♪♪
Dan and Debra have a full house
with their 2-year-old daughter, Ayla,
and 11-month-old twin boys, Chase and Julian.
All living in the heart of the city
in a 750-square-foot condo,
which, clearly -- not an ideal situation.
Yes, but the best part - they have twins.
Who doesn't love twins?
Hopefully theirs are more humble.
So I'm Debra. I'm a hospital administrator.
I'm Dan. I'm an attorney.
This is Ayla.
And we have Chase and Julian, our twins.
This is an amazing backyard,
but we share it with about 11 million
other residents of this city.
It'd be great to have our own backyard
and our place to hang out.
We have a 2-bedroom apartment.
Mornings at our house are kinda like Grand Central Station. Grand Central Station.
Jinx!
I bought this place about 10 years ago as a bachelor pad.
And if you told me I'd be living here
10 years later as a family of five,
I would have thought you were crazy.
We renovated it a couple of years ago
and got to make it exactly the way we like it.
We sort of both like the modern,
you know, contemporary design.
We go online researching.
We spend hours visiting show rooms,
visiting stores.
We're -- We're very, uh, particular.
You know, we did these wonderful,
new, sleek, modern cabinets.
We tried to maximize every last inch
that we have in this very small apartment.
So we double stacked the cabinets up to the ceiling,
And that invites the ladder at every moment of the day.
Unfortunately, it's just too small.
Ah! They're not happy now. They're hungry. [crying]
So for all five of us
to be in 750 square feet is chaotic.
But, you know, it -- the kids, as crazy as it is,
I mean, they're awesome. So it really...
I want chocolate chips!
I wanna give you chocolate chips!
So it just -- it's fun. It's fun.
♪♪
This is our living room. This is our dining room.
This is where we watch TV. This is where the kids play.
This is where we change diapers.
As you can see, this used to be my, um,
sort of man cave bar.
Um, and this is now where we keep the diapers.
We actually don't wanna leave the city,
but I'm willing to compromise on that
for a better place for the kids.
I don't think it's gonna be feasible for us to stay here.
I really want a house with a lot of bedrooms,
um, for the kids.
I want space. I love entertaining.
And I'd love to have outdoor space
so that the kids can run around and play in the grass,
and play hide-and-seek and play tag.
So our budget is $1.15 million.
I'm a little bit more relaxed than Dan is
when it comes to, uh, when it comes to renovations.
- You don't agree? - I-I don't know.
Is perfection a high expectation?
- Where? - [laughs]
Leaving the city, for Dan and Debra,
is gonna be a big transition for them.
But it's obvious this change has to happen and fast.
Well, get it on it. Lead the way. Okay.
♪♪
- Wow. Okay. - Come on in.
- This is beautiful. - Wow.
It was a '50s home,
but now it doesn't feel like that at all.
This was just renovated this year.
- They did a nice job. - You didn't expect this?
From an older home like this, I-I didn't expect this.
The floor is great.
I like the dark floors.
I would probably do wider planks,
but I-I really like the look.
I love how big this sink is.
- Love the big stainless sink. - It's really nice.
- Yeah. - Love the quartz,
but I -- I would do it without the --
the veining or the striations
just for a more, you know, modern feel.
- Do you like the backsplash? - I don't like the backsplash.
We like the glass tile that has a little more glitz to it.
So this countertop is honed.
Would you prefer that it's a little more polished,
a little shinier?
I-I like shiny. We have the shiny cabinets,
and I think that it would look really nice
to have shiny countertops.
If you're saying that you do love the glass backsplash... Yeah.
...and acrylic cabinets well, that means
you're gonna have a whole lot of shining going on. Right.
So it's nice to mix things up a little.
- Okay. - Beautiful.
So what does it cost?
Oh, well, we'll get to the price.
I wanna show you more house first. [laughs]
That's funny. Come on over here, guys.
This is your living space.
It's amazing that they got these clean lines
and this modern look in such an older home.
- Yeah. - It's beautiful in here.
- Love the windows. - Love the windows.
- Love the skylight. - You can see the outdoors.
So I know you guys like to entertain.
So what's the most important thing for you
when you're entertaining?
Have a bar, place to keep the daddy juice.
- There is no bar here. - And the mama juice.
And the mama juice, yeah.
That's a great feature to know, something to add onto the list.
I mean, Jonathan can customize any place
and we can put all of the features in that you want.
If you want a dry bar, a wet bar,
a chin-up bar, we'll put it all in.
- Awesome. - Perfect.
I'll take all of the above.
So this is your other main living space.
You have the fireplace in here as well.
[Dan] Nice. The mantle is chunky and cool and modern.
I don't like that painted brick.
I think, you know, gas a little cleaner.
It's neater. This house has four bedrooms.
You have the three kids' bedrooms upstairs.
One of the bedrooms, the master, is on the main floor.
Ooh!
- Oh, I like this. - Wow.
- This is beautiful. - It's like our own Central Park.
- It is, yeah. - Right here.
It's so green.
You said the number one reason you're leaving the city...
- Is space. - Space.
Yeah. Does it get any more outdoorsy than this?
- This is great. - This is beautiful.
- It's really... - It's really nice.
- Really beautiful. - I can picture, like,
the kids sledding down the hill in the winter.
- Barbecues in the summer. - Right.
Now this house is listed for $1,598,000.
- Oh, wow. - But with $1,150,000,
that's your budget... - Mm-hmm.
