[Karen] I bought a house in Wilmington, North Carolina.
A classic Good Bones house.
My job would be a lot easier if it just fell over.
[Karen] Ready, set, go!
-This isn't doing anything. -[man] Well, we know we have a foundation problem.
Oh! Are you okay?
-This hurricane, it is on top of us. -[siren wailing]
[man on phone] Worst case scenario, the house washes away.
[Karen] We are at the Battleship.
We could get some ideas about how to best utilize small spaces.
Look at these beds.
Maybe up in the loft space for grandkids or whatnot.
[Karen] Outside of the house seems to want to be colorful.
I am not leaving Wilmington until I see this exterior finished.
[man] This is incredible.
[Karen] Definitely need help inside.
It's all just a white box now.
[man] That's my favorite.
[Karen] For the last decade, I've been helping
neighborhoods in Indianapolis get a fresh start.
Amazing.
[Karen] I thought I was ready to retire my hammer,
but I am just getting started.
This is my first house
that's just me.
This neighborhood needed a pop of Karen and you are gonna give it to 'em.
[Karen] Still alive, still vibrant,
still got a story to tell.
So here's to the next chapter,
because I'm not done yet.
[upbeat music playing]
Okay, cutest house on the block.
Oh, hello!
-[MJ] I was not expecting all of this. -[Karen laughs]
[Karen] I definitely am going to need your help with the design inside.
-[MJ] I'm excited to see it. -[Karen] Yeah. Let's go.
Welcome to my little house.
[MJ] This is not a little house.
-This is shockingly big. -Right?
[MJ] You definitely under promised and over delivered.
I thought this was gonna be like she shed.
[Karen] Oh! No.
I'm glad that you agreed to come help
because sometimes my ideas spin out
and I'm like, "Someone stop me."
-And that's what you're here for. -Yeah, absolutely.
This house has said from the beginning,
"I need to be bright. I need to be colorful."
And so, that's the design theme that needs to go through here.
So, come into the main space,
we have a living room,
-a little dining nook over here. -[MJ] Okay.
[Karen] And then towards the back, we have the cutest,
-tiniest little kitchen you've ever seen. -[MJ] Love it.
[Karen] And then I want to show you the bedroom.
Just gonna have a full size bed.
That's it.
Bathroom. Vanity, toilet.
I'm gonna put a great shower curtain.
Questions?
This feels spacious to me too.
It's the ceiling height.
-Wow, wow, wow. -[Karen] Come upstairs.
Then, you're in the second house.
-This is huge. -It's huge.
And I have an idea for up here
that was inspired by my visit to the USS North Carolina with Cory.
In the Battleship, the guys sleep on these bunks.
-Okay. -So, it's up on the wall most of the time
and then when you have extra people,
you plop down your little bed.
-I think it'll be so cute. -I think that is really cute.
-This is great. I'm so proud of you. -[Karen] Yeah.
-You know, this is amazing. -[Karen] Aw!
-Thank you. -Yeah. For real, though.
-This is incredible. I was so scared. -[laughing]
-And you're not scared anymore? -No.
For all of my house rehabbing career, up till now
I've always worked with a team of people in Indianapolis.
So this project is very different.
If things aren't going right,
I'm the one who needs to fix it.
So, my original quick budget number is $200,000
and I have spent a lot of money on the outside
because there are certain things I will not compromise on.
And if I find a way to save money on the inside.
That'll be so nice. [laughs] That'd be so nice.
But I'm definitely proving something to myself
that yeah, I do have this skill set. I am good at this.
But, we're not done yet.
We still have a lot of work to do.
♪♪ That's another more... ♪
I appreciate you helping me with all of my design conundrums.
I want everything to be easy and simple.
So, I want it to feel like,
-"Tell me you live at the beach..." -Yeah.
"...without fish and seashells."
So, I thought what we should do
is go to the beach.
So I think something that we can definitely accomplish at the beach today,
other than the best time ever,
-is we can kind of come up with a color palette. -[laughing]
We can see what really inspires you about the beach.
We can just like take it all in.
-Why not just go to the beach, right? -Yeah.
Like we don't even need to have a reason.
-Absolutely, yeah. -[laughing]
[upbeat music playing]
[waves crashing]
[Karen] So I love the blue.
-[MJ] Yup. -[Karen] Very beachy.
-[MJ] Coral. -[Karen] The coral. Very beachy.
I kind of like these colors.
-These are like my colors. These shells. -[Karen] Oh, yeah.
These are your colors.
-If we could go a little more orange... -Mmm-hmm.
...and a little more blue.
Yeah. I want to like crank up the color a little.
When you travel in beach communities,
people have so much fun with color.
Because we're all on vacation having fun, right?
So, color is gonna be an important part of the story.
Oh!
-Here we go. -Whoa! Okay.
-Now we're talking. -Yeah.
-This is some inspiration.
Broken glass, it gets rolled around under the waves and the sand
and so it gets this frosty look to it.
Could we work this into, like, a backsplash or a countertop?
Yeah, because this says, "I'm at the beach"
without seashells or fish.
-[laughing] -What that says... Oh, and look here.
There you go. There's another one.
Whoops.
As we were walking down the beach,
-we found some orange. -Great orange colors.
And found some sea glass.
[MJ] When it comes to these colors
and when it comes to the ocean and the beach, in general...
-Mmm-hmm. -...obviously, these are gonna be our key players right here.
[Karen] Yeah, absolutely.
