Every forever home has its own story.
-[Drew] And we can't wait to help tell it. -[laughing]
It's been in our family, uh, for generations.
Let me smash, let me smash!
[man] This is the next step.
[woman] The next chapter in my life.
-Hi-yah! Whoo! -[Drew] Love it!
-[Jonathan] After you. -Welcome home.
-[woman] Oh my goodness! -[man] Look at this!
-Oh, wow! -[laughing]
Let's go!
It feels like home.
[all laughing]
[Jonathan] Come on in for group hug!
[laughter]
Gosh, we met, what?
-Ten, 12 years? -Ten, 12 years, yeah, it's been a while.
[Brianne] Just randomly.
-[Dan] Yeah. The mall. -[Brianne] Mm-hmm.
You don't know the riff-raff you'll meet there. [laughs]
[Brianne] We've been married a year.
We have two kids,
-we have Jillian. -[Dan] She's six.
[Dan] And we have Jack, who's two.
[Brianne] And they both grew up here,
and this is the only house that they've ever known.
-[Brianne laughing] -[baby laughing]
Our journey to get to this house was certainly a long one.
We looked at house after house.
But, you know, the minute we walked in, it called your name.
It begged you to come sit down and relax.
It feels like, you know, the forever home.
But it doesn't act like it.
There's so many little bug-a-boos
and things that, yes, you can live with, but man,
if you were gonna do it forever, like, God,
it would be so great to get that fixed.
[Brianne] We've waited such a long time to renovate this house.
[Dan] We've been so busy raising the two kids,
and plus we needed to save up some cash for this renovation.
This home means so much to us already,
because it's the first and only home we've known as a family.
So it's the first steps, it's the first day of school,
it's all those things that just really make it so special.
[Brianne] You know, every day there's a little memory,
you know, that happens, and it all happened here, in this home.
[Jack giggling]
-And, it just... -Yeah.
-It's so hard to replace. -Yeah, it would be.
It would be very difficult.
Well, Brianne and Dan have definitely picked an amazing neighborhood.
[Jonathan] Well, gosh, I've never been up this way.
You're literally on the edge of the mountain.
[Drew] This is the kind of home
Mom and Dad would have loved to have.
[Drew knocking]
-[Jonathan and Drew] Hey! -[Brianne] Hi!
-[Brianne] Please come on in! -[Dan] Come on in!
-[Drew] Thank you, thank you. -[Jonathan] How are you? What a beautiful neighborhood!
Oh, thank you! We love it.
-[Jonathan] Yeah, it's crazy-- -[Brianne] Literally on the mountain, yeah.
I feel this is not a good spot for Jonathan.
-[Brianne] No. -I'm touching my hair.
-I have quite the clearance, but, yeah! -[all chuckle]
Have you ever had the idea of maybe raising this?
-Every single time we walk through it. -Yeah.
Well, in here, though. I love this.
I mean, this is a nice, big, wide living space.
[Dan] Yeah, it's the main living area, for sure.
[Brianne] Yes. Every night, we sit here with the kids before bed,
and we watch a special show together.
[Jonathan] Tell me about the world's largest TV.
-Yes, it is a huge TV. -[Dan] Could be bigger.
Do you both like that?
Has anybody ever said, "Man, I wish I bought a smaller TV"?
[all laugh]
-True. -[Dan] No.
[Brianne] And my haphazard attempt
to balance out the largeness of the TV with these standing shelves,
because I clearly can't build anything in
with these wonderful mirrors behind us.
[Jonathan] It does look a lot better if you have actual built-ins.
It would make it feel...
-Purposeful. -[Jonathan]...well, yeah, exactly.
One thing I'm noticing is, looking through here,
-you have this hardwood, that hardwood... -[Brianne] Yes.
-You have that tile. -[Brianne] Yes.
[Dan] You know, and actually, the lips, the raises,
I mean, the kids run through here and trip,
and drag their toes, and fall.
[Jonathan] Look at the gapping, too.
-The gapping is pretty bad. -[Brianne] Yeah.
Would you like to have new flooring,
-just flow continuously at the same level, everywhere? -[Brianne] We would.
-[Dan] Yes, 100%. -[Jonathan] Okay.
So one thing, um, that's usually weird to me about this,
is that we have such a large space,
but we use such a small portion of it.
-[Jonathan] Mm-hmm. -[Brianne] Because it's not laid out well enough for us.
-Yeah. -So this is your dead zone?
[Brianne] This is 100% the dead zone, yes.
[Jonathan] What do you think of the big ol' fireplace?
Um, yeah, I don't love it.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -Yeah, it's big and old,
are the two key words, I think, that, uh, would describe it well.
[Dan chuckles] We haven't used it at all, either.
-[Brianne] Ever. -Like, I mean, we hang stockings from it,
-you know, for Christmas. -[Brianne] Once a year.
-that's that. Just didn't happen here. -But aside from that,
you know, we saw the pictures of this,
and I almost didn't come look at it,
because, I mean, it was a paneling nightmare in this room,
you can't tell, 'cause we painted it, thank God, but--
-Oh, I can tell. -[Brianne laughs] It was an orange--
[Dan] Everything was burnt orange.
-Oh, really? -[Brianne] But, you know,
really, it was from the minute we walked in the front door,
and we just saw this big open space too,
effectively, this wall of glass,
looking out at the backyard,
and I had this vision, right? To open those doors,
and the kids would be playing, but honestly,
they don't function very well.
-I gotta test this. -[Brianne] Yeah. Be careful.
-The glass is very thick. [laughs] -[Drew] Is it gonna bite me?
[groaning]
-[all chuckling] -[groaning]
-So they're a little sticky. -[Drew] Okay.
