't need a pry bar.

Wait, wait, wait,
don't kick it.

- Don't kick it.
- I can kick it.

Just wait a second.
Hang on.

I'll yell to you and tell you
if it's okay.

Ha!

I told you to wait.

You're suck a jerk.

It's another bedroom.

These floors aren't bad.

If we can save them,
- we should.
- Yes, I agree with you.

This one-- not so much.

But rip out this paneling,
add new windows, new flooring,

and I think this would be
a perfect dining room.

Aha!

Well, this is obviously
where the fire was.

I see a melted
refrigerator panel.

It looks awful,

but the ceiling joists--
those aren't damaged.

No.

The floor joists
and the ceiling above

are all pristine.

So, fire, but not that bad.

Everything is salvageable.

Oh, God, there's a lot of
termite damage right here.

Look, it just crumbles.

Oh.

And you know
probably why?

This is original exterior.

This porch was added
at some point.

Oh, my gosh.

And we had
a leaky door frame.

And so this wood got wet,

and that's why the termites
ate it.

My hope for this house

is that we can turn that
back porch into interior space.

I think with new walls,
higher ceilings,

some new floors,
we could totally make

this old porch
into an awesome master suite.

That's always my preference,

to get more interior
square footage

because the houses
in these neighborhoods--

every square foot counts.

Let's go upstairs.

Oh, look.
"Restrooms."

You have to walk through
the bathroom...

Walk through the bathroom...

...to get upstairs.

Okay, we'll change that.

Holy cow, these are steep.

Yeah.

This is definitely
not code.

This is not
to current city code.

Oh, wow,
there's a ton of space!

What?

Way more space
than I thought there would be.

Holy cow!

I mean, this is huge.

It is huge.

This can easily be
three or four bedrooms.

I mean, we'll definitely
have to move some walls,

add some walls, whatever,
but it's a great space.

Tons to work with.

So, let's look
at this room.

Okay.

Ohh, Mom.

- What?
- There's a hole.

We found a hole in the roof.

- And holes in roofs are bad.
- Which we weren't expecting.

- Fire and a hole.
- You know why?

When the firefighters come,
they cut a hole through the roof

to let the heat out.

More often than not,

I'm teasing mom
about being scatterbrained,

but she knows everything
about everything,

which sounds like too much,
because it might be sometimes,

but it's always helpful.

So it doesn't do as much damage
to the structure.

I mean,
it looks rough now.

- It'll be pretty.
- Yeah.

Basement?

All right.

You go first.

I know. I know.

Be careful.

We need different stairs,
that's for sure.

Holy moly.
Look right there behind you.

Where?

This.
Do you not see that?

Holy cow!

Holy cow!

That's some angry mold.

Wow!

Look at that.

Holy--
Oh, my God!

This is--

What?

Look at that.

That's a different color
than the rest.

I don't even know
what this is gonna take

'cause we've never had
anything this bad.

My concern is whether
it's affected

the structural integrity
of the joists.

It doesn't look like it.

Oh, you know what
this is from?

It's from the fire.

Let me see. Here.

Yeah, 'cause, like, these joists
don't have anything on them.

It's only
where it got soaked.

Okay, I'm less scared.

What else have we got?
What do you think's in there?

There is a huge chest freezer
in the basement.

It's been at least six months
without power.

So whatever's happening there
is not good.

I really want to open it.

Don't open it.
Don't open it.

I was just gonna give it
a little push.

No, no, not open it.

I was just gonna give it
a little push, see...

Oh, that's heavy.

We're both pretty strong,

and we both put a shoulder
into it and tried to move it.

That's definitely not empty.

There's something in it.

I don't know what.
There's something.

Okay, I don't think we should
be down here much longer.

No, I think we're good.

It's not tragic.
It's workable.

Pretty much,
the 2x4 frame and the roof--

That's what we'll keep.

It is a good space.

Yeah.

What's your
hippie juju saying?

It is wretched.

It's wretched,
but I think fixable wretched.

We've fixed worse.

Yeah, we have.

To anyone else, this house
is a tragic, awful wreck.

