Good morning.
Just another day of making our favorite small town better.
- Erin, we gotta go, babe. - Go fix some old, sad houses.
Ben, let's go.
Growing up, I didn't see what was so special about Laurel.
So every day, we make sure our girls see it.
- Good morning, Katie. - Hey.
Can you believe we fixed up over 100 houses in Laurel?
There's so much opportunity, so many unloved houses.
I don't know what is gonna go wrong in here today.
I'm sure something.
Oh, a bat just flew through here.
- That's not good. - No way.
We're about to see the house for the first time.
- This is the best part. - Oh, my gosh!
Holy cow. Are you serious right now?
- Ben, did you make this? - Yeah, I made this!
The real truth of living and working in your hometown is
that you're gonna see these people everywhere forever.
- It's your superpower, Erin. - Color is her superpower.
- It is. - This is perfect.
Every day is different when you're renovating houses
in Laurel, Mississippi.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
So Joe and Brian are moving to Mississippi from California,
and they have been best friends since they were 11 years old.
- Joe. - Pleasure.
- Brian. - Ben.
- Nice to meet you. - Good to meet y'all.
They're like brothers.
Brian and I, we met each other back in the sixth grade.
We grew up in a small town called Temple City.
Had a population of about 18,000 people, which is about
the same population as Laurel. Temple City has changed now.
- It's over 40,000 people. - There's no friendliness.
Nobody's just smiling and saying good morning.
Every single person we've passed since we've been here
in Laurel, they're still smiling and saying, "Good morning."
Laurel is just less expensive, and you can buy a beautiful
home for a fraction of what it would cost in California.
The way I understand it is it's gonna be you,
Brian, and your mom. - His mom.
Yeah.
My mom has been a fan of the show
ever since its inception.
Being able to move to Laurel allows me to have extra money
to retire mom and to hire the professional help
that I'm gonna need.
But if the house doesn't work for Joe...
It doesn't work for anybody.
- Then it can't work out. - Yeah.
Yeah, I got to have the accessibility.
I got to have the access for the wheelchair and everything.
He reached out to us to say, "Before I think about buying
"this house, could you please go look at it and see if you think
it's a viable house for me?"
Y'all have not seen this house?
- No. - No.
Only online and in pictures.
Looking at it online for a couple of years, actually.
Wow.
And now it's come down to $350,000.
Makes it now in my price range.
Any house I move into is gonna need modifications.
And so my all-in budget was about $500,000, $550,000.
This is the McNeil house.
Four bedrooms, four baths, 5,600 square feet,
currently at $350,000, like you said.
He said that this house in his neighborhood would be
a $2 to $2.5 million home. - And here it's $350,000.
It really is made for your situation where you want
to have three adult people who want
their own separate spaces.
One wing for Joe, one wing for your mom, downstairs for Brian.
The basement, it could be a huge apartment,
like a whole house down there.
Since mom's older, I'm in a wheelchair, it's nice to have
that comfort of Brian to be able to move in with us
and be there.
You want to spend $200,000 on phase one, correct?
Yes.
If Ben and Erin are able to show me that this house will
work, and when I'm able to sell my house in California after
I move here, I could do phase two and fix up
the other parts of the house.
Do you like the color it is now?
- Do you wish it were different? - The white kind of goes.
The brick, it's very classic. It's very southern.
With the shutters, it's gorgeous.
Well, I have a painting to show you,
but it's basically the same. - Oh, nice.
Maybe this dark color around the door and the white door is
a little strange. I would kind of invert that.
We could paint the shutters a new color, just freshen up
the landscape in a little bit.
Out here, $10,000 literally just freshening everything up.
The house does need some HVAC work and some electrical work,
so another 20 grand before we ever go in the door.
- Yeah. - OK.
- Let's go see the inside. - All right.
- It's juicy.
Never done any job like this before.
We've never had a project where our homeowner
needed wheelchair access.
When I was 15 years old,
we're on my bicycle, he's on his.
The quick release on the 10-speed on the front tire
wasn't tight enough.
I flipped right over the front end of the handlebars,
landed on my head.
I became paralyzed at that point at 15 years of age.
That's when you know who your friends are.
I don't know what it would have become of me
without Joe as my best friend.
Brian took me in the wheelchair, and we walked
everywhere together. We'd walk to the mall.
We'd walk to do our role-playing game
with our buddies that we like to do.
We're unbeatable together.
- What do you think? - It's certainly... green.
It's big. I like it.
It's like a very grand entrance into the house.
- Yeah. - Yeah, it is.
And the brick floors are amazing.