So, I think we need to find a way to add some blues and some green sea grass.
Maybe some woven pieces without it being too over the top.
[Karen] Yes.
This goes here,
-if I recall correctly, my layout. -Yeah.
I mean, I like this.
So, cooking, cooking, cooking, putting dishes in the sink,
getting the thing from the fridge.
This is great.
And I have this vision.
-When we went to the beach... -[MJ] Yes.
...we found what I want.
This is real close.
I want a jade glass countertop.
-That's what I want. -[MJ] Okay.
And since I can't find that, I can't source that,
what if we take a piece of MDF,
we build a countertop out of it,
we paint it this color,
and then, we do a resin pour.
-[Sean] Painted? -[Karen] Yeah.
So that way, it looks like glass,
-'cause it's super shiny and smooth. -[MJ] Okay.
And it's got that depth from the resin.
That's the idea.
So I'd like to audition that idea.
Yeah, we definitely need to try that idea out.
-That's gonna be an interesting experience. -So, I have some paint
and I have some resin.
You guys up for it?
-Not really. -[MJ] Yeah.
I mean, this sounds pretty cut and dry.
I don't see anything going wrong.
[snickering and laughing]
-Yeah, no. Nobody. I'm in this by myself. -Oh, boy.
You have asked my opinion several times.
-Sometimes you just tell me to shut up and move on. -[chuckles]
And sometimes you take in consideration.
-That's why I try to keep my mouth shut about it. -Right.
It really makes me want to leave those collar ties exposed.
I don't think that's somewhere to spend money.
You don't think so?
[Sean] Holy crap. That's a lot.
[Karen] I know, right? This is beyond my wildest imagination.
Yeah, you gotta do something different with front door.
I don't think that's an acceptable color for anywhere.
That's what you call keeping your mouth shut? [laughs]
-You have not kept your mouth shut once. -No.
And that's fine. I don't expect you to.
I've worked with resin, I did my research and I think this will work.
Best of all, super budget-friendly.
This is something that's gonna be in here
-for a long time. -[Karen] Right.
Doing it right the first time
-is gonna be, uh... -And that's why I did my research
to find out what kind of resin I should use for a countertop.
Because I discovered there's different kind of resins
-for different kinds of jobs. -There's softer resins.
-Right. -So, what I'm hearing is things could go wrong.
[Karen] But they're not gonna go wrong.
[Sean] Everything could go wrong.
[Karen] It's all gonna go perfectly.
I have all the ideas.
They're not all good.
Uh, but there are some ideas
that I want to incorporate into this house because they're me.
And it doesn't matter if anybody else likes these elements,
'cause it's not for resale.
But there are some ideas, I think they're good,
turns out they're not.
Pour a little bit and see how far it rolls
and then pour a little bit more.
We want it to run to the edges.
-You know what? Just-- -[Sean] How do you get the bubbles out of it?
This is how you get the bubbles out.
I would actually use a heat gun, not a hairdryer.
-Heat gun, not hairdryer. -But a hairdryer works.
[hairdryer blowing air]
The idea is the heat from the hair dryer decreases the viscosity
of the resin.
-[hairdryer blowing air] -[tapping]
and allows the bubbles to come to the surface and break.
[Sean] Is it flammable?
-[MJ] Uh... -[Karen] Uh... yes. To an extent.
[Sean] Like, what could really go wrong?
Should I get out of your way?
-I don't know what I'm doing. -I'll go ahead and get out of your way.
[Karen] Okay.
[hairdryer blowing air]
So, do you see the bubbles?
-Yeah, I see all the bubbles. -So, you wanna start far away.
Okay, now come in close.
[blow torch hissing]
Okay, you're close enough.
[Sean] Holy [bleep]!
[Karen] So, do you see the bubbles?
-Yeah, I see all the bubbles. -So, you wanna start far away.
Okay, now come in close and watch what happens as you get closer.
-And when you see bubbles start to pop-- -[Sean] Holy [bleep]!
[Karen] Yeah. Now, there... You're close enough.
Do you see what you're doing?
[Sean] Yo!
[Karen] You got rid of all the bubbles, baby.
Look at that. I love this.
[MJ] Me too.
-[Sean] Is this sandable? -Oh, absolutely.
Like if we had some imperfections and it is fixable?
So, you can sand it,
but when you put the top coat on,
it's all shiny and glossy again.
-[MJ whispers] Whoa. -[Karen] It's magical.
Gentlemen, you are witnessing history.
Because it is almost never that I have an idea,
I get my supplies list, I do my audition
and it comes out exactly how it was in my head.
So, we've got a good idea of what you want.
[Karen] Yeah. So we got our green.
[MJ] Nailed it.
But what about it's a little friend?
[MJ] This might be a reel it in moment.
-'Cause I feel like we landed on this... -[Karen] Yeah.
-[MJ] ...perfectly. -And I think this is beautiful
-but it's very intense. -[MJ] Mmm-hmm.
And I think these two can be friends
-if this one's whispering a little more. -[MJ] Yeah.
-How does our auxiliary designer feel? -[MJ] Super...
-Look at him over there. [laughs] -[laughing]
-[Sean] It's incredible. -[Karen] I mean, it's...
[snickers]
We've got a lot of decisions to make, a lot of things to work out.
So, MJ's gonna head back to Indy
and get started on all of that.
And, uh, I have a very important meeting tomorrow,
so I'm gonna hang around for a few more days.
