Good Bones (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - An Old House Attracts New Neighbors - 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 bath tub!

...deserves a second chance.

Holy God.
This smells awful.

Because underneath
all that mess,

we might find
some really good bones.

You guys are silly.

- Hey. Sorry.
- Hi, there.

You called me,
you told me--

I know.
I know, I'm sorry.

I was finishing this up.

I will--
I'll walk away.

We got to go see the house



in Mooresville
we're gonna work on.

- Okay.
- So, my bad.

All right.

We spend most of our time
buying, renovating,

and selling houses
in the Fountain Square area.

But word's starting
to get around in Indy,

and sometimes we get calls
from homeowners

that want us to help
with their renovations,

and it's nice to be able
to take those projects

every once in a while.

So, we're heading to the town
of Mooresville today

about 30 minutes south
of Indy.

We're meeting a couple there
who desperately need more space.

Julie and Larry,

they have five kids
that were all close in age,

and their five kids have all
started making their own babies,

and every holiday
is at their house

with 20-some people.

Throughout the week,

there's some chunk
of the posse there

and they don't fit
in their house.

Oh, okay.

So, our job
is to figure out

how to get them
more square footage

in their house
without giving them an addition.

Lenny's been working with
Julie and Larry for a while

trying to solve
their space problem,

and he called us in

to see if we could come up
with a better solution

that was more budget friendly
that they would be happy with.

This isn't gonna be like
our regular rehabilitation

'cause it's not gonna
be a wreck of a house

that nobody's lived in
for 10 years

that have had squatters
and a fire

and animals
and who knows what?

Our house is usually
the worst house on the block,

so it seems like it should be
so much easier.

I feel like saying that
is gonna jinx it.

- Hi!
- Hi.

Hi, Larry.

So nice to finally
meet you guys.

- Hi, how are you doing?
- Come on in.

So, this is it.

Yes, this is it.

- Lovely.
- This is really charming.

Very small little area
for all of us.

How many is "all of us"?

Actually,
we are expecting

our 11th grandbaby
in a couple of weeks,

and there will be
23 of us all together.

- Wow.
- So, we need more space.

Okay.

So, this is, like,

you got your
living room space over here.

What are behind
these two walls?

- The kitchen...
- Kitchen's on the--

...believe it or not,
is behind that small wall.

Okay.

That is
a one-car garage.

Okay. You want to go
through the dining room

and check out
the kitchen, then?

- Sure.
- Not too far.

Poor little dining room.

Now, you talk about a room
that takes a beating.

We just need
to open it up.

I mean, there's not enough room
to get the chairs out.

- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, yeah.

Somebody pulls out
their chair,

- you can't walk by.
- Can't walk around.

This furniture
hasn't always been here.

I lost my mother
about three years ago,

and she bought this.

We brought it back,
so very important.

- It's here to stay.
- The table and the hutch.

- Yes.
- All right.

On the hutch is a picture
of grandma and grandpa

standing in front of the hutch
when it was in their house.

This is what happens

when your grandbabies
sit a hot pizza box...

Oh.
This is paper.

Oh, and it adhered
to the finish

- in a really permanent way.
- Oh, yes.

So, you're open
to us doing a little work

to the top to maybe try to--

Just don't paint it.

- No, no, no, no, no.
- Yeah.

I think the primary component
is the tradition in the family,

and that's represented
by the hutch and the table.

I determined
right then and there

that I was going
to fix that for them.

So, why don't you tell us a
little bit about your kitchen--

what you like,
what you don't like.

Well,
it's certainly too small.

- Okay.
- We cook large amounts of food.

Even scrambled eggs.

You haven't lived till
you've made scrambled
eggs for 23 people.

- That's a lot of eggs.
- Yeah.

All right. So, a little more
prep space would go a long way.

- A little more cabinet space.
- More cabinet space.

We don't have storage.

- So, it's just not working.
- No.

All right.
Not enough storage.

Right.

I think
if we open up the wall

between the kitchen
and the living room,

and instead of having
upper cabinets,

we create a huge island
with tons of storage underneath

and then tons
of prep space on top,

it's gonna utilize this space
much better.

Is there anything
in here

that you do have
really good feelings about?

- The light.
- Short of the memories...

That was the first thing
he gave me for first year
for Christmas, so...

- Aww.
- Yeah.

The light above the sink
is very special.

It needs to stay
if at all possible.

