Hey, I've been trying to call you.
I couldn't hear my phone at all. What's wrong?
Well, nothing's wrong, actually. There's something right.
I just wanted to show you this property
that just came up in historic Savannah.
I really feel like this one is the one.
It just hit the market.
Brian, was it like two years ago...
Oh, at least.
...that we decided, hey, let's just start
poking around and seeing what's available
in Savannah 'cause we can see making it our second home.
[Brian] Savannah's always been like a magical place to us.
Mika, say hi.
Hello.
[Brian] It almost feels like we're transported to a different world.
[Mika] Savannah was one of my favorite family vacations.
I love the history.
It is so different from Tampa.
-[Brian] Boo! -[Mika laughs]
[Brian] It doesn't look very historic, though.
Like, we wanted something historic.
Well, it actually was built in 1977,
but it's in the Historic District,
one block off of the park.
It's almost 1,400 square feet,
two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom...
-[Brian] Yeah. -[Mika] ...which is the perfect size for
just a little vacation getaway.
They're asking $550,000.
It does need work.
It hasn't been updated in decades.
I think we just put in a full-price offer.
Oh, my gosh.
[Mika] Brian and I are used to building and renovating homes
for our clients on fast timelines.
[Brian] But now we're taking on our own renovation
in Savannah, Georgia.
[Mika] All right, Savannah, here we come.
[Brian] Let's do it.
She needs some work, but she's ours.
[Mika] Renovating from afar
certainly comes with its own set of challenges.
[Brian] This is the exterior of the townhome.
[Mika] And right now, we need to go back to Tampa.
[Brian] This is gonna be a long car ride home.
But we know all of this hard work will pay off
for our home away from home.
[Mika] This place is gonna be sexy.
Savannah's sexy.
[Jade] Oh, wow.
This looks like a brand-new house.
I don't think we're gonna find
a better location in our budget.
Here comes the real estate talk.
If it's on the market for more than a couple days,
I think it's gonna get into a bidding war.
And then we're gonna overpay.
[Brian] We can't get up there in a couple days.
We're slammed this week.
[Mika] I don't think it's gonna last very long at all.
[Brian] You wanna buy this sight unseen?
[Mika] I feel like if it's meant to be,
it'll all work out.
I say we go for it.
-[Brian] I say we do it. -All right.
-Do you really wanna do this? -Are you gonna be okay?
I don't know.
It's just got, like, real real.
What's that?
I'm about to throw up in the hand.
[laughing] Give me the money.
[Mika] We put in a full-price offer,
and it was accepted.
[Brian] Oh, boy.
I cannot believe we're doing this.
What were we thinking?
No turning back now, literally.
Whoo! I am so excited
to finally meet our townhome for the first time.
It almost feels like we're getting on a roller coaster.
You know, you're kind of excited
and terrified,
all in the same moment.
We've seen the photos of the townhome,
and I just hope those pictures
translate in person.
[Mika] Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh. This is our street.
Whoo! You ready?
[Mika] I'm actually feeling good right now, 'cause I like this street.
Oh, hey, beautiful.
She needs some work,
but, uh, she's ours.
[Mika] Oh, man.
[Brian] Okay, I just got terrified.
Let's see what we got ourselves into.
[Mika exhales] Okay.
I honestly think
it looks pretty close to what it looked like online.
And you know, pictures can be deceiving.
[Brian laughs]
You're being very positive,
probably because we already bought it.
-Exactly. -[laughs]
[Mika] And I'm feeling good energy.
-[Brian] You good? -[Mika] Yeah.
But you're gonna go in first,
just in case anything pops out.
You worried about ghosts?
No, I'm worried about critters.
-[laughs] -I don't do critters.
I'm worried about the renovation that's on the other side of that door.
All right, well, only one way to find out.
Let's hope that this doesn't break the bank.
[Brian exhales] Or break our hearts.
[Mika] Oh, my gosh.
-[Brian chuckling] -[Mika] Oh!
Okay.
Oh, my gosh.
[Mika] Um... Ugh.
"Um" is right.
Uh...
[Mika] Huh.
The pictures online were
much better than this.
It is filthy.
[Mika] It's intimidating when you first look at it, for sure.
The ceilings are a lot lower
-than I thought. -[Mika] Yeah.
[Brian] I do like the fireplace.
I don't love the caked-on paint.
If we could strip off this brick somehow,
I think it would be beautiful underneath here.
I just don't know
how many layers of paint are on them.
I'm a little scared about that.
I do see some kind of water stain,
so that worries me.
Okay!
-What? -[Brian] Look in there.
[Mika] Oh! Oh, no.
[Brian] Look how many cockroaches
-are in there. -[Mika] Y'all ain't paying rent!
Oh, that's so gross. Okay. All right.
Well, I've seen enough there.
Wow!
-[Brian] Whoa! -[Mika] I mean...
This is tiny.
[Mika] I'm kind of grossed out.
What's going on over here?
Ay-ay-ay!
This might be the ugliest kitchen I've ever seen.
[Brian] The good news is that they already started the demo
-in the kitchen for us. -[Mika laughs]
-Should we go outside, M? -Yeah.
Yikes. This is a mess.
This could feel like
a nice, cozy, quaint Savannah courtyard.
Right now, it just feels like a box.
-[Mika] Be careful. -I am scared to go up these stairs.
Yeah, I don't know if I trust the handrails.
Oh, [bleep].
-That's, like, really low. -Okay, that definitely needs to be raised.
[Mika] Wow.
-[Brian] Check out the bathroom? -[Mika] Yeah.
Oh, God.
Oh, we've got a couple.
Yikes.
More water damage up on that ceiling.
First bedroom here.
-It's a good-sized room. -[Brian] Yeah, yeah.
This would be a good space for Jade.
Or my parents when they come and visit, your parents.
But, um, the layout is weird 'cause...
-What? What's this? -I mean, you've got these two little nooks.
I mean, I'm assuming this is the chase
-for the fireplace downstairs. -Oh.
Yep. You're right.
-Let me see. -[Mika] Oh.
Just a little bit. Just a little bit.
Oh! What?
Why would you cover that up?
-[Mika] I... -[Brian] That is beautiful.
[Mika] ...love that. So that
must be what's underneath all that white paint that
-they put on that fireplace. -[Brian] If you can get all that paint off.
[Mika] Let me see where we're gonna sleep.
Ooh.
[Brian] Not bad size.
I actually love the light in here.
I don't know what's going on with this floor, though.
What the heck is this?
It almost looks like
there might have been water damage or something,
'cause they replaced
some of the floor with this slate.
And you can tell
-all of this... -[Mika] Oh, this is warped. Yeah.
[Brian] ...is all warped.
[Mika] Yikes.
It is kind of cool that it has, like, the balcony.
[Brian] Yeah. It's... It's... I mean, it's small.
What about the bathroom? I'm almost scared to look.
Don't look in the sink.
-Oh, my gosh. -[Brian] Look at all the corrosion
-and the rust up in the air vents. -[Mika] Yeah.
All of these bathrooms have to be fully gutted
and fully updated.
-[exhales] -[Brian] Are you having any second thoughts
now that we've seen the entire townhome?
[Mika] Hmm.
It's kind of too late for that.
I will say...
-I still love the location. -[both laugh]
We're just gonna keep reminding ourselves
of how great the location is.
[Mika] But I do think that there's a lot of potential
to break it up into, like, one room at a time
and figure out what we want to do in each space.
This room is closed off.
If we get rid of this wall,
now we have, like, this open space.
[Brian] I feel like if we are gonna
open up this wall, this is all gonna be countertop.
Obviously, the fridge
is gonna have to move somewhere over here.
The range is gonna have to go here.
Even, like, a small island here would be nice.
We got to figure out what to do with that
odd-shaped second bedroom.
Where do you put the bed in here?
The only wall you can do is here,
but then your door is, like, right here.
[Brian] What if you kept the closet the same size...
-[Mika] Okay. -[Brian] ...extended this wall a little bit,
and then just had one opening for the closet door,
and then now this wall is bigger?
[Mika] I'm not mad at that idea.
If you gain that wall space,
then we can move the bed a little bit over.
-Then we get... - [Brian] Yeah, I think that'll work.
[Mika] All right.
It's gonna be a long wish list,
but the good news is
it's 1,300 square feet.
It's manageable. Even though every room needs something,
it's not a big space.
We've allotted $200,000 for this renovation.
The goal would be, get everything done
in a few months.
But we are in the heat
of doing so many new construction builds
-in Florida. -[Brian] Yeah.
[Mika] It's a five-hour commute.
So I do have a little bit of concern
that we're spreading ourselves thin.
The quicker that we can get this renovation started,
the quicker we can start enjoying being here.
I mean, we are always up for an adventure and a challenge.
And, uh, let's put another one on our list.
-Oh, boy. What are we doing? -I don't know.
Congratulations, question mark?
Welcome home?
[both] Question mark?
-[Mika] This is, like... -[Brian] Ah.
[Mika] ...my favorite park.
[Brian] Forsyth Park.
This is the first thing
we fell in love with in Savannah.
And, of course, our favorite part
of Forsyth Park...
-[Mika] Ah. -[Brian] The beautiful fountain.
-[Mika] It is a historic landmark of Savannah. -[Brian] Yeah.
