I heard a story that this house is super special.
[Tad] You know, I'm dating Anna right now
and things are getting pretty serious.
So I just bought a house too.
-This is it? -This is my baby!
-[vocalizing] -Look, baby. It's move-in ready.
[Cory] Hey, the power line! Power line!
Hold on, hold on!
-Okay, go. -[squealing] Hey!
[Mina] This is Kelsy's forever home.
It feels homey, it has this Nordic cabin type of vibe.
But these walls should not exist.
I wasn't thinking about opening it up.
-Are you excited to see how awesome it looks? -Tada!
-Yay. -Wow.
[theme music playing]
Hiyah!
Mom and I take on some of the nastiest houses you've ever seen.
Our team isn't afraid to tackle the worst of the worst.
That is so gross.
Holy cow!
Then we turn those rundown houses
into some of the nicest homes in the neighborhood.
-[man] Wow. -[woman] I love it.
[upbeat music playing]
-Woah! What is-- -Oh, hi!
Hey. How we doing?
This is, uh, looking very different.
[Karen] Tad comes in and the house is empty.
-Yeah. -And he was a little perplexed by the emptiness.
I moved all my stuff out
-because Kelsy has her next house... -Yeah.
-...but it needs some work. -Okay, gotcha.
So she's gonna stay here 'cause nobody likes
to live in construction, right.
-Where are you going? -Carriage house!
My daughter Kelsy has been living in her house on Hoyt
that we built for her a few years ago.
But she and her husband Neil bought a new place.
There's nothing wrong with this house and it's in great shape.
But she wants to make some changes.
So she's looking at about a six-week construction schedule.
-Okay. That's a pretty tight turn around. -So...
That is a tight turn around. So what's going on with you?
-Yeah, I just bought a house too. -Oh, nice.
You know I'm dating Anna right now
-and things are getting pretty serious. -Yeah?
Anna is my girlfriend,
and we've been dating for a while now.
And I think Anna is Karen's favorite extension of me.
Yeah, if they break up, we keep Anna and we ditch Tad.
-[laughing] That's what happens. -Yeah, yeah. I understand.
-The ladies created some eggs for you. -Sweet, yeah. Awesome.
-The chickenhawk made one fresh just for you. -Oh my gosh.
I'm gonna go meet Cory and Mina over at the house, so...
Maybe you'll let me do a little landscaping.
Oh, absolutely. I would love that.
I'm really excited to meet Cory and Mina over there
because I really just want to get everybody over there helping out.
We've been doing this together for a long time
and everybody's grown and changed over the years.
And this is a chance for everybody in one space
and show how their growth and change can benefit us as a team.
So this is exciting.
♪ We are headed To uncharted waters ♪
♪ I don't know What we'll see ♪
I have not even driven by the property Tad bought yet.
But I know it's a double lot.
I know him and Anna are buying it together, which is a big deal.
It's in Bates Hendricks, which is a great area to live since it already up and came.
But it's pricey these days, especially for a house as big as he told me it is.
He said you walk into the living room,
but then there's two rooms off of that, a bathroom,
and then there's the kitchen and a mudroom also on the first floor.
Then upstairs he said there's just a massive attic.
So I'm curious what he wants to do with that.
So the idea is, you know, full rehab,
put him and Anna are, you know, on the same page,
they're gonna make it happen and they're gonna move in.
If they're moving in together,
it sounds like it's getting serious really quickly.
It sounds that way.
♪ Every day every dollar I work harder and harder ♪
♪ Until I break it and make it I'm gonna let you know♪
-Wow, the roof's really not that bad. -[Tad] What's up?
-[Cory] Morning. -Well, howdy, how. How we doin?
-[Cory] This is it? -[Mina] So this is it.
[exclaims]
-This is awesome. -[Tad] Oh, I'm so excited.
An older couple owned this,
they had lived in it for 46 years,
so it's really outdated.
[Mina] Everything is functional,
-it's just outdated. -[Tad] Exactly.
I've been doing home construction for a few years now,
and I've learned a lot at Two Chicks,
but I'm ready to take on a project of my own.
So I bought a house with an adjacent lot,
and it is gonna be great for a future investment opportunity,
but it's also going to be a lot of land to live with-- with Anna.
Aw, our little boy is growing up.
Sad, but true.
What did you pay for the house and the lot?
Paid $212,000 for the house and the lot.
Holy hornets' nest!
I don't think you could hear that.
Like, if it were a cartoon, it would be [gulps]
[gulps] Exactly.
It's only a two bedroom, one bath right now,
but it's a lot of house at 2,900 square feet to play with and reconfigure.
Not to mention it's a double lot.
[Mina] You're gonna pull the lot off, right,
and build on that at a later date?
-[Tad] At a later date. -[Mina] Okay.
-[Cory] The exterior doesn't look bad at all. -[Tad] No, it's in--
[Cory] Just needs a good power washing.
But I want to change it.
I'm thinking triangular windows in the gables.
That's what I have on my current house and I like that detail a lot.
Light, dark, bright? What colors are you thinking?
Uh, exterior, thinking dark.
On the porch area, I wanna get rid of the handicap ramp,
and then on this front porch covering, I'm thinking of a metal roof.
-[Cory] Yeah. -[Tad] Even black, or like, maybe a faux copper.
