All right, we'll be right out. Okay, guys.
Miss Holly's here. Come here.
Remember, we did Ms. Holly's house.
A little while ago, we renovated Holly and Chris Brookhouser's home.
And we added a catio-like structure that they wanted
so that she could foster cats.
Oh, my gosh.
Your pocket is moving. Oh, my gosh.
Her pocket's moving.
-Hi. -Hi.
-Can I hold him?
-Oh, my God. -Yes.
How do you end up with these things?
Well, I mean, I had the catio, so I had to get some posters.
And she may or may not have sent me a picture of them
falling on the little thing that you built.
So then I was like, aw, we have to have them.
I thought I built such a wonderful home
for cats that they would stay there.
-I'm so excited. -I'm excited you adopted one.
-He's so sweet. -I would say thank you, but I'm not going to.
You're welcome.
Little did I know, building this catio
for Holly would come back, and...
-...bite me right in the-- -Oh, my gosh.
That's a cute little kitten. Where's he going to sleep?
We got to get him a bed and a litter box.
-Who's going to clean the litter box? -Daddy.
Come on, guys.
[Jenny] That's a cute neighborhood. A lot of trees.
We're headed to meet with Barb and Roger Ludwig.
They had damage in the tornadoes that came through town.
A tree fell on their house.
It's been five months now, so they haven't been at home.
-They haven't been living at home this whole time. -Gosh.
They've called contractors over and have had no luck.
You have one after another contractor that goes to easier work.
-Oh. -Let's see what we can do.
-[Barb] Good morning. -[Dave] Good morning.
-Welcome to our home. -Beautiful neighborhood.
-We're so happy. -Nice to meet you.
-Thank you. Thank you, guys. -So how long have y'all lived here?
-[Barb] It'll be 32 years in February. -Yeah, in '93.
-It was being built. -[Jenny] Wow.
My name is Barb Ludwig, and this is my husband, Roger.
[Roger] We have one son, lives on his own.
Barb and I met at college.
We were actually at a party, and we kind of
bump up to each other.
And I'm noticing that she's not offended by that.
So we talked and almost stayed up all night.
We've been married 47 years. So it was just fate.
[Roger] We like Bentonville, and we just love this neighborhood.
But we haven't been home since May.
[Roger] The tornado came in so late.
Around one o'clock, we went into our safe room
in the house, which is the bathroom.
And then all of a sudden, it went kaboom.
-The whole house shook. -We looked at each other
and said, I think we lost the roof.
We've had so much stress in our lives,
you know, the tornado and the damage was part of it.
But the biggest frustration has been getting contractors to work with us.
I think storm damage is a unique situation
because you don't know what's behind the walls and it could get very big.
And then he's also had major health scares
and surgery in the last month.
He was diagnosed with melanoma.
So the stress has been almost unbearable.
You know, there's been times where we say,
wouldn't it be great if Dave and Jenny Marrs take on our house?
And so when we got the call, we were just beside ourselves.
They're going to get right on it.
And I am just so excited to have somebody
of their design capability and creativity to help us.
All right, so let's talk about how much you are going
to spend on this total renovation project.
Right around $210,000.
Okay, that's your plan. That's your max, okay?
Obviously, outside, we're going to need a new roof.
But beyond that, what else are you hoping
-to happen and see on the house? -[Roger] Door.
-I was thinking, yeah, the front door. -The front door, okay.
[Barb] If we could.
And I kind of like dark colored siding.
-Oh, okay. What do you mean? -I'm thinking like dark charcoal.
-Okay. -The landscaping, you can see
-that the bushes took a major hit. -Okay, yeah.
[Jenny] Yeah.
Let's go look at the tree damage.
-Okay. -Wow.
-Oh, my gosh. -Goodness.
So where was the tree, right here?
Yeah, it was actually right about right
in the middle there of that spot.
[Barb] The tree was over the whole top of the house.
It was just surreal when you go into your house
and there's a whole tree there.
-Right. -[Jenny] I can't imagine.
All right, so we are, first of all, of course,
-going to have to fix this side of the house. -Okay.
[Jenny] We will replace the siding, replace the roof,
paint this house dark,
and update landscaping, update the front door,
update lighting.
-All right. Let's go inside. -[Barb] Couldn't for more.
[Roger] Watch your step, guys.
[Jenny] Oh, yeah, look at that.
-It's crumbling here. Is that from the tree hitting? -[Barb] Yeah.
-It is. -Just the foundation?
Yeah.
Now the door here is out of plumb.
There's probably brick pushing against it.
-Everything shifted over, didn't it? -[Barb] Yeah.
All right.
Okay. This is the entry. And this is?
-[Barb] This is the dining room. -Hmm-hmm.
-There was no damage done in here at all. -Okay.
But we really don't use the room.
You know, we could do something
-totally different if you want. -[Jenny] Okay.