So, on the far side
of the living room wall,

and then I'm guessing also

the far side
of this kitchen wall,

that's all the garage?
Yes.

Mina wants your garage,
you know that?

I want your garage.

Because we can
push everything that way,

elongate your kitchen.

We can probably
add in a laundry room

and half bath over there.

Okay, but the issue with me
there is it's a step down.

We can fix that.
Let's go look at that.

Because you said
your concern was...

This is another good treat.

...that it's a step down.

But if you look
at the ceilings,

the ceiling heights
are the same inside and outside.

So, you could raise the floor

so we're all the same level
so you don't have a step down,

and give your kitchen
and your living room,

you know, five or six more feet
to that space,

and then use this side
of it for a half bath,

a laundry room, storage,

and then do a new entrance
up in the front here.

Because I know
you mentioned

that you guys had thought
about going back,

but gaining
square footage

that doesn't exist
in the form of an addition

is gonna be
far more expensive

than transforming the garage
into interior space.

We don't have a lot of money
to spend on it

because we spend a lot
of money other places.

Weddings and... Yeah.

Three weddings
in two years.

I look around, I see a lot
of traditional kind of pieces.

What would you call
your style?

Mm....what I could afford
at the time.

But probably
more traditional.

I definitely don't
like contemporary, modern.

Okay.

I mean,
it's got to fit with...

With what you have.

- ...the dining room furniture.
- Sure, sure.

Is there any color
on the walls

that you'd be,
like, dramatically opposed to?

I definitely like
more muted colors.

- Okay.
- Okay.

Can we talk for a second
about your carpet?

Looks like maybe we had, like,
an ironing incident over there.

We had it
for a week installed and--

They were ironing clothes
on the carpet and melted it.

So, you need something
that's gonna be really durable.

- That's not meltable.
- Child-proof.

Child-proof flooring. Okay.

- All right.
- Yeah.

I like that attitude.

Like, they would rather
enjoy the family being there

and maybe the carpet
get burned by an iron

than have a house
that can't be lived in.

We're actually huge fans
of laminate.

There's some really beautiful
laminates now,

and they resist everything.

- Really?
- The way I decided

what I was putting
in my house...
23 of us.

...is I got five samples,

some were hardwoods,
some were laminates,

and I literally took
my car keys to them.

- What?
- The laminate won.

And that's what I installed.

And I have two
fatty-fat dogs--

Well, that would probably
happen in here,

so that's a good--

So, that sounds like it might
be the right option.

Everything will get the same
laminate flooring throughout.

We'll paint the walls.

New cabinets
and countertops

and some nice lighting,
and it'll look amazing.

All right, so now
that we know everything

that you guys want,
what's your budget?

All right,
so now that we know

everything
that you guys want,

what's your budget

so I can tell you
if we can give it all to you?

$40,000.

I think
that's manageable,

and we can go take over
the garage space

and make it
interior space?

- Yeah.
- All right.

I think we can stay
around $30,000

for the construction part.

We'll give them some new
stainless-steel appliances

with around $4,000
or $5,000 of it,

and then have
$5,000 left over

to get some good furniture
pieces in there,

and then leave
a little bit for landscaping.

And you guys are gonna
get out of the house.

We're gonna have free rein
for probably six weeks.

Hmm.

She sounded really,
really--

You'll be so happy
when it's all done.

You're gonna come in
and it's gonna be amazing,

and you're gonna be able
to jump kick

from your living room
to your kitchen

without running
into a wall.

- It's gonna be awesome.
- Very cool.

Very cool.

It's time.
Want to make it right for us.

I can already see it.
It's gonna be awesome.

So, I think
I've come up with a plan

that gives Julie and Larry
everything that they need,

but I want to make sure
mom's on board.

All right.
You ready for this?

No.
Boom.

Oh, look at that.

So, right now at Hillcrest,

the garage
was about 15 feet wide.

And we're kind of
cutting it in half.

We're giving half of it
to this new utility space

we're creating
on the left side of the house.

So, we'll have a new
access door from the outside,

a bunch of storage space,
mudroom area.

Straight ahead,

we'll give them a half bath
and a laundry room.

- That's gonna be.
- Huge.

...huge for her.

And then the rest
of the garage

becomes part of
the new living space.

We're gonna take out
every single wall

so it's just one
big space.

It's a big party room.