I would maybe stick with the copper on the gutters.
-Yeah. -You're gonna save a lot of money
and I think you're gonna get the same effect,
and then you just have this nice, like, outline of copper.
-[chuckles] -Yeah. You guys want to take a look inside?
-Yeah. -Let's do it!
[Cory] This is fantastic.
The door is really pretty.
Look at that, look at those sunbursts.
You actually have glass.
-You got good ceiling height. -[Cory] Are these nines or tens?
-I would say nine. -I'll just double check it.
Yeah, I see you bust out that tape. Get it!
Yeah, they're like, five inches short of ten.
-I want to walk the house... -Hey, this is fantastic.
...and I want to tell you what I would do
and I want to see if it's what you're thinking.
-This is great. -Pretty standard layout so far.
So this is the kitchen area.
[Tad] Yeah, so kitchen.
-[Mina] It's a big kitchen space. -[Tad] Yeah.
You can see when you're looking down,
we're slanting about two inches.
So we're gonna lift this up and it's gonna get my floors back straight and level.
[Mina] Oh, I love this glass.
-It's not glass. It's plastic. -Oh, it's-- Oh!
-That's so sad! -I know! I know!
So I wanna keep the kitchen here and blow out the walls
between here and the living room.
Yeah. Lots of space to work in here. Let's keep going.
[Tad] In order to get upstairs...
[Mina] You go through the bathroom.
[Tad] You have to go through the bathroom.
This is where it gets a little wonky.
This bathroom is... It's a theme.
-[Tad] Yeah. Yeah, we got lots of fish. -[Mina] It's a theme.
-Okay. -[Cory] I love it.
I like to eat 'em, but I don't like to see 'em on the walls.
So this is the upstairs.
[Mina] It's huge.
[Tad] So this is gonna be an upper living room lounge
with a full wet bar and a half-bath in the corner.
I'm thinking a patio door right here, second floor deck
-over that back deck. -[Cory] Oh, okay.
[Tad] And then through here is the attic.
I wanna convert it into a bedroom.
[Mina] Wow, there's... I love how it goes out on the side.
[Cory] Oh, wow.
You could do a main suite up here without even dormering.
Well, we are still gonna dormer it.
Bedroom over there.
This is kind of like a chill area.
And then over here, a huge en suite,
and I'd really like to dormer this out, put a skylight in it, and--
Good natural light.
The best part, the part I'm most excited for,
this up here is going to become a loft space.
-That's a lot of space. -Yeah.
-It's really awesome.
I'm thinking a nook, skylights, carpet.
You just definitely want to sister those.
Yeah. I'll throw you up there and it'll be sistered.
[both laughing]
That was hilarious!
That was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. Sorry.
-Needed a good dad joke. -That was corny as can be,
but I've actually never made that joke before, so...
-I don't... There hasn't probably been an opportunity. -No, no.
-This is wild. -Yeah, there's a lot to go through here.
So much to just take in.
-[Mina] All right, let's go to the basement. -[Tad] Let's do it.
All right, so you smell that poop?
-[groans] That sewer clean-out has seen better days. -Yeah.
[Cory] This is rough.
-[Tad] No, It's actually not. -[Cory] No, the smell.
Oh, the smell. Okay, I was like,
-the foundation's actually pretty good. -Yeah.
-[Mina] Is that peaches? Oh my god! -[Cory] Dude...
-Don't break it, please. -Oh! There's more there!
Do you think we could get Karen to open this and smell it?
-Don't. Can we not do it? -I can't look at it.
Do you think this would make her finally gag?
God bless it. I was hoping none of y'all would see that.
-Should I crack it open? -No, don't do it, dude.
-[Tad] Should I do it? -[Cory] Don't do it right now, please.
God bless it. I was hoping none of y'all would see that.
-[Tad] Should I crack it open? -[Cory] No, don't do it, dude.
-[Tad] Should I do it? -[Cory] Don't do it right now, please.
-[tapping] -Okay, I won't.
I don't know. That got me. That got me.
I'm pretty good with foul smells,
definitely better at handling them usually than the boys.
But whatever was in that jar in the basement was absolutely putrid.
If Tad had cracked that open, I'd have been gone.
Like, good luck. You're on your own, bro.
So backyard.
-Yeah. Let's do it. -Yes.
All right.
And this is my huge back deck.
-[laughs] Oh wow. -It's a big yard.
Yeah, it's a huge yard, especially for Bates Hendricks.
Like, this is... It's, I think, like 0.27 of an acre.
Between this giant yard and everything inside,
I think there's a lot of potential to turn this property
into a really special home for Anna and I.
But it's gonna take a lot of work.
Outside, we'll do new paint, a new roof and new siding.
On the back of the house, we're going to build a second story deck
and replace the first story deck.
Inside, we're going to reconfigure the first floor layout,
convert the attic space into a main suite upstairs
and turn this into a four bedroom, two and a half bath house.
I bought this house for $212,000
and I think it's going to take about $181,000
to get this house where it needs to be for me.
So all in, we're looking at about $393,000.
I am close enough to where if I do too much,
I could overvalue the property.
Looking at the other comps in the area,
it looks like it would comp out at around $410,000, $415,000.
So it would be really, really nice to make it a really beautiful home,
but not go above the value
so maybe I have some equity in there.
[Cory] This is great.