Love it, because I don't leave a trail behind me,
easier to clean up with a wheelchair.
This wallpaper doesn't seem very you.
I'm not a big wallpaper kind of person.
- So, I'm thinking paint. - Paint, definitely.
Some fresh paint, some new lighting, and then here is
a beautiful office. - Oh, Moses, Joe.
Office space like this would be great.
I'm not sure if I'm gonna online teach or look for
local schools, something like that.
For me, being in a wheelchair has probably been
the best thing that's ever happened to me.
It made me do things that I wouldn't have done otherwise,
like going to college.
I was just planning on going into the military.
I became a teacher because of it, and I've been teaching
at Temple City High School for my-- this is my 24th year,
and it's been the greatest thing I've ever done.
He wants to keep teaching.
I hope he finds the perfect place to do that here.
Starting with flooring, let's talk about that.
- OK. - So we were thinking,
get rid of all the carpet, and then it
would be a really high-quality laminate flooring.
I'm not a big fan of carpet anyways, because the wheelchair
kind of sink in.
It slows you down and everything.
How do y'all feel about paneling?
Because it's having a revival right now,
but it's not for everybody.
- I like wood, but I don't like paneling. - OK.
So, for these rooms here, first two, 15 grand.
So right now, we've got a dining room that's sharing
this big area with the kitchen.
But I want to know, like, who is loving to cook?
- Everybody? - Mama's the big cook.
- OK. - Christmas lasagna.
- Yeah. - People fight over taking that home.
- Oh, man. - We'll be hanging over at Joe's house, and Joe's mom,
she feeds us.
That's Mary Lou. She's awesome.
After I broke my neck, my mom had to stop working.
She became my caretaker.
She's been my caretaker ever since I've been
in a wheelchair.
To be able to give back to my mom, I could give
her the world, and it's still
not enough for what she's done for me.
For the cabinets and everything,
instead of knobs, I like pull handles.
It's easier to get my hand inside and open that.
- I like it the same way. - Right?
- Mm-hmm. - Aren't they nice?
From what you've told me in your design survey, I feel like
your taste is a little bit modern, timeless.
So here's what I'm thinking. You got all that space there.
That's a dining room.
And on the other side of this wall,
that's a dining room, too. - That's wild.
- Yeah. - That's a lot of dining rooms.
What we think would work best, take out all this cabinetry
here that's separating that dining room from the kitchen,
so this all becomes kitchen.
Delete this wall on this side, too.
- Nice. - And we can build a peninsula here,
a new cabinetry that wraps the room.
You would have tons of storage here, a laminate flooring,
and then that cased opening would shrink a little bit
so that you could have double-wall ovens on one side
and a refrigerator built-in on the other side.
And then. under the window, would be your sink.
- You would have a sink on... - It's nice.
While you're doing dishes, you can look out.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
All of this where right now there's a dumbwaiter
and a built-in desk, we would take all of that out.
So you could have your cooktop built-in over here
with counter space on both sides, roll-under access
for the cooktop and the sink. - That's great.
This would be a $50,000 kitchen.
OK.
Which is the same price.
- Yeah. - Oh, yeah.
We're not talking about doing anything
that we don't normally do.
Nothing custom that changes the price here.
What is this thing? This...
- I don't know. - Uh...
I was just staring at that and thinking, what is that?
And open.
- No way. - It's a mixer.
What?
It reminds me of Star Trek.
He pushes the button, the Ubitron targeting device.
Everybody knows what that is.
Definitely, 100%.
And he uses that to attack Klingons or Romulans.
Pew!
Wow. That's fascinating.
I'm gonna raise the one eyebrow.
We're nerds.
- Boldly going where no one's... - Gone before.
Hey, we are boldly going where
we've never gone before. - For real.
This is where it gets really, really custom, but I think
it's what would make the house perfect.
- This house has-- - Nice stairs.
Yeah, two huge stairwells.
This one is right beside the carport.
Imagine if you come through the kitchen door here.
- It's a little bigger. - Forget these stairs.
They're dead to us.
And you would have a big pantry here.
There would be a wall, and that would create a gap
between that wall and this pantry.
Inside that gap would be an elevator that would open
into the dining room and take you down to the carport.
- That would be amazing. - Right?
Oh! How did you think of that?
The fact that you found this house online...
Is amazing, because it really is perfect.
Like, there's no other house where you could do that.
It has two staircases.
Let's go to the dining that you would actually use,
and you can see where that door would magically appear.
- All right. - Wow.
- Big room. - Yeah, it's a huge dining room.
Yeah.
And this would be the door to the elevator.
Automatic.
- You drive in, you unload your groceries... - Uh-huh.