Yeah. Thanks, Hercules.
I think these are original.
-[Brianne] I think...Yeah. -They look original. Yeah.
This house was designed to showcase this yard,
and with what you guys have done outside,
it's absolutely beautiful, so yeah,
you should have ease in opening it up,
and letting the kids come and go.
Yeah, that is, always sort of been the vision.
We bought this house, and it,
it was someone else's house,
and we've slowly made it our own,
but now we really get a chance to kind of,
put our stamp on things, and make it how we actually want it.
-[Brianne] Yes. -And I notice you have a bedroom up here...
-We do. -...which, this was probably meant to be an office,
originally, but who stays in here?
[Dan] It was our OG office, and then Jack's room once he was born.
-[Brianne] Yeah. -[Jonathan] Oh...
So, is there any issues with this room?
-Well, there's a whole host of issues! -[laughing]
[loudly] Are there any issues that could
-freak out your child while they sleep? -[laughs]
-[Brianne] Can't hear you! -This is what nightmares are made of.
[laughing]
So this is the whole home
ventilation system they used to have,
before air conditioning, before all that,
that's what it was.
So that makes me think that at some point,
this was probably more open, to the main area.
It wasn't necessarily closed off like a bedroom,
because that was how you circulated the air, and cooled it down.
-How many bedrooms in total are there? -Four.
-Including this one? -Including this one.
Uh, but we use one as an office.
[Dan] And it's a little bit smaller, too.
It's not as big as this spot, so...
[Brianne] We moved Jack from this room,
'cause he would have outgrown it in a couple of years.
Okay, so you wanted Jack to have the bigger room?
Yeah, but, you know, there's no bathroom close by.
I mean, you have to walk through the house to get to a bathroom.
So are you saying you would like to find a way
to have a bedroom for Jack, not in this area, though?
I think so, yes.
Well, why don't we go around and look at that side of the house?
Oh, yeah. That is quite the lip, coming into the kitchen.
So, before, oh my gosh!
-[Brianne] A second! -[Jonathan] There's another one!
[Brianne] It's bizarre. And, like, this is just, like, a huge hazard with the kids.
Like, I try to put stuff in front of it, to, like,
prevent them from, like, just hitting their head on it.
[Dan] The fireplaces are ridiculous,
because they're a huge space suck.
You know, it's 100 degrees right now. Like, we don't need a fire.
[Brianne] And, like, outside of the fireplace,
I mean, this is just a wide, open space
that also just becomes a hallway,
or a place to just store stuff.
I mean, the house is filled with so many spaces
that are sort of underutilized.
This is part of the puzzle we need to figure out,
because there's a lot we can do with these areas.
[Jonathan] I do love the sightline of the yard,
I love the natural light.
Do you use this a lot? Is this where you have your formal dinners?
We use this almost all the time.
I mean, every meal is really eaten here.
Um, because we, we have this,
island-ish or peninsula here,
but it's not really functional, so--
Wait, what is happening here?
What kind of cabinets are these?
They're the wraparound, behind the microwave cabinet.
You mean you don't, you don't have those all the time?
Oh, it's a microwave down here.
Oh, so basically, this is where you,
oh, you need a spoon or a ladle?
-Here you go. -Perfect. That's great.
-I like that. Okay, this... -[Brianne laughs]
-...a problem. -This, a problem.
-Come in here for a second. -Oh, yeah.
Oh, look. It's even buffed where people have hit their head on it.
-[Drew] Do you guys like to cook? -[Brianne and Dan] We do.
[Drew] So, and, do you like the kitchen
being tucked away in this little cave over here?
-No! -No.
You know, again, when we moved in here,
I had these visions that the kids would be sitting here,
and I'd be serving them their meals.
But in reality, they sit here,
they wanna touch the stove, so it's such a hazard.
And, this makes this part of your counter
-completely useless. -Completely unusable.
-Well-- -And I mean, there's still other terrible things here.
-Oh, this door. -I mean, when you come in, from the garage...
-[Brianne] Somebody is always at the fridge. Um. -[Jonathan] Mm-hmm.
-The kids drop their stuff... -The kids drop stuff here. Book bags.
[Brianne] Because there's just no place to put anything...
-[Jonathan] Okay. -...it's just this huge choke point.
Yeah, this kitchen is not inspiring.
-It is so dark. -So dark.
-[Drew] Yeah. -And so disconnected.
[Jonathan] Right now, you have a lot of wasted space.
Pulling down the wall that separates
the kitchen from the living area,
and getting rid of the bulky fireplaces,
would allow us to give you a much better functioning kitchen,
eliminating the dead zones that aren't working for you.
We haven't actually asked. What's your style?
What are you looking for, for the aesthetic?
I think I'm a little bit more, maybe traditional,
I kind of like that, I think it's called California casual.
A relaxed vibe, I guess.
-[Drew] Earth tones, right? Wood tones. -[Brianne] Yes. Yes.
[Dan] Very kind of timeless, I think, more than anything.
So that it's not, like, oh, in another 10 years, like, oh, god,
-we gotta rip everything out. -[Jonathan] Yeah.
-[Dan] Because we went with an avocado fridge. -[laughing]
[Drew] So, knowing that there could be some major things
that we have to do, what do you wanna spend?
Well, we've talked about it.
Um, and we feel comfortable spending up to $250,000.
[both] Okay.
[Jonathan] $250,000 would seem like a lot of money,
but we're dealing with a lot of house, here.
You've been saving up for years,
and it's also an emotional investment,
so we're gonna be careful where we spend that.
This is a mid-50s home,
we can come across a lot of problems,
perhaps cheap work that was done over the years,
it's really gonna compromise some of the structure.