We do need to, uh,
get some work done today
and really put together our looks for this house.
-Location does inspire the design. -Yeah.
Normally, when I take clients on inspiration tours,
we're going to see different homes.
But I want to mix it up,
and I want to encapture
all of the culture.
So homes, businesses, parks, restaurants. All of it.
-We want that Savannah style. -Mm-hmm.
These houses.
-Oh, my gosh. -[Brian] Look at this. So much character.
So much charm.
I am in love with all the ornate details.
Like, look at this wrought iron,
-going up the stairs. -[Mika] Yeah. I love it.
[gasps] This might be my favorite one.
Ooh.
[Mika] The black and white.
-[Brian] Yes. -[Mika] That just pops.
It's clean. It's classic.
-[Mika] Yes. -[Brian] It almost looks like
the house is wearing a tuxedo.
Oh. It's going to a formal.
I think the only thing I would change is,
I would want to have a little bit
-of a color accent on that door. -Yeah.
-Almost more welcoming, right? -[Mika] Yeah.
-Oh, my gosh. -This place is cute.
I love the little shops. I feel like...
Do we have time for a little pop in?
-Ooh. -[Brian] It smells good.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, my goodness. Look how cute this place is.
[Brian] I love it.
You want a coffee?
[Mika] Keep my caffeine going 'cause we're gonna have a long day
-of looking for inspiration. -[Brian] Yeah.
I'm looking at this ceiling detail.
[Brian] So, yeah. They basically exposed the rafters.
The biggest drawback from this property
is very low ceilings.
And it does make it feel like a little more closed in.
It would probably give us a little bit more ceiling height.
It also adds an element of architecture.
[Brian] We have no idea what's underneath there.
Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, ductwork.
-Ugh. You're right. -Like the unknown scares me there.
I like the idea,
but I don't know if I like the idea.
It's a little different.
It's not like we're basically drawing up a blueprint
to build something new.
-Right. -We have to work with the existing blueprint.
And right now, we don't have a copy of it.
It is a little bit of a mystery.
[Mika] I'm looking at this ceiling detail.
[Brian] So, yeah. They basically exposed the rafters.
The biggest drawback from this property
is the very low ceilings.
[Brian] We have no idea what's underneath there.
So, I'm scared how much work that would be.
-I really think that it would be worth... -[Brian] I know.
...the time to see if we can do that 'cause,
I mean, that could be like 6 to 10 inches of height
that we gain, which is gonna give it a lot more...
-[Brian] Yeah. -...space.
[Brian] I do like it.
All right, I have the hazelnut latte.
-[Mika] Oh, awesome. -[Brian] Ooh.
[Mika] Look at that wall over there.
That is a cool texture.
Ooh.
[Mika] I would love,
like, in the main bedroom,
like, an accent wall like this,
and this is your headboard, essentially.
[Brian] Yes!
[Mika] Oh, my goodness,
I feel like we're traveling through time.
[laughing] We are.
Look at all the cool historic pieces, like...
-[Mika] Oh. -...everything is vintage.
Like, this must have
served a purpose here,
and they kind of worked around it.
[Mika] We've got to find some unique pieces,
go thrifting, find some, like--
-[Brian] History. -[Mika] Yes.
Look at the tin backsplash.
[Mika] I love that.
If there's any way
we can incorporate a cool little wine bar,
I think that would be so much fun.
[Brian] Let the search continue.
[Mika] Ooh, so I did find an open house we can check out
to see a townhome interior.
[Brian] Okay.
[Mika] Ooh!
[Brian] Oh, that exposed brick
is so good.
All right, so your entryway,
you come in, you already have a moment.
[Brian] And you can feel the character.
I want to bring this same type of feeling
when you first walk into our house.
[Mika] Kind of a galley style, a little tight in here.
-But... -Kind of a galley style?
[Mika] But I feel like there could have been
a little bit more of a fun factor in here.
-[Brian] Mm-hmm. -Like a pop of color.
I think I would want to incorporate the color
in the cabinetry.
-[Brian] I think so, too. -[Mika] Mm-hmm.
I love this faucet.
-[Mika] That's kind of nice. -[Brian] Gold. Yeah.
[Mika] Plumbing fixtures you can make a statement with.
[Brian] Let's check out the bathroom?
-Yep, definitely. -Come on.
Wow. Is this wallpaper?
[Mika] I don't think so. I think--
[Brian] That's actually painted on there.
[Mika] Oh, wow. I love this.
That's beautiful.
It's, like, basically you are
stepping into a piece of artwork.
Yes.
So I think we can do something really cool
in that powder bathroom downstairs.
Gives you something to talk about in a small space.
-[Brian] It's fun. -[Mika] It is fun.
We got to find out whose work this is.
-It says Julia. -Julia.
Julia, if you're out there, girl,
give us a call.
[Brian] Julia!
Anybody know Julia, the artist in Savannah?
We're gonna paint the town with Julia.
She's gonna give it that Savannah flair
-that we're looking for her. -[Brian] All right.
-[Mika] She's not here, but we're gonna find her. -[Brian] The search
will continue for Julia.
We are gonna find her because we need her artwork
in our townhome.
-I feel like we've figured out the exterior. -Check.
-Yeah. -[Brian] The overall mood that we want
for the inside of the house.
[Brian] It's been a long day.
-[Mika] Oh, yeah. -[Brian] I think we've earned
an ice cream break.
Savannah is not just our future.
It's also Jade's future,
our parents' future, our friends' future.
-[Mika] Yeah. -[Brian] So we're really
building and designing this
for a lot more people than just us.
-[Mika] This is some good ice cream. -Oh, my gosh.
-All right, Brian. So... -[Brian] That's good.
...we've got a lot of work done today,
but we've still got a long way to go.
[Brian] Hey, see you tomorrow.
Can we talk about these bags?
Can you guess which one
Mika's is and which one mine is?
And, hey, we're staying for the same amount of days.
[Mika] You know what? I'm over it. Just be careful.
There's some fragile items in there.
All right, Savannah. Here we come.
[Brian] Let's do it.
We only have about three months
before school's out for the summer, so I really
want to get started on the Savannah project.
[Mika] Not to mention, we only have
-three more summers with Jade before she's off to college. -[Brian mimics crying]
[Mika] So the sooner we get this demo started,
the sooner we can make some new memories.
I wish we could slow down time with Jade,
but speed up the renovation timeline.
Yeah. How would that work?
[both] Hmm.
[Mika] We're gonna be bouncing back and forth.
We still have like 10 new construction builds
happening in Tampa right now.
[Brian] Yeah. I mean, it's gonna be stressful.
We cannot be in two places at once, so...
-[Mika] Mm-hmm. -...you are
our eyes and ears here in Savannah.
[Jonathan] We're glad you called us.
-We're looking forward to renovating this for you. -[Mika] Yes.
We're gonna be working with our friends,
-Jonathan and Wendy... -Yeah.
...who we have done some projects with in the past,
and they are amazing.
It does make me feel
slightly more at ease having them here
because the reality just sunk in
about what we're about to do,
and my nerves are really high.
[Brian] We have five days in Savannah,
and we need to start working.
So today, we got to rip up the floors,
the railings, the kitchen,
the bathrooms, all the tile.
I mean, I really want to see what's under these ceilings.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -[Brian] I'm a little bit hesitant
on ripping down this drywall 'cause I have no idea what's under there.
[Mika] Just to get a little bit more ceiling height
would be great,
but if roaches come out the ceiling,
I'm running, just so y'all know.
[all laughing]
[Brian] So our game plan is to expose the entire ceiling
in that living room
and give us extra ceiling height.
[Mika] Not to mention that detail
-gives it like a rustic kind of charm. -Yeah.
[Mika] I really hope we can accomplish that
in that entire first floor.
I guess there's nothing to it but to do it.
-You ready? -Let's go.
Showtime.
Usually with new construction,
we know exactly what to expect.
Dang!
In this case, no clue.
-Hey, check out this wallpaper. -[Jonathan] Oh, man.
There's gonna be a lot of surprises in this place.
[Mika] This carpet is so disgusting.
Ugly.
Oh, God.
[Brian] Whoa!
[laughs]
Wendy, you've been working out, girl.
-Geez. Whoa. -[Brian] Oh.
-[Brian] No. -[Wendy] Wow.
[Mika] What the heck?
Yikes.
We knew about the return here.
We had no idea
all this duct work
was tucked up into these floor joists.
There's no way we can expose the ceiling joists over here.
Do you think that that's continual? Like,
should we see what's going on
in this little general area right here?
Okay.
-I do see a pipe. -[Brian] Ah!
[Mika] Oh, yeah. That's plumbing.
That explains why there was
a water spot there.
[Brian] Yikes.
[Mika] That's not what I was envisioning.
[Brian] No.
[Wendy] I wonder if the main bathtub
is behind here
and Jade's bathroom butts up to that one.
You might be right.
[Wendy] So all the main plumbing through the house
-is right here. -[Mika] It's right in that spot.
[Brian] In new construction, all this plumbing
-is in the vertical walls. -[Mika] Yeah, I know.
[Brian] But back in the day, they did it all in the ceiling.
Ah, this is why I like
-starting with a blank canvas. -Same.
I still want to figure out a way to raise these ceilings.