But I think to us,
after seeing it,

like, it's actually--

- Not as bad as we thought.
- It's a diamond in the rough.

It's good. It's a challenge.
We like a challenge.

I have floor plans
and caffeine.

Ooh, perfect. Perfect.

So, this isn't
set in stone yet.

Mina is a genius--

literally a genius
with a floor plan.

She walks into the house,
and she's like,

"Oh, we'll just get rid
of this wall.

We'll put a bedroom here."
Blah, blah, blah.

So, we'd have to extend
that dormer a bit,

but then we can have
a second bedroom,

bedroom up here.

And I'm completely lost.
She's amazing.

First step in the plan--
Pretty much take out

- every single interior wall.
- Okay. Okay.

So, when you walk
in the front door,

to the right,
this is all gonna be

a nice, big, open
living-room space.

This is gonna be
the new kitchen.

So, I'm thinking
simple Shaker white cabinets--

upper and lower--

a nice light, white-
with-some-gray-in-it countertop,

and then some dark,
dramatic floors.

- So, for contrast-- Yeah.
- Nice light wall colors.

But everything with a little bit
- of charm to it.
- Okay.

This room to the right
is gonna stay where it is,

but we're gonna open up
the doorway,

so you have this nice, big,
open doorway with pocket doors.

It can be a formal dining room,
an office, or even a bedroom.

'Cause right now we've got this
space all kind of closed in.

So we're gonna
blow that all out.

And you're gonna go
down the hallway.

The space that used to be
the burnt-out kitchen--

We're actually adding
a bunch of walls

to have a pantry,
a washer and dryer,

half bath, and a hallway
so we have a second

point of entrance and exit
on the house.

And then the back
of the house

that was the old porch
that was closed in--

That's all gonna become
the master bedroom and bathroom.

And I know that we like
first-floor master suites.

People like that.

On the second floor,

we're adding a full bathroom
on the back of the house.

We're adding a bedroom.

We've left this
nice, open loft space.

The bedroom
on the front of the house

is staying where it is,

and then we've got
plenty of storage,

huge closets
off both the bedrooms,

so the house will be
a 4-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath.

So, now that I've got
the floor plan figured out,

we kind of need to decide on
the feel for the house.

Obviously, it's open,
but I don't think,

in this neighborhood,
in this exact location,

I want to go super-modern.

I want it to be
a little more charming.

Yeah, because the way
the outside of the house is

is sort of bungalow feel, right?

- So, cozy, friendly.
- Yeah.

And I would like to do
the outside a gray.

So, accent color-wise,

I'm thinking something
- in this range.
- Yeah.

I love this bright green,

but I don't think it goes
with the inside of the house.

If the inside
was a little funkier,

a little more modern,
concrete countertops--

in a heartbeat.

The dark gray with that
I think would look amazing.

But I'm thinking
that guy.

You know, dark gray
can seem a little foreboding.

- Imposing.
- Yeah, a little imposing.

And this says, "Oh, no."

It's a happy...

It's very happy....bungalow.

Yeah, and it's sort of soft
and friendly.

We talked about
fun things-- color.

Let's talk about budget.

So, if we sell for $200,000,
purchase price was $7,000,

I'm hoping we can stay
around $125,000

on the renovation budget.

For Realtor fees
and interest,

we're gonna be around
$25,000, $27,000.

So, after all
is said and done,

we'd have a profit
of around $40,000 to $45,000.

Which is good
'cause that gives us

some cushion for the things
that are gonna go wrong.

That's a good amount of cushion
for us.

We've got a plan,
and now it's time to get started

because today is demo day.

Tad is my little brother,

and he's the one that runs
our demo team.

He finds these giant humans
from I don't even know where,

and they tear stuff up
for us.

In here,
ceiling's gonna come down.

Upstairs,
floor's gonna come up.

To get the demo done in one day
is asking a lot.

This whole house is coming down
to the studs.

We're gonna be able to see
through it from the street.

Tad's in college,

so he has to come home
from school to do the work.

So we have one day to get
all the demo done

'cause that's when
we have him

and his giant posse
of huge humans.