...come up, you're right there in the kitchen.
So, for these rooms, this space across here,
including the lift, another 50 grand.
- Most of that goes to the lift. - But it's worth it.
It's what makes the house perfect.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Do you want to go see your wing of the estate?
- Yes. - This way.
- Huge living room. - Oh, I love this living room.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Awesome fireplace.
- Yep. - Oh, wow.
The double-sided fireplace.
Love fireplaces.
Hey, we're back.
- Here's the matching staircase that we talked about. - Mm-hmm.
- And then this is Joe's suite. - This room is huge.
Huge.
And here, I think it's just like paint, lighting.
The new flooring will, again, change how
everything feels. - Mm-hmm.
The bathroom is complicated.
- Wow. - OK.
- You see how
it's a little bit tricky to see the whole thing?
- Yeah. - It's a little narrow.
- It'd be a pain for me in the wheelchair to maneuver. - Yeah.
There's a pair of sinks in like two separate rooms.
- Like a dressing room. - It was his and her sinks,
his and her closets. - Oh.
But you kind of want to keep his and her sinks.
Might not be single forever, so you never know.
- I like it. - I like it.
- You're a romantic. - Yes.
We were thinking it would make sense to steal this little
closet here and make that a vanity. - Uh-huh.
Standard vanity here.
And then a roll-up vanity here.
- This wall could go away. - Mm-hmm.
And then this door and this wall would go away.
- So, this would be open space. - Yeah.
And you can just have a toilet over here.
We would do tile floors.
That access to the closet right now would go away
because you would enter from the bedroom side.
And then it would be clear, open access to what would
basically be a wet room.
That end of the bathroom becomes all shower.
You feel like this would work?
It's nice. It's open.
This room was the only one that I was sort of
second-guessing if it would work.
The biggest changes are mainly doorways and being able
to reach things.
- Otherwise... - That's it.
...everything else is pretty good.
It's gonna be interesting to see how do we make
functionality also beautiful.
For this bathroom, this is major surgery.
Tearing out walls, moving plumbing.
The Joe suite, $55,000. Now that's the whole $200,000.
Hmm.
- How do you feel? - It's a big investment.
- So, you like the house? - We doing this?
It's a big investment, but to bring everything up
and make it suitable for me, mom, Brian, it is worth it.
- What do you think, Brian? - I love the house.
And the ideas that Erin's got, yeah, they're gonna put
a lift in? Oh, yeah.
This is awesome!
- This is rad! - I'm doing it.
- OK. - This is it.
Fantastic.
And when you sell in California, then maybe you can
move on to phase two. - So, we're doing this?
- I'm gonna buy this house. - You'll be able to beam him up.
Yeah.
First ever elevator in a house!
- Oh, my gosh! - What was that?
There was a crazy spider on your neck!
- Holy smokes! - It was black and bright green.
- Oh, gosh! - Where did it go?
It's gonna be a lot of demo in this house.
But I'm bringing the thunder!
- I came in like a wrecking ball. - Like Miley Cyrus
in that music video. - That's right.
I should have wore that outfit.
Its effect...
I just want to say that I think this countertop is pretty.
It is very fun, and I like that tile.
It's OK. Well, it's not our house.
It's gonna be fun.
OK, or you can just be tall and do it that way.
♪ The moon and stars Are my guide ♪
♪ Just me and the open road ♪
♪ Had it going on ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
All right, DeShawn, let's put some mustard on this thing.
Yeah.
I showed up this morning prepared for demo.
The demo was done, so we started framing in
the floor of the pantry and starting the structure
for where the elevator shaft will be.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. - Yeah.
- Y'all did that so fast.
Taking out a stairwell seems really complicated.
Like, it's important to holding up something besides people
but I guess it's not. - It's just attached to the walls.
Stringers are nailed to the walls, and...
So it's like tearing down a wall.
- But like one step at a time. - Yeah.
Literally one step.
- Gosh, DeShawn. - Just one step.
That-- that dude, he's a father of two.
- You can tell. - Yeah.
- The dad jokes just come forth. - Yeah.
- He can't stop them. - Can't slow them down.
This is going to feel as though the house
was built this way. - It's like it was made for him.
The way it's so cleanly removed, it looks like it was
a dollhouse where you could choose to just pop in
a staircase or an elevator.
- Yes. - You choose.
No two-story house in town is like this.
It's so rad.
Once we get everything framed up around the elevator,
there are still days of work before the elevator can
actually be installed.
And I don't even know how we do that.
We're gonna learn.
Tony and I are prepping the zero-entry shower floor.
And by we, I mean I'm handing him screws.