And this has been very encouraging.
I'm excited to see it all come together.
I can't wait for you guys to meet Madison. She is so cute.
[Karen] Today I am meeting Craig and Nena from Welcome Home Angel
at a client's house.
Won't y'all come in?
-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.
My friends, this is Madison.
Hi, Madison.
-Hi. -This is my daughter, Madison.
Welcome Home Angel is an organization in Wilmington, North Carolina
that creates spaces for kids with special needs
by helping a kid's space function, based on their needs, better.
I found out about the organization
at an event my friend organized.
I went to their fundraiser
and I just feel like I wanna do more.
Just like we helped neighborhoods back in Indy,
I want to give to my community here in Wilmington.
And so, finding these connections
and being part of these organizations
is what makes you part of the community.
Well, tell me about your room.
Do you think there's any problems in this room you wanna solve?
-Yep, my books. -[Karen] Your books.
-[Madison] My shoes. -[Karen] Your shoes.
-[man] Problems. Problems. -[woman laughs]
-And I'm looking at a really fantastic jewelry collection. -[woman] Mmm-hmm.
And I noticed over my shoulder,
-there's even more jewelry. -[woman] Yes.
It's very hard for Madison to stay organized.
We're trying to work very hard on her being more independent.
And we are working on fire safety
and keeping a fire escape route.
And her floor has to be clean
-for her to be able to get out the door. -[Karen] Sure.
The sound of rain really agitates her.
There's different ways we can address noises like that.
So maybe like a white sound machine.
Do you like the sound of the ocean?
-They have different waves. -It might be nice.
-Mmm-hmm. -[Craig] Yeah?
Can you talk to us a little bit more
about some of the textural things you like?
What kind of touches do you like?
-Um, my cards. -Her cards.
[Nena] Her cards? You like the crunchy sound that they make?
Yeah.
So, Madison appears to be very attached to her personal possessions.
The Welcome Home Angel team is going to help her declutter
and we're gonna start coming up with some ideas for storage solutions.
And also personalizing the space for her.
Because we definitely still want it to be Madison.
[Karen] That's right.
Building a house for me is a lovely thing.
I'm really happy that I'm doing it.
But when we do things for other people,
that's when we're whole.
I really appreciate you taking the time to give me a tour of your room
and tell me about all the things in it.
-Sure. -[Karen] Sure.
[thudding]
[hammering]
[Karen] For the most part, this little Wilmington house
is going to be low maintenance and simple.
But I want the floors to make a statement.
So we're installing wide, white oak plank floors.
And I have an idea how I can incorporate
the sea glass blue into the house.
Good morning.
Oh, look at the little fluffy doggy.
Holy [bleep].
-I mean, crap. -[laughing]
[Sean] What are you doing?
-Holy crap! -[laughing]
[Sean] What are you doing?
[Karen] I've put blue stain on the floor.
-Blue's-- -In a spot we can cover up.
Yeah, this is why I picked-- This is the laundry room.
There's gonna be a washer and dryer in here.
If this is not what I want, I can cover it. No one will ever see it.
From the day I bought this house,
it said, "I want to be happy colors."
So I'm like, "Okay, we're gonna make you happy."
But you know, the walls are white, the ceiling's white,
so there's a good balance.
I don't feel like the color feels overwhelming.
See this? Look in this bucket?
-Do you see that? -[Sean] You didn't mix that very well.
That's the whole point.
-So, I add fabric dye to wood stain. -[Sean groans]
-And even though they're both water based... -[Sean] Hold on.
...they don't completely mix.
It's gonna go on the floor uneven.
It's kind of like water, shimmery, it's not even.
[Sean] I'm a little concerned about this situation.
So we've spent a lot of time busting knuckles
-on putting in this wide plank flooring. -[Karen] Yes.
Blue fabric dye for your concoction?
That was shocking.
-I called MJ... -[Sean] Okay.
...just to run it by him
and he loves it.
It is your house. I will support you in any way what you do.
It's like some people like pepperoni on their pizza and some people don't.
Either way is okay.
And that's why there's a color story.
There's a big color story.
[Karen gasps]
No. These are my hopes and dreams right here.
-Oh, boy. -[Karen] Oh.
You've done things in the past that have surprised me. So, your call, your house.
[upbeat music playing]
[Karen] Before I leave town,
I want to see my kitchen countertop vision come to life.
So, with the cabinets in and stained that seashell gray color,
we're cutting out the counters from furniture-grade plywood, painting them
and as soon as I see that resin going down,
I know these are the sea glass counters of my dreams.
But I have to get back to Indy
because there is someone very special I have to visit.
[upbeat music continues]
[Karen] My youngest, Kelsy,
has been busy to get ready for the new baby.
And, uh, baby's here.
Evelyn made her appearance a couple of weeks ago
and It just reinforces that something's out of balance here.
And I have a desire to be in Wilmington.
But I have a new baby
and my son Casmir and his wife and four kids moved into my main house
and I live in the carriage house.
So, at this point, I've made a decision,
I'm going to spend some time at the Wilmington house and some time in Indianapolis.
And I want to create some spaces in the Wilmington house
that will be intriguing for grandkids.
-Well, hello. -Hey, a little greeter.
-[Karen laughing] I know. -[Cory] Oh, my goodness.
It's the only reason she wanted to go outside
-was to say hello to you. -[Cory laughing]
[Karen] While I'm back in Indy,
there is a project that I'm doing,
so Cory's gonna come over and I'm very excited.