So, now when you walk
in the front door,

immediately
to your left,

we're gonna have
this seating area

that I just want
every seating option possible--

couches, chairs,
benches for the kids.

Then in the kitchen,
casual seating there, as well,

with this huge island
in the middle.

It's going to be massive.

That'll give them
a lot of cabinet space

for storage, too,
which is great.

And because we're extending
the kitchen so long,

they're probably gonna gain
20 linear feet of cabinets.

- It's a huge amount.
- That'll be awesome.

She's not even gonna know
what to do with all of it.

And then to the right
in the dining area,

their dining table
fits there,

and then they have room
to expand it if they want.

So we've got
all the chairs,

maybe a couple extra
over by the hutch,

and just have tons
of seating options
in the whole house

because their family
is so big,

and that's really
why they're doing
this whole project.

I think they're gonna
love us for this.

Yeah.
I think this looks awesome.

Let's get started.
Let's go.

So, now that we have the
floor plan all figured out,

which is pretty much
take out all the walls,

the next step is to take out
all the walls.

Today is demo day
at Hillcrest!

Hey, hey.

It's exciting!

We got our A-team.

Demo day.
- Demo day!

- Psyched?
- Always.

- You don't look psyched.
- I'm psyched.

We've been in our zone,
we've been waiting.

We're just ready
to wreck some stuff.

All right, well,
this whole house
is not coming down.

Just some of it.

So let's get inside
and talk through what
you can and can't break.

All right.

Boys are just posted up
on the front porch

like they just woke up
from a nap.

All right, boys.

-"Karen."
- This is it.

"There is wine
all over the house.

You just have to find it.

Oh, and a glass."

Did Julie leave
that for me?

I would assume so.

- Wow.
- That's pretty nice.

Julie left
some notes for us.

She left lots of notes.

And then just some,
like, pictures.

Some family pictures
she left for us.

There's another note
from Julie over here that says,

"Give this wall a good whack.

Julie hates it."

I think she left them just as,
like, a little happy reminder...

Happy demo day!
- Happy demo day!

Happy demo day!

...just to make sure

we know who we're
doing this for.

So, name of the game here is

everything from here over,
don't touch.

Everything from here over
comes down.

Kitchen, carpets,
all the drywall,

the interior walls.

All right, let's roll it.

There we go.

This is the first thing
her husband gave to her

for Christmas
their first Christmas together.

First Christmas,
first Christmas.

- Don't drop it.
- I'm not gonna drop it.

I'm gonna go preserve
this right now.

If I drop it
on the way out,

I'm just driving away
and I'm not coming back.

Put that right there.

End to peaceful demo.

All right.

Those cabinets,
Karen's going through
and unscrewing them,

and they were still gonna be
a little bit of a pain,

and no sledgehammer,

so I decided to just
go at it with my hands.

Look at that.
He's got bear claws.

It's like a polar bear
right there.

I mean...

It's my tool
of preference.
Yeah, yeah.

All right.

I don't know
if Austin has any idea how--

Like, I know he knows
how strong he is,

but how ridiculously
strong he is,

I don't know
if he knows.

He's so friendly
and sweet.

But then you realize
he could crush you on accident.

Yeah, right,
he could just-- yeah.

The other thing
that was a little bit hairy

was the new demo day game
the boys made up.

Something they're calling
crowbar javelin darts.

I don't know where they found
the spray paint cans.

- Slightly inside?
- Yep, slightly inside.

But nothing
these boys do surprises me.

You know what?
Go ahead, Austin.
You go first.

You go first. No.

- I want you to go first.
- All right.

- I want you to.
- All right, here we go.

Is this--
this is what we do

when we're at work?

Sometimes.

It's working, right?

Go ahead.

Good technique.
Good technique.

- Ooh!
- Ooh!

- That was nice!
- That was really nice.

Don't leave me
hanging, bro.

Come on.
We've been a team all day.

There we go.

You should
be watching this.

This is ridiculous.

Mina, you want to try?

- I kind of do. Did you try it?
- Come on, try it.

- Ooh.
- Oh, man!

- Here we go, man.
- Go ahead.

You should
be watching this.

This is ridiculous.

Mina, you want to try?

- I kind of do. Did you try it?
- Come on, try it.

- There it is.
- Oh, man!

- That means I win, right?
- All right.

That's what's fun
about having them do demo

is it's always
going to be entertaining.

- What do I win?
- Bragging rights.