Try to be careful.
Have fun.

Don't do anything
too terribly stupid.

Most importantly,

don't forget
that I'm the boss, okay?

Oh, they have so much fun
breaking stuff.

Ohh!

They love it.

What, what, what?

You already have
a whole piece.

Aah!

Come on, save that one for me,
too, please.

I love doing demo.

I don't like the dirty boogers
I have when I'm done.

But it's fun.

It's fun doing
the dirty work.

That's why they call her
my little big sis.

Whoa.

The fire room, so...

There's a lot of--
a lot of stuff.

We'll have to get all that up,
cabinets off the walls,

countertop
pulled up and out.

I feel like there's
an easier way to do that.

Like what?

Tad has no awareness for injury,
like, what might be unsafe.

He's jumped into the Dumpster
from the second floor.

Any rational human being
would think,

"This is a bad idea,"

and I think he probably
thinks that and does it anyways.

Slowly, slowly, slowly!

Slowly!

Whoo!

Hot fire!

Settle.

Get that out.

Tad's awesome,

but he gets distracted
very easily.

Out of the way!

And shortly after he started
working for me,

I started following him
on Vine.

Demolition 101.

That's apparently
what I've been paying him to do.

I'm a stray cat.
Meow!

The stray-cat one
was really funny.

They're really funny.

Get this, bro.
- Get this.
- All right.

Hut!

Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa!

Although they get
a lot of work done,

they do
a lot of shenanigans.

It's hard to get mad
at him

when he's doing something
so funny,

but work has to get done.

Monster board wars.

Get back to work.

Okay, we're going.
We're going.

I want from about here to here
all gone.

It is good that she is focused
and that she is the boss.

I like to tease her a little,
but she's definitely the boss.

Every house
we've ever done

has gone down to the studs,

so you can see through it
from the sidewalk.

The way we do business

is we want to build houses
that we would live in,

so we want to make sure
if there's a problem,

even though
it's gonna cost us more money,

which sucks,
we want to do it right.

Yeah, and the other thing is,
these are our neighbors.

I don't want to build
crappy houses for my neighbors.

I just don't.

Let's go check out the basement.

Let's do it.

So, we discovered this freezer
in the basement,

and we like to save
something fun for Tad,

so we went ahead
and left that for him.

It's got a nice smell.

Give us a prize.
Deep freezer.

Hey, Mina, I feel like

you should come down here
and check this out.

I don't want to go down there
'cause it's gonna smell.

Probably gonna have to get
whatever's in it out.

Oh, do you have
a flashlight?

Let me see that.

You got it.
Here we go. Ready?

So, we have this really nasty
freezer in the basement.

Okay, shut it.
Shut it.

It's not frozen.

It's no longer a freezer,
a cold freezer.

Full of meat, juice,
who knows what else.

We just got to get it out.

Come back up
for a second.

Tad's having a tough time,
doing a lot of gagging.

He might vomit,
but it's probably not that bad.

Real tears right there.
Real tears.

I wasn't down there.
I'm up here 'cause I'm the boss.

Send the minions down
to do the stinky, dirty work.

Right?

Right.

But we need a volunteer,
so, guys?

You got the gloves on.

You got the gloves on.

You got the gloves on.

We're grabbing the meat.

So there's
all this discussion going on

about this freezer,

and people are talking
and talking and talking.

And my thought process is,

"We could have had it
done by now.

Why are we still
standing around talking?"

Where's a pair of gloves?

- You're gonna do it?
- Yeah.

All right, give her your gloves.
You're out.

We're just gonna do it.
It's gonna be fine.

How are you not gagging?

It's mind over matter,
and it's kind of an ego thing.

All those big guys
can't do that.

I'm gonna show them.

We need power,
and we need the shop vac.

- I'll get the shop vac.
- Okay.

So, that's kind of
what happened.

I didn't do it.

I don't want my legs
getting hit again.

Get a shot of this.

Ready? Pull.

Yay!
You're so strong.

One, two...

They did
awesome work today.

We got a whole lot
of demo done.