We can take any old house, make it look beautiful.
And we will definitely be putting hundreds
of thousands in your pocket for equity.
I mean, I think one our fears is going over budget.
We know that we have very high-end taste
and we have very high expectations, so...
We're looking to you guys
to sort of keep us grounded a little --
a little bit. - A little bit?
But all of this starts with us finding the right house.
- Awesome. - Okay.
♪♪
This house sits on over an acre of land.
I don't really like the columns.
It's a little country.
I've never seen columns that big in the country,
maybe in the Roman country.
Yeah.
- All right. - Thoughts?
- Tight. It's tight. - Tight.
It is. We're dancing around the door.
It's tight. I mean, I can't even imagine
putting a stroller through here, through the front door.
I mean, three kids right here, there's no room.
This is tight. This is probably the only area
in the entire house that is tight.
You're coming from 700 square feet.
- Right. - That's true.
Right now we've got all three kids running to us at the door
and everybody's tripping over each other.
So that's kinda what I'm picturing here.
Let's head down the hall here.
This almost feels like a fun house.
Pick a door, any door.
Which door? Any door.
- Closet. - Closet.
That's a small closet.
- Tinier closet. - Wow. Small.
That's weird. Yeah. And then you have a power room.
- Wow. - With a mirrored window.
- Yeah. - Try and open it, though.
It's a pretty good view.
- It doesn't open. - It's for show.
- Wow. This is awesome. - Really?
This is exactly perfect.
We're gonna keep is exactly this way.
- Yeah. I sense sarcasm. - No -- no -- no.
The -- the paneling is really -- it's hot.
Obviously, it's pretty dated.
I wish it was a little bigger.
I mean, there's no eating space.
The -- the finishes are nothing like we talked about.
Yeah, we have, I think, a very specific particular
look that we're going for, white,
clean lines, modern, acrylic...
- High end. - High end...quartz.
Yeah, this is not -- this is not it.
Shiny.
Shiny with a little glitz.
Bling. Yes, I love the glitz. But, uh, this --
this is not -- this is not really it.
I know that Dan and Debra are not impressed with this house,
but this is a high-end suburban home.
You don't see a lot of fixer-uppers
that look this good.
This detached colonial house,
4,500 square feet, four bedrooms, four bathrooms,
and more land than they'll know what to do with.
And this is, like, a massive safety hazard
with the children if they're - in front of a bar.
If they have to sit and eat in front of the stove.
Yeah -- Yeah, I mean,
I know it's not perfect the way it is right now.
Right. Oh, look, there we go!
There, that's the baby shield for the kids.
We did -- we did want modern, so... [laughs]
All that gook in there, that's modern gook.
I'm sure that you have noticed now behind me we have laundry.
Where the pantry should be.
- That's crazy. - I think it's great
having laundry on the main floor.
But it probably shouldn't be in the kitchen.
Well, how about we relocate that and add some extra storage
in what could be a phenomenal mud room?
- Mm-hmm. - So you could have your washer,
your dryer, a sink, extra fridge... Wow.
tons of cabinet space
for jackets and boots and you name it.
I do love that you have access to your patio out here.
- That is nice. - I mean, this is a nice --
this is a nice, big deck out here.
You have so much beautiful space.
That's the big difference.
Here, when you're walking down the street,
the neighbors are waving to you.
Where you live now, down in the heart of the city,
when you walk down the street, people wave to you,
but with one digit.
Get out of the way!
And it's usually not the thumbs up. Yeah, exactly.
Over here, this is your great room.
This is your family room.
- What do you think? - It's great.
I-I think it's nice. I mean, I like the skylights.
Um, I'm not a fan of the fireplace.
Um... I'd like to see a smooth, dark finish.
Yeah -- Yeah. I -- Dan and I, I think,
have this vision of open concept.
Being able to see the kids.
And we wanna we able to sorta all see each other.
We're so tired of being in the tight spaces.
I get it. Jonathan, get rid of all these walls.
- Done. - Get all these walls outta here.
Done. Let's just make this a big tent.
Yeah, there ya go. Yeah. But no, I'm -- I'm with you.
I mean, this is your one living space.
Yeah. Right. You have another one over here. Let's have a look.
This could be opened up to this area.
Purple carpet.
You need to see your purple carpet.
The windows are great.
Yeah, and the skylight in here is very nice.
You'll notice, too, if it gets a little bit too bright
because you do have the skylights right above
what would be the table,
you just go like this and right there... [laughs]
problem solved.
- And there you go! - Problem solved!
Well, we're not as tall as you guys.
- What do we do? - Ladders.
- Modern lines and sight lines
will be the theme of this entire area.
So let me see if I've got your wish list down.
You want all new floors.
The fireplace needs an ultra modern facelift,
and I'm guessing a big screen TV.
You want modern furniture, of course.
The kitchen should have shiny, white high-gloss cabinets
and lots and lots of storage space.
You want open sight lines
to your eat-in area with a handy wet bar
for when you're entertaining and a kids' table
that you can see anywhere in the whole space.
- Oh, my gosh. - That would be amazing.
- That would be awesome. - Yeah.
You -- wait -- You mean I could actually have a bar
that didn't have diapers in it?
Yeah. You have 4 bedrooms
and 4 bathrooms in this house.
Your fourth bedroom and bathroom
are right here on the lower level.
Well, let's step back out of here.