Okay, I'll take it.
Now get back to work.

Ohh.

Oh, my God.

What?

So,
their electrical panel

is right here
with no steel backing,

and there's screws, like, going
into right on the sides of it,

and it looks like above it.

That's not okay.

Oh, they are lucky.

Their fuse box
is terrifying.

It's a fire hazard,
and it definitely

could've blown their entire
electrical system.

The whole thing
has to be replaced.

Ugh.
This is bad.

Apparently,
there's been a leak

from either the sink
or the pipe or something,

and the wood is just not
in good shape.

It's not just wet, it's,
like, gooey wet,

and it's a little smelly,

and we just need
to take it all out.

It'll be fine.

I think we made really,
really good progress.

All right. I think
we call it quits for the day.

We've done enough damage.
- Yeah.

You guys did
some good damage.

Really good damage.
Thank you, gentlemen.

Let's get it locked up
and start again tomorrow.

All right.

Today,
we're in my workspace,

and I am sanding
the table from Hillcrest.

So, this amazing table
that's a family heirloom,

it's really,
really pretty.

But the entire finish
on that table was compromised.

I had to sand
the whole thing down.

I thought I could just take off
some of the bad finish--

Who knew a hot pizza box
could ruin a table?

Every mother knows that.

I'm not a--
I only have dogs.

Moisture and heat,
you can ruin a finish easily.

I really, really,
really enjoy working with wood.

Ahh.
Perfect.

And I like the smell
of all the stains.

Tung oil... Don't sniff the stains.

...linseed oil, any kind
of varnish or polyurethane.

I just love
all those smells.

You can smell the oils.

Don't smell, like,
the varnishes or the polys.

Once the stain dries overnight,

I can put a coat
of polyurethane on

and we'll be good to go.

Nice.

Pretty.

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Morning!
Good morning.

Aw, Lenny,
where's your pretty smile?

We're back
at Hillcrest today

to finish the last
little bit of demo.

We've already built up the floor
in the garage

to match the level
in the rest of the house,

but to keep moving forward
on the project,

Lenny has to shut off
the water.

And turns out that's harder
than you'd think.

We don't know where the main
shutoff valve is.

So, it's around somewhere.

It's somewhere.
I just don't know where.

There's some plumbing issues.

We can't figure out how
water's getting to the house,

which means
we can't figure out

how to turn the water off.

We don't know where the well is,
I have no idea.

I've walked the whole yard.

I can't find the well.

Lenny said he found something

that looks like a shutoff
in the basement,

but it just turns

and turns and turns
and turns and nothing happens.

Plumber's coming in
next week,

but he may have
to tap in a valve.

Is there anything we can be
helpful with right now,

or should we just
get out of your hair?

I mean, if you guys
want to knock down studs,

you can knock
these studs down,

'cause I think
these can all come down.

Yeah.
You got a little sledge?

I'll knock some studs out.

Hey, do not knock
that center stud out.

- This one?
- Yeah. Do not
knock that one out.

I don't feel like this
is gonna give me enough weight.

Sorry I doubted you.
That's pretty sufficient.

Oh, my God!

For more
behind-the-scenes footage

of our renovations
and our walk-through
of the homes,

foundations that just
don't exist, maybe...

Amazing graffiti.

Oh, that's nice.
A welcoming committee.

Oh, my God!

That was uncomfortable.

I was just working away
knocking out studs,

and so I didn't hear
the huge pounding on the door

right by me
before it fell on top of me.

It hit me here and here.

Yeah, when a door
hits you in the back, that's...

All right, so I'm gonna go home
then and do other things,

and you stay here
- and manage the house.
- Okay.

So, while Mina goes
to get some appliances,

I think the most
useful thing I can do

is try
and help Lenny find

the main shutoff valve
for the water.

We can't do any plumbing
if we can't shut off the water.

So, I found the end
of the water line,

and it disappears on
the other side of this wall.

So, the answer
to my question

is not in the crawl space.

It's got to be
somewhere in the basement--

what Julie calls "the deep."

She's embarrassed
and doesn't want
us to go down there.

But we've seen way worse

than anything
she's got going on.

Sorry, Julie.

There's my water heater.

Where's my water
coming into my water heater?

I have no idea
where the water is.

I'm gonna have to make
some phone calls.

She calls Julie.

"I'm trying
to find your shutoff."