It's an important job. Somebody's got to do it.
- Hey, hey. - Look at this.
- Amazing zero-entry shower.
So this will be bathroom floor, shower floor here.
Yes.
So it's just-- he can just roll right in.
- No ledge or anything. - Yeah.
What's the radius in here?
Are you talking about the diameter for ADA
accessibility in a shower? - Yeah, what is it?
- Five feet. - Can you turn around in there?
Oh, you've got more than five feet, then.
I'm five foot five. So we're good.
Before you see the pretty things,
you have to first make it ADA compliant.
And that's like making doorways wider, adding blocking
for strength for pulling up. So we're getting close.
This is open between here and that wall.
Yes.
We'll have to move all of these pipes.
- Everything comes out. - And when it's gone,
you'll be able to see.
He said that he wanted to have a standard vanity along
with the ADA vanity in case he meets the one-day Mrs. Antonio.
- Got to keep hope alive, right? - Always.
He's future-proofing in his house.
When Joe brings his special lady friend to the house,
she's gonna be impressed by that bathroom.
♪ All these dreams are of you ♪
♪ And I see that I'm running circles ♪
♪ When you're not with me ♪
♪ And now all these days I've spent too long alone ♪
♪ Gonna hold you in my arms and never let go ♪
This is like a totally different house.
Hey, Mr. Greg.
Mr. Greg, this is a first for us.
- First time... - A lot of firsts.
...to have an elevator in the house.
Whoa, that's scary.
Yeah.
Stop.
When you open that door, it feels like it's trying
to pull me in there, like there's a demon in there.
A magnet trying to pull you into the elevator shaft.
- Down in there. - He's scared of heights.
Not only are we doing a kitchen for someone
in a wheelchair, we're doing a kitchen with a lift.
We're doing a kitchen without an island that is one
of the biggest kitchens we've ever done.
And comfortable for Brian and his mom, who will also
share this kitchen.
- This is the wall where we want the stove top, a cooktop only. - Right.
And roll-under access for the cooktop and the sink.
And then I would like to have a pullout
underneath the microwave. - OK.
Because he has said when you need to get something hot
out of the microwave, he needs something to pull
it onto. Could we do that?
- Oh, yeah, that'd be perfect. - Just under the microwave.
And then a peninsula here.
We would have chairs on the backside here
in the dining room.
I just wish that there was some way that Joe can also eat
at the Peninsula.
Make him some pocket doors so he can swing and hide the doors
and slide up under it. - Yeah.
- He's not sitting there. - It would just look like standard storage,
normal cabinets. - Right.
But then it's a surprise.
- Yeah. - It has a space for him
to roll up to eat with his mom, his friend Brian,
anyone who's here. - OK.
- Sounds good to me.
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-da-da ♪
We knew that David was starting floors today, and so
Erin and I took some initiative.
We're removing the old carpet pad.
Please get every bit of it.
It is ruining all my shoes. It's like bubble gum.
Scrape it hard. Get it out.
And I'm sick of it. You want to see?
- I can't get it out. - Yeah.
- It's in there forever. - Hang on.
Don't cut apples for the girls with that knife.
Thanks.
- Good morning! - Good morning.
So we were trying to get you a little bit ahead here.
- Well, thank you. - Have you seen this flooring?
- This is very different. - First off, it's crazy thick.
It just sounds different.
It is kind of a cross between the vinyl and the laminate,
and this is supposed to be much better.
Well, we chose this because in all of our research, it said
this is an excellent choice for wheelchair use, that it locks
together in a more permanent way and it won't slip apart. - Right.
I like it.
It's long and wide and will go down quick.
And the bathroom tile is here.
- Yes, definitely want to talk about that. - Talk about that?
- I'm gonna keep scraping. - Thank you.
Yes, please. Thank you.
- Look at this. - It's huge.
This is like the most spacious...
bathroom. - Huge.
- Wow. - Wide open.
- I could live in here. - It's like--
It's so different than what it was.
It was like divided up into a million little
dressing rooms and vanities.
I mean, style-wise, Joe likes things kind of neutral.
OK. This could be neutral.
Warm colors. The tile is pretty simple.
Then this is our shower floor.
We really had to pull it out of Joe.
What do you love style-wise?
And he really was kind of like, "You know, I don't like any
crazy bright color."
That's really kind of all he gave me.
But what this means is, like, I'm just keeping things
very neutral.
I gotta lay his floor first, then get this tile to hit
exactly even with it. - For the smoothest transition.
We're learning, like, every room has a different
challenge that we haven't had to handle before,
and I'm loving learning... - That's true.