-Yeah. -This is...
I think there's only one thing left to do, Tad.
-Demo? -Ride around and get it, baby.
Ride around and get it! Whoo!
[rock music playing]
-We good? Got a lot of energy and we're excited! -Everyone bring your energy!
I heard a story that this house is super special.
Oh, look at this. Welcome to the crib.
-It's not just any demo day. -Mmm-hmm.
This is the demo day of demo days.
It is my demo day for my home for the next five to ten years.
Yeah, so on the exterior, the siding's gonna come down.
It's not gonna come down today.
I want to know if the ramp is staying on.
[Tad] No, no, the ramp's coming off.
But inside, we're doing a full gut.
-[Karen] Okay. -So it's going down to the studs.
-So we're smashing windows? -Windows can be smashed.
I feel like Tad's house should get all the broken glass.
Yeah, yeah, you know, so...
If you break the windows though on this side,
we're super close to the neighbors.
So just break it into the house,
-not out of the house. -Yep.
And there is so much stuff that could be in the house too
-that I think you're gonna be super pumped about. -Ooh.
You guys are more than welcome to go absolutely berserk, but safely.
-Let's go! Whoo! -Let's go!
[rock music playing]
Yeah, get it!
-[Mina] MJ. -Yes?
[Mina] Look around this corner.
We're looking for treasure.
[Karen] There are so many delightful treasure in this attic.
-You already finding stuff? -Yeah.
We found some lamps.
Oh wow, I didn't even realize that was there.
[Karen] An old bed.
[Mina] Kind of digging this girl.
[MJ] It's pretty cool.
[Karen] An old dress dummy.
I challenge you to a duel.
Old toy guns.
-I mean, I could spend the rest of my life up here. -Yeah.
It was everything. We had so much fun.
[Cory] Yeah, get it! Good! Show 'em who's boss!
[Tad] One thing that I've been trying to work on
is putting people to their highest and best use.
Yeah!
And Mina's highest and best use is the excavator.
She's worked it the most, she's done it the most.
She seemed like she really wanted to do that.
That was pretty cool.
Uh, what's happening?
Hey, the power line!
-Mina, Mina! -Power line!
I'm going.
Hey, the power line!
-Mina, Mina! -Power line!
-Whoo! -Sorry.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
We've got a low hanging primary to the house.
It's always cringeworthy to see Mina in an excavator,
and, uh, today is no different than those cringeworthy times in the past.
I just don't want it to fall and anybody get hurt.
You make sure you keep a good eye on it now.
Probably be a good idea if we get a dumpster over here. [laughs]
[Tad] While we have a lot of people on demo day,
we probably have another day or two of demo.
Uh, and then we'll clean stuff up real well,
and then, we'll start framing.
This is gonna be the best house we've done so far.
♪ Coming in fast Like a jet plane ♪
♪ Hey-ey-ey Hey-ey-ey ♪
[Kelsy chuckling] What is this?
-Mina's on it though. -[Karen] Can we go all the way in?
Good morning. What'd you do?
Well, I was sitting inside working,
there was a large crash
and your neighbor's tree...
-...came down right in the driveway. -Oh, yeah.
Well, that's fun.
We're at Kelsy's house.
We are northwest of downtown,
and she knows construction,
so she was able to see a lot of potential in this house
when they started to outgrow their old home.
And we have both been talking to her,
visited the property, seen the listing pictures,
but she actually has possession of the home now,
so we need to finalize some details
to renovate Kelsy's forever home.
It's a four bedroom, two-and-a-half bath,
and her and her husband, Neil, wanna renovate the exterior
and main living and dining spaces.
Their budget is $25,000 and they wanna move in in six weeks,
so there's a lot to do in that short timeframe.
This one's built in the 1970s
and there's something about it, It feels homey.
The vibe I get with being in the woods and all the trees
is this Nordic cabin type of vibe.
I felt called to black on the exterior when I first saw the house.
So I think like, we could update the color on the outside
-to kind of like, bring that theme home. -[Mina] Yeah.
And there's this really cool brick piece
-over here that curves. -[Mina] I love the brick.
And I'm thinking since we've been living at your house,
we've fallen in love with chickens, can't live without them now.
So I'm thinking our chickens' home could be over there.
-[Mina] I like that. -[Karen] Oh.
But wait, why are y'all holding bird feeders?
So the previous owners, we met them at closing,
and they were really concerned that the new owners--
They were like, "Are you guys going to feed the birds?"
I was like, "We'll feed the birds."
-Okay. Let's go inside. -Let's do it.
I'm just so excited that this is your house now.
I know. We should bring some of the tree in and start a fire.
-[laughing] -Oh.
'Cause it's wood burning, but gas start?
-[Kelsy] Yeah. There's a gas start. -[Mina] That's nice.
This tile I think will actually look really cool
once we modernize some of the other things.
Yeah, like, everything that's in here is good.
The house is in great condition.
It's just there are some aesthetic things.
My aesthetic is different than the people who lived here.
[Karen] This roof line says Nordic cabin.
-[Kelsy] Right? -[Karen] It screams.
[Kelsy] Okay, dining room.
[Mina] Nothing crazy.
No, we already have this, like, nice view, these blinds are built in.
When you look at this, I think of all the people I can have here.
And so, we'll have a good sized dining table,
we can host people for dinners.