Let's talk about a listing price.
I mean, this is a lot of house for us to look through.
You can see most people walk into this house,
change of carpet, change the color here and there.
But overall, it's pretty great.
I think it has a lot of potential.
This house has actually been on the market for a little while.
They were listed at $1,095,000 for this place.
They just did a price reduction to $940,000,
which is much more reasonable.
It's gonna cost $225,000 to do all of the stuff
that you're asking for. - Right.
I can get it done in eight weeks,
which would be great to be moved in and settled.
But $225,000.
Wow. I think it's worth making an offer.
I-I-I do like the house.
I think it depends on what we can get it for.
I'd recommend going in at $925,000.
I think we'd like to come in at $850,000.
I personally would suggest
we could push it down to maybe $900,000.
But going below the $900,000 mark,
I don't think that's a smart idea.
I'd like to come in at $850,000
just to start the conversation
'cause I don't think we're sold on the house yet.
I'd like to keep our options open and --
and see some more places, too.
Oh -- Okay, so you wanna put an offer in on this
and still look at more places? - Yes.
I'll get that offer in. That's great.
I'll try and make sure that the seller doesn't feel offended
and then also set up some more showings.
- Great. - Okay, sounds good.
Cool, thanks guys.
I'm not exactly sure how the seller's
gonna take this offer.
My guess is it's not gonna be this easy.
But while we're waitin' to hear back from the seller,
we're gonna look at more houses.
- It's lovely. - It's quiet, too.
It is quiet. Yeah.
That's really important to us, coming from the city.
Instead of the crosstown bus.
Oh, crosstown bus.
I will not miss that crosstown bus.
What time were you thinking?
This coming Monday?
Would that work at all?
I mean, Wednesday would be better.
If you wanted to do 1:00, Wednesday would be much --
- Hey. - Hey, buddy, how are ya?
Listen, I gotta run.
I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
You guys are working harder than I am.
- I know. - We've gotta pay for this.
Yes, well, I'm hoping
we can actually get a deal that you can pay for.
Yeah. Because they've rejected $850,000.
So what are you willing to come up to?
I think that the list price $940,000
is actually a decent market value.
Just put -- putting in a Hail Mary offer
is never the best thing to do, and I don't like it.
It -- just going low ball, you may just offend them again.
No, I-I think we should go up,
you know, a nice bump. - Right.
I mean, I think Dan and I were discussing maybe $875,000.
Okay. Don't get mad at me if they come back...
No, no, no. ...with the exact same response, as in "No."
- Right. - Okay.
Fingers crossed they come back
with something instead of just rejecting. Okay.
- Thanks very much. - Great to see ya.
- See ya. - Take care. Bye.
- We'll find out. Yeah. - We'll see.
[Drew] This offer is still lower than I'd suggest,
but it does show the seller that we're willing to negotiate.
While we wait to hear back,
we're gonna check out some more houses.
So you have a 2-car garage?
- You like it? - Yeah.
I like the color on the outside,
like the contrast of the blue and white.
It's a big house, but I don't like
the big drop-off to the busy street.
Yeah, that's a real danger.
- Kids, right? - That's not gonna work.
♪♪
Hmm. That's a lot of yellow.
Well, yellow can be painted.
Yep. But it's right near the water.
Yeah, the water's at the end of the street.
- Wow. - Hmm.
All right.
- Okay. - Okay.
This is weird.
- Yeah. It's a little tight. - Yeah. It's a little tight.
There's no coat closet here.
I'm just thinking, three kids in this space,
and that's... Where would we put the strollers?
Yeah, I don't know. Isn't there a mud room?
There's not currently a mud room.
However, there would be a mud room
because I know that's important to you. Okay.
This is nice. I like the high ceilings.
Narrow.
I don't like the fireplace.
Yeah, I don't like the fireplace.
It needs serious upgrades. It's very dated and sort of...
- Very traditional looking. - Uninspired.
You know why it looks so traditional?
- Why? - Because it's old.
- It's old. - It -- it is.
These kinda look like buck teeth.
And it's interesting how they have
the electrical outlets on the mantel.
This fireplace could use an orthodontist. Yes.
This home is very old,
but that doesn't mean it can't look sleek and modern.
It's a huge detached home with almost 4,000 square feet,
six bedrooms, five bathrooms.
And it's just steps away from the beach.
This room is kind of boring, really.
There's not much here.
That's what you guys -- You bring the pizzazz. Yay!
We do -- We do. High five. [laughter]
I'm gonna give you the -- the high five.
I'm not even gonna look at it. [laughter]
We're not as cool as you guys.
And then over here, this is your second living area.
This would be a great kids' play area.
I feel like it's a little small, huh?
What?! For a kids' play area, this is huge.
I don't think it's small.
I mean, if you think about it, with a couch --
a couch will come about this far off the wall. Right.
I'm gonna be the big sectional. - Okay, and I'll be sitting.
Jonathan, now be that part of the sectional over there.
- And I'll be sitting. - No, don't sit on me!
[laughs] See this here is the -- the couch.
Right. There's the other side of the sectional.
You still have all that space.
- A TV could go there. - Right.
You can have a table over there for the kids
to draw and play or do whatever they want.
- Yeah. Yeah. - And the nice thing is,
this isn't the only large room.
Right. You can open the rest of this up.
Currently, this is what they're using as a dining room
I think it is the best location for the dining room.