Because he and I have the most fun crafting together.
Come here. Let me show you.
-Uh... -Oh, how fun.
So, where's this going?
This is for, uh, a young lady.
And there's an organization in Wilmington called Welcome Home Angel.
-And they redo spaces for kids with special needs. -[Cory] Yeah.
[Karen] And so, Madison loves the ocean. She thinks it's calming.
And my job is to make a collage. So, we're doing the ocean.
[Cory] Oh, that's fun.
[Karen] So, I really, really like the tissue paper.
-[Cory] Uh-huh. -I like the little sprinkles.
-Oh, my God. -I like the Mylar.
Making this textural so that it invites touch, is perfect for her.
This is fun.
[upbeat music playing]
One thing about projecting with you
is I always wear it by the time I'm, like, done.
-[Karen] Yeah. -That's for sure.
If you don't leave with some glitter on you,
-I'll be very disappointed. -[Cory laughs]
[Karen] It never goes away.
Spending this time with Cory just reminds me how much
I love the people here in Indianapolis.
And Kelsy's had her baby.
So we just need to move all the people to Wilmington is what we need to do.
And then, everything's fine.
Just take the baby. [whispers] Oh, she's so sweet.
You think Kelsy's gonna allow for that?
Uh, no.
-All right. We need to quit touching it. -Yes.
-Let's do our stand back and look at it. -Here.
Look at your cloud back here.
-[Karen] Oh! -[Cory] Whoo-wee, bubba!
Those need a little bit of lavender.
So I feel like we're real close.
I have a few things to move to Wilmington on my next trip,
so I'll just take this with me.
This is adorable.
-And um... -We're doing good work.
-[laughing] -Peace out.
-Thank you so much. -All right, we'll see you.
-Thank you. All right, bye. -Bye, Adelle.
We have a bunch of stuff
-that needs to move from Indy to Wilmington. -[man] I see.
-So exactly how long of a ride did I just sign up for? -[Karen laughing]
I like that you signed up without any knowledge of timing.
I have a bunch of stuff in storage
that needs to be moved from storage to the Wilmington house.
And I have a friend.
-[laughs] -[sighs]
Yeah, Karen got the last boat out of me helping people move town.
-Uh, 'cause I am over it. -[laughing]
But this one comes with a fun road trip.
-Look at that. -And then, do you wanna do one here?
-[Austin] I think we do. -[Karen] Just why not?
-There we go. -[Austin] Look at that.
All right.
All your stuff's going nowhere.
-Well, it's going to Wilmington, but it's not... -It's going to Wilmington.
[funky music playing]
And my rules for the road trip are,
we stop whenever you want,
for whatever you want.
Like, you need to go to the bathroom?
We stop, we go to the bathroom.
You need a drink, you need snacks, you need food.
Whatever you want.
You see some pretty little thing you're like,
"Let's go look at that." Great.
[upbeat music playing]
[Karen] It's not very many people that I invite to the Wilmington house.
I'm glad you decided to be part of my little club.
This is very exciting for me.
[car door closes]
[Austin] I like it. Looks good.
[Karen] Welcome to my little house in Wilmington.
You walk in, you've got stairs going up.
And then...
You gotta see this. You'll appreciate this.
So we didn't cut the stove out.
But imagine there's a stove here.
We made this countertop.
[Austin] I was gonna say, I think I remember you talking about this.
-The floors are covered down here. -Yeah.
But I can show you upstairs.
-Okay. All right. -And you can see the floor there.
Here, come on up.
So, you get a better sense of the blue floor up here.
[Austin] That is uh... blue.
It is blue, isn't it?
-You brought the ocean upstairs. -Yes.
-You get it! -Yeah.
[birds chirping]
[Karen] Just goes right on the wall.
-[Austin] Each one sits on it. -[Karen] Just like that.
And then, this just sits on it.
And if you're not using it, you can flip it and it'll be flat.
Cory and I took a tour, we were at the Battleship
-and there were a couple of things... -Hmm.
...that have turned into projects to do with Austin.
One of the things to save space
is stools that push up under the counter
-completely out of the way. -[Austin] Yeah.
So, I thought if I could find similar stools, that swivel out of the way,
that would be fantastic.
I'm going to hold this while you put that screw all the way in.
[drill whirring]
I don't know why Cory didn't get stuck
-with the projects. -He came down here and did research
for me to work?
-Yes. [laughs] -That's rude.
Oh, that's nice.
So what I think is important in life...
-Mmm-hmm. -...is not things,
-but experiences. -I'd agree.
[Karen] And I have things in this house
-that will be experiences for the grandkids. -[Austin] Mmm-hmm.
So, the mural will be an experience for them.
The little spinny stools.
I think they're gonna have a great time with that.
Who wouldn't? I had fun on it.
Yeah, it's, uh, something that you're not gonna get anywhere
-but your grandma's house. -Right.
I feel like the kids are just gonna...
This is all they're gonna do.
Yeah. Just come and just swing.
I think the grandkids are gonna come in
and once they know that this is what it does,
that's the end.
That's all they're gonna do is they're gonna swivel on the stools.
Thank you very much for the help with the install,
but clean up to the extent you need to feel presentable.
Because I have a surprise for you.
We're gonna go have some fun tonight.
Okay.
[Karen] How are you feeling about this?
-[Austin] We'll see. [exhales] -[Karen] Okay.
Well, hello. Hello.