-I'll put together two options for you. -[Brianne] Okay.
But no matter what we do,
everything will now be tailored...
-Yeah. -...to what's gonna make life better.
Sounds incredible.
If you're ready, clear out the house,
and we'll start demo within a week.
-Okay! -[Dan] All right, awesome!
-[Jonathan] Don't look so nervous! -[Brianne] I'm nervous!
I feel terrified about living through
a large-scale renovation. [laughs]
Absolutely terrified!
Yeah, I mean, it's very scary. Like,
this is obviously our biggest, kind of, investment,
so it's definitely stressful, and,
-you know... -But it's also exciting.
-Okie-doke...whoa! -[Brianne laughs]
-Forgot about that. -Watch your head.
Heads up!
You know, honestly,
it's such a great space.
It draws you right in...
-Doesn't it? -...it has all the good things peppered in,
-with a couple not so good things. -What?
But it's for all your ballet!
You can't, there's no bar!
-[Brianne laughs] -How am I supposed to do my ballet stretches
if we don't have the bar?
You know, it was said a long time ago,
that mirrors help make a room feel bigger.
And this is technically true.
They also help a space feel like it's stuck in the 80s.
All right, we ready to do this?
[Jonathan] Yeah, we...
-Let's go! Let's go! -[all laughing]
You've been waiting the whole time!
There was a little bit of dancing,
there's a little bit of flexing,
what else are you gonna do in front of these mirrors?
'Cause you're not looking at them for aesthetic purposes.
-Ready for a flashback? -[Brianne] I'm ready.
Check it out!
-[Brianne] Whoa! -Yeah!
Oh, yeah. That is original, right there.
-[laughing] -You can't buy that look anymore.
Oh my gosh.
[Dan] I don't think it's a natural color, either. I think it was, like...
-[Brianne laughs] Somebody picked it. -[Dan] Yeah, they picked it,
and then smoked by it for 30 years.
I think there's a lot of things that are sort of ridiculous in this house,
that we never changed for one reason or another,
but the problem is, is then I would have to try and fix it, so...
-[Brianne] I mean... -[Dan] Now that it's not my problem,
yeah, let's start breaking stuff.
-Yes! -[Brianne] Oh my god!
I can see how much they're enjoying the demolition.
Pulling out that weird bookshelf thing,
and then Brianne and the fireplace,
every brick that breaks away,
she's getting more and more excited,
and that's what I wanna see,
because that means we're doing something right.
[Brianne] Look at this! Oh!
[grunts] See how satisfying that is?
-So satisfying! -[laughs]
Anything else you wanna smash next?
-Let's get that kitchen out. -[Jonathan laughs]
-More smashing! -[Brianne laughs]
-[Dan] All right. -[Jonathan] Let's go.
[Jonathan] Dan and Brianne's house was never suited to their lifestyle,
especially when it comes to their closed-off, dark kitchen.
And this beast of a range hood,
it's gonna be the first to go.
[Brianne] This is a really big day for me.
-[Brianne laughs] -Let's put this over here.
Look at it!
Wow!
I mean, just that, changes so much.
-I think we should just get this all out. -Let's do it.
[laughing] Yes!
[Brianne] I am shocked how easy that came down!
That was all because you loosened it over there.
-I mean, of course, right? -I'm impressed.
There is nothing in this kitchen that is adding any value.
[Brianne] Oh my gosh!
[Jonathan] There is nothing in this kitchen that can be saved.
It all has to just go.
[Jonathan] There we go.
[Jonathan] This is what they needed to get out of the way,
so they could really see the future.
As you can see, there are so many nails,
gas lines, other electrical and whatnot,
it's gonna start to get very complex.
I'm cool if you guys wanna call it a day.
Let us to the rest of the dirty work.
-I will. -And I'll see you guys when we have some options.
-Nice job! -[Brianne] Thank you!
[Brianne] There has been a lot of stress, and so,
it's nice to come take that stress out,
-so that, you know-- -Yeah, today was therapeutic.
It was great.
I have some amazing inspiration for Dan and Brianne.
This is a house that has a lot of style, a lot of function,
and every space has purpose.
It's a beautiful house from Brother Vs. Brother,
and even though it was Jonathan who won the challenge...
Yeah!
...I'm not holding it against him.
Well, not too much.
I want Dan and Brianne to see the smart use of space.
What are you expecting to see?
Just something new and updated, I'm excited.
[Drew] This house is gorgeous.
I will admit, Jonathan did the renovation on this, not me.
-[Brianne laughs] -[Dan] Oh, boy.
-[Drew] So... -We won't hold it against you.
[Drew] There's a little bit of inspiration here
that I think will work for your house.
[Brianne] I'm excited. [Dan] Let's take a look.
[Brianne gasps]
Wow!
-This is just welcoming! -[Drew] Mm-hmm.
[Brianne] I love the feeling you get when you walk in here.
[Dan] It's very grand. It's spectacular.
[Drew] Well, you know the thing,
the living room is actually a little smaller than your living room.
So if you feel that this is grand,
I mean, I think we can do something impressive for your house.
That's maybe because the fireplace only comes out
ten inches from the wall.
-That's right. -Yeah.
Taking away your old fireplace
-will actually add about 600 square feet to your home. -[Brianne laughs] I think so.
That's very true.
[Drew] What do you want for furniture?
Comfy? Cozy?
-Something a little more structured? -[Dan] Just all pillows.
[Brianne] No, I want this.
I just want our living room
to feel like a comfortable place
Yeah, that it's fun and it's inviting,
that it's not overly formal.