"Oh, we drywalled over that
in the basement.

Silly Julie.
You got to access that.

That's an important part
of your plumbing in your house,

'cause if a pipe bursts,
now you got to go get the hammer

and break off the drywall

before you can stop the water
that's gushing into your home.

I mean--We're gonna fix that.

We're gonna fix that.

We're gonna make sure that
there's an accessible shutoff.

That's going to happen.

While the plumbers
work their magic,

we need to lock in
the design details

for Julie and Larry.

Julie says her style
is traditional,

and that's represented
by the hutch and the table

and the Tiffany-style lamp.

But what I want to do
is take that tradition

and bring it
up to date a little bit,

make it
a little more livable.

I ran a couple things
by Julie.

"Do you like dark floors,
do you like light floors?"

And she was leaning
towards a dark floor.

Okay.
I like this.

It's really good,
durable laminate,

and the cabinet,
I was thinking

of doing a more
traditional style cabinet

in, like,
a nice ivory color.

Like down in here?
Yeah.

That's just gonna feel
really light

and traditional and clean

with just a little bit
of soft colors.

- A little bit of updating.
- Yeah.

- So, vanilla looking.
- Yeah.

So, I'm sure
you've got all kinds of ideas

for the filling
of the house.

This is soft.

I feel like a wall color

that's close to this sort of... That's pretty.

...wedgewood blue.

Really peaceful,
really serene.

And the cabinets
are gonna be in this vein.

This vanilla color, right.

That makes me wonder about
the granite countertops then.

Well, dark brown
and this color blue

are gorgeous together.

I agree. The floor's
gonna look awesome with it.

And so I think we can go
with a granite countertop

that has a lot
of that same dark brown in it.

- Chocolaty.
- Yeah, chocolaty color in it.

- That'll work really well.
- Yeah.

I know it's not as big scale
as some of our other ones are,

but I think it's
gonna turn out awesome.

I'm excited, too.

So, now that all our demo is
done and we go the framing up,

you can already tell
the floor plan

is gonna be
so much better.

The increased functionality

that we're achieving
by taking the garage

far outweighs
what they're giving up

by losing their garage.

I think they're gonna
be really happy.

Yeah.

Even without drywall
or any color or any trim--

You can tell.
It's dramatic.

- So, what's going on?
- What up?

- Look at-- ooh!
- Hey, how's it going?

- Problem solving happening?
- Yeah.

The electricians have their work
cut out for them in this house.

During demo,
we found a fuse box

that had been
covered over with drywall.

And that's so dangerous,

but turns out the entire system
is completely out of date.

I'm glad
you're replacing this.

Looks pretty rough,
doesn't it?

I don't even know
what that is.

I literally--She's not old enough.

I'm not old enough.

Might catch on fire.
Stay away from it.

I'm shocked that
there hasn't been a fire.

So, it'll be upgraded
to 200-amp service.

We'll get that
all taken care of.

Getting rid
of a fuse box is way better,

making it nice and safe for
all those hundreds of grandkids.

So, how much time
do you boys need in here

before we can put insulation
and drywall up?

Probably a couple--

- two days, three days.
- Two days.

So, we should stop
stopping you from working.

- Thank you, guys.
- All right, thanks.

- Thank you.
- Thanks, guys!

All this electrical work
is setting us back.

We don't even
have drywall up.

We got about a week before Julie
and Larry need to move back in.

So, we really have
a pretty serious deadline

'cause Larry seems nice,

but he's not the kind of man
that I want to mess with.

Julie, I think we could give her
some wine, sit her down.

She'd be like,
"Fine, no problem.

It's great."
Not Larry.

We got to have it done
for Larry.

We're half an hour
outside of Indy today

in Mooresville,

and we're working to make
Julie and Larry's suburban home

better suited to their growing
brood of grandkids.

Hillcrest is rocking
and rolling.

We're getting stuff done.

We have a bit of an assembly
line going on today, so--

Henry Ford
would be so proud.

We all got
the insulation in.

We got someone coming
behind us to hang drywall.

And then Jesse's
coming in behind that

and hanging cabinets.

I'm really excited
to see those cabinets up.

They're gonna be pretty.

We've chosen a more
traditional-style cabinet front

in a really light,
beautiful creamy color.

Now that we've opened up
the space

and gotten rid
of the bulkhead,

we now have 42-inch uppers
instead of 30,

which aesthetically just
makes a world of difference,

and gives them
more storage.