And then the only thing I want your expertise on
-is the columns. -Okay.
I bet that corner is, just for show.
-And probably the same on the column by the door. -Okay.
Now, is there a room above this corner?
-Yeah, there's a bedroom. -Okay, so this one for sure is structural.
-[Roger] Okay. -Maybe we shift the staircase over to support
the wall and also help define the room a bit more.
Then we can get rid of this column.
-Okay. -Right.
Now, the one thing that's standing out to me, too, is the floor.
We would like some kind of engineered hardwood.
-Yeah, okay. -Just the same thing throughout the first floor.
Yes, so it's all consistent.
-Right, right. -I think that would be nice.
Talking about paint and color and feel.
[Barb] We could do something dark if you want.
I'm good with the big contrast.
[Jenny] Nice, I love it. Okay, all right.
So the plan for the dining room is, first of all,
we're going to replace flooring throughout the house,
get rid of these columns, and we'll try to move the staircase closer
-to the wall. -[Barb] Okay.
[Jenny] And then we can update the staircase in a way
-that's a little more modern. -[Barb] Right.
And we'll figure out something fun and bright to be determined.
-Right. -Okay, what's next?
-[Barb] This is our kitchen. -Okay.
Which has not been touched other than appliances
since we moved in.
-We love the light and all the windows. -I love that.
-But what we'd like to see in here is new cabinets. -[Jenny] Yeah.
[Barb] If it's possible to go to the ceiling, backsplash,
and countertops.
Do you like the galley? I mean, the format?
We don't feel like we have to reconfigure the whole kitchen
-Great, okay. -because it does work for us.
-Perfect. -The light here where we get all of
-this coming in, it's just beautiful. -Yes, it's beautiful.
The only thing we were thinking is to get rid of that where it juts out.
-Yeah, I agree. -And just go straight.
That's why, Jenny, I don't know how many times
-we bump into each other right there. -Right here.
-Yeah. -It's like right there.
Would you be open to putting the microwave in a cabinet?
And then you could actually have a hood.
-Oh, I'd love that. -Because what we really have to do is we open
the back door, turn the fan on.
Yeah, no, let's, we got, we'll fix that.
That's easy fix. You have your bar sink over here.
[Barb] Yes. My husband and son are bourbon fans,
but I'm a little bit more wine and scotch.
Okay. What color do you want your kitchen?
You know, I saw one kitchen that you did dark cabinets.
-Uh-huh. -That was kind of neat.
-And I also like natural wood, as long as it's more modern -Yeah.
-and clean lines, you know? -Yeah.
-But it could have a mix or maybe even tying it in -Yeah.
-with what we have outside. -Okay.
So in the kitchen, keep the same layout
for the most part, but we'll have new cabinets
all the way to the ceiling, the countertop,
get the lighting, and then update the wet bar
and create more cabinet storage here.
[Roger] Great.
Okay. Should we talk about the living room?
-Yeah. -All right.
This room actually had more damage than we initially thought.
This whole wall here, you can see
-where it's separated up at the seams. -[Dave] Oh, wow, yeah.
Yeah. I'm just thinking budget.
-What is this all? -Well, we'll have to make sure
everything's square and in shift.
If there is something that's catastrophic, we'll know right away.
[Barb] The insurance adjuster said he couldn't estimate.
Yeah, they can only estimate what they see.
-Right. -Okay.
[Barb] In here, we're talking about flooring and then the fireplace here
-that we'd like to keep. -The fireplace looks old.
-Okay. But you like the wood? -We do, yeah.
Maybe even the mantle would have to tie more into your design.
-Yeah, sure. -You guys are really good on mantles.
Yes, we love mantles.
All right, so we'll come up with a design plan
-once we know what we're dealing with in here. -[Barb] Yeah, that's fine.
All right, so let's go see this bedroom.
[Roger] Where we received the most damaged.
-[Dave] I can hear that door sticking. -Yeah, it does.
-It's... -Oh, my goodness.
This has all got to be ripped off and completely redone.
[Barb] And the insurance company agreed with you.
-Good. That's good. -Good.
-All right. So now this is like a blank slate. -It is.
What would you like to see in this new bedroom?
We were thinking even vaulted ceilings.
-Oh, yeah. -[Dave] You can do them.
-[Jenny] Since it's open. -[Dave] Yeah.
But really, our vision in here is I'd love a fireplace.
-Oh, yes. -And I was thinking about remote control.
He burns his eyebrows when he tries to light fireplaces.
In a bedroom, the gas has to be behind glass
-so we can meet all codes. -Uh-huh.
Or we could do an electric fireplace.
-Either way, it would be a remote control. -Okay.
[Barb] This room is 15 by 15.
We're hoping we could do everything.
-It would be 25 by 15. -So go out that way.
-And we have the space. Okay. -Hmm-hmm.
-This is a crazy thought. -Okay.