Well, if you look at this house here they have kids
so they want to make sure that they're getting lots of storage,
but they still want it to feel spacious, and inviting, and comfortable.
[Briannne] Which is exactly what I think we're looking to do.
[Dan] Yeah, it's a great touch
that you can just put things away and get it out of sight.
Well, you guys had so much dead space,
so I'm glad that we're able to reconfigure
to actually give you a better flow.
Come on in here to the dining space.
And you can see this is a pretty massive dining room.
[Brianne] I would love just seating for eight.
It's a production every time someone comes over,
-and just having the size -Yeah.
to accommodate our, kind of, standard number would be great.
I mean, I really like the way that this is set up.
I generally like a wood table and I do like fabric chairs.
The other thing I really like in this space, that I've noticed,
is really the use of mixed metals
with the black here
but then there's some brass
-over there, -Mmm-hmm.
and there's just a well-balanced combination.
It doesn't look too matchy-matchy, just complimentary.
Cool, well, would you like to see a kitchen
-that is ginormous? -I would love to see a kitchen.
-Yeah. -This is why Jonathan beat me
on Brother Vs. Brother this season.
[Brianne] I can see why.
[Drew] Yeah, I mean, two islands, this gorgeous big kitchen.
It's stunning.
Now, I'm not saying we can put a kitchen this big into your house,
we want to make sure we leave spaces for other rooms,
but a lot of the elements within this kitchen, I think, could work perfectly.
-I mean, we don't need bedrooms. -[laughs]
Hey, you know what, if you want the kids to sleep together.
-You know, if we just... Yeah, yeah, yeah. -If we pull out a drawer.
I feel that overall, with the aesthetic as you can see,
Jonathan was trying to do something that was maybe
a bit more of a Spanish vibe
-throughout the house. -[Brianne] Mmm-hmm.
I mean, I really like, kind of,
the wood cabinets and the two-tone, it's great.
I like two-tone. I don't know that I like this two-tone.
[Dan] Yeah, I think sort of the timeless, modern,
-you know, black and white, kind of never go out of style. -Sure.
I even like a different countertop
-between the two surfaces. -Okay.
[Drew] Do you like a pop on the backsplash?
[Brianne] I like a pop.
I don't know that I like this much pop.
I kind of like the seamless look
with the slab backsplash
where the countertops
-is kind of the same. -Yeah.
-All the way up? -Mmm-hmm, yeah.
-Okay, yeah. -I think that looks really nice.
-What else do you think? -You know, one of the things,
a pet peeve of mine is just so much stuff on the countertop.
And so I would love just storage
to just kind of tuck those away.
Awesome, well, I'll get all that information to Jonathan,
we'll come up with some really good options for you,
-and then we'll go from there. -Sounds great.
[Jonathan] We're finishing demo
to show Dan and Brianne their space completely open.
The old footprint of their home
may have worked for the previous owners
but it didn't work for them.
Now they'll finally get to make it their own.
[Dan] Let's go.
-Oh, my God. -Wow.
-[Brianne scoffs] -[Dan] Look how big it is.
[Brianne] It's huge, right? No, I mean, it's, it, wow.
[Brianne] It's so open.
-[Dan] Down to the studs. -[Brianne] Look at this.
-[Jonathan] Doesn't it look good? -[Dan] Very large.
I mean, those walls were just, you know, what, to here, obviously.
-You're going like this, "It's calling me." -Yeah.
-It's calling me. It's just... -It's drawing you into the kitchen.
[Dan] Yeah, I mean, everything feels so much bigger.
[Drew] It's just nice to be able to open things up
and start with, sort of, a blank slate.
Shall we talk options?
-Let's do it. -Let's talk options.
Option one.
We would keep the kitchen in its location
but expand it across, giving you a kitchen that's twice the size.
There would be room for a massive island with breakfast bar seating,
and we'll ship the range off to one side
away from curious fingers.
You'll have way better flow, tons more cabinet storage, and useable prep space.
And, in addition to that,
we'll build you a walk-in pantry
where your dining area used to be.
-[Brianne] Really? -[Jonathan] Yeah.
[Brianne] That's exciting.
[Jonathan] Your new dining area
will be located just off the kitchen
because removing the fireplaces
will allow you so much more usable space.
We'll add a large table that seats eight
and a sideboard for more storage.
The living room is the same in both options.
It's the area where you gather the most so it needs a serious update.
Now that we've lost the mirror walls and shelving,
we can do custom built-ins on either side of your TV.
And we'll give you a wall of collapsible garden doors easy to open
to make an effortless flow for that indoor-outdoor entertaining.
That sounds pretty amazing.
I mean, that's a pretty substantial kitchen.
I mean, you saw how kind of cramped
and how hard it was to come in out of the garage,
and it was just so disjointed, and...
I mean, and who doesn't love a big island?
I mean, I can just see sitting there with the kids,
-you know, holiday baking or pizza night, -Mmm-hmm.
or whatever, right?
-That's option one -Okay.
at $235,000,
and we could have it done in seven weeks.
Nice. [laughs]
Option two, however, gives you the same collapsible glass wall,
beautiful hardwood floors,
but we would be completely flipping the footprint of the home
by taking out this bedroom at the front.
We'll flip the kitchen to the front of the house
where Jack's bedroom currently is.
You'll have a big island, lots of breakfast bar seating, tons of storage space,
but no walk-in pantry.
Don't worry, I'm not gonna make Jack sleep in the garage.
We would build him a brand new bedroom at the back of the house
so all the bedrooms are tucked away nicely.
Your dining area would be where you had it before, just off the kitchen,
with a large rectangular table with seating for eight.
Without the brick fireplaces,
it'll be much better connected to the new kitchen
for easy entertaining.