I think the homeowners
are really gonna like them.

So, once the cabinets
are all in,

we can move on to the rest
of our long list.

Painters will come in,
flooring will go down,

furniture will come in.

You forgot all the doors
and the trim

and a window and...

Ah, it's...
...the counter.

I'm giving
the short version.

She always complains
when I ramble.

Today we're going shopping
at a local furniture store

to pick out everything

for Julie and Larry's
new open-concept space.

Can't be an "L" shape.

That won't work
in the space.

We're trying to figure out
some creative seating options

because that's
the whole point to this.

It's fitting everyone.

So, it has to be like a three-
or four-person sofa.

So, this is close.

I like the rolled arms.

That wouldn't be bad.

That right there.

What about that one?

Think it will be good
for their family.

It's very comfortable.

Do you like this?

I do like it,
but I also like the other one.

This one's got a little
more oomph to it.

Well, they're close enough
that if you like this one,

you should get this one.

All right.

We need to find
another piece.

As we're walking through
these acres of furniture,

we kind of just stumble
upon this really awesome bench.

That would be tons
of seating for grandkids.

For the little kids,
you could probably fit,

like, six butts on it.

Adults, depending on the size
of your rear end,

maybe
just three or four,

but they can pack a boatload
of grandkids on it,

so it's gonna give them

as much seating space
as possible.

I like this a lot.

I think this is gonna
be the perfect thing
between the space.

But it's just
all coming together perfectly.

Is serendipitous--
is that the word?

Serendipitous is good.

This is very cool.

It's very comfy, as well,

and I'm just gonna go ahead

and name myself
the official tester.

Couch was lovely,
bench is good,

this chair is nice,
as well.

I like that
it gives us a little more color

and a little more texture.

We're getting a little bland.
We needed a little pop.

We need rugs.

In my happy world,
rugs are everything.

You don't really
need any furniture

if you have a good rug.

You make that
- look really easy.
- I know, right?

See if you can flip it now.

I don't want
to mess up your hair.

- Karen burrito.
- He rolled me up
like I was nothing.

Aah! Aah!

All right.
All right.

Rocked your world
with that, didn't we?

It was a bad plan
on many levels.

No, no, I'm okay. Oh.

There's one in here
I think you need to see.

Okay.

Ooh, I like this one.

I like this one a lot.

I mean, I love it.

8x10 would probably work.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Now that we found
all these awesome pieces,

we just got to figure out

how to get it all loaded up
and back over to the house.

It's a big day today
at Hillcrest

because our amazing
copper brown granite counters

are getting installed,

and while the guys
are working in the kitchen,

mom and I are outside

because we want
to update the exterior

at least a little bit.

A lot of brick
and then siding,

both which are
in really good shape

and it's not really in
the homeowners' budget

to re-side
or paint the brick,

but something
that's really easy

to add
a little bit of color

and fun to the front
of the house

is to paint the shutters.

So, we decided on
a hunter green color,

and that seemed fine

until we put it up
against the house.

Hunter green
is just not our thing.

I know.
It's just not.

Not in love.

I think we should pick up
a couple other colors

and do some more experimenting.

And then we'll be fresh
in the morning

and we'll come
start painting again.

Okay.
Sounds good.

But before we go,

we have to check out
the counters

and the rest
of the progress inside.

Hmm.

Things at Hillcrest
are great.

Pbht!

Negative Nancy here.

The cabinets
and the granite are great.

Look at that.

Very pretty.

Everything else-- pbht!

No, no, no.

The new structure
is all in place

exactly the way
it's supposed to be.

We're making
excellent progress.

We do have a lot of work
to do tomorrow.

All kinds of things
are happening tomorrow.

Trim's going on the walls,

paint's going
on the trim and walls,

the last little pieces
of drywall are gonna get put up,

pocket door's
gonna get installed,

the toilet's gonna go in,

the sink's gonna go in.

Julie and Larry
called us and said

they had to be out of the hotel
by the end of the week,

so we have
about 36 hours.

No, no, no.

Tomorrow at midnight.

Oh, we have 36 hours
until we have to be done.

Yes.

We can do it.

It's gonna be like a beautiful
ballet orchestrated.

It's gonna be
the ugliest ballet ever.

It will be fine.
Right?

I don't know.

Today we're at Hillcrest,
and it's mayhem day.

Boom!