Reshaping the whole main floor is important.
I take out this wall to give you
clear sight lines to the living room.
I create a feature wall with a modern fireplace.
And then I take down the dining room wall
to create an open plan.
And that way, you can keep your eye on the kids
and enjoy family time together.
You'd have great flow and see through to all the rooms.
That's awesome. I-I love that.
That sounds... But I do want to make the fireplace
the focal point of the room
and something really modern and sleek.
Yeah, I-I would wanna take it all the way
from the floor right to the ceiling.
That would be awesome.
I like the idea of the open concept
and taking down the walls.
But I'm also looking at old crown molding and old floors.
And you know we had this particular vision of,
like, a really modern home. And I'm having a tough time
trying to envision that here in this.
And where would you put the bar?
Oh -- the bar is the most important point.
- It is very important. - What we could actually do
is we could take out this half of the house
and just do one giant bar.
Yeah, I mean, they've done some updates.
But I think you guys will probably wanna do
something more high-end.
- So this is... - Look at these, uh --
- Oh. - It's a little bit odd.
Uh, it's very disjointed, very...
- There's nothing to get. - Right.
It's just mismatched. And we both like white, clean, modern look.
Yeah, I'd do acrylic. I wouldn't do wood.
Ha!
Oh. Interesting that they didn't match.
- Mixed mediums, right? - They have nothing matching.
In fact, these haven't even been installed.
- Oh, gosh. - Wow.
They just sat them there.
- So it's kinda bizarre. - Interesting.
Not only is this not the finish
that we would keep in your kitchen... Mm-hmm.
This is not the kitchen we would keep in your kitchen. Right.
Everything would be brand-new.
We would pull all of these cabinets out,
pull all of the flooring out,
put a proper beam in to open everything up.
Okay. And then we would wrap a brand-new kitchen
all the way around the perimeter with a massive,
big island that have enough seats for the whole family.
- That sounds really good. - That sounds good.
You have four bedrooms on the next floor.
And then you have two bedrooms and a bonus base
on the upper level from there.
- That's nice. - Nice.
- What do you think? - Well, you know --
I mean, I think it -- It is a nice house.
I like that we're close to the beach.
- That's awesome. - So what are the numbers?
This house has been on the market
for a little while without a lot of activity.
But they just did a price reduction.
Now it's listed at $965,000.
So they're actually asking more
than the Colonial column house we've been bidding on?
Yes, because this is prime area.
The renovation would take eight weeks,
and it would cost $210,000.
Wow. It -- it has a lot to offer,
but I -- you know, I think that there --
it's not the Colonial column house that we really...
What if I just stuck a couple
of Colonial columns on the front of it?
[laughs] I don't actually like the columns.
To be honest with you, you're the ones not being realistic.
the value of that home is $940,000.
Yeah. I don't see the seller coming down much more.
- Okay. - So...
I think we weren't quite sold yet,
but I think we're there now. - After seeing this house
and seeing everything else that you've shown us,
- I -- we're there. - Are you super serious?
- I mean, we're serious. - We're super serious.
We're just -- look -- Look at this face.
That is serious.
I-I think we should just go in strong at $925,000.
- I-I-I say do it. - Done.
- That's it? - I like this.
This is good. I want no more talking.
I'm gonna get that offer to the seller,
and I will let you know what they say.
- Do it. - You stay with him.
- Awesome. - All right.
You might -- You might have bought a house. That's amazing.
- A house! - Am I third-wheeling now?
No, it's all good. We can dance.
Okay, good. Cool. [laughter]
♪♪
[babbling]
- Gonna go outside. - Go outside, yes.
[cellphone rings] Hello, Drew.
- Is that Drew? - Yeah, it's Drew.
Please tell us you have some good news.
I have some news.
They did not come down all the way
to what you wanted...
$927,500.
- What do you think? - Uh...
Want more "Property Brothers"?
Check out our online videos
and see the before and after photos
of our favorite renovations.
Plus, access some great behind the scenes pictures
and videos, including outtakes and bloopers.
This makes me wanna dance. You have to see it.
Go to hgtv.com/propertybrothers.
[Drew] $927,500.
- What do you think? - Uh...
- Let's do it. - Yeah? I...
- We bought a house. [laughs] - Amazing.
- You just bought a home. - Wow.
Yay! Thank you.
Well, it looks like Dan and Debra's
perseverance has paid off.
Now this family of five can pack up
and move from the city to the suburbs.
- Yay! We bought a house! - Yay!
Yay, we bought a house!
[Drew] The house is priced well for the area.
But it was important for Dan and Debra
to get real with their offer, which they finally did.
It took a little extra time,
but eventually they got the home they always wanted.
I'm glad to see that Debra and Dan
finally rook Drew's advice on the purchase price.
So now I'm just hoping they'll take my advice on the design.
We do agree about salvaging the cabinets
instead of chuckin' them into a landfill.
And we've signed off the plans for the open concept space
with the vaulted ceilings and modern finishes.
So it's gonna be beautiful.
So my guys are gonna start carefully
disassembling your cabinets.
You guys are gonna bust through the wall.
- Okay. - Yes.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, yeah!
Oh, hold on a sec. What is that? Oh, that's the window.
Now you can peer into your bathroom.
Oh, my God. Awesome!
Hang on a second.
You look marvelous.
Love it.
♪♪
- Whoo! - Hey!
You guys don't waste time.