A freestanding wall in the middle that our bed
would be, and have a couple exercise pieces behind it.
-Yeah. -That's kind of fun.
-'Cause Roger's a treadmill. -I'm a treadmill guy.
They've been living in this home 30-plus years,
so Barbara and Roger have a lot of ideas on,
what you would do differently.
[Jenny] And then color.
-[Barb] I just want bright and light. -Yeah.
-Now, that'll also give you a bigger bathroom. -Yeah.
Let's go in here and talk about this new large bathroom.
[Barb] One of the things is I would like to have a makeup area,
-something like that. -Some makeup and two sinks.
-And two sinks, yeah. -But the tub needs to go.
-Okay. -I really would like to replace it
-with something longer. -[Jenny] Okay.
And then our shower is not zero entry.
We'd like a bigger shower because as we get older,
-we have to make it easier to access. -Okay.
The dream is to have two walk-in closets in here.
Does he get the older, smaller closet
or the newer, bigger closet?
If you could get his golf stuff
in the closet, I'd give him the bigger one.
Okay, so the plan for the bathroom,
first of all, we're going to bump this wall out.
And we're going to expand this entire space.
We're going to have two walk-in closets, double sinks.
We'll have a makeup vanity, tub, a walk-in shower,
-a little mini spa in here for you. -Yes.
And then in the bedroom, we'll replace the flooring,
paint, add a partition wall, add a fireplace,
and we'll see if we can vault the ceilings.
-[Barb] That's exactly what I was thinking. -Perfect.
-Anything else we should know before? -No.
-I mean, we went through everything. -Yeah, we did.
-And your stuff is out. So we can start ASAP. -Yes.
You know, the Ludwigs, it's been about
five months now that they've been displaced.
So we're going to have to work as quickly as we can for them.
[Dave] This house is going to take several months.
So take care of your health and yourselves,
and take this off the end.
-I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. -Yes.
For the last 30 years, this home has been their safe space.
After the tornado, that changed.
When they come back, it will be something new,
and we get to be a part of it.
Well, you're not living here either, and we're not saying
goodbye in the bathroom, so we might as well walk each other out.
Yeah, after you.
[upbeat music playing]
-Morning, fellas. -What's up, man?
[Dave] All right, guys, so this one here,
we're actually going to start outside.
This one was hit pretty hard by a tree.
-Holy moly. -How bad's inside?
[Dave] It's pretty rough.
What I am concerned about is the cracks aren't just here.
They pushed in by the fireplace.
They pushed into the kitchen.
So I guess the right call would be to get Damon up there
-and get the tarp off. -Yeah, sure.
This demo, it looks a little bit different
because we have a house without a roof.
Oh, there's a hole.
[Dave] We got to get all these walls out of the way.
We got to get everything framed back,
get the new roof put on so we can get this thing
dried in before winter sets in.
We have got a giant hole, and then we got
a really unstable roof.
You think of the weight of all these shingles,
I'm really worried about people on the inside,
something falling down on top of them.
So I think the only way to do it is just try to pull
that roof straight off of the house.
How's it going?
It looked bad before we took the tarp off,
-but now it looks really bad. -Oh, my.
I almost think you should back your truck up here,
and we should tie a rope to it and just pull it away
-from the house. -Let's do that.
You guys have a fascination with pulling things off
-with your truck. -It's true.
It's all tied off. Jenny, are you ready?
I guess.
Why can't you just bring an excavator in, maybe?
I'll tell you when to stop.
Everybody ready?
-[car honks] -Clear.
Go ahead. Give it a little gas.
Okay. Oh, gosh.
I don't think this is a good idea.
Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
Go, go.
-Oh, my gosh. -Go, go.
There you go. Stop. Good job.
We're going to do one more, babe. Come forward.
15 minutes of doing this is saving five hours of demo.
Yeah. Which will save time
in the long run because every day counts.
Let's do it again.
You guys good?
-Okay. -[Jenny] Everybody out.
[Dave] There it goes.
-Keep going, keep going, keep going. -Yeah!
Keep going, keep going.
Keep going. Perfect.
All right, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
[cheering]
[Jenny] Oh, my gosh, you guys.
We got the roof section that we needed to remove,
the ceiling, two walls, and now we just have cleanup.
Let's go inside and see what we need to do.
I'm worried about the fireplace wall.
All right.
I know these columns can come out.
I like that power jump you had.
That was first class. Let's get the other one out.
All right, let's go.
Inside, we're going to really just kind of assess where we're at.
So we're saving all of the appliances, so be gentle.
-What about the cabinets? -If we can unscrew them, let's save them.
Look at that.
Yeah, we can save these.
We'll call it donation facility.
-Easy enough. -What do you guys think about this tile?
You think it's going to come up easy?
Oh, yeah.
There's not even any underlayment on that.
Look at that.
All right, that's probably good.
Let's get these cabinets and appliances out of here,
and then we'll start messing with that.