No dead zones.
It's a lot of work to flip the location of a kitchen.
You're running all of your, you know,
plumbing, electrical, everything you need a much longer distance.
So option two would max you out at $250,000.
It would take nine weeks to complete.
It could be worth it in the end,
or it could be worth it to have a kitchen twice as big.
-It's a hard choice. -Yeah.
What I like about both options is, you know,
we had this space was dead, this space over here was dead,
and functionally that didn't make a lot of sense.
So both really use the space well
-and recapture some of that dead space -Mmm-hmm.
to make it more livable.
They both sound beautiful and they both sound amazing,
but I think the function in option two is superior, perhaps,
to the function in option one is.
It makes more sense.
It seems like, yes, it's more expensive,
yes, it's gonna take longer,
but I think ultimately, like, we'll be happier with how it ends up.
[Brianne] What do you think?
-Think... -Two.
Option two.
-Okay, good. -Okay, we're closing the kitchen, great.
-Let's do it. -This is exciting though.
I can already see, like, that's just feels like the kids wing over there.
-It feels like the bedroom wing. -[Brianne] It does.
-This is gonna be perfect. -We're excited.
This means you guys are officially out until it is done,
and we'll see you back in nine weeks.
-Awesome, thank you. -Yeah, all right, thank you.
[Brianne] You know, you can take things down
and you can make them beautiful,
but changing the house's function, to me,
was really the most important part of this.
Yeah, I think moving the bedroom is gonna be key
so that there's kind of wings on the house and for sleeping in,
all the main function of the living, cooking is all kind of in the middle,
but it's just gonna be fantastic.
Oh, my God.
[Jonathan] Dan and Brianne chose option two,
which means the kitchen is moving to the front of the house
and Jack's room will be relocated to the back.
I have a question for you guys.
What's our plan with the fireplace here?
How are we gonna take this beast down?
The issue we have is [chuckles] the way the house was originally built.
They used the fireplace to support the load of a lot of the roof
and of the ceiling joist,
-Yeah. -so there is quite a bit of weight sitting right here.
Yeah, so we got short it a little bit on this side,
and a little bit into the old kitchen area.
Which isn't gonna be, you know,
a real issue as far as structure
because we were already gonna do
-a new beam across here. -Yeah.
-We have to extend this beam -Yeah.
right to the back wall
-of the existing bedroom, -Right.
but it means it's a pretty substantial beam
-Yeah. -but it's also gonna require big footings.
Yeah.
I'm wondering if, obviously putting in this new beam
we can choose what height we want to do it at,
do we want to push it all the way up
so that it's flush from the entry right into the main...
Oh, absolutely. I mean, let's look at the cost difference.
But if we can have an inline beam to go flush, absolutely.
Why don't we do this?
While you guys finish pulling some of this back,
I'm gonna poke a hole over here.
[Drew] This house was built in 1953,
and we already knew that there was a vent in the ceiling
of the front bedroom.
Are there any issues
-that could freak out your child while they sleep? -I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
-[Brianne] Can't hear you. -This is what nightmares are made of.
[Jonathan] Who knows what other kind of HVAC we're gonna find,
or electrical, or gas lines?
You name it, it could be thousands of dollars
to raise the height of this ceiling at the front entry.
I'm a little afraid.
-[Drew] Huh? -What if I find something and we can't raise this?
Drew, can you pull the insulation out for me?
No, I'm good over here.
[exclaiming in disgust]
-Puh. -Puh.
All right. Oh, my gosh.
What is happening here?
All right. Oh, my gosh.
There's nothing.
-It's not even sheet on top of here. -[Adam] We're good? Yeah?
This is wide open.
I guarantee it was one of those things like back in the day
where they were like, "No, feel like it's, like,
the tunnel that you're coming through
-when you get to your living room -[Adam] Yeah.
and open up to the living room."
All right, we'll take all this up.
They're gonna love their new front entry.
No matter how much grease you put in those tracks, it will never function.
These doors are the bane of my existence,
and I cannot, for the life of me,
source new doors to replace this that will get here in time.
-Everything is, like, a two plus month wait. -Do not say that.
You have one job.
-Oh, one job? -One job is to find the...
There's no way, if we finish all of this, made it beautiful,
and we didn't change these doors out they would not be happy.
The earliest I can get doors is three months.
There's got to be a way.
-I will keep looking. -I believe in you.
I think you can do this.
I'm gonna continue with the ridiculously slow brick removal.
It's fine, leave this with me.
I'll go back to the drawing board.
I will figure something out.
We are not leaving this house with a giant hole
in the back of the living room.
[whispering] One job.
[chuckling] You and your one job.
[Drew] The fireplace is a beast that needs to be put to rest.
[Jonathan] We've done some pretty massive fireplaces over the years.
This could take the cake.
[Jonathan] Our fireplace is now completely gone. It was so bulky.
We've given them back all the space
that they can use for living in.
So, our next step is to create two very large footings.
This involves some rebar and a lot of concrete.
Once it sets, these footings will be the foundation
to hold up our new massive support beam.
While we wait for our concrete to cure,
I'll be resizing the windows at the front of the house
to accommodate the run of cabinets underneath.
And at the back of the house the old kitchen space will become a new bedroom.
I don't know who is gonna be lucky getting the big room,
Jack or Jilly,
but this is gonna be an incredible space.
Do they need direct access to the garage
or shall we move that door as well?
-Definitely move the door. [laughs] -Well, I think both the kids
-have nice cars, so... -Yeah, those little, like, tiny jeeps
that you drive around.
Access to the garage didn't work
when this space was a kitchen
and it definitely won't work in a bedroom,
but we can easily reposition to the other side.