You get to do this every day?
I do -- I do this every single day.
- Do you need an intern? - [laughs]
Are you rooting for me, John?
- Yeah! - Look at that.
Who says she's not going through?
[laughs]
[grunts]
- Yes. - Wow.
- ♪ Ah ♪ - Cool.
Awesome.
All of a sudden, your kitchen got bigger.
- Whoo! - Amazing.
- Stay happy. - Okay.
- Because I've got... - Uh-oh.
- ...not so good news. - Uh-oh.
That wallpaper is terrible.
Ha!
Wow, I didn't even know about that wallpaper.
Yes, it is.
Jonathan, I wanna change the design now. [laughter]
And I want that to be the feature wall.
Here we go.
Now let -- let me help you with that.
Now hold on. It's down here. Hold it from here.
- Okay. Okay. - Okay, ready?
- Yeah. - Just don't spill the water.
They say that a little toilet water
in the garden helps your flowers. [laughs]
You guys are not workin' very hard.
I was out here five minutes ago.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
[grunts]
Careful when you put it down. That's when people break it.
- Good job. - Thank you.
I don't wanna shake your hands, but good job. [laughs]
♪♪
It's three days in. And I need to discuss
some design concerns with Dan and Debra.
So minor predicament with your bar.
- No. - Yes.
- No. - I apologize.
No, this is serious.
Well, it's a bar.
- Um... - Oh, no.
Which means this is serious.
- It's my bar. - [laughs]
The bar is taking up this entire wall surface over here
'cause that door is going away.
Your cabinets come out 24 inches,
so basically just to there. - [both] Okay.
All right. Now my thought was that
I would just bump over this opening
until it was beyond 24 inches.
But that means when you're standing in this room...
- It won't be centered. - ...it's no longer centered.
I just know that you guys are incredibly particular...
- Yes. - ...about everything.
So, uh, symmetry is important.
Yeah. My vote would be to have the bar over here
versus having a door off center.
Okay. What's your thought?
I agree that symmetry is important.
So if we leave it as is and we do put the bar there,
then in theory we save some money? Save some money?
- Oh, he's on it. - [laughs]
And it's a little easier for me. So...
I'm all about making your life easy, Jonathan.
- I don't know if that's true. - Yes, it is!
[laughter] I don't know if that's true.
The other thing we were talking about is, uh,
LED lights in this room and throughout.
Where? How? Oh, the actual recessed lights?
- Yeah. - Recessed lights,
under mount lighting on all of the kitchen cabinets,
on the kick plates. - What?
I want -- I want the glow on the floor.
And the glass floating shelves
that we're gonna do above the bar
wherever it is, here or there, should be backlit, too.
Is -- Is the price gonna be an issue?
You want LED lights across all the toe kicks? Right.
You want LED lights across all your ceilings. Right.
Emergency exits are this way over here. [laughter]
I just...I don't want it to get so fancy
that it looks like a sci-fi film or something like that.
No, no. Right. We don't want that either.
♪♪
[Jonathan] I've got a whole list of issues we need to deal with.
And it sounds like Debra and Dan
have a list of their own.
- Oh, my... - A lot of noise.
- Goodness. - Hello?
Hello?
- Hello? - Hey!
- This is so open! - This is crazy.
- Look at this. - My goodness.
This -- this used to be a house.
So there's some things that we need to talk about.
Yeah. You can see some of the areas
in the subfloor are in pretty rough shape.
Okay. This one here, you actually will put your foot right through.
- Yeah. Yeah. - Nice.
You don't wanna put brand-new hardwood on a floor
that's not gonna hold up. - Okay.
See over in the side room
over there where your dining room's gonna be?
Yeah. There's 1/4 inch plywood over all that.
Yes. It's actually higher than the surface of this area.
- Yes, I see that. - So the recommendation
was why don't we also do 1/4 inch flooring
throughout all of here?
It'll make everything a little sturdier.
And it'll level it out with that perfectly.
- Okay. - Okay.
- That sounds... - Expensive.
Well, to glue and screw it all down... Yeah.
...and this whole area going right through the front... Yeah.
1,500 bucks.
Wow. Okay, it's starting to add up.
So those are the first two problems.
- Okay. - Okay, there's more.
I feel like we need a checklist here.
Or some sorta -- Yes.
It's all mental. Next problem. Yeah?
When we were stripping back the rest of the bathroom,
of course, we're taking your bathroom.
And we're gonna turn it on its side and tuck it in over there.
So it's in a better location. Right.
You'll notice there was a hidden duct going
all the way up right in that wall there. [sighs]
And that's feeding heat to the next level.
We have to pull that out and have my HVAC guy
relocate it in the side wall off the edge there. Yeah.
They're gonna have to reconnect it down below.
They're gonna have to fur it over up top.
That's gonna be 800 bucks.
Okay. Yeah. I can see you're doing the math.
I'm -- Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.
So that's my list. What's on your list?
Our first question, really,
is this sorta triangular space up there --
that looks like wasted space, so...
So do we push it back? Do we knock it out? Yeah.
Do we utilize that space somehow?
I know for a fact there's a beam
right there at the edge of that corner.
There's a beam that carries the load
of the rest of the second story.
I don't think we'll be able to pull it all the way back.
We could possibly pull it partway back.
I'm waiting on the engineer to tell me.
So we'll figure it out.
So we had a couple of other questions for you.
This section, can we do something to modernize this?