I don't know how you can.
The majority of the ceiling will not have pipes in it.
All of this right here,
you could open up all of this.
-[Mika] Yeah, but... -This would all be open.
[Mika] Where do you end it?
We'd have to get creative of where you end it
or keep it extended and figure out
-a creative way to box these in. -[Mika] Mm-mm.
-[Brian] It'll look so good walking in. -[Mika] Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
I can't picture how it's going to look.
The whole time I was envisioning...
-The whole thing. -Yeah.
Once I have my mind made up on something,
I don't second guess.
And when I am forced to second guess,
I'm in a very uncomfortable position.
[Brian] I still want to figure out
a way to raise these ceilings.
[Mika] I don't know how you can.
We'd have to go from here
over...
-[Mika] Would that not look weird? -[Brian] I don't think...
If you're in this room and it's like
-half one height... -No.
-...and half the other? -I think when you walk in,
this would feel nice and tall and grand.
And then you would box this down.
That would kind of differentiate the spaces.
[Mika] So this becomes a small living room.
And what is that area?
I feel like the whole point of doing this
and taking out that wall,
dividing two rooms,
is to make this feel like one big room.
So now,
if the ceiling doesn't match,
you're back to two separate rooms.
The location of this plumbing sucks.
The wall's still there. So once you
-see it all open... -It's hard to visualize because this wall's here.
-[Wendy] Yeah. -We need to get this wall down.
[Mika] And then we kind of see the whole space.
Oh.
Okay.
Almost!
Let's open this bad boy up.
Oh, my gosh.
Hey, girls.
[Mika whooping]
Okay.
[Mika] So we just have to figure out,
where is our kitchen gonna come to?
So once the hot water heater's relocated,
we could bring that bar right to here.
That'll be the main living room.
Maybe do, like, a wine bar. And then, yeah, have, like,
either a dining table or even...
I'm fine with, like,
just some, like, nice armchairs.
Just something to help
make the change in the ceiling height
look intentional.
That's what something that me and Wendy
actually love about remodeling,
is, stuff like this comes up, and when you
adjust your plan, you kind of build in
some of that character
that you might wouldn't think to build.
-[Brian] Yeah. -But when you walk in,
everyone will think you meant to plan it.
This is why we are so grateful
to have both of you helping us with this project.
Oh, wow.
-[exclaims] -Yes!
This is what I'm talking about, Mika.
[Mika] This feels so open.
Oh, my gosh. I have to digest this. Hold on.
-[Brian] Right? Hey. -[Mika laughs]
By raising the ceiling nine inches,
getting rid of that wall, it feels like
we have doubled our square footage on this main level.
Yeah, this makes it feel a lot more open, grand.
-[Brian] Yeah. -[Mika] And I can see
the courtyard. It feels bigger.
There's more natural light.
Before we start bringing in our new finishes,
we got to make sure that this place has good energy.
-[Brian] It does. We're here. -And get rid of
all the old.
We're gonna sage this bad boy up.
[Brian] Should I stand back?
[Mika] I don't think so.
-Right, so we've got-- -Do you have to say anything special?
You're just...
Your intentions that you have for good energy,
good family memories that are gonna be created here.
And the mood.
Cleansing with sage
is actually pretty common practice,
especially here in Savannah,
where it's known to be
the most haunted city...
Ooh, did you see that leaf fall?
-...in America. -[gasps]
Hang on. What if the ghosts of this house
are, like, former carpenters?
We might need them. Or plumbers.
Ghost plumbers.
Oh, man. I'm already overwhelmed,
'cause I see a lot of choices all around.
[Brian] This is like a tile playground.
So we gotta be really strategic
on how we renovate this townhome.
We don't live here.
-Yeah. -We can't be in two places at once.
So when we are here, we gotta make a lot happen.
[Mika] So today, I'm hoping we can select
all of our tile selections for the townhome.
We have to keep thinking of what's gonna be timeless
and also, like, not necessarily coastal,
not necessarily Florida.
We want this home to have more of that
Savannah design flair.
When you were saying historic,
some Savannah charm,
I always think a basket weave.
-Oh, this is kind of a cool... -[Mika] I actually like this.
Oh.
[Brian] That is fun.
[Mika] I love it.
[Brian] Especially for that powder bath.
-It could be really cool in there. -[Mika] Yeah.
Now I think we should talk about
-the upstairs for Jade. -[Brian] Yeah.
[Mika] Also like fun textures.
I do feel like gray, though,
we have so much gray in our Tampa house.
When you come to Savannah, you see a lot of greenery.
They've got 22 squares in the historic area.
So it's kind of inspired by nature.
I like kind of that organic vibe.
Ooh.
[Brian] Ooh, another basket weave.
-Oh, boy. -Color...
That one's warmer?
This is almost a little washed out.
[Brian] Mm-hmm. All right.
-Uh, is that decision number two already? -[Mika] That's it. Yeah.
I mean, I love it.
I feel like the tile
in our main bathroom
needs to have a little bit of
-royalty, sophistication. -Ooh.
This one is actually really cool.
[Mika] I like it because the shape is fun.
-[Brian] Yeah. -I think the wood grain gives it character.
All right, Savannah.
[Brian] Let's get this order in and keep it moving.
The decisions we made today are gonna help facilitate
the further decisions that we have to make.
-Yeah. [gasps] -[horses trotting]
Do you hear that sound?
[Mika] Oh. [gasps]
[Brian] This is why we love Savannah.
-Wow. -I just want a sound machine
-with that sound. -Oh, the clippity-clop
on the cobblestone
is one of the many reasons
we love Savannah.
Is that what I'm gonna sound like
when I walk on our brand-new tile?
Probably.
[Mika] Oh, wow.
-[exclaims] -[Brian coughs]
-Hi, guys. -[Jonathan] Hey.
[Brian] Usually we hear the progress.
I, like, smell progress today.
I think I smelled it coming down the street
-when we were walking over here. -Wow.
-[Mika] Oh, my God. -Well, we're applying a stripper.
We're hoping that
in 15 or 20 minutes, it'll peel the paint off.
-If it'll peel, we're so lucky. -[Wendy] We'll have to see.
[Jonathan] We'll see.
When I think about Savannah,
I think about the cobblestone, the brick,
-the charm. - [Brian] Yeah.
[Mika] And all that white paint
that's caked on there right now
-is really not doing it justice. -[Brian] No.
We have no idea, like, how many layers of paint, so I
-feel like you have to do this process, like... -[Wendy] Right.
-...for each one? -[Wendy] Yes.
We're hoping two or three layers,
but it's just gonna really depend on
how thick that paint is,
what type of paint they used.
[Brian] It could be oil-based paint,
where this stuff's impossible to get off.
[Mika] Oh, yeah.
And we have no idea of when this paint
was applied to the brick, which, of course,
that brick and the mortar in-between is all porous,
so it's been sucking in all this paint.
And I'm just hoping we're gonna see
that beautiful brick fireplace
that both of us dreamed about
before we have to head back to Tampa.
All right. The moment of truth.
[Wendy] Let's see.
-[Brian] Keep your fingers crossed. -[Mika] All right.
-[Brian] Come on, snake, shed. -[Mika] Ugh.
Well, not as easy as we thought.
-[Jonathan grunting] -Come on, acetone.
[Brian] All right. The Moment of truth.
Let's see.
-[Brian] Keep your fingers crossed. -[Mika] All right.
Not as easy as we thought.
-[Jonathan grunting] -[Brian] Come on, acetone.
Oh, man.
Well, there's layer one.
-[Mika] Of one brick. -Followed by layer,
probably two, three, four, and five.
-Wow. -[Brian sighs]
As far as how I thought this was gonna come off,
I'd say this is about worst-case scenario, honestly.
Yikes.
Man, I am...
-Oh, boy. -...a little bit discouraged.
I just thought, you know what?
It's almost like when you take off your nail polish.
I thought you could just
put some chemical and...
-No. -...the white paint would come off this fireplace.
I had no idea
how labor-intensive this was gonna be.
[Jonathan] Have you thought of a plan B if this
doesn't all come off? Or...
-Not really! -[Brian] Try... Hey, here's...
Plan B is to convince Mika
that the white fireplace looks really good.
-Yeah. -[Mika] I really don't want to do that, though.
I really want the brick just like it has
in the upstairs room.
Almost all the places that we've been inspired by
in Savannah have the exposed brick,
those imperfections.
It's like the character.
Why would somebody
put 50 coats of white paint on this fireplace?
I don't know.
We do have a wire wheel that we can try,
or maybe some sandpaper.
I guess we could at least try.
I don't want to give up this easily
'cause now we kind of already started.
We did not think
that this was gonna be so difficult. You know,
we would have loved to help you do it today,
but I think this is gonna be something that has to be in phases.
[Brian] We've got to hit the road to head back
to Tampa, so I hate to
-leave you with our problems. -[Wendy] Good time to leave.
So we had jobs
that we wanted to accomplish on this trip,
and driving back to Tampa
with stuff left undone is, uh,
really unsettling and it's gonna make for a long drive home.
Ugh.
Knock, knock.
-[Kevin] Whoa. -[Mika] Hello, hello.
-Howdy, y'all. -[Jade] Hey.
-Welcome home. -Hey, guys.