-Hi, guys. How are you? -Hi.
-Welcome. -Nice to meet you.
-Thank you. -Welcome.
So one of the things
-that you don't know about North Carolina... -[Austin] Mmm-hmm.
...and Wilmington specifically, is there is a dance here
that's a big deal.
It's called shag dancing.
I thought it would be fun to learn together.
-You think? -Uh... [exhales] Man.
There is a dance here. It's called shag dancing.
I thought it would be fun to learn together.
Uh... [exhales] Man.
Very popular dance, very easy.
Any music, any dance partner. Very friendly.
[Karen] That sounds right up our alley.
It is a variety of swing
that is specific to the North Carolina coast
and that's why the dig your feet in the sand move,
because we dance it on the beach.
If I'm gonna live in Wilmington,
I need to do the Wilmington dance.
So, that's why we're here.
-All right. -[swing music playing]
-[Karen] All right. [laughing] -[Alex] We're gonna dance.
Right and you're gonna have three steps.
One, two, three.
One, two. Good job.
-[Karen] She was fancier than this. -[music slows down and stops]
-[Alex] She done it longer. -[Karen laughing]
-When I come, I work until it's dark. -[swing music playing]
[Karen] I haven't really gotten to have much fun yet.
This shag dancing is the first fun I've had.
One, two, three. Rock, step.
One, two, three. One, two, three. Rock, step.
-One, two, three. One, two, three. -You did it! [laughs]
-[Austin] There it is. -Rock, step.
-[Alex] He is light on his feet. -Uh-huh. [chuckles]
-Nice. -[laughing]
There. See?
-[Alex] Excellent. Excellent. -[clapping]
And I feel like that could be one of my Wilmington activities,
is on a Friday night, show up
and just find people who will tolerate dancing with me.
-I know, 'cause-- -We're gonna give it a try. [laughing]
-Yeah. -Look at him.
[Austin] Small steps.
[Karen] This makes me so happy.
While Austin and I were out having fun yesterday,
Sean was busy building the wall frames
for the Murphy beds I want to do in the upstairs loft.
They'll be fun for the grandkids
and they were inspired by the beds Cory and I saw in the Battleship.
[saw whirring]
So basically, this is the bed.
-It folds over... -[Austin] Yeah.
...and gets chained up and it'll be angled down.
-[Austin] So then, yeah, we do need a beefy hinge. -[Sean] Yeah.
[Austin] 'Cause that'll be the only support
-on that backside. -Yeah.
-I would not advise me or you getting on it. -[Austin] No. No, no.
For a child, it sounds perfect.
[Austin] Yeah, that's true.
[Sean] And these are for grandkids, correct?
-[Karen] Yes. -Yeah.
We build a platform that a mattress will sit down in.
So, it's a piece of plywood and it's got a lip of two by fours.
And then, we put the hinges and we put the platform
and we put the hooks and we put the chains
and then, the face of the Murphy bed
has got plywood all the way around.
All right. Move the box.
So, when you hinge it up,
it looks like a wall.
[Austin] Mmm.
Okay, that was better than I thought it was gonna be.
Okay, all right. Well, let's leave it down for now.
You guys could not have built this any better. This is perfect.
But my idea for this space was, it's bonus.
I can put my sewing machine up here.
I can put my art supplies up here.
I can do whatever I want. It's not a place that people go.
Now, people are gonna go here.
Now I have to do something with it.
If the grandkids come, we play a lot of board games.
So, I think what we need is a board game situation.
[Austin] Hmm. I think it looks pretty good.
I'm feeling pretty good.
[Sean] Looks good, feel good.
Sean made it beautiful.
When it's all painted, white like the wall, it's gonna disappear.
Nice work.
I'm very excited about this.
Well, I'm happy to have come down and helped a little bit.
It was nice to be able to come and see a good bulk of progress happen.
To see you do it by yourself 800 miles away,
manage, split time back and forth is very cool.
But coming down here and doing this,
-I realized, I'm proving something to myself. -[Austin] Mmm-hmm.
[Karen] To be able to have a vision
-and manifest the vision... -[Austin] Mmm-hmm.
-[Karen] ...and feel like, I can do this. -[Austin] Mmm-hmm.
It's kind of nice to hear you say..
-[Austin] Yeah. -...that what I'm doing is, as he uses the word, "cool."
-It's cool. It's cool. -It's cool.
[upbeat music playing]
I have a birdcage and I think each of you
needs to make a bird to go in the birdcage.
How are we supposed to make a bird?
-I'm gonna show you. -Okay.
Wilmington seems to have some pretty good vintage antique places.
I was in one and here's this birdcage.
Look at this, Adelle.
And it's not vintage, and it's not antique.
It's just different.
Oh, it's even cooler when you can see the whole thing.
Look, it's got a little thing for a bird to sit on.
It's amazing.
And I don't know what I'm gonna do with it
and I don't know why I'm buying it.
But it's cool, so now I have it.
I had this idea that I would like each of you to decorate a bird
-that I could put in the birdcage. -[grandkid] Yeah.
-[Dom] So we're gonna put this in the Wilmington House. -[Alexandria] Oh.
-Yes, that's the plan. -[Dom whispers] Okay.
To put this in the Wilmington house
-as a little memento. -[Benjamin] Okay. Look, the feathers.
[Karen] Oh, yeah!
So this way, when I look at the birds you decorated,
I remember each and every one of you
and your special unique personalities and talents.