They got the big things--
the big, heavy things

that we needed
the big, strong men for.

Watch out.

Super-awesome demo
is finally done.

But now we actually
have to start construction.

Okay, Mina, what day is it?
What day is it?

Today is day one
of construction.

Demo's done.
Demo's done.

Starting to actually
get stuff done-- framed.

We had a mold expert
come in,

figure out what we need to do
to take care of that problem.

Making progress.

It's a big day.

Can you guys
all come up here?

So, today, Malcolm, Lonnie,
you're gonna be with us.

We're gonna be wrapping
the left side with O.S.B.

Half of you guys keep working on
cleaning out the inside.

The other half
working on prepping

the rest of the exterior
to get it wrapped.

That end did
not stay straight.

Today we're working on wrapping
the house in O.S.B...

This way?
Yeah.

...which does
a couple things--

provides
a nice, smooth surface

for when we put
the fiber-cement siding on,

but it also re-supports
the structure

so it doesn't wobble
or come un-plumb.

- Are we ready?
- We're good.

I like when we do things together.

That's fun for me.

Six on the seam,
five in the field.

It looks sexy.
Look at this.

This is sexy stuff.

Ridiculous.

She loves being
the center of attention.

Don't harass the work.

She loves being,
like, funny.

Gonna have to start
cracking the whip on you.

Saying inappropriate things.

What do I have to do
to earn a, "Hello, baby"?

Get your side.

You guys should go cut
the next piece

and not stand around
and watch me.

We're very honest
with each other.

Hold on.

I can use this.

Hold on!

Like, I don't think
we ever pull a punch.

You know what you're doing?

Yep.

Okay, where was I?

I don't want other people
watching us together

to get the wrong idea.

- Oh, shoot.
- She's gonna cry.

She's going so slow.

I want to take it
and just go, like...

I'm worried that people
are gonna think I'm the B-word.

Right, and she's not.
Mina's awesome.

She is the juggernaut
that makes the machine go,

and I am the grease.

Oh, seriously?

Having a moment here?

Good morning, sunshine.

Good morning.

Mina was gone over the weekend
to a wedding--

a well-deserved break.

It was good
that she got away.

Mwah!

- Are you relaxed?
- Yeah.

Okay, good,
'cause-- Mm.

There's some problems.

Okay?

Basically, how we're gonna deal
with the master bedroom.

The back part of the house,
it's gonna be a little tricky,

- and we need to talk about it.
- Okay.

But I do have some good news
for you.

You want to come see
the good news?

- I do.
- Okay, let's go.

The good news
is the LVL is up.

- They're all up!
- They're all up!

LVL is laminated veneer lumber,
or engineered beams,

and that's what we used

to support
the structure of the house.

I wish you had been here
to watch the drama that was LVL.

Oh, I'm sure
that was hard to get in.

- Oh, yeah.
- But it's all opened up.

Literally not a single
interior wall.

- I know. Nice, huh?
- This is awesome.

So, the issue's
towards the back.

- That's the bad news.
- Okay.

The problem
we need to solve

is ceiling height.

All of our houses,

we have at least 9-foot
ceilings, if not 9 1/2.

Smooth ceilings.

And it creates
such a dramatic difference

versus, you know,
a standard eight-foot ceiling.

It makes the whole room
feel bigger.

So you're telling me
we either have to tear

this whole back section off--
new roof, different angles--

to raise
the ceiling height.

Or if we stick with what
we have, we're gonna have

an eight-foot-ceiling
cave bedroom?

Yeah.
Not quite eight feet high.

How much does that cost?

I just hear, like,
"Cha-ching, cha-ching."

So you want to see more
behind-the-scenes footage

of our renovations
and floorplans?

You know, where mom harasses me
about the toilet placement

and pocket doors and...

And the triangle
in the kitchen!

The kitchen triangle!

When we pulled the ceiling down

from the enclosed back porch,
we discovered

that it was entirely too low

to be able to put in
our master suite.

So we either have to tear
this whole back section off

to raise the ceiling height,
or we're gonna have

an eight-foot-ceiling
cave bedroom.