- ...new things. - You never stop learning.
- That's for real. - Yeah.
♪ Mississippi ♪
♪ What good's your scars without a little pain? ♪
♪ Mississippi ♪
- Mr. Greg, you only brought me half a chair. - What's up?
I thought you was building the whole thing.
Well, we only brought half a chair just
to whet your appetite.
Today in the wood shop,
we're gonna have a real American hero,
Mr. Greg Harkins.
- Who was the first president you made a rocking chair for? - Carter.
- Jimmy Carter? - Mm-hmm.
How many presidents since then have you made a chair for?
- Uh, five more. - Five more?
Wow.
He's a famous rocking chair maker, and one the most
interesting men I have ever had a conversation with.
I made a chair for Pope John Paul, and...
Hang on, you made a chair for the Pope?
- For the Pope. - Gotcha, OK.
Every single chair that he builds is a masterpiece.
And so I'm excited to have him in the shop today.
Let me tell you about these people we're making this for.
A gentleman, Mr. Joe Antonio.
Joe was in a-- had a bicycle accident and he's paralyzed.
And his mom has always been his caretaker.
They bought her great house.
- We thought it'd be great to give Mom a rocking chair. - Mm-hmm.
And who better to build a rocking chair
than Mr. Greg Harkins? - I agree with that.
- I knew you would. - Mm-hmm.
What is this?
- Bodock. - It's hard, right?
It's the densest wood in the state of Mississippi.
What do you do the weaving out of?
- That's hickory bark. - Oh, OK.
What all do we have left to do here?
We gone take and turn the front post.
OK.
And then go about putting the rest of the chair together.
I want to see how this turns on the lathe.
Okey doke.
Alright, next one.
Look at him, he's doing it backwards.
How am I doing it backwards?
Let me show you.
We will be in my shop, but he will be in charge.
- Lay it down? - Mm-hmm.
Well, now, you could have told me that before I picked it up.
I just wanted to see if you could pick it up.
All this soft living, you know.
Mm-hmm.
Knock it up.
So we still got to weave it, add the arms,
and add the rockers.
I think Joe's mama, and Joe, for that matter,
gonna love having this at the house.
Mm-hmm.
Joe really didn't care about color.
He said, "Whatever you think." But we don't have to be cream
everywhere just because he likes neutral.
So we've chosen some darker neutrals for around
the fireplace and in the kitchen on the cabinetry.
I really like the countertops we went with here.
- They have a lot of movement. - Not the bathroom.
No, the bathroom is a black mist.
- Leathered. - Leathered finish.
That one's my favorite.
We put it in our kitchen on the farm.
Oh, I really like these colors together.
- Let me see the tile with it. - Yes.
No, it's gonna be like a chocolatey warmth
up the wall. I think it'll be really pretty.
- It is neutral. - Love it.
Masculine. You could say it.
- It's masculine. - It is.
There's gonna be two dudes living here with Mom.
I like having it down low.
It's just a built-in dinner table.
- Mm-hmm. - It's so cool.
It's a big kitchen.
It's like a commercial kitchen.
It's so big. You could run--
Make whatever they want to make in here.
Frozen pizza? Real pizza?
Beef bourgin-win-gawn?
- Beef Bourbon-gnon. - Beef Wellington?
Beef Wellington? There we go.
- That's the one I wanted. - That's the one.
- Knock, knock. - Clayton!
- We have an elevator! - Whoa!
- Dang! - Dude!
I didn't know you'd be, like,
using the elevator at this point.
This is the frame of the elevator.
It works!
You just went up and down on it.
This is way smoother than I was expecting.
The older elevators, they had machines
and everything was way up top.
This one has an enclosed gearbox with a three-phase,
three-horsepower motor.
Like, it's all controlled from the pulls up there?
Well, the controls are in this closet.
When you install the cab,
it's all gonna be connected to that controller.
And then it'll have an electronic lock right here.
Lock only allows the door to open if the elevator's
at that floor level.
- OK, that's awesome. - Wow!
Fascinating.
Is there anything that we can help you with?
- Not really. - OK.
I mean, we've already done our part, Erin.
How do we do on the shaft?
So as far as the shaft goes,
this is a very good-built shaft, really.
- Good. - You hear that?
I probably had to use three or four shims this whole
rail system. - Wow.
And usually, you have to use a whole stack of shims.
OK. We have the best team.
The whole point in Joe's moving here is that he needs
a house that can be customized to work for him,
that he can afford to customize.
And so we're customizing every square inch
that we possibly can for him.
What's up, y'all?
- Hello, Ben. - Hey, hey! How's it working?