Can you put this on this bird's head so it looks like a Mohawk?
-[Karen] I can. -[Dom] I'm trying to do it.
[Karen] Okay.
It is so magical to be at this point in my life
where I can do what I want with my day.
My biggest struggle is I miss my grandkids
when I'm not in Indy. I miss them.
And what I've learned from being in Wilmington
is that when I get unplugged and I can completely recharge,
I bring a better me back to Indianapolis
to be the best grandma I can be.
What else do we wanna do to this bird? Anything else?
-[baby talk] -[Karen] Are we done with this bird?
[grunts softly] More.
Do you want more red? Okay.
-How's that? You happy with that? -[Benjamin indistinctly]
-[Dom] I'm doing the-- -[Karen laughs] No, I think we're good.
I love every single one of these.
After just a short stay in Indy,
I'm heading back to Wilmington because we are so close to getting it all wrapped up.
[Sean] I don't know how I like this.
[Karen] I'm surprising Sean with a fun pop of color in the bathroom.
-The rest of the house has so much personality. -[Sean] Mmm-hmm.
I wanted the bathroom to have personality.
We've got blue floor, we've got teal toilet,
we've got green vanity in here.
This bathroom's fun.
I see where you're going 100%.
-Couldn't be happier. -That's all that matters.
-I know. -It really is.
[Karen] While Sean works away at the remainder of the punch list,
I have a lot to do over at Maddie's house,
getting ready for her big reveal tomorrow.
We've all talked through the design of the room,
but they have done a ton of work behind the scenes.
[Nena] All right, so what we're gonna do
is we're gonna lay the mattress down
um, opposite or perpendicular to the way she had it before,
just to make sure we're gonna have plenty of room.
While I've been gone, Welcome Home Angel
has been doing all the heavy lifting.
All the furniture, all the clothes,
everything has been taken out of the space.
Everything's been sorted through with Madison
to get rid of the things she doesn't want anymore.
The room has been painted
and now we're ready to move back in and get reorganized.
Madison is young at heart.
So, I wanted to make her something special that was youthful,
but also spoke to her needs and comforted her.
She'll be able to kind of let her fingers dance on the water
-if she wants to. -[Karen] Mmm-hmm. Yeah.
You know what? It looks better in here
-than I did it at my house. -[Nena laughs]
So, Madison got sent out of the house today.
Door's gonna get locked when we're all done.
And then tomorrow, same thing.
Madison will get sent out of the house,
we will finish all the last few things
and then we'll show it to Madison.
This is a day Maddie is going to remember for the rest of her life.
[Nena] Whoo!
[all cheering]
[uplifting music playing]
-[Craig laughing] -[Nena] Whoo!
-[Angela] Exciting. Look. The crowd. -[laughing]
[laughing]
[woman] Aw!
[woman 2] Aw!
[Craig] Well, welcome home, family.
-It's okay. All right. -Let's go in and see your room.
[Craig] Come on.
-Oh, my gosh. -[Angela] Oh, my word.
[crowd cheering]
-[door opens] -Oh, my gosh.
-[Angela laughs] Oh, my gosh. -You can go in.
[pleasant music playing]
-Wow! -Oh, my word.
-[Madison] Wow. -[Angela] That is amazing.
I don't even know what to say.
It's so beautiful.
-I love it. -[Angela] Look at this beautiful artwork.
[Madison] Who made that picture?
[Karen] I made this with my friend Cory.
And I know that you like the ocean.
-[Madison] Yes. Yes. Yes. -And you like all those themes.
-[Madison] I do. -[Karen] So that's why I did the ocean.
-[Madison] Thank you. -[Karen] Oh, thank you.
-I made it so that you can touch it. -[Madison] Oh, wow.
-[Karen] It has different... -[Madison] I love it.
-[Karen] You feel here, it feels one way. -[Madison and Angela] Yeah.
-Feel here, it feels another way. -[Angela] Bumpy and smooth.
[Madison] Yeah.
I don't even know what to say, y'all.
I really don't. This is absolutely incredible.
Cleaning everything up off the floor for safety reasons,
for organizational reasons,
it just feels like a relief to Mom.
-Get things organized. -[Madison] I love it.
[Angela] Look at your shoes, Maddie.
[Madison] I love it.
-Oh, wow! -[Angela] Oh, my word!
[Madison] Oh, my gosh.
-[Angela] Now she can find her jewelry. -[Madison chuckles]
-[Karen] Mmm-hmm. -This is absolutely incredible.
Incredible what you have done for my child.
I want everybody to come in.
-Everybody come in. -Oh, my God.
[Karen] Everybody come in.
-Thank you for everything. -Thank you, thank you.
I have counted. You have more shoes than I have...
-I know. -...and my husband together.
[both laughing]
I'm a big believer in small things can make big changes.
And so getting invited to be part of Welcome Home Angel,
it's like I got this automatic hookup
to making communities better here in my new community,
which is so satisfying and gratifying to be able to be a helper.
I just wanna do more.
[Madison speaking]
[Karen] Oh, you're welcome.
[upbeat music playing]
While I've been busy with Madison,
things have been wrapping up at my house.
The walls were all painted a clean white,
since the floors were such a punch of color.
And now we're putting in my kitchen shelving.
[Sean] Bump it to me.
Bump it, bump it, bump it.
Boom, baby!
[Karen] All right, we're done.
Trim work is finishing up on the Murphy beds.