I just hear, like, "Cha-ching,
cha-ching, cha-ching."

Yeah, right. Exactly.

So, the extra expense
would be trusses and sheathing.

To change
the whole roof line.

To change
the whole roof line.

And I think
that's a good solution.

Do you have a price tag
on that yet?

Well, those were my marching
orders to Lenny yesterday--

Come up with a solution
that doesn't cost me anything

and doesn't take
any extra time.

He loves
when we tell him to do that.

Yay!

This is who we need here.

Yeah.

Lenny is my dad's third wife's
first husband.

And also,
after her and my dad divorced,

they were gonna
get married again.

You're 1/4 inch
from the bottom.

It's complicated.
It's all complicated.

Lenny works with us
on all of our projects.

We work on so many at a time

that we really need him
to keep everything moving.

You talked about
you want this ceiling

- level with this ceiling.
- That would be great.

So, here's what we can do.

If we do the LVLs
with the joists this way...

So, taking the header out
of the master bedroom,

pretty much rebuilding
the whole back of the house--

How much does that cost?$6,062.

How much
does it slow us down?

We'll lose a day.

That hurts.

Yeah.

We're usually
on the same page.

I'm thinking
we go balls to the wall

and just fix it
for 6 grand.

Fix it for 6 grand.
I'm with her.

I don't know
what number he said,

but I rounded it down
to 6 grand.

The whole back of the house
is coming off.

The problems are setting us back
around $8,000.

$8,000.

It's gonna affect
our bottom line,

but if we make decisions that
make the house less sellable,

it doesn't matter
what our profit margin is

'cause there isn't one
'cause it's not selling.

Well,
make the magic happen.

Even though it costs
a little bit more

and I don't want to do it,

we're gonna do it, and
we're gonna do it the right way,

and the best
of the right ways.

So, you want it over here
in the shade?

Move it, Grace.

So, I want to do it outside
so we don't get all dusty.

I'm not in full support
of this project.

It's that, like,
animal-wall-print wood

that was in the living room,
that we're gonna frame.

I especially like the deer.
I like the pheasants.

We got a duck, a goose,

a whatever-you-made-up word, pheasants.

A grouse.

If you look at each
individual little scene,

they're actually
very Indiana.

- Yeah, that's good.
- All right,
give me your marker.

This marker stinks.

I'm gonna go
with operator error.

Mina is always skeptical
when I do these things.

Okay, so, here.
Give me the piece of glass.

Wow.

You go from reluctant to bossy
in zero to 60.

But we've actually had buyers
put in the purchase agreement

that they wanted them
with the house.

Wow, this is like
a whole different picture

when you start
cleaning it.

Oh, those are gonna
lighten up a lot.

We're making good progress
on the house.

The structure's
looking awesome.

The old back porch
is finally off,

so the master suite
is starting to take shape.

The back of the house
is existing again.

It didn't exist
two days ago.

Costs a little bit of money--
a lot of money.

But it's there,

and it's gonna look real pretty
once there's drywall on it.

We're probably
about 70% framed up,

working on the second-floor
framing today.

Roof is going on the house
and the garage today.

So from now on,
if it rains, it's not as tragic.

And once we get to drywall,

I was gonna say things
are smooth sailing from there,

but they probably won't be.
Things will come up.

We're going over
to Wright Street.

Why are we going
to Wright Street?

Because there's spray-foam
insulation happening.

There's our truck,
and there's this magical tube.

So, we're gonna go inside
and check out the guys

putting in
the spray-foam insulation.

Yay!

So let's go. Okay.

Do you think
this is dangerous?

No.
Okay.

Thank you very much.

All right, light change.

Ooh!

Look at that.

It's like there's icing
all over the house.

Like it's a giant cupcake.

Like a giant cupcake.

We got some drywall up
on the middle bedroom

'cause what they'll do

is spray foam on the backside
of this drywall.

We heat it up to 150 degrees,

and then a chemical reaction

gets it about
another 150 degrees hotter.

Nice.

Oh, it's steaming and growing.
That's awesome.