What I love about this new bedroom configuration
is that we're gonna completely transform the living space,
allowing the center footprint of our design
to be the hub of the home.
[Drew] Dan and Brianne's overall design style
is comfortable, casual, timeless.
Johnathan and I need to find the right pieces
to go with their style
and put their own personal stamp on this home.
Couple of samples for furniture pieces.
I mean, they love that Californian vibe.
Brianne just wants something that does feel updated.
They love wood tones,
so if you want to do some wood cabinets
-that would be nice. -Yeah.
He likes black and white.
If were to go... This is nice.
-I think they would do, like, a black. -Yes.
-Maybe... -That's the one.
And you know what? Maybe a thin profile or something like this?
[Jonathan] Nice, nice. I like the look of this.
And then for flooring I actually have a sample that would be perfect.
Something not too light,
-not too dark. -Oh, look at that.
-Just right. -In this gorgeous natural tone.
Well, just seeing that flow through the whole space is gonna look amazing.
So, if we were to do black and white countertops...
-Yeah. -Grab those.
-Use this. -Mmm-hmm.
But the black, actually, like,
-the soapstone has a lighter tone to it -Yeah, less veining.
so that's good.
Hardware, what do we want to do?
Do we want to do bigger, smaller?
We're doing a low-profile shaker
so do we want to go like that or like that?
[snickers]
I mean, this is beautiful for the kitchen,
but for the living room they do want to bring pops of color into it.
That's nice. Not that side.
Oh, yeah, just something like that would be kind of nice.
Maybe this mossy green as well? Yeah.
Okay, I love it.
They'll have the sight lines,
-they'll have that beautiful style. -They're gonna have
that Californian feel that they're looking for.
There's only one more thing that we're missing.
[groans] Okay, good. All right, I'm out.
If that lid comes off of there.
[Jonathan] Dan and Brianne's house
[laughing] is a little beat up right now.
We've got the ceilings ripped apart, the floor is ripped open,
but we're making way for the biggest beam I've put in this year.
All right, hold up there one sec.
I'm actually having, like, a little bit of a flashback moment
because we don't do these kind of beams all the time anymore
-because we've got all the different, -LVL.
yeah, LVLs,
and we've got all the different laminated beams,
but you can't get them.
You can't get 'em.
It's so backed up.
-I'm glad we're... -Four months out, yeah.
Yeah, we wait on this project for four months
-Yeah. -or we go old school.
Fortunately, we've got a massive amount of space up there
-so we can put something in that's much bigger, -Yeah.
but it's definitely a 15 man job
-[laughs] -to get it up there.
It's just a lot of work.
You need more people, you need the lifts,
but it's actually a little bit of a savings over an engineered beam.
-It's a race. -[laughs]
Move faster. One arm. What?
-This is like the eighth wonder of the world, -Yeah.
-this thing is so massive. -Yeah.
[Jonathan] Don't let it slide down on you.
This is a little bit stressful.
In order to slide it in to the engineered brace that we have on that side
we have to move the whole beam,
but the beam weighs so much,
if all of a sudden it starts sliding this way
not good, so...
Yeah, yeah.
One, two, three.
-[Jonathan] Oh. -I think we'll move down.
One, two, three.
-[Jonathan] Oh. -I think we'll move down.
Some of it's like the heavy grunt work,
like, ah, lifting it up, cranking it up,
but then we also need the precision person who can line it up,
and slot it right in there, and tell us when to stop.
There we go. One, two, three.
-Push. -We're good, we're good.
-[Jonathan] It went in? -Yeah.
There we go, all right.
[Jonathan] One, two, three.
-That's it. -[Jonathan] Right there? Ahh!
Oh, my gosh, what a difference this is gonna make.
-Yes, sir. -It's gonna beautifully level the whole way through.
Soon as you come in the front doors, clean and smooth.
Yeah, it's gonna open up the space ridiculously.
It's amazing.
-All right, good work. -All right, man.
[Jonathan] What used to be a regular old bedroom window,
with all the grid and everything closing off the light,
is now gonna be a beautiful big kitchen window.
-Watch the petunias. -[chuckles]
[Jonathan] And we wanted something they could crack open
if they want to air out the kitchen,
but also something that's just gonna let in as much light as possible,
and this window is perfect.
Now, that is a good looking kitchen window.
[Jonathan] Now that we've made a bedroom where the kitchen used to be,
we have to move the garage door out of that area.
The garage door is actually a pretty good shape.
We can use the jam, we can use the door.
We'll just put on some new hinges and hardware
and it'll look great.
Look at that.,
[Jonathan] Dan and Brianne have a healthy budget for this house,
which is good because a lot of it is getting eaten up
by things behind the walls.
Moving the kitchen to the front of the house
means that not only do we have to move all the plumbing
but we also have to rewire the electrical.
It's a lot of work and a big chunk of their budget,
but they can rest easy knowing that everything is upgraded to today's code.
It took the strength of Hercules
to open those old sliding doors.
[groans]
[Jonathan] That will not be an issue anymore
because this wall of brand new collapsible doors
is smooth as butter.
[Drew] When I first started sourcing these doors,
the delay was gonna be months,
but when another customer cancelled at the last minute
I was able to pull a favor and our supplier snuck us in.
So, phew, big sigh of relief.
[Jonathan] There's so much that's happening here
and a lot of stuff structurally that we had to do
in order to get them this clean modernized layout,
but already looking in here it looks fantastic.
Dan and Brianne's old floors had huge gaps
and were uneven trip hazards.
Now we're making sure that everything will be perfectly seamless throughout.
Their new floors are gonna tie the space together beautifully.