[nail gun thumping]
[Karen] And all throughout the house
we installed under lighting on the stairs,
which is a unique accent right when you walk in the door.
Soon we'll be ready to get this place furnished.
♪♪ Hey! Get out my way ♪
♪♪ All the boys and girls Know I don't play ♪
♪♪ No, I don't play, no ♪
-There we go. Perfect. -[Sean] Perfect.
♪♪ Hey! ♪
-[Karen] And this can tuck in inside the rails. -[MJ] Okay.
MJ is here.
And we are putting all the final touches on the house.
[MJ] It's been a journey.
But we reached the finish line.
-That is definitely Karen magic, for sure. -This looks amazing.
So, of course, you know me,
-I make friends everywhere I go. -[MJ] Yeah.
[Karen] And I made friends with one of the gals
who has a vintage consignment antique store.
And she said, "I have this bed."
I'm looking for a full size bed. That's all I want, full size.
She was like, "I have one."
And then I said, "Do you wanna have some fun?"
Oh, God. [laughs]
"Do you wanna make that old, brown bed, gold?
Like you went to Versailles?"
And she's like, "Yes, I wanna do that."
-[MJ whispers] What? -This is real gold.
And then it's waxed.
Like you would have done 800 years ago.
[MJ] That's insane.
I want this house to feel like a beach house
without having any seashells or fish,
or, you know, the typical beach house things.
[pleasant music playing]
So, I knew when Karen asked me to help her out, that it was gonna be super fun
and that I'd get to try a lot of new things.
-[Karen] Mmm-hmm. -[MJ] Because Karen loves a lot of color
and a lot of patterns.
And I love a challenge.
So, I knew that I could really let my freak flag fly.
We were able to, kind of like meet in the middle and merge.
-Two worlds collided. -Yes.
[MJ] So, who's coming to check out the house?
[Karen] So, my oldest son, Casmir
and his oldest son, Casmir.
The youngest one we call Caz.
And I haven't really shown them anything.
So, they're gonna be completely surprised.
This is gonna be perfect.
The three of us can sit here.
Chinese checkers is my favorite.
And Caz is beyond excited.
I'm always thinking of a potential future sale.
How is this gonna affect resale? I can't help that.
But for this house, I reel myself back in and say, "What do I want?"
And I've realized
it doesn't affect anyone if I get what I want.
Like, I can be happy,
doing what I want to do.
And that's okay.
I think this house is the culmination of that lesson.
I did everything I wanna do.
This is for me.
[uplifting music playing]
I'm looking forward to showing you this house
-because I'm very excited about it. -[Caz] Yeah, me too.
-Whoa! Sick! -Oh. What a great color.
♪♪ You're one on one Nothing's getting in my way ♪
Oh, my God. This is so cool.
-[Casmir] Beautiful. -[Caz] I really like the gutter.
-Like the copper color is great. -[Karen] Yeah.
-It's real copper. -[Casmir] I love the blue.
-[Caz] It is? -[Casmir] Yeah.
-Sick. -So that'll get like a green patina over time?
-[Karen] Yes. -[Casmir] That'll be cool.
I just like all of it. This all looks really good.
-[Karen] You wanna go inside? Come on. -Yeah, let's see it.
[Karen] I'm so excited to have you here.
This is everything.
All right, here we go.
-[Karen] Ready? -Let's see.
Come on in.
-Oh, my God. This is amazing! -[Casmir] What?
I just like all of it. This all looks really good.
-[Karen] You wanna go inside? -[Casmir] Yeah, let's see it.
Come on in.
-Oh, my God. This is amazing! -[Casmir] What?
[upbeat music playing]
-[Karen laughing] -[Casmir] Yes.
-I love it. -[Caz] I love it already.
-[Karen] That's what I was looking for. -[Caz] Oh, my God.
[Casmir] Love it.
[Caz] This is amazing.
Like from in here, it feels really big.
[Karen] And this is 600 square feet. Sean...
[Casmir] It feels very open though, with the loft
-and all the windows and the light. -[Karen] Yeah.
-It's not how far your feet can go. -[Casmir] Yeah.
[Karen] It's how far your eye can go.
You can see all the way across the space.
The house that I bought had not been loved for a long time.
It was partially demolished.
It looked like there were probably four rooms and a bathroom.
And we did a completely new layout.
Now it's the perfect getaway for me.
-[Casmir] I like the colors. -[Caz] This is amazing.
[Casmir] Okay, so I feel like you have to start by telling us about the floor.
This is ten inch wide, white oak.
I wanted hardwood, I wanted blue,
and it's all my hopes and dreams in a floor.
[Casmir] I don't think I've ever seen a blue floor before.
-[Karen] No. -Yeah.
-[Karen] No. -[Casmir] This is a first.
Come in. This couch needs to be sat on a little bit.
-I got that new puffy couch. -[Casmir] All right, scoot over.
-Let me sit in here too. -[Karen] What do you think?
Ah! Ooh, yeah. That's comfortable.
-Yeah. It's a nice couch. -[Casmir] That's nice.
[Karen] I want you to feel like you're at the beach
with no seashells, sign that says "Life is a beach,"
fish, you know, all those things.
[Casmir] I feel like all the colors work well together.
That chair, the couch, the blue, the plants.
Caz, do you see the birds?
[Caz] Oh, yeah. I remember painting those.
[Karen] Which bird is yours?
-'Cause I don't remember whose is who's. -[Caz] Oh, it was that one.