All right. Doing good.
We just fixing to put the rod in.
If you think about it, everything that Joe
has access to...
is probably four feet high.
And so if you've got a closet that's seven, eight feet up,
he can't reach those clothes.
This is Joe's primary bedroom, his primary closet.
He comes in. He needs a shirt from up here.
He just pulls her down.
It'll be easier with his clothes hanging on it.
Oh, yeah.
Send it back up.
And now his closet just tripled in size.
- It's awesome. - It's very cool.
How do y'all know Joe?
Kind of became friends around the-- I think it was
the fifth grade. - Well, that's cool.
So y'all have known him forever.
Yeah, I got to find some new friends.
Talking to Joe's buddies, two buddies he grew up with,
Rick and Ed.
After the accident, I got to spend a lot more time
with him. - Yeah.
Because gaming was one of the things that he could do.
So gaming is something that Joe did before the accident
and he was still able to do it after.
- Yeah. - I love that.
I want to build a game table
that is also a beautiful dinner table.
What we'll do is we'll take the top off.
It'll be four pieces.
You've got this whole world of gaming inside and two chunky,
modern-style pedestals.
Those lifts are gonna live inside that.
The inside of the table will raise up so that it's flush
with the top.
Lower it, cover it up, ready for dinner.
Joe's kind of a geek at heart,
so the fact that it's got some technology in his table,
I think, is gonna make him happy.
So, what all games do y'all play?
Lately, it's been Dungeons & Dragons.
That's cool. So this is, uh,
some form of Dungeons & Dragons, right?
- Yeah. - All right.
What is this thing?
It's like a lion, unicorn...
Chiron?
There's a druid, a cleric, a thief, assassin.
As luck would have it, my wizard just arrived.
This is Ronnie. Look at that beard.
- Thank you. - Very wizardy.
Very wizardy.
Ronnie is actually an expert in robotics.
Oh, nice.
I think I would be a troll in this world, right?
- Because I'm big. - An ogre.
- Ogre. - Ogre!
Ah! Yes.
All right, the wizard and I got it.
We'll see y'all later.
Ronnie and I? Wizard...
ogre. You know, big and strong.
Not stinky.
We're gonna use white oak. It needs to be durable.
It needs to be heavy because they said that Joe's furniture
is all very sturdy, heavy furniture, and which makes
sense because if he was to bump it with his wheelchair
or something, then you're not
worrying about breaking a leg on it or anything like that.
Oh yeah, baby!
♪ Watch us turn it up ♪
♪ Up ♪
♪ Watch us turn it up ♪
♪ See us come alive ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa ♪
- Is it ready? - We're almost there.
First-ever automatic door.
It's my first ever automatic door in a house, for sure.
Was it a nightmare or was it OK?
It was a little bit of a nightmare.
OK.
The instructions are in a foreign language.
But, you know, a great electrician...
Speaks all languages.
So we don't know yet if it's openable?
- Not positive yet. - OK.
Y'all will be the first trial run.
Hey, if it doesn't work, I'm sorry.
Here we go.
- There we go! - You did it!
So cool.
And then do you click this to close it?
- No, ma'am. - OK.
That actually times that on its own, so you don't have
to press anything else. - OK.
So cool.
I love it.
Joe's family is a unique one, where his best friend is more
like a brother, and his mom has been a caretaker,
but now he wants to give her a vacation.
What I hope is that you don't even think about the function
of the house, you see how comfortable and beautiful it is,
that it's not any different than any other beautiful home.
But then there are quiet customizations throughout
the house that make Joe's life easier and better.
I hope it's gonna feel like taking a deep breath finally
for his mom, especially, and for Joe,
just that we tried to think of everything.
All right. Welcome to the Antonio house.
Wow.
- Oh, man. - Nice.
- That is really nice. - It's not very different.
- No, yeah. - No, no, it's so cleaned up.
It is very cleaned up.
I like the rocking chair. Yeah.
So the rocking chair is for your mom.
- Yes! - Oh, wow.
This was built by a very famous chair maker,
the famous Greg Harkin. - It's beautiful.
- It is, it's gorgeous. - Mom's gonna love it.
You had talked about how this house was for you, but it was
more so for your mom for her to have a place to relax
and to do it here in Mississippi
with a front porch, you got to have
a rocking chair. - There you go.
Mm-hmm. So that's her chair.
- That's her chair. - Thank you.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
OK, now I can't wait for you to see the inside.
- It's amazing. - Yeah.
- Let's start at the elevator.
Normally, we would say, let's go through the front door, but...
- Let's do it. - I can't wait to see that.
- All right. - Yeah.