Maybe some chunky shelves and stucco or...
But I was planning to just keep as much
of the existing shelves as possible.
Well, what we talked about was something
that's a little more flush
and probably flush with the fireplace.
You would not be able to be flush with the fireplace.
It would be really weird to have it obstructing here.
Yeah, okay. I'm fine with that, but could it be a built-in
so that it doesn't look like it's just shelves hanging on,
you know, with those little plastic tabs?
Like, something that's actually... Built in?
- Built in. - Looks custom, yeah.
Okay, leave it with me. I'll run through some scenarios.
I'll figure out if there's gonna be an extra cost.
So that was -- that was number two.
Number three is right behind you in these windows.
So ever since you took us
to that dream home that first day,
I can't stop thinking about those amazing,
wide modern windows.
And I... And we have, like, this beautiful backyard,
And so I'm wondering if...
- It seemed like it's cut... - It would be worthwhile
spending the money to change out the windows
because we've got these old... - Squares.
- The mullions in between? - Yeah, the little squares.
Just, I would love that because I think that would go
with the modern look we're trying for.
Do you realize how big a job it would be to get...
Really? That clean look without anything obstructing it?
Really?
- No. - Like, a lot?
Oh, my gosh. It's like...
- [gasps] - Shut up!
Oh, my gosh!
That's just something they add on.
So you don't have to have it in there.
- Wow! - That's all that was?
- Yeah. - Just these plastic...
Sometimes it's not expensive to fix it.
- See you later. - That's amazing.
Wait, uh, can I try one?
Oh.
[Jonathan] At least one thing on our massive to-do list
is pretty easy to accomplish.
We're reinforcing the subfloor and putting in the beams
so we can open up the space.
It turns out the electrical is a complete mess.
Everywhere we look, it gets worse.
We do have some good news, though,
about the kitchen ceiling.
- Hello? - Hello?
- Hey, come on in. - Look at this.
- Wow, look at this. - Oh, wow.
Hey, what do ya think?
- Look at those windows! - Wow.
They look brand-new!
You'll notice things are not as far ahead
as probably you'd hoped.
That's because we've encountered a lot of electrical issues.
Uh, it turns out that all of the electrical
from the lights in the living room,
the living room cabling, everything in the kitchen,
it was all going through these ceiling lights.
Right. They were basically using the lights as a junction box,
which... It was, like, jerry-rigged.
Yeah, it's just -- it -- I mean, it's --
Nothing went straight back to the panel.
And especially in the kitchen, you need separate circuits
to every appliance.
You don't want to have your coffee maker
tripping your microwave and things like that.
Okay. So the electrician had to pull everything out,
got a bunch of hidden junction boxes
as well in the hallway here and at the very front.
You'll notice everything's brand-new.
There is no original electrical in here.
How much did that cost us?
That's $6,500.
- Oh, my gosh. - Wow.
So we can rip this all out and remove it
because this is not structural.
- That's great. - Yes, rip it out.
Well, we -- we do have the option
to just eliminate it completely all the way back
to that beam across there. - Do it.
It's gonna be about $1,500 to $2,000.
And that'll include all of the rewiring,
demoing all of this,
building the bulkhead and making everything pretty.
It's a lot.
That is a lot.
Okay. It wasn't what we were expecting.
I mean, it is what it is, right?
So we didn't know this coming here
that we were gonna face all of these additional expenses.
But something that Debra and I
were talking about was upgrading the cabinets.
We've been talking about that modern look.
And we thought that maybe acrylic might... White, white acyrlic.
...clean line cabinets might look really nice.
We have them at home. We really love them.
Okay. And I think they would look great
in this space with the design that you came up with.
You are getting nice slab-style cabinets
with a luster. - I like the bling.
And I think that the acrylics
really bring that shine that the --
the other cabinets don't.
A little bit of an expense involved.
It's gonna be almost 5,000 bucks.
I-I mean, I think that's something that we wanna do.
Yeah. If you guys are happy with that, then I'm happy.
- We're happy. - So...
Anything else?
Uh, sure, but we don't wanna drive you crazy.
Aah! [laughter]
So we wanted to talk about appliances. Yeah?
And we were thinking of really large
commercial freezer, fridge side by side.
Point to me where you would put these fridges.
I-I mean, I was thinking over here.
- Over there somewhere. - Like right -- you know.
You know how big they are, right?
I mean, there would be nothing left on that wall.
You would lose all your counter space.
You would lose half your storage.
You know how it is. We have three young children.
- Yeah. - Twins.
Who are gonna be three young teenagers. The twins eat a lot.
I'm sure I'll be making stuff ahead of time,
putting stuff in the freezer and...
But keep in mind, I've got four fridges
in the design already.
I feel like you're just gonna have to trust me
because it is going to be a beautiful kitchen.
And this is exactly what it calls for.
- Okay, we trust you. - We trust you.
- We do. - Do you?
- We do. - We do...
Because I feel like she trusts me Oh, no, we both --
we both trust you. - I feel like -- you know what?
Let's test that. I think -- Here, hold on.
He's gonna -- he's gonna let me fall on the floor.
Feet together -- feet together. I'm not gonna fall on the floor.
- All right. - Yeah.
And now close your eyes.
- Rigid like a board. - Rigid like a board.
- You ready? - Trust issues.
- One, two, three. - [laughs]
Oh, my goodness!