-That one's yours. -[Caz] Yup.
-That one, I think, is Dom's. -[Karen] I think that is Dom's.
-Yeah. -Dom just covered his whole one with gold.
-Like crazy gold. -[Casmir] All right. There we go.
[Caz] And then the one way back there, the reddish, I think, is Ben.
-And then... -[Casmir] Is one Alexandria's or is the other one BG's?
-[Caz] Yeah, that one's Alexandria's. -[Casmir] Okay.
I wanna show you my kitchen counter.
[Casmir] Yeah, let's check it out.
-All right, let's check it out. -Yeah.
[upbeat music playing]
[Casmir] What a cute little kitchen.
-[Caz] It's amazing. -[Casmir] Very funky. I like it.
This window had leaked for a long time
and the floor here got wet and rotted.
So, we put in a whole new floor system
and built everything back up to create my perfect little kitchen.
[Casmir] These are cool. So, they swivel.
-[Karen] They swivel. -[Caz] Yeah.
When you're not eating, there's room for walking.
-Get it out of the way. -Get it out of the way.
In a small place like this...
-[Karen] It's perfect. -[Casmir] ...that's pretty convenient.
-[Karen] And I had this vision... -[Caz] Cool.
[Karen] ...for a green glass countertop.
-Yeah, I really like this color. -[Karen] Isn't it pretty?
We built this countertop out of wood,
-we painted it easy green and then we did a resin pour. -[clicks tongue] Oh.
-It looks so much like the real kind. -Yeah, it looks like glass.
-Yeah, I can't believe it. -It looks nice. Yeah.
-It's beautiful. It's so light filled. -[Karen] Yeah.
-[Caz] It's so colorful. -[Karen] Is it too much color?
[Caz] No, it's like the perfect amount.
I think, for you, it's perfect.
[Karen] So, do you want to see the bedroom?
[Casmir] Yeah.
[funky music playing]
-[Caz] Oh. -Ah! Very nice.
Is this real gold?
-[Casmir] I like this. -It is real gold.
-[Casmir] Really? -[Karen] Yes.
-And then bathroom right behind you. -[Casmir] Oh, look at that.
-Oh, wow! Look at that. -Green toilet!
-Yeah, that is a unique toilet color. -[Karen laughing]
[Caz] It's a green toilet!
What inspired the color choice?
You don't see toilets of this hue very often.
Well, I wanted life to be easy here,
so I got an acrylic surround.
I didn't do any tile, I didn't do anything fancy.
And so, when the opportunity to buy a green toilet arose,
I thought it kind of makes up
-for the plain white shower. -[Casmir] That's the fancy move.
-[Karen] Yeah, that's the fancy. -[Casmir] Got it. Yeah.
All right.
You can see that their color is kind of a theme.
-Mmm-hmm. -And if do a little toss,
-you see how the color story goes all the way outside. -[Casmir] Oh, yeah.
-Let's go. -Let's go outside and see that.
Oh, wow. Look at that.
[upbeat music playing]
-[Casmir] What's going on out there? -[Karen] Yeah.
Uh, there's a story.
Whoa!
Oh-ho, that's cool.
-That's amazing. -[Karen] I know, right?
And so, I see this when I make my coffee in the morning.
-I see it when I wake up in the morning... -[Casmir] That's fun.
[Karen] ...and get out of bed.
You need a hammock. That's the one thing you need.
-Somewhere around here at some point. -[Karen] Oh! Yeah.
Hammock is a great idea.
[upbeat music playing]
-This is awesome. -Whoa!
-[Casmir] Look at this. -Beds! More bed.
-[Karen] More beds. -[Casmir] Wow!
-Wow! Super cute. -[Caz] Oh, wow.
Do you like, push it up?
[Karen] You push it up and you clip it.
-You can sit on it. -[Casmir] Give it a try.
-[Karen] It's pretty comfy. -Oh!
[Karen] Adelle would like to be a there with you.
There you go.
-[Casmir] Game area. -And you got all the games.
-Craft supplies. -[Casmir] Chess, dominos.
-Fun. -[Caz] If Dom comes up here,
he can't share a bed with me.
-Everybody gets their own bed. -[chuckles]
-But I'm sleeping in that bed. -[Karen] Okay.
-You're in that bed? You're calling that one? Okay. -[Caz] Yeah.
[laughing]
What I thought this house was gonna be for me
has completely changed.
Because I bought this house to move here and retire here and live here.
But I realized I would miss my family too much.
I can't live away from that.
So it's shifted a little for me
to where this is gonna be a place I visit
with regularity.
But maybe,
I can get some of the grandkids
on an airplane
and we spend a weekend together and we go to the beach.
That would be the best of both worlds.
That would be the best.
You've been coming down here a lot.
We were wondering what you were doing.
I thought it might have all just been made up.
-You were just hanging out on the beach. -[laughing]
You've clearly been busy, though.
And it's very you.
Like, it's a very unique, creative, artsy, light filled place.
-Aw. -Yeah.
I bought this house to retire.
And what I've learned in doing this is,
I'm nowhere near done.
All I ever do when I come here is work.
-[Caz] Yeah. -So let's go have some fun.
Yeah. Ghost tour.
-Yeah, I'm up for the ghost tour. -Ghost tour.
-Oh, my gosh. Yeah!
[Karen] I have amazing creative ideas.
This is how I create art in the world.
And I wanna keep doing it. I wanna keep doing it.