-Oh, yes, it's good to be home. -[Brian] Ah.
Having Brian, Mika, and Jade so close,
uh, they're only 10 minutes away,
and we do a lot of things with them.
We go out for dinner, go for a bike ride.
It's a real pleasure having them nearby.
[Ellen] Tell us about your trip.
What's happening?
Oh, my gosh. Uh...
So, I mean, remember we told you we were gonna do, like,
this exposed fireplace?
Right, right.
It is giving up such a fight. I don't know
if it's gonna be exposed.
There's about, I don't know,
probably 100 layers of white paint on it.
-[Brian] It just won't come off. -[Mika] Mm-hmm.
In your bedroom...
-Oh. -[Brian] ...all we had to do was pull off the drywall.
-[Mika] That was easy. -So you have exposed brick.
Downstairs, we hit a brick wall.
[both laugh]
It's giving up a fight.
[Kevin] Brian, how old is the home?
1977.
It's in historic area,
but the actual townhome is not historical,
-which is kind of good. -[Mika] Mm-hmm.
Because we don't have to go through
all the historical procedures.
So what are you thinking with your design features?
We want that old charm.
-[Kevin] Yeah. -[Mika] Just kind of more lived in.
And we have got a household of treasures.
And who else to give everything to?
Ooh!
So you guys are purging, and you're giving us all your junk?
-If you want it. -[Mika] Treasure.
Most of the things that we have
are from my great-grandmother.
Oh, I love that.
So these things are well over 100 years old.
-[Mika] I want to look. -Yeah.
[Mika] I can't wait to see.
-[Ellen] So... -[Mika gasps]
-I remember some of these treasures. -Whoa.
I want to know a little back story.
[Ellen] This is a...
-Um, it says, "Home Sweet Home." -I love that.
-Kevin's mom made it... -[Mika] Aw.
...in 1983.
-So, Brian, that's... -Oh.
-I was one year old. -So I thought maybe you would like that.
This is like our home sweet home...
[both] Away from home.
-Yeah. -That's true.
-Well, you can stitch that on the bottom. -[Mika laughs] I think...
-That's kind of cool. -...that's really cool.
-I do, too. -So that's a yes.
[Brian] Keep pile.
Brian, that's pretty cool right there. That's a...
That's like an early... You remember View-Master?
[Mika gasps] Yes.
[Kevin] It's called a stereoscope.
It's like the original 3D.
This was out before the ones
-that we had in the 1980s? -[Kevin] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Long time. -Oh.
-I think there are some of Savannah in there. -[Mika gasps]
-No way. -[Kevin] It's the whole country.
-Yes. -[Mika] I love that.
Okay. This is coming to Savannah.
-What about that? -This lantern?
This feels like it's gonna scare away the ghosts.
That was in my aunt and uncle's boathouse
-years and years and years ago. -[Mika] Oh.
-Savannah's kind of known... -You like it?
-...for the gas lanterns. -I like it.
-[Brian] This is coming to Savannah. -[Mika] Love it.
So I grew up in this house.
I mean, I have seen these pieces
my entire life,
but I haven't really appreciated them
until now,
because I know more of the story.
Yeah. The more you know.
Treasure hunting.
Woo-hoo!
Oh, the old desk.
This desk was my great-grandmother's.
We called her Nanny.
-[Mika] Mm. -[Ellen] And here happens to be a picture.
And, um, she had four children,
and I just picture them sitting at this desk.
[Mika] You can't find something like that.
-They don't make furniture like that anymore. -They don't.
[Brian] Jade, read that date.
[Jade] 1829.
-No way. -1829?
I would like that in my room.
You know what I'm thinking?
This might fit to the right of that fireplace.
[Mika] Yeah, because there is just like this...
[Brian] It's like a little nook.
I think that could be really neat.
[Ellen] Oh, my nanny would love for you to have those.
I've never been, like, really interested in school history,
but when it comes to, like,
antiques and my family,
I think I find it really cool
because the story kind of is
applying to our life now.
-[Kevin] Whoa! -[Mika] Okay.
[Jade] It's pretty sturdy.
-Yes. -It's sturdy.
One day you might pass that down to your kids.
-One thing at a time, Brian. One thing at a time. -All right.
I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
So we cannot wait for you guys to see this townhome.
We'd love for you guys to come up once it's all done.
-[Ellen] Of course. -[Mika] Okay.
Whenever you're ready.
Well, how fun would a reveal be
when we already know what it's gonna look like?
Not much of a surprise, right?
So I think that the surprise factor
will be getting to spend the weekend with them.
[Brian] Even though my parents aren't gonna be surprised
of the decor now because a lot of it's theirs.
[Mika] Yeah, but they'll have to look for it
and see where we decided to feature it.
Ooh.
-I just heard your stomach. -[chuckling] I know.
-[Mika] Oh. -What's for dinner?
I suppose you already smelled the spaghetti sauce, right?
-[Brian] Ooh. -[Mika] Yes!
Ellen, can you believe they came right over
at 5:50?
-I mean... -Always.
So what else is new?
[Kevin laughs]
[Brian] Up in Savannah, things are moving along.
We've got tile going into the bathrooms,
drywall's being repaired,
and Jonathan's installing our tongue-and-groove ceiling.
-Hello. -[woman] Brian, Mika, welcome!
-[Brian] Hey, Emily. -[Mika] Oh, man!
-We are so excited. -Good to see you.
Good to see you.
I wish we could be in two places at once,
but since we can't,
we have to maximize our time down here in Tampa.
Yep. So some of the Savannah decisions
are gonna have to happen in Tampa, Florida.
Let's go look at your layout.
[both] Yes!
-I cannot wait to see it. -I'm excited.
We gave Emily the energy and mood we were going for.
[Brian] I feel like anything is gonna be an improvement
to what it was.
-So here's our final kitchen. -Wow!
[Mika] Oh, my gosh. Okay, you guys.
[Brian] It's impressive.
The only thing,
I would love to maybe add a cabinet
to the left of that,
just to fill it in a little bit.
-[Emily] No problem. -Okay.
[Brian] We know how much we love a jumbo island.
-The problem is our kitchen is so small. -[Mika] Yikes.
I just feel like this island might be
-a little bit too big. -Okay.
[Brian] I mean, this
is the exit out to the courtyard.
-It's gonna be tight right here. -[Mika] Yeah.
We do have three cabinets
in here. We could reduce one, take one out.
-Oh, yeah. -Now I just think
we need to add a little color to, uh,
the black and white rendering here.
[Mika] Lead the way, Emily.
-[Emily] Come on over. -[Mika] Okay.
We can start to see some of our
-cabinetry options here. -Ooh.
White cabinets. It's kind of a classic. It's safe.
But I think we can step outside
and be a little bit more adventurous, right?
[Brian] A little bolder.
[Mika] Check out, like...
[Brian] These are fun colors back here.
These are kind of fun.
I like the sunset.
I think it's just fun. It's something different.
[Brian] I don't mind the green.
I kind of like that,
but I feel like I want it a little bit lighter
-because it is a small kitchen. -[Brian] This is...
[Emily] What about
kind of a softer green?
-Why were you hiding this, Emily? -I wasn't. No.
It's a new color for us.
It has not been released yet.
So we'd be the first to have this?
You would.
It's a true sage agave green.
Sage would be perfect 'cause Mika put sage
all over the house.
[Mika] Ha-ha!
So picking a sage color
-might just make sense. -It might be meant to be.
It's subtle.
-It's not, like, bright in your face. -[Brian] Yeah.
But it's definitely noticeable. I think that's our winner.
[cell phone ringing]
-Too much of your usual... -I got to take this. I apologize.
-Ooh, do you want me to take it? -Yeah.
-Jonathan keeps calling. -Okay.
One second, Emily. Thanks.
Hey, Jonathan. What's up, buddy?
[Mika] Hey there.
What's going on up in Savannah?
I have some bad news.
Uh-oh.
[Brian] Hey, Jonathan.
What's going on up in Savannah?
Wanted to give you an update on how the work's coming so far.
[Brian] Ceiling looks awesome above you.
Really happy with how the ceilings are turning out.
-[Brian] Yeah. -I do have a little bit of bad news, though.
-Uh-oh. -With the fireplace.
-[Mika] Oh. -[Brian] Oh, boy.
[Jonathan] I mean, we knew it was gonna be tough.
But it's putting up a fight that we didn't expect.
How's it looking?
Oh, it looks a lot like it did
-when we left, Jonathan. -[Mika] Oh, my gosh.
That thing is a pain.
That represents
a lot of time,
just those two little spots to get those brick clean.
-Wow. -[Jonathan] And the joints.
Between where the mortar is,
it's almost impossible. I mean...
It's just going so slow.
All my guys tried different things with it.
We've... The grinder, the wire wheels,
scraper, we just tried it all.
And we kind of reached our limit with it.
We've seen some tough, stuck-on paint.
But this is different. This is really on there good.
[Mika] Furniture layout, the fixtures and lighting,
it's kind of all centered around that fireplace.
If this doesn't work,
the rest of our design decisions
are gonna be crushed, in my opinion.
I mean, the only thing I could think of,
which I know is gonna be a mess,
is maybe sandblasting it off.
I mean, typically, we do that outdoors.