No. I wouldn't do that to you.
I really trusted.
Okay. This -- Now this reassures me.
- Trust is there. - It's a bonding moment.
I might need some of the daddy juice once this is done.
- You need a hug. - I need a hug.
Aw!
That was a tender moment.
[Jonathan] That was satisfying.
Right from the start, Dan and Debra said
they wanted me to keep them grounded.
I'm doing the best I can to keep the add-ons in check
and the design cohesive.
We're lucky with a bigger budget,
there's a bigger contingency.
But there's no doubt we're maxed out now.
- Hello? - Oh, hello?
- Hello. - Oh, walls.
- What's happenin'? - Oh, my goodness.
- Wow. - Hello.
- Wow. - Hey.
Wow is the keyword.
- Wow. - Yes.
But I do have a question before you
because I got your list.
List! You reference an herb garden here
and we've never talked about an herb garden.
Yeah, like a beautiful, green area where we can...
- Outside or inside? - No, inside.
How big an herb garden are you thinking?
I don't know. We were thinking, like, a few shelves.
You know? I mean, something to fit on that wall.
- So... - And decorative.
Yeah, exactly.
Because people who do an herb garden or vertical garden
usually when they want it to be decorative.
Yeah, that was our thought.
You do have natural light coming in here as well, which is great.
Perfect. So this is a great spot to do it.
You can do them very modern where it's,
you know, just like little hanging --
almost like little -- almost looks like
little porcelain baskets and stuff like that.
Hmm. So there's all kinds of different styles.
Yeah, I mean, obviously we're --
we love the modern look.
Yeah, my only concern would be, um, the upkeep, right?
We don't wanna spend all this money to install it
and then have all the plants die.
So I know some of them have this system...
You want me to do your gardening as well?
No, no -- well, if you'd like to done back,
you're welcome.
You've done enough. Send Drew. [laughter]
Yeah. Like -- and how --
How many different herbs are you thinkin'?
- I don't know. - How many can we fit?
- Do you want cilantro? - Yeah.
- Love cilantro. - Ugh! I can't do it!
- I can't stand cilantro. - [laughs]
♪♪
[Jonathan] Still on Dan and Debra's list,
they wanna nix the mantel on the fireplace,
which means I need a recess for the TV.
Dan wants a 65-inch TV, but I'm pushin' back.
55 inches is, uh, plenty.
[buzzing]
They want slate tile in the mud room with dark grout,
a teal glass backsplash,
electrical upgrades in the kitchen,
including fancy plugs in the island.
I'm glad I said, "No" to industrial fridges,
but I did cave when it came to the acrylic cabinets.
And they do look great.
Dan and Debra weren't joking when they said
they have high-end tastes and high expectations.
And now there's a full garage.
Who is going out and shopping
and buying stuff for this project, I wonder.
Oh, look, it's all here. Hey, Jonathan!
- Hi, Jonathan! - What have you done?
- How are you? - We did good!
You -- You just all of a sudden
got a whole pile of stuff.
This is all of our furniture that we ordered.
This is -- this is... We're so excited that it's here.
I have plans for furniture already.
We know. We love your plans. We -- We like our plans, too.
- And this is an addition. - This is -- this is good stuff.
I'm worried that if you've ordered some things
that maybe I wasn't planning for the design,
is it gonna throw off any of the design?
- Oh, I don't think so. - This was, uh,
a purchase that we only saw from online.
So you don't even know what this looks like?
It's all about a surprise, right?
Oh, my gosh, guys.
Ooh, three fridges. So fancy.
Actually, there's four fridges, another one in the mud room.
So they're gonna have more cold storage than they'll ever need.
Do you think Dan wants a fifth one?
I would not put it past him.
But he's not allowed to change anything else.
It's perfect. I've given him everything he asked for.
Now I'm asking for a smile.
If he tries to change anything, bad Dan -- bad!
- Wow -- Oh, my goodness. - Wow.
Wow. I lo-- look at this.
Oh, my goodness.
Wow. Look at these counters, Dan!
Crazy. This is gorgeous.
[gasps] This is gorgeous.
- Look at the lighting! - Pretty!
Look at the under mount lighting! Oh, that is awesome!
- Oh, my gosh. - Oh, my gosh. And the cabinets!
I love the tile. Pop of color.
- Wow. - This is crazy.
- What do you think, Ayla? - Beautiful.
- Is it pretty? - It's so pretty.
Do you like all the colors, Ayla?
[gasps] It's gorgeous. And the bookshelves!
The fireplace.
[gasps] Oh, my goodness.
This is so, so nice.
And look at the bar stools!
Those are really awesome.
So cool. I love these stools.
Well, the great thing, too,
you have extra storage on the inside as well.
- Oh, wow. - So in here...
Amazing! You'll never have a shortage of storage.
- And the floors! - I wanna color.
We have a bar!
- Oh, my gosh. - Ugh.
Oh, my gosh! Just -- wow! Look at the sink!
Wait, where do the diapers go?
Not in the bar.
Oh -- Oh, my gosh.
Oh, look at this. Ayla, look. Yeah.
[gasps] Look at all the daddy juice.
Oh, Ayla, look!
Oh, it's a table just for you! Do you wanna sit?
- Oh, my gosh. - Wanna sit down?
Go ahead, sweetheart.
Come sit here. I love the ghost chairs.
- That's awesome. - Baby ghost chairs.