Priority number one right now is getting this stuff out of the way
so we can assess any other damage that we may have.
I want to get a hole in this wall and just see what we're looking at.
All right. What do you think?
You think that wall is going to be fine where it's cracked like that?
Yeah, that's just moisture's done that.
You can look right here at this molding and tell
that ain't never opened up. If that wall was racked,
-that gap would be opened up. -Yeah.
And it's tight.
Yeah, I think so too.
As long as the windows are square and are operating,
I feel good in here.
Those look good.
-I think we're good in shape. -Let's move on.
[upbeat music playing]
-What's up, man? -Oh, hey.
-Nothing. I like that jacket. -Thanks.
-It's so fancy. -Hey, how's it going?
You guys are, like, coordinating here.
-Oh, we are. -We called each other.
Yeah, we did.
At the Ludwig house,
we have got a lot of work already done.
We've got the damaged roof, damaged walls,
windows, all of that stuff out of there.
We shifted the staircase over.
Oh, look at the stairs. This looks so good.
[Derek] Yeah, they look much better now.
[Jenny] Oh, my gosh. So much better.
-This whole space feels huge now. -Wow.
[Jenny] Now that we have a new floor plan
for the living room, the plan is to paint,
update the fireplace like they wanted,
install the same flooring like everywhere else in the house,
and just make this room feel consistent with the rest of the house.
[Dave] Okay.
All right, so this fireplace mantles around.
I think we'll do, like, a stone,
-so it just feels real transitional. -[Dave] Okay.
This fireplace needs to fit with the house
now with the new aesthetic we're giving it,
which is this sort of transitional feel.
Simple and classic.
So probably about the top of there would have to be stone.
Eight inches around or something?
-Yeah, clean, like, marble-looking stone. -[Dave] Okay.
While we're here, we are uncovering this.
[Dave] Oh, my gosh.
-Oh, what is that? -That's rot.
They either didn't have it flashed properly or...
You can see daylight.
[Derek] It's not flashed properly at all.
-That's original. -[Jenny] That wasn't from the storm.
It's something we're going to have to completely rip off and redo.
How much is that going to cost?
I mean, by the time you rip it all off and re-side it,
-$4,000 or $5,000. -Hmm.
-It doesn't matter. You've got to do it. -That stinks.
So in the kitchen, more bad news.
-Okay. -You know how you wanted
to take cabinets to the ceiling?
The bulkheads were actually covering...
Everything.
Unfortunately, a lot of the 3-inch plumbing lines
were run in that drop soffit.
We're not going to be able to move
this plumbing without a lot of money.
All this 3-inch is going to have to be framed back in.
I was thinking drywall, the rain shed, like our kitchen.
-So that will cover that. -Okay.
So we don't have to do anything false here.
But we do have to go false here. They just have to be false.
The cabinets can go all the way up. They just have to be false.
And we had a squirrel friend
that did a lot of chewing on the wiring and the studs.
-[Jenny] Oh, wow. -So we got to fix that.
And then we've got a little bit of rewiring to do.
But other than that and the other half of the house
that's gone right now, we're good.
But hopefully we find no other problems here
because the Ludwig's $210,000 will get eaten up in a flash.
Plus it extends the timeframe that we don't really have.
All right, well, let's go over here.
Down this hall, this was the dining room,
which they said they didn't need.
And so I was thinking, why don't we make this, like,
a cozy lounge area, have some club chairs in here.
He said he likes bourbon, and she said she likes wine.
So I think it could be really cool if we did cabinet storage,
and then a bench seat in the middle that I get,
like, some velvet and, like, make it distinctive
-and separate from the rest of the house. -[Dave] Love it.
And so then this, I'm going to try to find
something like old to incorporate and then
that you can build around and then we can make it something unique and cool.
-[Dave] Sounds fun. -Something neat.
Okay. Great. Love it. Bathroom.
Be careful.
-Well, this is wide open, so you can have open. -It is.
-It's an open floor plan. I like it. -Yeah, lots of natural light.
I like what we've done with the place.
We have a lot going in here. We have fireplace in the bedroom.
We have a partition wall in the bedroom.
And then we have two new closets.
In the bedroom. We're going to just run a dividing wall that
we leave three or four feet on either side.
Yeah, enough space for a treadmill.
And then I was also thinking it'd be fun to have,
like, a little putting green.
[Dave] Oh, that's a good idea.
Putting green is going to be something that shows
Roger's love of golf that him and his son share.
Plus, with everything he's going through
with his melanoma battle, we want to surprise him with it.
Let's talk bathroom.
-Three-foot vanity, shower. -Mm-hmm.
Tub.
Goes in the opening where the existing tub was.
Then closet.
Well, her vanity. Where's her vanity?
Well, her vanity is right here.
And she really wants that makeup counter.
Makeup bar.
And then basically, you go out,
-and that's all closet space. -Her and his closets.