Except if you're in the kitchen,
which is what I want to talk to you about
'cause these walls are just... Should not exist.
-Not exist? -They should not exist,
so I would like to go in there and talk to you about that.
So this is my thought, 'cause I know
you said you want to paint the cabinets,
you want a different countertop.
I know you want to keep this to just cosmetic changes,
but with this being your forever home,
I think you can do more here.
[Kelsy] So what's your idea?
I think-- I mean, this-- Pretty much this whole wall gone,
and then this would all be open
to give you, you know, a big island for prep space and give you more seating.
I wasn't thinking about opening it up
'cause like, we want to get in here.
Like, we want to move in
and that seems more scope, more time,
-more money. All those things. -It is those things. It is that thing.
I just wasn't thinking that, and I'm stressed by that.
I have four extra LVLs laying around that I can't return.
Oh, free LVL? Do it.
I need time to like, wrap my brain around
-what does that mean to our budget and timeline. -Okay.
Also because I know this little backsplash area
-is not your favorite part of the house. -[Kelsy] Right.
-And then, we could get rid of that. -I'm into it.
-Okay. -It's not a hard no.
-This is a soft yes. -I'll take it.
If we can figure it out in the budget,
she will be happy taking this wall out now
while work is happening.
So I'm going to try to make this work for her financially and on her time frame
to get that wall opened up,
um, and I think she's gonna be super happy with it.
Because with this being Kelsy's forever home,
I really want to knock this one out of the park.
Outside, we're going to paint the whole house a dark color
more in line with the Nordic cabin style she's going for,
along with Mom adding fresh landscaping
and a place for Kelsy and Neil's chickens.
Inside in the living room, we need to do
some light cosmetic updates to the fireplace,
but the big job is going to be the kitchen,
where we are for sure doing a lot of cosmetic changes
by repainting the cabinets, updating the flooring,
new backsplash and countertops,
and hopefully opening up this wall
if I can get Kelsy on board.
Kelsy and Neil have a tight budget of $25,000,
so we're really going to have to be mindful of the changes we do here.
And on top of that, they need to be in here in no later than six weeks.
So we're going to have to work smart
and we're going to have to work fast.
[Kelsy] Super excited to get going.
Neil and I have loved living at Mom's,
but we're definitely ready for this next step in our journey.
I'm a little stressed about the timeline and the budget
that I have put on this project,
and I'm not sure how I feel about Mina's new idea with the wall coming down.
So Neil and I probably need to talk about it,
um, look at our budget, see what the risks are and make a decision.
[rock music playing]
♪ Yes I was more Than you know ♪
♪ Now I'm here And I'm taking control ♪
♪ Midnight I'm ready to roll ♪
♪ Can't be stopped I'm invincible ♪
[Mina] Over at Tad's, demo is all wrapped up.
The guys also jacked up the back corner of the house that was sinking.
Do another three and listen for big movement.
We have one more.
-[Tad] Oh my gosh. -[Cory] I know.
-Good job. -We just need a little patience.
-Thank you, Cory. -Yeah.
-All right. -Oh my gosh.
So this is good for today.
[Mina] And now with everything level, I told Tad and Cory
that I would be a second pair of eyes on his plans
so he can start framing soon.
-You got Tad's plans? -Yeah, I got Tad's house here.
Tad's house is different than what we usually do
because him and Anna are designing this to live in,
not necessarily for resale.
So it's fun 'cause it's just something different.
Usually the name of the game is, you know,
pack in as many bedrooms and bathrooms as possible
to try and get the highest resale value.
So now that this wall's out,
when you come in you got the big open kitchen
all the way through to the back doors 'cause that wall's gone.
So these two bedrooms still kind of in the same spot,
stuck a bathroom between 'em.
One of these is going to be a guest bedroom,
but this front room they'll keep a closet in,
so it's technically a bedroom,
but he wants to make it a library with lots of built-ins.
I love that.
Got rid of the through bathroom
to get up to the second floor,
and that's kind of like a mud hall,
and that's what gets you up to the main en suite.
But this is where it get like, super unique to them
and I think might limit their resale a little bit
because you come upstairs
and you got the second living area
-and then a half bath. - [Cory] Hmm.
And we do have the second floor deck,
and then a massive main en suite
that has its own bathroom.
So while it's very cool,
I... Like if I was doing it for resale,
I might have done it a little differently
to get the bedroom bathroom ratio a little better.
But I think they're cool with that
because they want it to be
-a little unique to them right now. -Mmm-hmm.
And then, above the upper living room
-there is an upper upper living room -[Cory] Like a little loft.
-Oh, right here, two lofts. - [Mina] Yeah.
That looks like it could be fun.
So, you've got your living room,
you got your parlor room,
you got your upper living room,
your upper upper living room, and then your main bedroom
-will be there... -[laughs]
But they're young,
-and I think that's what they're, like, they want. -Yeah.
To be able to, like, socialize and entertain.
It's gonna be interesting to see what design choices
they land on for this place.
Yeah. We're gonna have to navigate that.
"We're gonna have to navigate that"? Is that what you said?
-You're... -Do some navigating.
-You'll have to navigate that. -Andrea and I are gonna have to navigate that.