I was hesitant to try it.
You know, with sandblasting dust,
it's gonna be a mess.
It's gonna be difficult.
You know, a lot of cleanup, but...
At this point,
with everything we've already tried,
I think it may be our only option.
Sandblasting is an extremely messy process,
which is why
we use this as a very last resort.
This sand comes out at a high pressure
and goes absolutely everywhere.
[Mika] Which basically means
no progress can happen...
-[Brian] No. -[Mika] ...until this is done.
[Brian] And we're gonna have to tarp this entire place off.
[Mika] Ay-ay-ay.
It's gonna be worth it, I hope.
[Brian sighs]
Yeah, we're gonna work hard on it.
All right. We appreciate everything, Jonathan.
-See ya. -See ya.
[Brian] Yikes.
How's the puzzle coming, Mama?
The easy part's done.
Now everything's green.
[Brian] I cannot wait to see
-what Julia came up with for this mural. -Oh.
-We better get ready for that call. -Yeah, a couple minutes.
-Bring the computer over here. -[Brian] Yes, ma'am.
So when we were doing our inspiration tours,
we fell in love with...
-Ooh. -...a mural that we saw in a bathroom,
and, uh, kind of gave us an idea.
We got to find out whose work this is.
-It says Julia. -[Mika] Julia.
Anybody know Julia, the artist in Savannah?
Last time we were in Savannah,
we tracked her down and met with her
to brainstorm a mural for us.
I'm so glad we connected.
The canvas that we're giving you to work with
-is in that bathroom. -[Julia] Perfect.
[Mika] We've got the park nearby.
We've got the fountain.
I love the idea of using the fountain.
I feel like that's such an iconic Savannah thing.
I think that could be really, really cool.
-Yay! -There she is.
[Mika] Julia!
Hey, guys. How's it going?
We are very excited.
[Julia] Same here.
Man, I am so grateful
that we have technology...
-Yes. -...and we can meet virtually
because we can't run up to Savannah
for every single decision.
I did send y'all an email
with all of the mock-ups
-on the mural. - [gasps]
-[both] Ooh. -[Julia] Um...
[Mika] Yeah.
-What? -Whoa!
[Mika laughs]
Look at this.
[Brian] Oh, my gosh.
[Mika] Are you kidding me? This is amazing.
And it's fun.
[Brian] It is so much fun.
[Julia] I really wanted to, like, pack a punch with it,
so I did three different colorways.
-[Brian] Hmm. -Oh. This is very hard.
I could say, though,
I think we can eliminate the middle one.
It's beautiful, but it's a little bit too...
It's a little safe.
[Mika] Yeah.
I really like number three.
[Mika] It's got a coastal vibe to it.
-But that's Florida, you know? -[Brian] Right.
-So I'm drawn to the first one. -[Brian] Oh, man.
[Mika] This one, to me,
fits the Savannah vibe we're going for.
[Brian] The Georgia peach,
the mossy green from Forsyth Park.
-Like, every detail was really well thought out. -[Mika] Mm-hmm.
[Julia] That one's my favorite as well.
[Brian] Gosh, I just... I love
how much thought you put into this.
I love the layout, and I think it's gonna look amazing.
Very cool. Well, thank you again, Julia.
We will be seeing you soon.
-All right. Sounds good. Bye. -[Brian] Bye.
We have five days in Savannah
and so much to get done.
Savannah, 80 miles.
Okay, so this drive is pretty good.
Listen to a couple podcasts,
had a couple of work calls.
We are on the last hour,
which, for some reason, when we come out here,
it's like the drive goes real quick,
we have a little pit stop.
That last hour seems to take a long time.
It's the anticipation
of getting to magical Savannah,
our paradise.
It's either the anticipation
or the running out of a conversation.
[laughs]
-Oh, man. -[Brian] Here we are again.
[Mika] I'm hoping to see some progress.
Last time we talked to Jonathan,
I suggested sandblasting the fireplace.
[Mika] We never heard back from him after that.
-[exclaims] -Oh!
Hello, hello, you guys. But hold on a second.
Hello, gorgeous.
[laughs]
It's good to see you.
It's great to see
-the exposed brick, though. -Oh.
This is awesome.
No more 50 layers
of white paint on this beautiful brick.
We're glad you like it, 'cause it was not easy.
It was a lot of work.
[Mika] I appreciate the effort.
[Jonathan] As you see, it left a little bit of the paint,
even in the kind of insides.
[Brian] I kind of like it, though.
Yeah, it turned out cool.
[Mika] It almost feels industrial...
-[Brian] Yeah. -[Mika] ...and historical.
-[Brian] Antique-y. -[Mika] Yeah. I love it.
-[Brian] You're getting excited. -[Mika] I am excited.
[Brian] I can tell. You put her in a good mood.
I'm sorry, but this place is gonna be sexy.
Okay, Savannah's sexy.
-That's a new design style we're going with. -Hey.
And it also looks like we're adding some, uh,
-kitchen cabinets, I see. -Yes!
So now we can see that and...
Oh, my gosh, the color is so perfect.
Oh, I love it.
It's, like, not too dark.
It's not too light.
It's gonna be amazing.
Once we have these cabinets in place...
-[Brian] Yeah. -...I feel like this whole
space, visually, is, like, really coming together.
So maybe we should tell them about the issues.
[Wendy] So maybe we should tell them
about the issues.
[Jonathan] Our plumbing here
is kind of right in our way.
-[Brian] Where the peninsula's gonna be, right? -[Jonathan] Yeah.
Is that gonna affect, like,
our cabinetry and the layout of the kitchen?
[Wendy] Slightly.
We will have to move this forward,
cut the side of this cabinet, and let it be
inside the cabinet where you can still access it.
You're not losing any countertop space.
[Brian] But it's gonna eliminate the overhang.
We were planning on a 12-inch overhang.
So you got to think, if these cabinets
-are coming this way more... -Yeah.
...then our overhang gets smaller.
So right now,
it's only gonna be about a 6-inch overhang versus 12.
-Okay. -I'd rather do it this way
than mess with all this plumbing.
-[Mika] I agree. -You know what I mean?
[Mika] I can live with a shorter overhang.
-We'll make it work. -[Brian] This will be
-where people kind of belly up to the bar. -All right.
So I have to say, you know,
renovating is much different than new construction.
Because even though we have problems that arise on the construction site
for new builds,
this takes a whole other type of patience
and problem solving.
-[Jonathan] Oh. -[Brian] They look good.
-[Mika] Wow. -[Brian] Look at all this old lumber.
Ooh.
This is exactly what I'm envisioning.
Hi, folks.
-[Mika] Hello. -[Brian] Hello.
Welcome.
-Hi, I'm Brian. -[Mika] Hi.
-Mae. Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.
-I'm Mika. -Hi, Mika.
Welcome to Re:Purpose Savannah.
Oh, my gosh. This is only 10 minutes away
from where we're located,
and it is so beautiful out here.
-[Mae] Oh, thank you. -[Mika] This is so great.
So, um, everything you see here
was stuff that was saved.
It was all gonna go to the landfill.
We research every building that we take apart,
and we put all of that research on our website.
-[Brian] That's cool. -[Mae] You can see the historic photos.
Who lived there? Who built the building?
[Brian] I love it.
Yeah, thanks.
We have a two-bedroom townhome
right in the Historic District.
-Sure. -[Mika] So we want to add
some of that Savannah charm in this property.
Sure, no problem. We have all the Savannah charm here,
so follow me.
We got a lot of hardware over here.
-[Brian] Oh. -[Mae] Your doorknobs,
your door plates.
I think I like the idea
of some kind of corbels, Brian.
[Brian] What about where the ceiling drops down?
-In the living room. -[Mika] Yeah.
To give that purpose...
Repurpose. Sorry.
-[Mika] Repurpose, repurpose. -Perfect.
[Mika laughs]
I like the corbel idea. These are a little bit small.
-[Mae] Mm-hmm. -Okay.
We do sometimes recreate
historic corbels out of historic wood.
We also work really hard to rescue Savannah's trees.
This was about 300 years old. So...
-[Mika] Oh, my gosh. -[Mae] ...you know, they don't live forever.
So when the city had to cut it down,
they called us and said, "Can you please help us?"
You basically give the tree a new life.
We do, yeah.
[Brian] It would be cool
to make the corbels out of this piece of wood.
-[Mika] I do like that idea, yeah. -[Mae] It is cool.
-Gotta keep the legacy alive. -Keep the legend alive.
-Keep it alive. -All right.
[laughs] I love that.
[Mika] We also have a fireplace.
-So something to dress that up. - [Mae] Okay.
[Brian] Maybe a mantle.
[Mae] We have a lot of historic, beautiful beams.
-[Brian] Wow. -[Mae] Uh,
piles and piles for miles.
[Mika] Wow.
So you can see the difference, right,
between what you're using to build new houses...
-[Mika] Oh, yeah. -...and what they used to use.
[Brian] This is so much better.
It is like a different...
-Well, first of all... -[Brian] Look how hard it is.
[Mae] ...I kind of want you guys to just dive in
and see if anybody talks to you.
[Mika] Okay.
This is cool. It even has, you know,
a peg hole there.
[Mae] This has such a cool history.
This one came from Tybee Island.
-Oh. -Ooh.