Yeah.
This side, though, is closet. Yeah.
This bathroom is going to be pretty amazing.
I think we're going to give the Ludwigs everything that they've wanted.
It's going to be good.
-All right. Let's figure out that fireplace. -Okay.
We need to get outside with this fireplace
and figure out how much we're actually going to have to fix.
-We know it's not good. -No.
-I just hope that it's... -There's no flash in here.
Oh, yeah, it's just literally coming right over and in.
Yeah, look, it's gonna fall right off.
-Ooh, dear, it's awful. -Oh, my gosh.
This is awful.
Oh, my gosh. This is awful.
Shoot. We're going to have to peel this siding off.
And we're going to take it all off anyway.
-It should never come off that easy. -Wow.
When we removed the sheetrock around the fireplace area,
we saw quite a bit of rot.
And it looks like water has just been,
I mean, apparently over many years,
running down and degrading all of the lumber
on the outside of this fireplace.
There's nothing left.
Oh, that's gone, too.
[Derek] That's still wet.
This is significantly worse than I expected.
My biggest concern, though, is that it didn't leach back into
the existing wall.
Yeah.
-It doesn't look like it did. -That's good.
-Yeah, I think it's straight down. -It was straight down.
That's solid back there.
Above roof line is in good shape.
I just hope that it's not the same problem
-in other areas around the house. -Yeah.
If it gets much worse, we're just going to have
to kind of stop everything, call the Ludwigs,
and really reassess this whole budget.
Let's start ripping all this siding off
and then hope there's not more around the rest of the house.
[soft music playing]
-Hi, how are you? -Good.
Okay, I'm just looking around.
-I'm looking for a piece of furniture. -Okay.
I'm here at one of my favorite shops
to see if they have anything that will work for Barbara and Roger's wine
bourbon room to give it some character.
It's good to just pop in, because there's always new stuff.
So I never know what I'm going to find.
I'm also a very quick shopper.
I know what I want when I see it.
Oh, this is fun.
Oh, a card catalog. That's cute.
This card catalog is cool.
I love the hardware on it. I love the color of it.
I feel like Dave could incorporate
this into a cabinet, which could be really fun.
Hold on.
That's a good deal, too.
It's a great piece,
and we can create something unique.
So I think it's worth getting.
Right there at the top.
-All right. -There we go.
I think I can fit it in my car.
Do you want to help me grab it?
-Absolutely. -Okay, perfect.
-Thank you. -Good to see you.
Good things are happening at Roger and Barb's house.
The new bedroom is now totally enclosed
and has a much larger footprint.
Inside, the framing is almost done
on the bathroom and new closets,
as well as the wall that will separate
the exercise area from the bedroom.
Large windows will bring in tons of sunlight.
The repairs on the fireplace are done.
And thankfully, we didn't find any other water damage in the house.
I know. They don't want dark.
And Dave and I are picking the color for the new flooring.
This is obviously a no because it's yellow.
You're going to get more flat consistency in the white oak.
-Oh, okay. There you go. -It's durable.
It lasts forever. And it goes with just about anything.
The lighter wood is really going to make
everything feel brighter in here.
I just think it's also very natural looking.
Just like your husband. Au natural.
[chuckles]
Speaking of natural, we should probably trim these a little bit.
I like those. It's been sunny out lately.
I like a little extra shade in there.
-How are you doing? I'm just fine. Go ahead. -White oak it is.
-I got to go. -All right, I know.
Okay, white oak. I'm going to order it.
All right, bye.
Hey, Derek, I'm going to finish cutting everything out from in here.
I'll be outside.
At the Ludwig house today, there's a lot going on
and a little bit of a race against time here,
'cause not only have the Ludwigs been displaced
for six months now, this house has water in the line, pipes,
and it's freezing cold.
So we have got the last few windows we got to set.
Woo! You can feel that breeze coming through now.
It's so darn cold out here. Let's get the window in.
Yeah, we've got to get the heat turned on in this room.
Okay.
Watch your fingers, Dave.
Make sure it cranks, and then we'll finish.
Oh, yeah.
Barb wanted a dark exterior, so we're going to do
a combination of things.
-Siding is here. -Oh, yay!
It's going to have three different elements.
We're going to have the brick, we're going to have board and batten,
and we're going to have shake.
It looks good.
Then we're going to paint the brick.
We'll have white trim. It'll be really pretty.
Traditional, but dark. And it's going to fit
-It's gonna be perfect. -really nicely in the neighborhood, too.
All right, I love it.
Get this stuff installed.
We got Chris and the guys bringing all of the cabinets in.
So pretty.
But with the plumbing pipes and the electrical
and all the stuff that's coming down out of the ceiling,
it's too costly to move all of that.
But by having false doors above each cabinet,
they still look like they go to the ceiling.
Oh, I love this. This looks so good, the turn.
So we have just the fake upper here.