And then it's gonna be, like,
rock-hard in a minute.

You can pick it up, right?

That's so cool.

Such pretty eyes.
Did you look at his eyes?

She calls it flirting.
I'm just being nice.

I don't even know
why I'm here.

When potential buyers
walk into the home,

this is the thing
that makes them go, "Ahh!"

Where are we going?

It's open house day!

It's open house day!

Things are moving along
at the Wright Street house.

We're building
the back deck.

Bathroom tile's going up.

Insulation is in.
The drywall's started.

We're getting there.

But now we're heading out
to take care of a little project

I have in mind
for the kitchen.

So, we're taking
this really cool

old-school
teacher's desk/table thing

to Ryan
over at Indy Art Forge

because right now
it's table height,

and we need it counter height
to use it as an island.

We love to re-purpose old things
and give them new life.

Ryan, who is a firefighter,
but also a welder--

He does really cool stuff
with steel,

so he sounds like he's gonna be
the guy for the job.

We always try to use
local organizations if we can--

local businesspeople,
local trades, local workers.

We're trying to keep our money
in our community

'cause that's good
for our neighborhood.

- Hey!
- Hey.

- That's awesome.
- Thank you.

I'm Mina.
We haven't met in person yet.

- Mina? Ryan.
- Mina. My mom, Karen.

- Karen, how are you?
- Nice to meet you.

I feel like
you're gonna be really bored

with the project
I brought you,

you know, seeing this.

I'm never bored.

No? Okay.
No.

So, I want to use it
as a center island.

And the kitchen,
it's a big "L."

But I want it counter-height,
not table-height.

Let me just run you
what I was thinking.

- Yes.
- Okay.

So, I can make
what we call a boot.

So, from here to here

is that four inches
that we need to gain.

So, this boot, so to speak,
fits right in here.

Put rivets like that.

Like
the Eiffel Tower has rivets.

- Exactly.
- Yes.

Mom flirts with everyone,

regardless of age, gender--
anything.

Such pretty eyes.
Did you look at his eyes?

She calls it flirting.
I'm just being nice.

You guys
are embarrassing me.

I'm just talking to him.

He does have nice eyes!

You have pretty eyes.
- You shouldn't be embarrassed.
- Thank you.

He was a handsome
older man.

He wasn't older.

He's older than me.

Older than I.

I can fix that for you.

- Okay.
- Oh, my God.

But, yeah,
she was flirting with him.

I just...

She's so awkward, right?

I'll have
a little hug, too.

- We'll see you in a week.
- Send us pictures.

- All right, call me.
- Okay.

What we're gonna do
is we're gonna put

this pressed-paper tile
on the wall.

So, we're doing
this awesome accent wall.

It's these three-dimensional
pressed-paper tiles

that are 18x18.

So we're gonna put those
all up on the wall, paint it.

Yep.

It'll give us
a lot of texture and shadow,

which I think
will be nice.

And I think it'll do
- some nice sound work.
- Yeah.

I read the instructions.

I just want to start
putting glue places.

Okay, you start
putting glue on stuff.

I've never done wallpaper, unfortunately.

- Like that.
- Okay, okay.

Okay?

I know 'cause you were not
a child of the '60s.

Nope.

You think
it's been five minutes?

I think
- it's been five minutes.
- Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Just make sure
you get it level.

- A little more behind there.
- All right.

This is gonna look
so cool.

Yeah?
Yeah.

I hope that when potential
buyers walk into the home,

this is the thing
that makes them go, "Ahh!"

It's entirely possible
that wall tile

was my favorite project ever.

It was as close to instant
gratification as you can get.

Like, it took a few hours,

- and it looks awesome.
- Awesome. Right.

How much do you love it?

I love it.

It just makes the room
look so much different,

- like, so much cooler.
- Yeah.

Drywall is done today.

They're sanding.
Primer's going on.

Flooring's going in.

Tile's going in.
Our tile wall's in.

Kitchen cabinets
are in.

Door trim, floor molding,
painting, all of those things.

It's a lot of stuff
at one time.

It's a lot.
It's a lot.

What?
That's not our granite.