[laughs]
♪ I'm runnin' wild but my style is so hot ♪
♪ I'm on fire ♪
♪ Hey! Hey! ♪
♪ So hot, so hot ♪
[Mina] Over at Kelsy's, the job of demoing and clearing everything out
is a pretty simple one.
The bigger question is what exactly is happening behind this kitchen wall,
and I want to convince Kelsy to take it down,
and how complicated will it be to remove.
We want to make a nice clean cut on that side.
We just want to see the framework?
-Yeah. -That's all our...
She wants to see the studs.
Good job, Toey.
I'm trying to figure out how we would build our temporary walls
to suspend this thing.
When you go to take out this wall,
you're gonna have to suspend
your framing members on this side.
Yes, on this side, you build a temp wall.
Okay, Kelsy, let's explain this to you.
There's a roofline right here.
And the weight of the roof sits on these 2 by 4s.
If you put a wall right here, it's gonna hold this up.
Well, I really like the idea of opening the wall.
[Karen] And their plan to build a temp wall on the kitchen side
to support the roof while we install the beam,
which would become the permanent support,
should work.
So, we're gonna have the architect and the framer
come take a look and make sure that this happens right.
[upbeat music playing]
[Mina] In order for Tad to get the massive main suite with the upper loft area
and the upstairs attic,
he's got to add a dormer to the top floor.
[Tad] Whoo! Let's go!
My adrenaline is pumped.
[Mina] Which basically means demoing while standing on the roof, so,
no big deal.
[Tad] Cory, am I going up there for a little bit, then you're going up?
-[Cory] No. -[Tad] No?
This is a dangerous operation.
-It is a dangerous operation -There's nothing wrong
with the way Cory feels.
-[laughs] -Because Cory's...
Well, no, your mind is saying, "This is dangerous."
-Yeah. -"I don't want to die."
[Tad] If this was it, I love you.
[Cory] All right, who's your emergency contact?
-Anna? -[Tad] Yeah, sure.
[Cory] Wow. Feeling that shaking.
-[Tad] I know. -[Cory] Is it exhilarating out there?
[Tad] A lot of respect.
I think I'm gonna go down there and start knocking off the rest of it.
[Tad] Well, hello.
-Nice... -[Tad sighs]
-...outfit. -Thank you.
Do you want to throw this on and hop out there real quick?
Oh, hell, no!
I didn't think so.
I mean, I'm not as scared as Cory of heights.
-[Tad] No, it's terrifying. -Oh, hold on, "as scared"?
If you're not gonna go out on this thing,
you're as scared as me.
All right, I'll go out there.
-Will you? -Okay.
-[squeals] -Go ahead.
Okay, all right.
Here we go!
I do not like heights,
but Cory's even worse than me.
And then, I needed to prove that I was not as scared as him.
She's a one-upper.
-Yeah, she... -That's what she is.
-She wanted... -She wants to one-up.
-She wanted to one-up a little bit. -Yeah.
-Okay. -[Tad] There you go.
[squeals]
-[Tad] Crazy. -[laughs]
Hey!
-[Tad] There you go. -[Cory] All right.
-[Mina] Did you do this? -[Cory] Now lean back.
[Tad] Yeah, I did this already.
[Cory] Now just act like you're sitting in a chair.
[Tad] And you can rip off some of this one by.
-Okay. -[Cory] We need some roof deck off.
[Mina laughing nervously]
-I don't know! I don't know! -[Tad] Min?
-[Cory] Yeah. -You can lead forward too.
[Mina] Oh, God, I still don't feel good about this.
All there is below me
-is broken lumber with nails sticking straight up. - [Cory] I know!
[Mina laughs nervously]
Oh, God, I still don't feel good about this.
[Cory] And you were asking me why I didn't go out there.
Hey!
It was terrifying. I don't know... You're just not...
Like, gravity is not functioning the way
it regularly functions, and it's scary.
[Mina grunts]
♪ ...to play in the fire ♪
♪ Cross me and walk on a wire ♪
-Good workout too, ain't it? -Yeah.
I'm, like, holding my body weight even though I don't need to.
[Tad] Yeah.
[Mina] I just needed to do better than Cory.
That's all I needed.
[Cory and Tad laughing]
[Cory] All right. I feel like today is not my day to get out on this roof.
-Cory. -[Cory] And that's okay.
-Yeah, that's okay. -Yeah.
Ooh, there you go.
-Okay, -Oh, my God, my legs are so tired.
-Yeah. -I'm shaking.
[exclaims]
[Tad] Well, um, we got all that peeled off,
so the next thing is gonna be framing it up.
Sweet! It's coming together.
I'm gonna go walk back to the office 'cause it's
-a block away. -Right down the street.
-I know. A block away. All right. -I love it.
[upbeat music playing]
[Mina] We're rolling over at Kelsy's house.
Outside, the exterior has been painted a dark black
that's giving this house the clean Nordic cabin vibes that Kelsy wants.
And then, inside, after getting the proper plan of action
from our architect, Todd,
we're removing that big wall in the kitchen.
So, I think you're gonna have to provide some temporary bracing
to them while you take the wall out.
[Mina] On the kitchen side of that wall, we're just gonna build a little temp wall,
removing the existing wall,
then get the new beam up there,
which will support the weight of the roof.
Right.
Go with it surely.
There we go.
-Yeah. Yeah. -[Mina] Easy-peasy.