-And I think that looks fine. -It's a lot better than that old soffit that just up there.
100%, yeah.
[Dave] We have to notch out the back of the range hood
to fit over the plumbing. But when it's done
and the cabinets are installed, you won't know any different.
[Jenny] Coming together.
It's going to be a really nice kitchen.
In Roger and Barbara's bedroom, we're going to put
a putting green for Roger that we're going to hinge off of the floor
where Roger can putt with it when he wants.
He can put it away when he's done.
So about a 10 degree slope.
Because Roger
is apparently a pretty good golfer.
I've got a little bit of slope in it.
I love custom pieces like this because
they really turn a house into a home.
And with Roger's recent health scares,
it's nice to be able to do something special for him.
And it will easily fold up and out of the way,
so there will still be room back there for a treadmill.
-So cute. -Hey, babe.
I really needed Jenny's help putting the turf on.
I got to flip it over and spray the adhesive on it.
I think we're good.
I feel like the only thing left to do is a small competition.
-No pressure. -I don't feel any pressure.
-Oh. -Oh. Dang it.
Life is a competition. Is that not what you always say, Dave Marrs?
Second place, first loser.
-[both laughing] -[whoops]
So what are you now, Dave?
First loser.
There has to be a rematch.
-Won. -When we give it back to them, we'll rematch then.
[Jenny laughs]
She did win and
I'm proud of her.
I really am proud of her.
You know, when you've never won anything, it feels good.
So the Ludwig house is very busy.
They have been out of their house for seven months now.
We are actually now where we've got to start getting
some of the finished stuff done at this house
so we can get them back in.
And the engineered hardwood floors are getting installed,
which will bring a uniformity throughout the house.
Damon is finishing up the mudding on the drywall
in the giant bedroom.
And the light tone of the shower tile is going
to brighten up that whole new bathroom.
And in my shop, I'm splitting the card catalog in half
to flank a feature wall in the wine and bourbon room.
Let it dry, and then I'll build a cabinet around it.
Oh, my gosh.
[Roger] Look at this.
[Barb] Look at the flooring.
That wallpaper and this fan, it's perfect.
-I may cry. -[all laughing]
Here at the Ludwig house, we literally have snow on the ground.
So we're really kind of working anywhere
we can to get this thing buttoned up.
[Jenny] We're building out the fireplace in Barb and Roger's bedroom.
The natural wood front door will contrast
nicely with the dark house exterior,
while a beautiful quartzite surround is going on the main fireplace.
And the cabinets Dave built for the bourbon room
are going to look great with the card catalogs installed.
[upbeat music playing]
So we are doing a wine and bourbon room for the Ludwigs.
And I thought it would be fun to have a label with
their new house.
Today I'm meeting with Bethany.
She does beautiful watercolors of homes.
She's painted the Mercantile for me, the Welcome Inn.
And I think if she paints Barbara and Roger's home
onto a wine label, they would love it.
Yeah, perfect. I think that's perfect.
So maybe we do welcome home or just home.
-Simple with home. -Mm-hmm.
-And then a house here. -Mm-hmm.
And then we could do the year, like vintage.
Okay. I'll try and fade it out on the edges
like we did with the Mercantile.
-Yeah, perfect. -And they could have the original.
Oh, I love that. And then they could keep a big one.
-Yes, kind of a twofer. -Yeah, I'm going to frame that.
It's kind of like a commemorative bottle
for the year they got to move back into their home.
It's now going to be displayed in their new wine room.
-All right, thank you. -All right, no problem.
We're working as fast as we can to get Roger and Barb back
in their house, so a lot of things are happening at once.
The dark counters and backsplash will contrast
nicely with the natural wood cabinets.
The large tub will give Barb a luxurious spa-like bathroom.
We're putting a sleek modern hand rail on the staircase.
We're giving the wine and bourbon room
a sophisticated feel with a darker green color.
New exterior lights are going to make
the outside of the house warm and welcoming.
The Ludwigs have been away for nearly eight months,
and I can't wait to tell them it's finally time to come back home.
[Dave] I got Roger's clubs here.
Oh, yeah, perfect. Right there.
Look how cute this looks.
-Got his trophies. -This closet's giant.
I know. It looks good.
We were at the Ludwig house wrapping everything up.
It is time because it is freezing out.
We've got to get all the little things done inside,
everything perfect, so we can get Roger
and Barbara back in their house.
-They have not had a house to live in since May. -May.
It's now winter.
So it's been a long time.
And they have gone through a lot.
So they are just ready to get home.
Babe, I mean, Bethany did such a great job on these labels.
-I know, aren't they so cute? -So fun.
-You want to just right here, Jen? -Yes, right there.
Love it, love it.
This renovation has been a really big one.
There was a lot to tackle.
All right, babe, here's a table.
Okay.
-This room. -Right?
It's so pretty. I love it. It's very cozy.