-How's it going? -[chuckles]
This is something that Dan and Brianne were never able to do,
-a quick open. -Yeah.
Ha-ha! It was like breaking a sweat trying to open the door.
Can you pop that whole side open?
-Do you want to see it? -Yeah, let's take a look.
This is Dan and Brianne's dream.
That is everything that this place was missing before
because they did all this work on the backyard
and then you couldn't really enjoy it.
This will be perfect for indoor-outdoor entertaining.
It's great. Open that side, open this side, the flow out.
Everything about this project is transforming the home.
This is gonna be incredible.
And then, you know, we'll clean all this up
so it'll look like this door was always here.
-Yeah, I'm gonna close the door -All right.
-so you don't bring your mess inside. -[chuckles]
-Bye bye. -[chuckles]
[Jonathan] We're near the end of our nine week timeline
and we're making good progress.
Ooh, Dan and Brianne's house is looking pretty good.
[Jonathan] All our built-ins and kitchen cabinets are coming together.
Now that drywall is done, we're giving everything a fresh coat of paint,
and outside
our kitchen cabinets and backsplash
are being custom cut to fit.
Their new island is so massive
we need to join two slabs together for the countertop.
This new kitchen will definitely become the hub of the home.
The living room,
where they spend most of the time together as a family,
ties in with the wood tones of the kitchen.
Before, with the mirrored backings
on the shelves, it just felt tired.
Everything of weirdnessness is gone.
-Well, almost, anyway. We're still here. -Oh.
I feel like the TV's gonna take up most of that space.
Our chance to do something interesting with decor is here.
-The sconces are gonna add a little razzamatazz. -Ooh, fancy.
-Yeah. -I think that the style of those lights
is so in line with what Dan and Brianne want.
Much better than the old mirrors.
You'll be back to do touchups though
because we still have to paint these built-ins a little bit more
-up here. -Yes.
-I will help with that. -Okay, good.
[Jonathan] Dan and Brianne have lived in this home
for seven years,
and even though they saw potential,
they were kind of busy raising two kids.
While we were happy to take
the renovation off their plate,
now all they have to do is move back in and enjoy.
Why am I holding this on my head?
[chuckles]
How cute are these photos?
How cute is that setup?
I mean, it has the right depth
for a closet to be functional, right?
Mmm.
We actually got the best of both worlds.
We got a rod in there,
and we got hooks all the way around.
I mean, what else could you squeeze in?
This is full of function, full of style.
They have a great dining area.
I think the family phots are just that piece de resistance.
-Full of feng shui as well. -Mmm.
It's not often you can get the mud room
right next to the dining table and it feels right.
I think we should just go get Dan and Brianne.
[Jonathan] All right.
[Brianne] I just... I'm so excited.
Giddy with excitement.
-[screams] Ah! -Yeah.
Look. There's a new window already.
-I mean... -We have a window!
[Brianne] Oh, my goodness, I can't wait.
-Here we go. -After you. Come on in.
[Dan] This is all for you.
Wow!
It doesn't even look like the same house.
[Jonathan] Is that a good thing?
Oh, it's a great thing!
Wow!
It doesn't even look like the same house.
[Jonathan] Is that a good thing?
[Brianne] Oh, it's a great thing!
It literally feels like we did an addition. It feels massive.
[Brianne] It feels so much bigger than it did before.
The sightlines, you know, you can just see everything
-when you walk in. -[Dan] Yeah.
I can just imagine, like, being here and, like,
talking to the kids,
or playing with them over there
in that adorable little play area.
[Dan] It's totally different.
Everything is... is changed.
The floor? I mean, the floor is amazing.
-[Brianne] Totally different. -I don't wanna be that person
that just goes "Wow!" to everything
as we go through each thing, but, wow.
[both laughing] Yeah.
Make yourselves at home.
[Brianne] This looks amazing.
[Drew] You'll be able to watch movies.
[Brianne] I'm ready for a glass of wine.
-Yeah. -Snuggle up.
-Watch one of Dan's romantic comedies. -[Brianne laughs]
[Brianne] This is gonna be the spot.
You know, the kids are gonna love it.
You find it's hard to remember what it looked like before,
or is it still vivid in your mind?
No, 'cause you could see yourself in the mirror,
-so it was disconcerting. -[Brianne] That's true.
-You'd sit here and watch a show or something, like... -I don't miss that.
..."Who's that staring back at me? Oh, it's me."
I don't miss seeing myself from here.
-You were lost in your own eyes. -Yeah.
[Brianne] What was really important to us
was the indoor/outdoor connectivity,
and this really delivers on that.
[Jonathan] You guys did an incredible job with your yard.
Now you can actually get to it...
-[Brianne] Yes! -...'cause the doors open.
Would you like to try your new door?
-You've gotta try it. -[Jonathan] Yes?
-I know! -Okay. Let's open it up.
All right, so if you grab the left...
So you just flick that latch.
And then we have this latch here.
[Dan] And I didn't have to grunt to do it.
[Brianne] Oh, my goodness, look at this.
What a difference.
Indoor/outdoor living at its finest.
-[Dan] So much room for activities. -I love that.
[Drew] So much room for activities!
This is the dream right here.
Before, that door,
while it was still large,
it was completely unfunctional.
-Like, we didn't use it at all. -[Jonathan] Oh, yeah.
-[groans loudly] -Remember that door?
I broke a nail on that door.
You know, I work out, guys. I hit the gym.
-[Brianne laughs] -I think I pulled a muscle
-trying to open that door. -Yes. It was bad.
Let me just say, I pulled out all the stops to get you this.