Wow! Look at all this space.
-It makes such a difference. -It does.
[Mina] Once we got the wall down,
Austin and I reinstalled the cabinets in their new locations.
It's a little snug in here, Austin.
Well, better you than me, then.
[Mina laughs]
[Mina] Mom is hopping in and priming the cabinets for paint,
but I need Kelsy so we can decide on the cabinet color.
Okay.
I'm set up...
so we can, like, get the feeling.
I've got all these things out
that aren't actually the things,
but representative of the things to talk through.
Kelsy wants a matte black faucet
with a gray faux stone floor tile.
black sink, and butcher block countertops.
Those things are set.
We need to decide backsplash, not necessarily today,
but definitely cabinet color.
So, this is our flooring.
Theoretical backsplash.
And then, I got some of the black items.
So, these would easily represent the sink and the faucet.
Should we pull this out, though?
-What do you mean? -This is not our backsplash.
It's debatable.
No.
You told me it was debatable.
I know! It was debatable,
but I don't think it is anymore. This is too gray.
The new tile is, like, a matte bone.
I think it's gonna look cheap.
It's not gonna look cheap. It's very nice tile.
-It's not. -It's very nice.
It's porcelain picket.
And it's matte and it's nice.
Okay.
Kelsy has very strong feelings about the backsplash.
At the end of the day, she may be my sister,
but she's also a client, so she gets what she wants.
These are cabinet color options.
I just brought a bunch of swatches.
I think those are too gray.
-Mm-hmm. -I think this one's a little too...
-Like, that's in between there, almost. -Yeah.
I wanna fall somewhere here.
[Mina] Mm-hmm.
This might be a little too light,
-so I'd be tempted to go Oak Moss. -Oak Moss?
I think, while it's definitely a bold color,
it's going to... It's going to look really good with everything.
It's going to be very Kelsy and Neil.
And sticking with these nature-like colors,
like the bright white walls, the warm butcher block counters,
and then this pop of green, it's going to look very Nordic cabin.
That's your cabinet color.
We've got some black in there. We got a little gold.
Do you want me to hold a picture of the tile up?
Um, this is mat and off-white.
[Kelsy] I think that's gonna look good.
I like it.
Okay.
♪ Yeah, I know they can't believe it ♪
♪ They're takin second looks when they see me ♪
♪ That's right, all me ♪
♪ That's right ♪
[Tad] Once the dormer was cut out and the framing started on that,
we did some more demo on the outside
and found a super-cool surprise.
I was not anticipating,
uh, seeing wood siding underneath the vinyl.
-[Tad] I know. -[Cory] And the scalloped siding over the top?
[Tad] Yeah.
And the inside framing is almost done,
so I'm showing my girlfriend, Anna, how it's coming along.
-Ahhhh! -Hi, baby.
-Look at it. -Oh, okay.
-[Tad] Doesn't it look insanely different? -[Anna] It looks so good.
It's perfect. It's move-in ready.
I know. You're ready to move in.
Everybody, this is my girlfriend, Anna.
Anna, everybody. Everybody, Anna.
Uh, I brought her over to the house today
because we're gonna be living here together
and I can't make these decisions alone.
It's a huge house. It's a lot of space.
And, obviously, it's not just important about what I want,
but also what baby wants as well.
[upbeat music playing]
[Tad] What do you think about this? So...
During demo, this wasn't fully exposed yet,
but I was thinking about leaving this exposed
-in here. -No, I like it.
Nice built-in bookshelf back here.
-Some wainscotting... -With, uh...
The arches.
With the arches, yes, yes. We're doing arches.
The bookshelf...
-Arches! -Arches!
I'm a sucker for arches.
[Tad] She really likes a Spanish villa kind of vibe,
and we were talking about this built-in feature,
and I was kind of showing her how it's built out.
And she was like, "Can we stick archways here?"
And I was like, "Absolutely!"
But the biggest transformation happening,
now that it's all dormered out and huge up there,
is definitely the upstairs main suite.
Keep your eyes close. Okay.
Very, very careful.
Snake through. Watch your head. Watch your beautiful head.
Keep walking.
-[Anna chuckles] -Turn around. Turn around.
And open.
-Ahhhhh! -Oh, my God!
[Tad] Look at this thing.
[Anna] It keeps getting bigger and bigger. I love it.
[Tad] All right, keep your eyes close.
Turn around. Okay.
And open.
-Ahhhhh! -Oh, my God!
-[Tad] Look at this thing. -[Anna] I love it.
-It's all framed out. -It's framed.
I, babe, we have so much space.
-Oh, my God. -I know.
I wake up, I have the light from my window coming in.
-Yeah. -I roll out of my bed
-and I walk... -Uh-huh.
-And I open up my French doors. -Yeah.
-Pretty great. -Make that dream come true for me, baby.
I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
I think we can do something pretty similar to that.
It's amazing! I love it so much.
I'm so excited, you know, we have the vaulted ceilings.
I'm really excited for our bathroom
and having that nook up there and just open,
I think it's gonna be a really relaxing place.
It's amazing.
-Yeah, so... -Look at you.
I know.
♪ Oh, I think I'm going the right way ♪
Oh, Austin, I like what's happening here.
Yeah?
I wanna tell you...
how excited I am for this landscaping today.