I like how it's broken up, too.
[Jenny] I know.
This little spot is very cozy. I would be here every morning.
We reconfigured so much of the spaces.
You know, moving the staircase made a huge impact,
getting rid of those columns that were dating the space.
It all feels very warm and welcoming, and it's so good.
Very pretty. I think we're about there.
-Hurry up. Let's go. -Okay.
-[Barb] Perfect day to get back home. -[Roger] Perfect day.
Been a long time.
I never thought we were going to get to this point where we're moving home.
Got her.
Woo-hoo. All right.
We are getting close.
Oh, I see the flag. Oh, my gosh.
-Babe, they're there. -Oh, wow. Okay.
[Roger] Oh, my gosh.
Look at the color.
Oh, my gosh.
-We're getting close. -Oh.
Oh, my gosh. Look at the color.
Oh, my gosh. Look at it.
-Unbelievable. -I love that color.
That's exactly what I wanted.
-Oh, and the brick. -[Roger] You believe that?
[Barb] Oh, and I love those lights.
[Jenny] Hello.
Oh, they're right there.
Oh, the landscape.
Oh, my gosh.
-Hello. -This is beautiful.
-Oh, how are you? -Hi, how are you doing?
I told Roger, I said, that's exactly the color I wanted.
I love it.
-Good. I think. -Beautiful.
-And my neighbors all said I would. -Oh, good.
They haven't told me what it was,
-but they all called and said, oh, you're going to love it. -Oh, good.
[Roger] And I love the landscape.
-[Barb] Yes. -[Jenny] Yes.
There is a fountain, but it's frozen.
It's frozen.
[Barb] The windows are beautiful.
-[Roger] They are. -And the front door.
Oh, the color on that is gorgeous.
The flag is up there again where it should be.
-Yes. -And everything.
-And I love the white trim with it. -I love it.
-[Jenny] Really classic and traditional. -Yeah.
[Jenny] We added the shake siding that goes nicely with the brick.
The lights are, I mean, they're just fantastic.
[Barb] They're beautiful.
[Jenny] Yes. Oh, I'm so glad.
[Barb] It has just joined the 21st century.
[Jenny] Yes. There's so much to see.
There's a lot of changes out here,
but there are, I feel like, a lot more inside.
And it'll be warmer in there.
-Yes, it's warmer. We'll tell you. -So let's go.
Okay, go on.
-Oh, my. -Oh, my gosh.
-Oh, my. -Oh...
Oh, I love this.
-[Roger] Look at this, Barb. -Oh, my gosh.
-[Barb] I love that railing with the stairs. -Yes.
-You pushed it back. -This is great.
-We pushed the whole thing back. -[Roger] Wow.
-Almost five feet. -[Jenny] Yes.
So it really opened up the whole living room.
-Yeah. -[Barb] Absolutely beautiful.
Look at the flooring. It's gorgeous too.
-So all white oak flooring. -[Barb] The can lighting.
-Yes. And this fan. -I love that too.
-That's just like, yeah. -[Roger] It's just beautiful.
-Seems like it's brighter. -[Barb] Oh, just the color.
[Jenny] The color helps, but it's not white.
It's actually more of a mushroom color
-so that it feels warm, welcoming. -Yes.
Oh, the fireplace, you guys. The fireplace.
-Yeah. -This fireplace, I have to say, was a...
Challenge?
-It was a challenge. -Yes.
-Oh, my gosh. -Yes, you know, it's very classic.
-It is. -It's just, again, warm and, you know,
I did that rock work that was here, you know, that little rock.
Oh, yes. Yes.
-It was terrible. -Yes, yes.
-It was kind of like, it was a little project. -I told her it was wonderful.
-I love this mantel. -Yeah.
-Oh, my gosh. -Had an old beam from the farm that we brought down here.
I was hoping you'd find some old beams around the farm.
[Roger] Barb, it's us.
-This is us. -Yeah.
You know that?
-It's wonderful. -Okay.
We have a lot to see. Should we go back up to the front?
All right.
I think we passed something when we walked in.
Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
Dave and Jenny Marrs.
-Oh, beautiful. -Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
I may cry.
Aw.
-And I love that wallpaper. It just goes so well. -Isn't that pretty?
I wanted some really fun wallpaper as like the focal point,
-a piece of art. -It's beautiful.
You have a little bench here where you can sit.
There was a column here, another one here.
-So we thought, let's make this an actual room -Yes.
where you can kind of have your own conversations in here.
-[Roger] It's warm. -Yes.
-And these little drawers. -Aren't they so cute?
Dave actually incorporated these.
It's an old card catalog.
-I was going to say, it looked like from a library. -Yes.
This is so clever.
And then we also had my labels made.
Oh, my gosh.
So my friend Bethany, she painted the house,
which we have on the wall, and she made little wine labels.
Oh, that is so cute.
-Isn't that cute? -Oh, look at this.