So you'll be able to just pull down here?
- Yep. - Yeah.
- Come on in. - There you go.
OK.
I love that Brian's gonna be living down here
In the super '70s. - Gotta love the '70s.
- Is this gonna be phase two? - Oh, yeah.
- You call us when you need us? - Definitely.
You know what that is?
- That's your elevator button. - Oh, OK.
- Wow. - And then the door works.
You have an elevator in your house, Joe.
- Look at that thing. - Not an elevator, a Joe-evator.
Joe-evator!
Y'all hop in. Pretty self-explanatory.
Two, one, lift off!
Yeah, but it won't do anything until this door closes.
That's right, and the upstairs won't open
until the elevator's there. - See you up there.
- All right.
Can you push the red button? That's awesome.
That's very smooth.
It's not jerky or anything like that.
- You ready? - All righty.
Oh, my. Oh, my god.
- Wow. - Oh, my god, Joe.
- Oh, my god. - Whoa.
- Wow. - Wow.
- It's huge. - Yeah.
- It is a huge piece. - Huge.
Wow.
- There's nothing in my way. - Yeah, no big island.
- Like an island. - Yeah.
What do you think, Joe?
It's good, ain't it?
You like the color scheme and all this?
I love the colors.
Just went with mossy greens and woodsy browns that felt
like the house is just surrounded by it.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And I wanted it to feel part of the landscape.
I love it. I love the stonework.
Cooktop. Love it.
It's great. I can get under it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, hope you're ready to cook.
Yeah. And then sink.
- Mm-hmm. - Wow.
Mom always likes the double basin, so...
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Check out under the microwave.
That custom drawer.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
And this is just a cutting board I put in there.
If you want a different size, I can make that.
But our thought was this one comes out.
- It's easier. - Yeah.
Yeah.
To take it out if you have a spill.
This is great because when you microwave something and it
comes out, it's hot.
But you can pull it out onto there.
- I'm not burning my lap. - Yeah.
We tried to think about everything that you had
requested and talked about plus some.
- Like this right here. - This is an extra little bonus.
What do we got here?
Oh, wow. This is great.
But if everybody's having dinner at the Peninsula,
then you can too. - Wow.
Yeah. I fit right under it.
It's great for working space, eating with everybody.
Yeah.
And you don't even know that it's there.
- Yeah. - You're in a wheelchair.
Nobody knows.
Well, I want anyone who comes in the house to forget
that it has any wheelchair accessibility because it should
just be seamless. - Yeah.
- It just flows. - Quietly accessible.
- Yeah. - Yeah, that's really good.
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Originally, there was a wall here.
- Mm-hmm. - Uh-huh.
So you couldn't see into your dining room.
Yeah.
Let's try out this table, see how it works.
- I love it. - Oh, love that.
Look at that. It's a nice blondie.
The armrests of the chair
don't hit anything. - Mm-hmm.
This one's custom-built for you.
- Yep. - And it's a little different
than a dinner table, OK? - Yep.
OK.
- Back on up. - All right.
Let's say that it's game night
and your buddies are coming over.
- Oh! - Oh, wow.
Oh, shut up. Look at that.
Grab that remote.
- What does this do? - Oh, I love it!
- Whoa. - Isn't that cool?
I feel like a super-villain now.
- Yeah, exactly. - You know?
That's amazing.
It's great.
It's got the felt on it for rolling the dice.
And then it gets time for supper.
You can just lower the table, put the top back on it.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
Thank you so much. This is amazing!
Yeah, of course. OK.
You want to see the den? The living room?
- Go see the foyer? - Yeah.
- There's so much more to see. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Let's go. - We will follow you.
Wow. Oh, my gosh!
This was just paint and lighting.
- Really? - Yeah.
It doesn't look like the same at all.
Looks like a totally different room.
The double-sided fireplace will be so awesome
in the winter. - I love the fireplace.
- Yeah. - Let's go look at it from the other side.
- Go see your study. - OK.
- Yeah. - All righty.
Oh, my goodness.
- Wow. - Wow.
Can you work remotely from here?
- Oh, my gosh! - Oh, I love this!
- Oh, wow. - Wow.
Working in here, looking out, and I love the shelves.
- Look at that. - It was so much brick before.
- It's better this way. - Yeah.
- Wow.
Since you work remotely and you're online,
you always want that background to look good.
Yeah.
Look at that window.
All that light is gonna pour in here.
And then the flooring throughout the house.
Yeah.
So the only floor that we kept in the house up here is
this brick in the foyer. - Yeah.
And this flooring, it's a new material.
Glued down, and it's locked together.