I like to call it
a well-choreographed ballet.

Watch out, watch out.
I'm dangerous.

Yeah, you are dangerous.

Where am I going?
Right there.

Lots of painting,

installing trim,
caulking trim,

painting trim,
like, shutters,

so many things going on.

So, I bought a whole bunch
of spray paint

'cause we decided yesterday

that we didn't really
love the green.

I don't love the brown, either.

I'm not having
a Christmas house.

Not happening.

Brown is not
my favorite color,

but that brown looks
nice with the brick.

See, the problem
with the blue

is we now have
an American flag house.

Red, white, and blue.

- Yellow is...
- Too much?

Yellow is out there.

- Whoo! That is out there.
- You asked for purple.

It's tricky
to find a color

that goes with brick
and white vinyl

that isn't black.

We got one more
green left.

This is better
than the Christmas tree.

Will you put that up
next to the other ones?

You know what?
Think that looks good.

What do you think?

You comfortable
with that decision?

Enough contrast
without being crazy.

Yeah. So, we're gonna paint them oregano.

The color we ended up with

isn't one that Mom or I
would've picked at all.

It's literally
my last choice.

I'm like, "Well,
this isn't awful."

But it actually
- looks really good on the house.
- Looks great.

It's the color
of Mina's eyes.
It is.

Shutter color is solved,
but we've got tons left inside.

I mean, this is our last day,

and we're still framing
the wall for the half bath.

There's a lot of stuff
that still needs to be done.

All the trim needs
to be installed,

and all the fixtures
need to be installed,

plumbing and electrical,

and that includes
the new chandelier I'm making

with Julie's favorite lamp.

They mentioned
that the lamp

hanging
over the kitchen sink

was a gift
Larry gave Julie

on their very first
Christmas together,

and I immediately knew
that that lamp has to live again

in a more robust,
more beautiful way.

So, Mina and I are painting
new glass globes

and pairing them
with Julie's lamp

for a beautiful,
unique new light fixture.

I wanted to really
make it a centerpiece.

And this is going above

the dining room table
or the sink?

Above the dining room table.

Yeah.
What about that?

She should be really,
really excited.

There's a lot
of moving pieces right now,

and we're really down
to the wire on this house.

It's mayhem day.

Ballet.
It's ballet day.

All the furniture's
coming in tomorrow,

so it's gonna
be a late night

finishing all
of those loose ends.

We're gonna be here
as late as it takes

to get everything done

for us to be able
to bring furniture in tomorrow.

All the furniture
is coming today,

which is so exciting

because it's what makes
the space,

like,
look like a home again.

Does this go
against this far wall?

Hi, Ricky.

- Do you need help?
- No.

- No!
- I'm a big girl.

The entire reason

that Julie and Larry
are doing this renovation

is for their family,

and there's so many of them,

and a lot of them
are little kids.

Expanding into the garage
has nearly doubled their space.

So, we can fairly comfortably
seat 20 in this space.

And then the bad kids
just sit on the ground.

I have to say that I love

all of the changes
we made in this space,

and that because of
those changes,

the table and the hutch,

although they still
look timeless,

they look
completely different,

and it makes
all the time I spent

sanding and staining
that table 100% worthwhile.

It's so pretty.

Julie's gonna love it
- 'cause it has meaning.
- Yeah.

Good?

Yeah, that looks good.

Actually I think this kind of
goes down in there.

There we go.

Mina.

Perfect.
Yeah.

Get this cleaned out
for you.

Now that all
the furniture's in

and we've done all our last
little finishing touches,

it's ready for Julie
and Larry to come see,

and I'm super excited.

It's perfect for them.

We're gonna get you
out of the truck.

- We're gonna walk you around.
- Are you ready?

You need to get
in a good mental space.

Oh, my God!

Don't fall.

We're gonna get you
out of the truck.

We're gonna walk
you around to see the front

of your pretty,
little house.

I've been saying
from the beginning,

like, okay,
we'll get Julie to cry.

Like, that means
we did a good job.

I don't know why
that's my measuring stick.

And I think
she's gonna lose it.

Am I supposed
to keep my eyes closed?

Keep your eyes closed.

Such a weird thing
to hear someone say, right?

Cry happy tears.
Not, like, cry
'cause they're sad.

Because they're so
overwhelmed with the beauty.

Just like,
"It's so awesome!"

Like that kind of crying.