Today I have all the boys with me
and we're gonna do real, bona fide landscaping
at Kelsy's house.
So, at the top of the berm we have a bunch of trees.
They're gonna provide privacy...
Little bit higher. Little bit higher.
...noise reduction,
and they'll provide some additional safety from cars veering off the road.
Oh, it's perfect!
Nailed it!
But the real star, the pièce de résistance,
it's always better in French
is way better.
♪ One, two, three, and... ♪
-[Mina squeals] It's so cute! -[MJ] It's so cute.
[Mina] It's so dang cute.
Ever since Kelsy and Neil have been living at Mom's,
um, they've been around the chickens,
and I think they've kind of fallen in love with them
and want some of their own.
So I thought it would be fun, um, and a cute housewarming present,
to have a custom-made chicken coop made to match their new house,
um, the same kind of shape and that same black color.
I thought my chickens were spoiled.
Oh! There goes the azalea.
Oh, there we go.
[Austin] It's set?
-Level it out, I mean. -[MJ] Yeah.
[Mina] All right.
Okay, so this is what's gonna happen.
Kelsy's not getting any chickens.
This is where I live.
-Mother-in-law's house. -[Karen] Exactly. [laughs]
[Mina] With Kelsy's house wrapping up,
Tad still has a long way to go,
so framing is continuing,
including the cut-out for the big door he wants in the living room.
Windows are in and he is starting to think about design.
-What's up? -Hey!
-The windows look good. -This is the space.
-Windows look good. -They're cooking.
I'm so glad you're here because
I'm no designer,
Anna, you know, she has an idea,
but, like, us trying to put it together...
-Mm-hmm. -Yeah.
It's tough.
Good news is this is 100% Anna and I's house,
so we can make some really eclectic design choices if we'd like.
[Cory] You do you, bro.
I will, thank you.
Something I'm realizing, though,
is there's a lot of design possibilities for this house,
so... And it's a big house.
So Mina's help, uh, would be super appreciated,
I would say needed,
especially figuring out the main bath upstairs.
Okay, dormer looks great.
[Tad] Well, first, I gotta lay out some things here.
Oh, look who's here.
-Hello. -Hi! How you doing?
Hi. Good. Oh.
-Oh, I'll get two hugs. -Oh, a double hug.
Yeah, she came for me first, Tad.
-I know. She did. -It's a double-hug entrance.
-Hi. -Are you cold?
-I'm racking Tad's brain. -[Tad] Yeah.
Are we talking about the bathroom?
[Tad] Mina, Mina has a different suggestion.
[Mina] So right now, when you come in,
you just have a giant wall here.
-[Anna] Right. -[Mina] You're not gonna see
the tub, the beautiful tile, anything like that.
And it makes it feel smaller, and it's not a small space.
So wipe this wall out of your brain.
I'm very open to Mina's thoughts,
and I think Anna is too.
Uh, Anna really likes some eclectic things though,
so I don't always know what's going on in her mind.
Yeah, she has a mystique to her, doesn't she?
Yeah, yeah, she does.
Well, I, I like it,
and I'm unsure how she's gonna feel about Mina coming in
and changing things up though.
Now, what is your tub,
it comes out to about this line in the floor.
And then, if you give yourself this space,
shower head, glass door.
-[Tad] Um... -[Anna] I don't know if that would look weird.
If your free-standing tub butts up against this wall,
it comes out to about this line in the floor.
And then if you give yourself this space,
shower head, glass door.
I don't know if that would look weird.
You could either do matte black or gold fixtures.
-Yeah. -I like that. I like that a lot.
-Pretty good. -That's pretty, that's pretty good.
I was telling her, like, we just need to talk to Mina and MJ
to get this thing figured out.
-What are you smirking about? -I'm just happy,
and this was very helpful and, like,
I've just been stressing about it so much,
so, like, having, like, some direction, it's just really nice.
So...
[Mina] Okay.
It's really cool to see Tad spread his wings.
You know, he is moving into this next phase, building this house with Anna,
um, and it's just nice to know
that he feels like he can still always come to me for advice.
He may not always like my opinion,
but at least he knows he can always come to me for help.
♪ They say I'm hard to handle ♪
♪ They just can't handle me ♪
♪ But I know when to gamble ♪
♪ I bet it all on me ♪
[Mina] We're almost at the finish line over at Kelsy and Neil's house.
Inside, her kitchen cabinets are now a rich mossy green color,
which pairs great with the warm butcher block counters,
and Kelsy's choice for the off-white picket backsplash tile
adds a nice pop of brightness to the room.
In the living room, the boys made some gorgeous live-edge shelving,
to help update this fireplace,
and lean into the Nordic cabin vibe Kelsy and Neil want.
-A little hand mallet action. -Cool.
-Look at that! -It's good.
All right.
Beautiful, beautiful. Oops.
All right, let's see.
Yes, perfect.
These are perfect.
It's been a crazy six weeks, but Kelsy's house is finally done.
I mean, how much all the wood ended up matching.
[MJ] Between, like, the butcher block and the live-edge
-and the beams, everything. -[Mina] Yeah.
Kelsy and Neil wanted their home to feel like a Nordic cabin,
and with the black exterior and the light wood throughout the house
and all the natural light shining through this now open space,
I really think we've achieved that for them.