Hey. Florida.
-The coastal beach house. -[Mae] Yeah.
[Mika] To Savannah.
This is also quite a historic building.
It was built as, like, officers' quarters.
-[Mika] Okay. -[Mae] So it was military housing
back in the day.
-I grew up in military housing. -Did you, really?
Yes. My parents were both Air Force.
-Okay. So it's speaking to me. Mm-hmm. -Oh, wow, wow.
That's fabulous.
I think this might be the one.
[Brian] All right.
Here, let's take a picture with her.
-[Mika] Ready? -[Brian] Yep.
[Mika] Love it.
[Mae] There we go.
-[Mika] Oh, does that have our name on it? -Yes.
[laughs]
Sold!
[Brian] It's official.
We need to get
so much done while we're here in Savannah.
We need to pick the exterior paint color.
I like the trim in the shutter color
-once it's dry. -[Mika] Okay.
I do like this white.
I feel like it's got a little bit
of softness to it, a little bit
-of gray undertone. -[Brian] Agreed.
And choose LVP flooring for the whole house.
[Mika] The brown in this
feels more natural to me.
I'm good with this one.
[man] That's all handmade.
-[Mika] I don't want it to be too busy. -[man] Okay.
[Brian] We also need to design
the wrought iron feature for our balcony.
We want this townhouse
to have that historic
-Savannah charm. -[Mika] Yeah.
I think I like something that is simple and classy.
-Ooh! -[Jason] You can see the difference here.
[Brian] I kind of like that one.
[Mika] See how they only did it, like, every...
-[Brian] Every other one, yeah. -[Jason] Yeah, yeah.
[Mika] Oh, I love it.
[Brian] All right, Mika, you're the team captain.
-What's the game plan here? -I'm the team captain?
[Brian] What's the game plan?
Just don't drop it and don't get hurt.
[Brian] Oh, gosh.
-Okay. -That's my plan.
[exhales]
It's been an exhausting last couple of days.
The good news is we're making great progress.
The bad news is we still have
a full day of work left.
Countertops are going in right now, which...
They look incredible.
Slide it to the wall.
Ooh!
Look at that.
[Brian] So much better than the wall
that used to be here.
-[Mika] Yes. -[Brian] You know what's crazy to me?
We designed this kitchen from Tampa,
and here we are installing it.
This went smooth.
-[Brian] Yeah. -Some parts of this project hadn't gone as smooth,
-but this was really nice. -[Brian] No, you can say that again.
[Mika] I love it. All right, boys.
I definitely want to see the island, too.
Okay, is that about right?
Let's make sure it's center with the range hood.
[Brian] Mika, I think this...
I think it's too close.
The dishwasher's gonna be tight.
Too close, yeah. 27 inches.
It is,
but it looks good from...
I know, but would you rather have
that perfectly centered, or...
This is, like, not functional.
This is where your dishwasher's gonna be.
There's no way we can have that island
the way it is right now.
We won't be able to open the dishwasher.
So this is dead center.
Even two inches this way would make a big difference.
[Mika] Ugh.
When you're looking at a kitchen,
and you have a focal point that's center
with the range hood,
-and it's, like, a different color cabinetry... -Hmm.
...if everything else isn't aligned with that,
it is going to throw the entire space off.
So I don't think I can live with this not being perfect.
[Brian] Do we need an island at all?
-I understand you want this to be centered. -[Mika] Yeah.
But, like, to me,
this is not functional.
This is where your dishwasher's gonna be.
[Mika] Ugh.
[Brian] Do we need an island at all?
[Mika] It's nice that it has extra storage,
and it's nice that it also is a different color...
-[Wendy] Mm-hmm. -[Mika] ...to break up and tie into the hood accent.
[Brian] You know what we could also do?
'Cause this island seems big for this kitchen.
Maybe we just get a smaller countertop
-with no overhang. -[Mika] Hmm.
So right now, we have about a two-inch overhang
on three of the sides
and about a 12-inch overhang for our bar countertop.
I'm just thinking, I mean, even if we cut
two inches off all the sides,
take the 12 inches,
we can keep the cabinets the same,
shrink the countertop.
Hopefully, that will give us enough space
-to maneuver around the island... -Mm-hmm.
-...open the dishwasher... -Yep.
...open the range,
and make sure it's centered on the hood for you.
[Mika] If we reorder this, is it gonna get here in time?
I mean, we're past the halfway point.
[Brian] I really hope this works.
Today's a crazy day.
[Mika] But you can see progress.
[Brian] Got to roll with the punches
and, um, keep it moving.
All right, I'm gonna go take the shutters off.
Windows are going in.
-[Mika] Did you want me to help? -[Brian] At least encourage.
[Mika] Okay. I can do that. [laughs]
So I do feel like the light
at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.
We're heading in the right direction.
Follow the light.
[Brian] Uh, Mika, are you sure you don't want to keep these shutters?
[Mika laughs] Yeah, I think so. Remove them.
Hey, it's actually already an improvement.
Yeah, it's starting to look a little cleaner.
Yay.
Brian and Mika...
-Hello. -...I hate to interrupt you guys,
but we might have a little bit of a problem
we want to assess.
-[Brian] Uh-oh. -[Mika] Let's go upstairs,
-see what the deal is. -[Brian] All right, let's see what we're looking at.
[Mika] Okay, so Jade's room.
[Brian] All right, what's the issue?
[Nicolas] We've got a soft spot here.
That's the number one indicator for water intrusion.
[Mika] You should not be able to just press the wall
and put your finger through it.
[Nicolas] Not at all.
-[Brian] Oh, my God. -Man.
Is it actually wet still behind there, or no?
-[Nicolas] Yes. -[Brian] You can feel it.
[Mika] So it's probably an active water intrusion, then.
-Correct. -[Brian] And we have electrical
-running right through that wall. -Yikes.
[Brian] Let me grab Jonathan.
This is worse than I thought.
[Nicolas] Uh, it's for 523 Howard Street.
[Brian] Jonathan!
Hey.
-We've got an issue with this wall. -[Jonathan] Uh-oh.
We're starting to figure out, these windows coming out,
-it is soaking wet. -[Jonathan] Hmm.
[Brian] It's bad. Check it out.
-[Jonathan] Oh, wow. -[Brian] I mean, this...
-[Jonathan] Yikes. -[Brian] I mean, it's just
decaying away.
-[Jonathan] Wow. -[Brian] Look at this.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -[Nicolas] Boy.
This is the exterior
of the townhome right here. This is it.
Mika, look. Here's our dream, uh,
-townhome. -[Jonathan] Oh, my gosh.
So the sill has failed
because of these plastic jamb units.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -They're not even designed
to do anything but allow the windows to operate.
-[Jonathan] Yeah. -So water has just been penetrating it.
-[man] It's probably been leaking down for years. -[Nicolas] Yes.
[Brian] We are so close
to finishing this renovation.
I mean, our family is planning on coming up in a couple of weeks.
This was supposed to be an easy swap,
old windows for new windows,
but this could potentially cause us
months with inspections.
-I mean, structural engineer involved. -[Mika] Mm-hmm.
Time and money.
This could cost us thousands of dollars.
This window is worse than the other one.
Oh, man.
[Brian] I was hoping to be looking
at our beautiful black frame windows by now,
but now I'm looking at, I think, black mold.
[Jonathan] Smells like it.
We're gonna need to dissect
the entire wall here.
[Jonathan] We've got to redo the insulation,
redo this framing.
Oh, my gosh.
[Brian] That's the problem with remodeling. Like,
once you uncover a problem,
-more problems come about... -Oh, absolutely.
...and you've got to fix them all
-as you go along. -Yeah, domino effect.
The problem is, these are the upstairs windows.
-So I'm hoping it's not... -Yup.
...all the way down to the downstairs windows.
[Mika] And right now, we need to go back to Tampa.
[Brian] This is gonna be a long car ride home.
I'm really, really nervous,
not only for our budget, but our timeline.
We did not want to leave to head back to Tampa
without these windows being properly installed.
And, uh, this is not going to be
an enjoyable five-and-a-half-hour drive
back home with Brian in the car,
'cause he is stressing out.
-[sighs] -[Brian] I just hate leaving things incomplete.
[Mika] I know.
It's gonna be a long drive.
[Brian sighs]
[Brian] We've definitely been losing sleep over these windows.
But I think the worst-case scenario is
if the mold has spread throughout the house
and also if this problem is
also on the exterior of the house.
We're talking tens of thousands of dollars,
structural damage,
and not to mention the timeline would probably double.
[cell phone ringing]
[Mika] Hey, Jonathan.
[Jonathan] Hey, Mika. How you doing?
[Mika] I'm hoping this is a good call.
I keep thinking about what's going on in Savannah.
[Jonathan] I got, uh,
some updates about the windows.
-So... -[Mika] Ooh. Well, hold on.
I'm gonna grab Brian real quick.
I want him to also listen in, so give me one second.
Jonathan's on the phone.
[Brian] Oh, boy.
[Mika] Okay, Jonathan, I got Brian here.
Tell us what's the update.
[Jonathan] So, we got it all opened up
and kind of inspected.
And there was some leaking
that's probably happened over the years.
And it did,
uh, go down even to the first level.
Oh, shoot.