Look at the other side, Mom.

That's the bottom.

That is not our granite.

That is not our granite.

Not good.
We do not have time for this.

What?
That's not our granite.

That is not our granite.

So, Mom noticed first,
"That's not the right granite,"

and I said,
"That's the backside.

Wait till you--

Oh! That is the wrong--
Crap!"

Maybe there was some confusion
in the warehouse

with which one we picked
and they tagged.

I don't know.

Let's just make
a phone call.

It's not anywhere
close to that.

This is our granite slab.

Oh, right.
That is not what I was brought.

We're so close to being done
at this point.

When things happen,
I want to walk away.

It's like, "Okay, you guys
figure the rest of this out.

I'm gonna go."

That's just so embarrassing.
I don't know what to say.

This is what I was brought
in the truck.

This is what I cut.

No, don't be embarrassed.
We'll just problem-solve.

We're gonna handle this.

The first thought
that went through my mind

after, "Crap,"
was, "Okay, go fix it."

We can go fabricate this
in four hours.

All right.

We're so close
to being done.

We just have a few
last-minute projects to finish,

and we'll be ready to start

decorating
for the open house tomorrow.

These are the interior doors.
Finally, finally.

- Ooh.
- Look at how pretty.

Now we have our granite.
It is amazing.

Look at that.

Mina!

It's so pretty.

Isn't it so pretty?

Construction is all done,

which means
it's time to decorate

so we can get
this house sold.

Did you like
my little squeak?

I liked
that little squeak.

There we go.

One of the things
you can do to kind of fake it

if you don't have
huge windows

is hang your curtain rods
really high up,

and the windows feel
a lot bigger and more dramatic.

So pretty.

This painting
is from a local artist

that we love, love, love.

Staging is super-important

because people need to be able
to see themselves in the house.

It needs to be comfortable
and personal enough

without being too personal

where they can't see
their things in here.

Our table's here.

Hello!

Well, hello.

How are you?

What did you do
to the top?

See?
I put a little clear coat on it.

- Wow!
- I can't see!

A lot better.

It's, like, shiny and clean
and pretty.

I like the mild steel
that you put underneath there.

That's nice.

I like the rebar
underneath here.

Yeah, I like it.

Looks awesome, though.

Good? Good?
Fives around.

Perfect. I'm out of here.
See ya. Bye.

Today was a long day.

Today was so long.

Getting the house
ready to sell,

but buyers
are going to love it.

They are gonna love
this house.

We're going to our little house
on Wright Street.

Here it is.

All done.

It's almost like
we've created a whole different

vibe in this room.

We should probably
get out of the tub now.

No, I don't want to get
out of the tub.

Are you guys
ready to see it?

Ta-da!

Where are we going?

We're going to our little house
on Wright Street.

It's open house day!

It's open house day!

Construction's done,
and she is solid.

This girl is solid.

You can jump
up and down the floors!

Are you guys
ready to see it?

Ta-da!

It was so sad before.

It was boarded up and burnt out,
and there was trash everywhere.

It looks happy now.

No trash.

Painting
the brick front porch

dramatically changed
the whole look of the outside.

Lead us on inside.

All right, let's go on in.

Here it is.

All done.

Looking gorgeous.

What do you think?

I love it.

We just opened
everything up.

You see the light
from every direction now,

So everything feels
more spacious.

Right.

Do you remember?

This was your
woodland-paneling wall.

I know!

- There was that secret doorway.
- Yes.

And now we have our lovely new
accent wall with the 3-D tile.

Look how nice.

Can we live in this house?
I love this house.

We can't keep it.
I'm sorry.

Come on.

The most dramatic
transformation in the home

was the kitchen-- 100%.

Right, and that's
because the kitchen--

The old kitchen melted.

Right, exactly.

It was caught on fire.

The kitchen was originally
right behind this wall,

and we pulled it up
to the front of the house.

So you have this really nice
open floor plan.

I love how our island
ended up.

Yep.

One of the decisions we made
along the process

was which direction
the floor gets laid.

And we purposely lay it
so it pulls you into the house.