-Thank you. -[Brianna chuckles]
Maybe you were focused on that
when I was putting this kitchen together.
[Brianne] Oh, my goodness.
[Jonathan] How does this feel?
[Brianne] Look at this kitchen.
[Dan] Look at this island.
-This is huge! -[Jonathan] Ow!
[Jonathan] If you wanna hug the island, you hug the island.
[laughing] I do wanna hug the island.
[Jonathan] This is a no-judgment zone.
I do wanna hug it.
[laughing] I love it!
[Drew] We had to move Jack's bedroom
to make this kitchen happen,
but it was worth it.
I love everything about this kitchen.
The location of it, the size of it,
the function of it.
[Dan] I mean, this is a game-changer.
[Brianne] This is much bigger than I thought it could be.
Didn't seem like there was enough space
for a kitchen this size.
-Do we need an intercom at each end? -We might.
[imitates radio]
Could you pass me some more carrots, please?
If you think about it,
you didn't have the space for it,
because of the largest brick fireplace of all time.
[Brianne laughs] It was so big.
This is such a better function.
You know, the kids always wanted
to participate in cooking,
and all of those things, and they never could, really,
'cause the kitchen just wasn't set up for that.
Just feels like it was always meant to be here, honesty.
-Mmm-hmm. -It does.
-[Dan] Oh, yeah. -Oh, my gosh.
Look at all this space!
Storage, storage, storage.
This is amazing.
[Jonathan] All of this is aimed
to make life a little bit easier.
[Drew] You have a wine fridge. You have an ice maker.
You have state-of-the-art appliances.
When you can have a showcase range like this,
you have the wall space for it?
-[Dan] Yeah. -Do it.
It's a focal point. Draws the eye.
You have the statement hood.
[Brianne] I love the two-tone look.
I love the contrasting countertops
between the island and the perimeter.
And I love the pops of, like, the natural elements
-of the wood and stuff. -[Jonathan] Yeah.
I think it really keeps it warm.
It does make more sense for the heart of the home
-to be in the heart of the home. -Yes.
[Jonathan] Having the kitchen tucked off to the back,
it just made it very difficult,
I think because you feel so isolated.
You really feel connected now.
The kids will be able to bring their friends over,
and, you know, we can line up here.
They can play inside and outside,
and they can come and go and we can see them.
[Brianne] I can see all of them sitting here,
coloring, making cookies.
This just feels like how
-it should have always been. -Yeah.
[Jonathan] But if you're gonna have a kitchen like this,
you gotta have somewhere beautiful to enjoy it.
Ooh.
Wow.
[Brianne] Look at all the seating!
Oh, my goodness, look how many people you can sit.
You can sit eight easily.
-[Jonathan] Oh, yeah. -[Dan] We're gonna have to get friends.
[Brianne] Like...
[Jonathan laughs] Yeah. Oh, so hard to make friends.
This is exactly what we needed.
Look back, though, from here,
compared to what it was like before.
How nice is it to be able to sort of see to the kitchen,
-the living space, and... -[Brianne] It's incredible.
...you can enjoy all the spaces
but still have that connectivity.
I love it. I really, really do.
And, I mean, not only is it connectivity,
but it's also a little bit intimate over here.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -Which I didn't expect.
[Jonathan] It's nice to have a spot that feels like
-kind of a formal dining area. -[Brianne] Yeah.
And, you know, you're gonna have this used
-for kids' homework and crafting... -[Brianne] Sure.
...and everything else,
but when you wanna host
and when you wanna entertain, have a nice dinner,
it's the perfect spot.
[Brianne] As well as maybe some more casual dinners.
I didn't think we were casual diners
at a table, but maybe we are.
I mean, it's so beautiful, and it's functional.
Really, really love it.
[Drew] I love, too, that you have
all these beautiful memories up here.
[Brianne] Oh, my gosh, look at all those! Aw.
[Jonathan] And we managed to sneak in
some more storage here, too.
-No storage. -Open that up.
Yeah, that was...
It was difficult before.
-[Brianne] Look at this. -[Dan] Oh, yeah, that's a huge change.
[Brianne] This is so much storage
for shoes and jackets
and backpacks and all the things kids have.
-It's gonna be awesome. -Ma'am, why don't you grab a seat?
-Yeah. -We'll all grab a seat.
-[Drew groans] -Still feel like home?
It feels more like home than it did before.
[Drew] You picked an awesome house.
You really did. It's actually really cool
that you had that foresight
to be able to find a house like this.
It just needed a bit of work to make it function for your family.
[Brianne] It feels like a house
that we should live in,
versus the one that just felt like a house we bought.
[laughing] I don't miss anything about the old house.
Not a single thing.
It's such a change.
Everything is so much better, it's so much nicer.
It's all the things that when we first looked at this house,
-we thought it could be, and then some. -Absolutely.
-[gasps] Look at it! -[Jonathan] Hey.
-[Drew] Hi! -[Dan] Welcome home!
[Brianne] What do you think?
-You excited? -He likes it!
I always thought this house could be
so much more than it was.
I can just see it coming to life
with what we've done now,
and I can see how the kids are gonna grow up here.
Yes. There you go. Gillian found her spot.
-Do you think you guys can sit there? -Oh, Jack's in his spot.
Wait, do Mom and Dad have their spots?
-Where am I gonna sit? -[Jack] Right there.
Oh, right there. Okay. Not by you.
-What about me? -[Brianne] Clearly.
-[Jack] Right there. -Mmm.
The house will really improve our ability
to spend quality time together.
Wait, what about me?
[laughs]
You get such little time together,
and I think the ability to be together in the same space
will really enhance that quality time.
My turn. Ready?
[shouts] Whoa!