And so we were worried about with other flooring types is
that they might try to-- - They slide.
I've had that happen.
- As I turn, it would always slide. - Yeah.
We chose it specifically because of wheelchair use so
that they wouldn't separate. - Yeah.
Let's go see the bedroom.
- Yeah. - All right.
But what are we gonna do? There's no doorknob.
Oh, that's so interesting, Ben.
- How do I get in? - Almost as if...
There's a handle, but...
We thought of something for that.
- Whoa. - Yeah.
- Wow. - That's cool.
- Wow. - Wow.
Oh, my God! So strikingly different.
- Oh, my God, Joe! - Wow.
We wanted it to be cozy, but all about space
and movability, so you have plenty of room.
- It feels huge. - Yes.
It's a huge bedroom.
Yeah, easy enough to get in and out of the bed
because I have room on the side to get up next to it.
So, a lot of space.
Show them how cool the closet is.
Let's talk about your closet.
- Now there we go. - All right.
It is a big closet, OK?
But it's custom.
- Oh, wow. - All right.
We wanted you to have accessibility here.
We were only gonna do this one, but we liked it so much,
we decided to add another one here.
That is so slick. I've never seen those before.
Oh, that's great! Love it.
- So cool! - Gotta go see the bathroom.
- Yes. - OK.
Erin has been excited about you seeing the bathroom
for weeks.
- Oh, man. - Wow.
- Holy cow! - Wow.
- Whoa. - You could park a car
in here and still take a shower.
Yep. Isn't that cool?
This is so much more space than last time we were all
cramped in here up against the wall.
Yes. It was so strange and cut up.
Able to get in the shower.
Love it.
- We moved that... - Handle?
...so that you can turn it on without
getting sprayed. - Yeah.
When you're coming in, you can turn it on.
Yeah, you can turn it on ahead
of time and everything. - Warm up.
- So your mirror is adjustable. - Oh, that's perfect!
That's fantastic!
All the mirrors that I've used, I'm just looking, you know,
at it straight across. - Yeah.
But to be able to get the full shot sometimes, you want
to make sure that you to look good all the way.
That's right, make sure the white tennis shoes look
really good with the navy shirt. - Yeah.
I've got to make it match.
This is a kitchen sink faucet with a sprayer.
Oh, that's great!
I'm able to lean forward a little bit, use the sprayer
if I was just doing a quick wash. - Mm-hmm.
And I like the high part of the faucet because then I can
get under and wash everything and it's easier.
And the floors are completely waterproofed like a wet room.
There's an extra waterproofed layer under the towel because...
Oh, great!
...when you're in a chair, we learned that it pulls water
with you. - Yeah.
So the whole room is ready for, like, any amount of water.
OK, do you like the house? Did we get it right?
- You guys are amazing. - Wizards.
- It-- it's-- - You got it absolutely right.
- Just incredible. - We're wizards?
Wizards. Wizards.
And we can come back and retrofit the retro area
downstairs eventually, but phase one
was... - 550 grand.
It's purchase and renovation all-in.
I doubt you could get this much house in Temple City or L.A.
Couldn't even look at a house for that much.
No, no.
I hope it's comfortable for everybody.
- That's another thing about it. - It is amazing.
It is.
Mom's really gonna love the kitchen in there.
It's great.
It's what she's wanted to get back to a little bit
of a quieter,
peaceful time, and I'm...
Yeah.
Really happy to be able to get that for her.
- Yeah. - That's everything.
I mean, I know the house is set up a lot for me,
but the whole ride, the whole journey is
all about Mom. - The house is set up for you
so that she can have an easier life.
- Mm-hmm. - Exactly.
I know she's gonna love it.
- And her front porch. - And the rocker.
- Even though I can't sit in it myself. - Right beside her.
Well, when y'all are there together, it's rock and roll.
There you go.
- Well, what do you think? - I'm overwhelmed.
It's beautiful.
For all of us, the opportunity
to get to one day take care of your parents
is something that we don't think about.
But as you age, you hope you get there.
For Joe, he's there. He's accomplishing that.
And that is gonna be life-changing for everybody.
I couldn't be happier. Thank you.
Least I could do for everything you've been doing
for me all my life. - You don't owe me anything.
You've been the best son, so I'm thrilled.
- Well, I love you. - I love you too, babe.
I never in a million years thought this perfect, maintained
house would give us endless problems.
- Ah! - DeShawn!
You're ruining the house!
- I don't wanna freak you out. - OK.
We also found termite damage in the kitchen.
It puckered.
At this point, it would be surprising to find
anything else.
Are you ready?
Mind blown.