-So cute! -Kelsy's baby.
-Ooh! -He's gonna grow so tall here.
He is. He's got good sunlight.
I'm so frickin' happy with this.
Kelsy and Neil have been on vacation the last two weeks,
so they have no idea what's happened in that amount of time.
I'm really excited to show them.
And it's so cool, so, you know,
now Kelsy and Tad both, you know, my younger siblings have their big-kid houses,
they have their big-kid lives.
It's really exciting to see them, like, grow up and spread their wings.
[upbeat music playing]
-Okay, kids, are you ready? -Ready.
Are you excited to see how awesome it looks?
Ta-dah!
-[Kelsy] Yay! -[Neil] Wow!
-[Neil] That's amazing. -[Kelsy] It looks so good.
I had my doubts about a black house.
-I know, you... -I'm not a black house fan.
And you have changed my mind about black houses.
[Kelsy] Yeah, Nordic cabin vibes are happening.
-Well, it looks good. -Reay now?
Yeah. I'm ready to see more.
[Karen] Forward march. There's more to see.
So, all of the pine needles everywhere. Pine needles.
-Cute. -Landscaping looks so good.
[Karen] You have a multiculture.
You have a bunch of different junipers
with a bunch of rhododendrons and azaleas,
all the wild flowers in the world.
[Kelsy] But what?
Is that a chicken coop?
-What? -What?
-[Kelsy] Is that a chicken coop? -[Neil] Amazing.
[Mina] I had that custom made.
[Neil] It looks so good.
[Mina] So we even matched the shingles.
[Kelsy] Oh, and there's chickens. There's chickens!
[Neil] Chickens already?
-[Kelsy] This is awesome. -[Neil] This is amazing.
[Kelsy] I could move to the country now. I have my chickens.
I'm not sure I'm gonna let you keep these chickens because I might live in this house.
They go inside at night for security.
-Okay. -So they're just outside during the day.
Is that the happy Kelsy dance?
-[Kelsy] Yeah. -[Neil] This is very nice.
[Kelsy] What a peaceful little corner.
Okay, let's go inside.
Okay.
-Ta-dah! -Oh, my God!
-[Kelsy] Oh, yeah. -[Neil] It's amazing.
Look at that little cabinet.
When you put the live-edge beautiful wood on top of it, it looks good!
-[Neil] It looks amazing. Yeah. -[Kelsy] Yeah.
This is, this is good.
It's so pretty.
I love it.
And your amazing dining room.
[Kelsy] This is a perfect space.
It looks so good.
Your table looks so good in there.
This looks really good.
-[Mina] Kitchen? -[Kelsy] To the kitchen?
This was the big change
that I'm hoping you're glad I manhandled you into.
-[Kelsy] Oh, my goodness! - [Neil] Wow.
'Cause this was a wall.
All... You'd be staring at a wall right now.
-How much would that suck? -Looks so good.
[Kelsy] I love it.
I know it wasn't part of your guys' original plan or scope,
but, while you were doing the construction,
it just felt like this is the right thing to do,
this is how you guys, I think, would want to live.
[Neil] Kelsy's been waiting for a time or a place where she can host parties.
And now you've got a nice big island.
We were able to reconfigure all the cabinets.
[Kelsy] Yeah, this is great.
And...
[whispers] Touch it.
Yeah, I love the island.
But you've got your nice, new, beautiful backsplash.
-[Mina] Are you happy with the black sink, Neil? -[Neil] Yes.
-I know that was a big thing for you. -Perfect.
I think that tile is perfect for the style you were going for.
-Thanks. -[Karen] It's perfect.
[upbeat music playing]
So, we were able to do a boat load here
for $25,000,
because Mom busted her butt,
MJ was helping, I was helping.
And probably, honestly, if you were gonna, like, GC this out,
probably about $75,000 worth of work.
We did a lot.
Like to say thank you, guys, for putting so much effort in.
-[Mina] Of course. -You guys did great.
It was already a beautiful home,
but you guys made it that much better,
for us and our future.
[Kelsy] We couldn't have done it without you.
It's ready to move in.
Yep. Yay!
Let's go outside and admire the birds!
[Mina] This reno of Kelsy's was a short and sweet one,
but now the home is perfectly her,
and it needs to be, because for Kelsy and Neil, this is their forever home.
[Karen] It's so nice to see my kids, Kelsy and Tad,
grown up, creating their own personal corner of the Earth with their new homes.
Got one down, one to go.
Tad's still has a long way, but, uh, we're gonna get it done.
When this is done, I'm probably gonna cry
pretty hard.
-You're a crier. -I am a crier.
[Karen] But why are we here?
Camaraderie is so important.
So we're here for moral support?
[Mina] I'm not gonna shoot you.
I know, I'm just, I'm slightly nervous.
I don't like it. It's disinteresting to me a little bit.
Every woman should have some poisonous plants in her yard
that her man doesn't know about.
[laughs]
-I love landscaping. -Me too.
-Whoo! -What?
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
-Hi, baby! -Everybody gets a duck.
[Karen] So this is a surprise for Anna.
Isn't she beautiful?
This is Desiree.
What's an Elvish ring look like?
That's exactly what I'm thinking.
See, that's a starting point. We could actually design it from that.
This is the kind of commitment I'm ready to make.
Oh, my God.
Will you marry me?