And you can't see
all the way

into the dining room
from the front door,

but when you come in
about 10 feet,

then you get this
awesome view,

and then you want to get pulled
in there and check that out.

It's almost like
we've created a whole different

vibe in this room.

So, this used to be
just a doorway.

Right.

And we opened it up.

So, this is a lovely
formal dining space

if somebody
wants to use it that way.

Mm-hmm.
- Or office or fourth bedroom.
- Right.

I do want to brag a little bit.
Come here with me.

What have we got here?

These are the wall panels
that you took

out of the living room.

They were covered with soot,

and I was not excited about.

They look awesome here.

They look like a piece of art
that you would buy.

And now we'll go check out
the back.

The back of the house
was the old kitchen.

There was
the closed-in porch.

And then we kind of tore
all that out

and turned that
into the master suite.

The master bedroom,
that was wretched,

- with maybe seven-foot ceilings.
- Yeah.

For the bargain price of $8,000,
we have nine-foot ceilings.

But it was worth it.

I would definitely make
- the same decision again.
- Yeah.

This used to be a dirty, sooty,
moldy, old back porch.

Now it's this very
spa-like master suite.

And now the bathroom.

It's so big and pretty
and open.

And I love the window
above the tub.

It brings so much
natural light in.

And we can put as many
can lights in here as we want,

and it's not gonna have
- the same effect.
- Right.

So, we have this gorgeous,
luxurious soaking tub

that you could fit
a large man in,

or a couple of me.

This feels good, right?

This is why we do
the big soaking tub.

We should probably
get out of the tub now.

No, I don't want to get out
of the tub. I like it here.

It is actually
- really comfortable.
- I just want to stay here.

This is the most comfortable
I've been in six weeks.

So, we're gonna go check out
our new back-space area

'cause it's so pretty.

Look at this.

Do you remember
what it looked like before?

It was very sad, dilapidated.

The back door
was a piece of O.S.B.

Now we've got new siding,
new doors, this awesome deck.

Don't you want to
hang out here?
I do.

I really would like
a margarita.

- That's what I would like.
- Well, let's go upstairs.

Margaritas later?

Maybe.
Maybe?

This is our full bath
on the second floor.

There was no bathroom
up here.

There was one bathroom
in the house,

and you had to walk through it
to get upstairs.

Now we have a full bath,
double vanity, and, of course,

a lovely window
- for some light.
- Yay!

Yay!
Second-floor bathroom.

Perfect.

Next room.

Nice work.

Get out of here.

So, this is the loft.

It was a loft before,
as well,

but just a much smaller,
uglier, less happy loft.

Okay, so,
let's go take a look

at where you bumped out a dormer
and made an awesome guest room.

We actually have
a really good-size room.

Spending the extra $2,500
to frame in this dormer,

put in a couple windows,
and make a fourth bedroom

was definitely
worth the money.

- Yes.
- Want to go check out
the other bedroom?

I do want to check out
the other bedroom.

Up here, it was probably
one of the most sad.

Do you remember?

I remember
there was a hole in the ceiling

because of the firefighters, right?

This room had
some problems.

And it's turned out beautifully. Yeah.

Do you know
where I want to go?

- Where?
- I want to go in.

Well, it's time to go out
'cause it's time

for the open house now,
and we've got to sell this,

so let's go.

We had originally
hoped to spend

about $125,000
on the renovation.

We had some extras
in there--

$8,000 for the back
of the house.

All in, we ended up
being at about $150,000

for the renovation.

So after fees and interest,
if we sell at $200,000,

it leaves us a profit
of around $31,000.

30 days later, we sold the house
to a super-cute couple--

Jacob and Angela--
for $200,000.

Yay!
Yay!

We've been working in Fountain
Square for a few years now

and have had the ability
to change a little bit

the shape of
the neighborhood,

so it's exciting to be able to
go over to Bates-Hendricks

and hopefully have
the opportunity to be able

to do the same thing,
because it makes a difference.

It attracts people
to the neighborhood,

because they can see change.

It's important
to us to rehabilitate
a whole neighborhood.