All right, you guys go ahead
and open your eyes.

Oh!
Look at my little...

She's crying already.
We win.

Did somebody
tell you my favorite color?

It's called "oregano."

That's what
that color's called.

I didn't really think
about the outside of the house.

You know, when I saw it
and realized

how updated
and how much better it looked

just with that little bit
of color, it's just amazing.

And you had
a garage door there.

- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah.

Which is now
a new side door, and--

Really nasty garage door.

...we switched your doors out
for full light.

So, before,
it was a pretty solid door,

and so now it's gonna let
a lot more light into the house.

- Right.
- Make it a little bit brighter.

That side door is
where all those

dirty grandkids
go in and out.

They're going
in and out there.

All right, are you ready
to go in?

The outside is cute.
The inside is incredible.

She's--
are you ready?

We need to get
in a good mental space.

- Okay.
- Okay, you all right?

You don't need me now.
You're fine, you're fine.

I don't have to close my eyes?
- You take care of her.

Come on.

Oh, my God!

Don't fall.

Oh!

You're gonna make me cry,
and I'm cold hearted.

Oh.

Turn around
and look at it.

I can't!

It's just so much bigger

than what I ever
could have imagined.

I mean,
it was incredible.

I mean, it just
shocks you when you come in.

I mean,
just incredibly beautiful.

Look at your table.

Mom made that for you guys.

Oh, look at it.

So, she re-finished it

and got the pizza box
stain off of it.

Bless its heart.

Look at that little light.

Yeah,
right in the middle.

I thought it would be
back over the sink, but that--

It needs
to be the centerpiece.

It needs to be.

Because you and that represents
your relationship

and your love
and your longevity.

It's incredible.

So, I know it's all
the same space,

but I want
to stand over here--

You have seating
out the wazoo.

If you count,
there are 23 places to sit.

Perfect.

23.
Exactly.

Some people have to have a space
designed for entertaining.

We have to have a space
designed for family.

The other thing I like about
this furniture arrangement,

and you tell me if you like it,
is we've divided the space,

but we've used a bench,

so we have not blocked
the flow of conversation.

So, now you've created,
like, this walkway space,

but with furniture
instead of a giant wall.

I know all this pretty icing
is gorgeous and distracting,

but we also did fix the stuff
behind the walls, as well.

The plumbing's
all taken care of,

the wiring is updated.

There were a few little
funny things going on there.

It's all good.

Oh, my gosh.

And your kitchen, like,

everything ended
right about here.

This was the space.

So, you've got all
this wonderful prep space.

And look at all the room,

and you can just,
like, spin around in here.

Bunch of prep area.

Yep.
Oh, my goodness.

- So much space.
- So much space.

Incredible.

There's actually enough space
to cook for everybody, too.

Yes.
The cabinets are huge.

Are you ready
for a little bit more?

We can go
around the corner.

It's just a laundry room.
You're gonna be okay.

And you just got tons of space
to be able to...

Keep little shoes
and jackets here.

Very fun.

So, this is just
to suggest to you

that when the kids come in,

this is where they put
all their dirty stuff.

And then down this way,
you've got your half bath

and laundry room
up on the first floor now.

Oh.

It's just a laundry room
and a half bath.

Just a laundry room to you!

Did you see where I've been
trying to do laundry?

I know, I know.
Oh, my gosh.

Look.
I'm out of "the deep."

It's just more
than what I ever dreamed.

And there's
your half bath.

Oh, my goodness.

Look, a bathroom.

It's incredible.

I have a laundry room up here,
and there's a half bath.

We didn't
have that before.

So, we gave you
a whole lot of new

and then kept
a little bit of the old.

You guys did
an incredible job.

Thank you so much.

I couldn't imagine--
ever imagine this.

Julie and Larry's
all-in budget of $40,000

worked perfectly to give them
more space for their family.

With $30,000 for demo
and construction,

$5,000
for their kitchen appliances,

and the remaining $5,000
going for finishing touches,

we couldn't be more happy with
the space and their reaction.

I love when people
love the house.

It just tells you a lot
about who these people are

and what's important to them.

Everything to them is family,
so we can stand back and go,

"We did something good.

We did something good here."

Which is just awesome.

I'm still in shock,
I think.

They were really respectful
of what we wanted.

I mean, they listened.

And they took those ideas
and made the whole picture work.

Yes, they did.
It's perfect.