Ayla, do you want -- do you wanna play?
Do wanna color?
- Do you wanna color? - Let me help ya.
I mean, this is gonna be someplace
where we can raise our family and build amazing memories.
All of the light in this little space
as well is just perfect.
Oh, Dan, look!
[laughs] Wow. Love this.
- Oh, my gosh. - This is perfect.
- That's beautiful. - A little family area.
- Amazing. - That's a good-looking family.
- That is -- wow. - Oh, my gosh.
I feel like I'm getting a little choked up now
because, um, it's beautiful.
So we're really excited.
I have to admit, Ayla has
the best view in the entire house.
- This is amazing. - This is gorgeous.
- This is beyond. - Look at these windows.
This table is beautiful.
Wow. I can just picture us sitting here as a family.
It's gorgeous. All sitting here. Having breakfast.
Well, and actually, this is a pretty big table
for your kitchen eat-in area. - Yeah.
Plus, you have the breakfast bar over here.
Stunning! It's honestly stunning!
- I love it. - The island is gorgeous.
This is exactly what we talked about,
the waterfall edges, the white, clean lines.
I love the clean lines.
I love the white and how shiny everything is.
I love that we don't have any hardware.
Exactly what we talked about.
- Are these -- - Give it a push.
Are these are drawers? Oh, look at that.
- Mm-hmm. - Amazing.
Awesome. That's so cool.
Oh, I could just stand here all day and do that.
You have space above the island.
- It's gorgeous. - Beautiful.
- It's really beautiful. - It's so light and airy.
And there's so much color.
- Amazing. - That's so cool.
- This is...guys... - And look at this sink!
- Mm-hmm. - This is, like...
- Oh, wow. - Beautiful.
You two have a very strong sense of style.
And this kitchen had a long way to go to make the grade.
I think in the end we checked off
every single box on your list.
I think you should show Ayla
where she has her very own fridge.
This is a fridge just your size.
Do you see your water? Go ahead, take it out.
- I have... - You can have it.
Okay. All yours.
Dan, come on over here.
- Yes. - Let me just show you.
This is a fridge just your size. I love it.
And this is a wine just your size.
- Thank you. - See, they're both happy.
I know you threw me for a loop at one point because
you were like, "Why don't we switch to commercial fridges?"
Right. Totally right. There just wouldn't
have been enough space there for a double fridge.
You guys gave us great advice.
In fact, there's so much space in that fridge,
I can probably put Jonathan... [laughter]
No. That's a whole side of Jonathan.
- Yeah. - Oh, you twins.
Yes. Something for you to look forward to.
I don't know if I've ever done a house
with four fridges before.
- Oh, my gosh. - Well, this is great.
Now we have what we need for the -- for the kids.
Look at the fireplace, the TV.
- Really beautiful. - It's perfect.
Hold on.
What about the size of the TV?
Um, it's great.
You guys had all this furniture show up.
My first thought was, "Oh, my gosh.
What if they ordered ugly furniture?"
But you can look around here.
This furniture is beautiful.
Thank you.
This room looks great updated to a modern style.
And you have the sight lines you wanted
to keep an eye on your kids and hang out as a family.
I haven't even seen Ayla in the last five minutes. [laughs]
If we can keep her occupied like this all the time...
She's so entertained! It's beautiful.
Ayla, how's it goin' over there?
You havin' fun?
[laughs] Oh, yeah, come on over here, guys. Your green wall.
Oh, my gosh. Look!
- Vertical garden. - Beautiful.
That is awesome.
- This is great. - Oh, my gosh.
Wheres the cilantro, Jonathan?
- No. - We talked about cilantro.
No. I won't eat it.
I won't plant it. I won't do anything with it.
It's awesome. I mean, we can take this from here
and bring it into our cooking. It's awesome.
It -- It's hard to believe that this was that weird,
kinda office with the laundry in the kitchen
and that weird blue-purple rug.
- Remember? - Oh, I remember.
And do you agree with why
I wanted to move the bar over here?
- Oh, absolutely. - Oh, absolutely.
Actually, I think it works a lot better there.
We all did a lot of thinking
through this design and working together
to make it everything you two wanted.
And now you can relax
and enjoy play time with your family.
- This is ours? - Yeah.
- We get to live here? - You get to keep it.
- Isn't this amazing? - Yeah, it's really stunning.
Now that they've quadrupled their square footage,
Dan and Debra can finally agree
that moving to the suburbs was worth it.
Leaving the city behind was a tough decision,
but Dan and Debra had a vision for what they wanted.
And Dan was no easy customer,
but was able to relinquish just enough control
so that Jonathan could do his thing
and make this a beautiful home.
- Hi, guys! - Hey!
What do ya think? Oh, he's smilin'. He likes it.
Hello, babies. Look at this. This is your new home.
Wow. By the way, I noticed you dressed him
as a real estate agent.
- And him as a contractor. - Absolutely!
He makes plaid look beter than you.
- Love that. - Perfect!
- I think that you guys... - What do you think?
You guys are all gonna be happy in this house,
aren't ya? - They're gonna love it.
So after all of that,
you finally won over Dan's trust.
Yeah, you know, it's the ones that are tough to win over
than are so much sweeter when you finally do.
Well, that's why I'm tough on you.
So you'll appreciate my compliment
when I finally give it to you.
Check us out on Twitter @MrDrewScott,
@MrSilverScott, and #propertybrothers.