[Jonathan] And the areas that we had to demo out
didn't have surface mold on them.
We were concerned that the stucco could have
even begun to detach.
That would have been a big issue.
Getting to having to patch a big side of the house.
But it's not. It's all in good shape.
We can fix everything from the inside.
-Ooh, thank goodness. Okay. -[Brian] Yeah.
[Mika] So, as far as damages, then,
it's not worst-case scenario,
but I'm assuming it's gonna probably
cost a little bit extra money.
[Jonathan] I think $3,500.
Okay.
Timeline-wise, do you think this is gonna be
something that's gonna take a long time to repair?
[Jonathan] Um, I could have my carpenters
start working on it, and,
you know, probably two or three days,
we could have it fixed.
[Brian and Mika] Okay.
[Jonathan] And it'll be totally done
by the time you come for your next trip.
Well, hey, it's not just our next trip.
It's our final trip.
So, we're coming down to the wire
on the finish line here, so...
I appreciate the update, though,
'cause this is more stressful than I thought, trying to, uh,
you know, manage things from out of state.
[Brian] I can't wait for this to be done.
So, uh, Brian, where are we going right now?
I'm going crazy.
We're, uh, we're supposed to be driving
north to Savannah.
However, we're driving south towards Miami.
[Mika] We gotta go pick up a countertop
that we need
to take to Savannah...
-[Brian] Hmm. -...tomorrow.
It was supposed to be in Tampa.
Did not get on the truck. So, guess what?
We're getting on the highway.
Good news is, we have a buddy who's picking up Miami,
gonna meet us halfway,
and, uh, gonna rescue us.
-Is that him? -Oh, that might be.
-I think it is him. -[Brian] Woo-hoo!
Hey, there's our superhero!
-[Mika] Yes. -[man] You have a delivery!
Yeah. A special delivery.
[man] Special delivery.
Oh, my gosh.
-[Mika] How are you feeling? -Doing all right.
-[Brian] Oh, there's our baby! -[Adam laughing]
[Brian] Let's get it out of your car and into ours.
[Adam] All right. Let's do this.
[Brian exclaims] There she is!
[Adam] All right.
-Enjoy. -[Brian] Appreciate it.
-[Mika] Ready to roll. -[Brian] Let's do it.
Now that the window rot issue is finally resolved,
we can install the new windows.
We're also painting the exterior
a classic black and white to really make it pop.
And Mika and I are packing up the car
one last time to head back to Savannah.
Ay-ay-ay.
This is just about as delicate
as that countertop we just picked up,
-so let's make sure that we... -Countertop's already in there.
-All right, we're gonna go in sideways. -[Mika] Ooh.
-You know what I'm hoping looks good? -What?
These windows.
I'm a little nervous. I mean, it's been
stressful going back and forth...
-Yeah. -...and just trying to do...
Touch base with Jonathan,
-virtual calls, FaceTime calls. -Mm-hmm.
It's not really the same, and I'm hoping
there's no more surprises.
All right, Mika, this should be the last of it.
-Let's do this! -[Mika] Yeah.
Ha-ha!
Bye, Florida.
[horn honking]
[Mika] Oh.
[Brian] What?
-[Mika] Oh, my gosh! -[Brian] Yes!
[Mika] Nick is outside working on the windows.
-Oh, my gosh. -[Mika exclaiming]
-Standing ovation, Nick. -[Mika] Thank you.
[Nicolas] Brian, Mika, what do you guys think?
How are you?
-[Mika] Oh, my gosh. -[Brian] What a difference.
[Nicolas] Yeah, we had a lot of rot, frame damage,
and the windows needed to be completely restored.
-Wow. -But as you can see, here we are.
[Mika] Paint color's good, shutters look amazing.
-Yeah! [laughs] -Nice job, my friend.
Those windows gave us a little bit of a hard time, but...
-[Brian] A little bit? -[Mika] ...I think it was worth it.
[Brian] Well, uh, let's see
if this countertop
-is gonna give us a hard time getting installed. -Oh, man.
So far, we're off to a good start today.
Let's just keep it that way.
Moment of truth.
Second moment of truth.
Windows, good.
Countertop, don't know.
So, the original countertop for the island
was too big, so we trimmed it on all sides,
and we took away the overhang
where the bar stools were gonna be.
If we didn't trim enough,
then we don't solve our problem,
and if we trim too much,
we're really in trouble.
-[Brian] All right, y'all. -Oh, man.
-[Brian] Moment of truth. -[Wendy] All right.
-Ay-ay-ay. -[Brian] This has to fit.
[Mika] It definitely has to fit.
-Okay, watch your fingers. -[Brian] It looks too small.
[Mika] Yeah, it does.
Oh.
Come my way a little bit.
-[Mika] Oh, careful with your fingers. -[Brian] Oh, my gosh.
[Mika] Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
-All right, I'm there. -[Mika] Oh.
[Brian] It's tight.
I mean, it's tight, but it's right.
Kinda actually like it without the overhang.
[Jonathan] You're gonna have plenty of space now.
-[Mika] Oh, that's so nice. -With the pull-out dishwasher.
Look at that.
Woo! Let's go!
[Wendy] All right. Looks good.
This kitchen's looking amazing, you guys.
Oh, my gosh.
-It's really coming together. -Success.
And we are cooking in this kitchen now!
-[Mika] Let's go. -[Wendy] It looks good.
-It is a madhouse today. -It is a lot.
[Brian] We have slate going on in the courtyard.
[Mika] I love this texture.
[Brian] What a transformation, right?
[Mika] It's gonna have a lot of character,
and that's what we wanted.
[Brian] Painters are here. Furniture.
-These might be the most important pieces... -[Mika] Oh, my gosh.
...coming in, so please be careful.
[Mika] Sentimental value. Seriously.
I don't want my great-great great-great-grandparents getting mad at me.
[Mika] Part of getting it done on a timeline is
having your subs all come in at the same time.
We're used to this,
but when you're in 1,300 square feet, it's a little bit tight.
[Mika grunts]
I'm about to have a heart attack.
[Brian] We're hitting something.
Is that working?
[Mika] Sorry.
-[Brian] We hitting that staircase? -[Mika] Yeah.
[Brian] We're hitting the ceiling now.
-Okay, okay. -[Brian] All right, all right, all right.
-[indistinct chatter] -[Mika] Woo.
-Good thing you didn't have us. -Hey.
-Do we have any touch-up paint? -[laughing] Yeah.
We're gonna need it.
-Let's place this couch one time. -And that's gonna be
all the way on the rug, 100%.
I'm just glad that light fixture's still hanging.
Good job, guys. [laughs]
Oh, is this the headboard?
[Brian] If it doesn't fit in Jade's room,
-she'll be sleeping outside. -[Mika] Listen.
[Brian] It's not gonna go. It's hitting the ceiling.
[Mika] Okay. He's stuck.
Why don't we go through the back,
the courtyard, balcony, through the slider.
-[Brian] So go back around. -Let's do that.
[Brian] Go back by the alley. We'll meet you in the back.
There we go.
-[Mika] Improvise. -[Brian] All right.
We gotta get creative here.
[woman] We might need your help.
[Brian] Little more.
It feels like I'm fishing and I just caught a big one.
Hang on. [grunts]
Good job, guys.
-[woman] Sweet. -Hey, Jade's room's gonna look better than ours.
No, they're both gonna look amazing.
Man, Mika, we still have
so much work to do
before my mom and dad come up with Jade.
[Mika] Ay-ay-ay.
[Brian] Last day. Final push, Mika.
Oh, my gosh. A lot of clutter right now,
but we're gonna figure out where everything's going.
Today is just about putting those touches that really
make this place feel like home.
[Mika laughs] Yes!
-[Brian] Easy. -[Mika] Watch your fingers.
I think we're there.
-She's in. -Yes!
Now, this is complete.
Everything in here tells a story.
I love these corbels, but the fact that they're
from a 300-year-old tree in Ardsley Park
makes them even more special.
It's that old charm meets the new renovation.
The design aesthetic is so much different
than what we would do in Florida.
There's so many different textures and colors,
but it also just has
a very, like, vintage, comfortable
feel to it where it does feel like home away from home.
Usually, I complain about making the bed,
but in this case, it's kind of exciting.
That means we're getting close to actually being able to stay here.
Switch. One, two, three.
[Mika] When the family gets here tomorrow,
vacation officially starts.
-Amen to that. -Let's go.
All right, Brian, how you feeling right now?
You know, I'm feeling just peachy.
[Mika] All those stressful nights,
moments of tension, we gotta let it go
'cause this is when vacation begins.
We did it.
I'm very proud of our collaborative efforts...
-[Brian] Mm-hmm. -[Mika] ...of this design.
-It's like proof that we can really do this from afar... -[Brian] Yeah.
...and handle the stress
and really come out
with a beautiful product in the end.
It's about time.
-No, no, no. -Are they...
-It is time. -[gasps] Oh, my gosh.
-[Brian] Hey, we'll be right down. -[Mika] Oh, my gosh!
Hi!
-[Brian] We're coming. We're coming. -[Mika] We're coming.
-[Jade] Oh, my... -Oh, it's so beautiful.
-[Mika] Hello! -It, like, it stands out.
Whoa!
Welcome to Savannah.
-[Ellen] Oh. -Hello, hello.
-[Ellen] This is unbelievable. -[Mika] This is
our home, you guys.
-It definitely stands out. -[Mika] Ooh!
-[Jade] In a good way. -[Mika] Jade approves.
[Ellen] I love your landscaping. Wow.
[Mika] Smallest yard we've ever had to landscape,
-so we had to make it count. -[Brian] Uh-oh. Dad, you approve?
-I'm looking. I'm looking. -[Mika] Oh, he's inspecting.
[Kevin] Very nice.
The door matches your dress. I like all that.
-[Brian] That's all planned. -Well, honestly,
the door color was inspired.
It's called Jade Dragon.
-Oh! -[Brian] It actually is.
[Mika] It is. I mean, true story.
So it was kind of fitting. [chuckles]
I like the little accent that you added to the window.
[Mika] Since this was built in 1977,
technically not "historical,"
but we wanted to add those kind of characters.
So I'm glad you actually noticed that, Jade.
We're so happy that you're home, away from home.
-[Mika] Home away from home. -Home away from home.
-I can't wait to see the inside. -[Mika exclaims]
-You ready? -[Mika] Yes!
-Jade, you ready? -[Jade] Yeah.
Before we go in,
-we should give you... -Yeah, give it to them.
-[Ellen] ...a little home... -Our first gift?
"Be our guest, Savannah, Georgia."
[Mika] That's so awesome.
-[gasps] -Oh, my.
-[Jade chuckles] -[Ellen] Oh, wow.
-[gasps] -Oh, my.
-[Jade chuckles] -[Ellen] Oh, wow.
-[Ellen] Oh, my gosh. -[Kevin] Look at that ceiling.
[Ellen] This looks like a brand-new house.
Especially like what you've done with the fireplace.
-[Mika] Oh, that fireplace. -[Brian] Oh, the fireplace.
Dad, you'll appreciate this.
Guess what we named this mantle.
-Steve. -Mickey.
-Oh, that's good. -[all laughing]
[Brian] This actually came from Tybee Island.
And this piece of wood
was actually in a house on the beach.
Hundreds of years old.
[Kevin] What about the corbels?
[Mika] The corbels that you see up there
were custom made.
And it was cool because it was a tree from Ardsley Park.
She was 300 years old.
-The tree was sick, so they had to cut it down. -I love that
your pieces have stories.
[Kevin] I see something very familiar.
-"Home Sweet Home." -[Ellen] Oh.
-[Kevin] My mother stitched that. -[Brian] I know.
We wanted it to feel new
but also old at the same time.
[Kevin] Was the ceiling like that?
[Brian] The ceiling was not like that.
I mean, everything was dropped down.
So, this was all drywall.
It just felt kind of closed in.
Unfortunately,
we could not do the exposed rafters
all the way because this is all plumbing.
-[Mika] Mm-hmm. -[Brian] And then it makes sense
'cause we kind of did a drop down here that
differentiates the two spaces.
-Yeah. -So, you got your living room,
your kind of seating area,
and then you got the kitchen here, so...
I like all that storage underneath it.
Hey, extra storage is always a must,
especially in a tight space.
And this used to be a closet.
But we need our little wine bar.
Well, why didn't I see that when I walked right in?
I'm surprised you didn't notice that first.
[Ellen] So am I. This is really good.
[Brian] Should we show them one of our
favorite rooms in the townhome?
-[Ellen gasps] -[Jade] Wow.
-Okay. I see a big fountain. -[Mika] Yes.
Which reminds me of the park.
Yes!
[Ellen] So this is hand-painted?
-[Mika] Mm-hmm. Same artist. -[Brian] Hand-painted. We found a local muralist.
Custom piece for us.
I like how it goes up
-on the ceiling. -[Ellen] Oh, I didn't even notice it.
[Brian] It's an experience.
-You know what? You're gonna spend a lot of time in there. -[Mika laughs]
-[Kevin] Check out the kitchen. -[Mika] Go explore.
[Ellen] Ooh la la. It is just beautiful.
Oh, and I love your two tones.
-That's really pretty. Really, really pretty. -[Mika] Yeah.
[Kevin] A lot of thought went into this place.
[Mika] We're not done yet.
-All right. -Take it outdoors.
[Ellen gasps]
-Welcome to our courtyard. -Okay.
-Oh. -Oh, my God.
[Brian] This might be
my favorite space in this place.
[Jade] The walls. Oh.
-This brings the inside out. -[Mika] Oh.
[Brian] This is actually slate.
We really wanted to give
a natural feel out here.
You guys look really comfortable.
But now we have to go for a hike upstairs.
All right, so this is our oasis
that we've created here in Savannah.
-[Ellen] Oh, wow. -[Mika] Come on in.
[Brian] What do you think?
[Ellen] Oh, that wall.
[Kevin] What's that texture called again?
-[Brian] That's tambour. -Very nice.
That's the new shiplap.
That's got the dimensional.
It just has a lot of warmth to it.
Oh, and your view in the morning, really?
-[Mika] Morning coffee. -[Jade] Oh, wow.
[Mika] Yeah, go check it out.
[Ellen] This is gorgeous.
[Jade] Oh, my God.
So, yeah, it was custom wrought iron
to match the hand railing down in the courtyard.
[Jade] Yeah, I like it a lot.
[Brian] You guys want to check out the bathroom?
[Ellen] Absolutely.
Oh, wow.
[Ellen] That shower.
[Kevin] Very nice.
[Ellen] So this is a little space
that packs a big punch.
-[Jade] Oh, my gosh. -[Mika] Ooh. I like that, Ellen.
[Kevin] Good one, Ellen.
[Mika] We also have another bathroom and bedroom to see.
[Ellen] Okay.
[gasps]
-[Jade] Oh. -Oh, look at this bathroom.
Oh, my gosh.
[Kevin] Oh, I could live with this.
-[Ellen] Unbelievable. -[Kevin] Very nice.
I feel like this one is bigger than the main.
-It is, Jade. -Uh-huh. Yeah.
-You're welcome. -[laughs]
Check out the floor too, you guys.
-[Ellen] Oh, it's perfect. -[Jade] Okay.
-[Mika] That's right. -[Brian] All right. Jade,
are you ready to see your bedroom?
-[Jade] Yeah. -[Mika] Yes.
-[Brian] Check it out. -[Mika] Go in.
Oh, my.
Oh, wow.
-[Kevin] I recognize the furniture. -[Ellen] This is like
this was built
for my nanny's desk.
Oh, I'm gonna cry. It's just beautiful.
-[Jade] Yeah. -[Ellen] Oh, my gosh.
And the lamp.
Oh.
Just to continue
this heritage and this tradition,
it's just, uh,
beautiful. Thank you.
-[Mika] Thank you. -Thank you for taking our beautiful stuff.
[Mika] We also wanted to give you a little cool seating area.
-[Ellen] A reading room. -[Brian] A little reading room.
[Mika] Go check it out.
[Brian] Hey, Dad, I found one
-that actually had a fountain on it. -You did?
-[Brian] Almost like the Forsyth Park fountain. -Let's look through it.
[Brian] And, Jade, while she's looking at that fountain,
you can actually see the Forsyth fountain from right here.
[Jade] Oh, that's so cool. I love it.
This renovation has been quite the journey.
And I gotta be honest, very stressful.
[Mika] From fixing wood rot on the windows,
replacing all the flooring, exterior paint.
-[Brian] The fight with the fireplace. - [Mika] Ooh.
[Brian] The countertop debacle.
[Mika] With all the curveballs
we faced in this renovation,
we did end up going $15,000
over our budget.
Spending about $215,000.
But it was worth it.
'Cause you can't put a price on a lifetime of memories.
All the headaches
we went through and speed bumps,
we kind of kept focus of the family,
because we knew that it was for everybody. Not just for us.
And, um,
I don't know how we got here. We did.
So can you like take a deep breath
-and relax now? -[sighs] Not yet.
Um, I apologize for the way I acted sometimes.
-But, uh... -Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I mean, I love you, like crazy.
I can't wait to finally spend our first night in here.
Yes!
And I can't wait for you guys
-to spend the night here. -We will be here, to be together.
You guys have just made this house a home.
We are so proud of everything
that Brian and Mika have accomplished.
I see just such a passion that they have
for their work. And I don't think it's
just for their own homes.
They have passion for every project they do.
But this one is extra special.
Now that we've already painted the town home,
let's go paint the town red.
-Yeah! -Let's.
-Let's go! -Let's go walk in the park.
-[Mika] Woo-hoo. -[Brian] Let me tell you something, though.
This renovation was no walk in the park.
[Mika laughs] You can say that again.
I was gonna use that, but you did.
-[Mika] Oh. -[Brian] I beat you to it.
Now we can finally enjoy Savannah.
I mean, this is the reason we put in all this hard work.
So it's our time now, Mika.
What do you say we go make a wish
-in the fountain? -[Mika] Ooh. Let's do it.
-[Ellen] Yes. -[Brian] Let's do it.
-[Kevin] Can I borrow some coins? -[Mika] yes.
-[Brian] Hey, I'm all out of money. -[Kevin laughs]
[Mika] That is, uh, a true statement.
-[Ellen] Gorgeous. -[Mika] It's really pretty.