You're just going to stay in here, aren't you?
-I am. -[all laughing]
And my son, too.
-Yes. -My son is actually, he loves his bourbon, too.
-Okay, we're not done yet. -[Barb] This is beautiful.
-Wanna go see? -Yes.
All right. Let's go.
Let's see it.
-Ready, Pa? -I'm not really ready.
This is probably the most emotional part of the house for me.
[Roger] This is...
-Oh. -[laughs]
Look at this, Barb.
[Barb] Oh, my gosh.
Beautiful.
I mean, seriously.
Now I know what you're going to be saying.
-I'm going to be here. -Right here.
Exactly.
Fireplace. It's just absolutely beautiful.
-Beautiful. -Very traditional with the brick
-and the traditional mantel. -[Roger] Oh, my God.
And there's just a remote. So you just turn it on
-in the morning, sit here with your coffee. -It's perfect.
-I mean, this is like huge. -And the vaulted ceiling.
-Huge. -I love that.
Yep. We got up on the roof, had to take everything off.
-So we thought, all right, let's just go vaulted. -Yeah.
And then we put the little divider wall where your bed sits.
It kind of breaks it up a little bit.
And you still have tons of room.
I can't talk.
I just don't want to ugly cry.
-Take a second. -All right.
I'm so happy for her.
It's peaceful and everything. And I think the idea
that we had a tree come down and destroy everything,
and it's been brought back so much better.
-Wow. -This is more than I could imagine, too.
-I mean, it just really is. -I'm so glad.
-My new space. -Yes.
-And I just love it. -I'm so glad.
All right, so I mean, you've only seen part of the bedroom.
-Yeah. -So head back that way.
I already like what I see.
Oh, wow.
You've got your closet here.
Then if you get bored during the day,
you've got a nice putting green that you can just sit back here.
We thought, you know what? Something that's fun.
Let's have a little bit of fun.
Yeah, you can put a treadmill back here.
You can put other stuff.
-And then you can put it away when you're done. -This is so nice.
-And I love that you used this. -Isn't that fun?
-I know. -The club head.
Yep, that holds it up there.
Now, David, do I have the sand traps?
Yeah, you're going to have to go on your own.
All right, so with this addition, we had plenty
of room for closet space, which I know was very important to you.
-So, Roger. -David, there's another space.
Yep.
-Oh, Roger. -Oh, my goodness.
-This is fantastic. -Oh, look it.
[Dave] You've got plenty of room now for however many golf bags.
-I think I could put my 100 pair of hats in. -That's beautiful.
-That's right. -You got the top shelf, too.
-That's the top shelf. -Oh, this is beautiful.
Okay, Barb, this was kind of Roger's space.
He may want to just stay here, I don't know.
But you have a space you have to go check out, too.
Well, we've got to check that out.
Holy cow.
-Oh, my gosh. -Holy mackerel.
Oh, this is beautiful. This is mine.
And that's yours.
[Jenny] Yes, you have your separate vanity space.
You have your, I know your makeup space was important.
We have the trim work around the tub.
So it's just this really beautiful moment when you walk in.
I love the shower.
It's hard to get that emotional about a shower,
-but I know you really do. -I am a shower guy.
You and me both.
That tub is gorgeous, too.
I can see that's going to be very therapeutic.
It is. Sit in there, have your fire going.
When you get out of the tub, go sit. Relax.
-You will not leave this end of the house. -No.
And you don't have to, either. We also gave you a nice closet,
-so you got to go check out your closet. -Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, it's beautiful.
And it's always going to be neat.
I can sympathize with you, Barb.
I share with Jenny, and it's never neat.
Because of Dave.
[Barb] This is perfect.
I love the idea that it's mine.
Okay, the most important, we got to go to the kitchen.
-We got to go to the kitchen. -Yes, yes.
-There's more. There's more. -All right.
Barb, are you ready?
[Barb] We're going to check out the kitchen.
[Roger] Oh, look at this.
Oh, my gosh.
-Oh, my gosh. -Barb?
This is beautiful.
Those cabinets are perfect.
[Roger] Barb, I think you got some storage.
-Yes, I do. -We went all the way up,
gave you as much storage as we could with
other than taking away that little,
you know, the little peninsula.
-That little peninsula, yes. -And those green countertops.
-They all had to go. -Yes.
[Barb] Beautiful.
And we just went up the wall with the countertops instead
of also having a backsplash tile to make it really clean.
And also just very classic.
This is what I envisioned would be just awesome.
But the natural wood is just phenomenal.
It's, again, we've got room.
-Yes. -Space.
And you've got a sitting area still for dining.
And of course, these beautiful windows.
We let in so much nice light in this kitchen.
It does. Just getting up
and having my coffee and sitting at this table
is going to be just something that I'm going to be like, wow.
Yeah, I live here.
[Jenny] I'm so glad you like it.
Thank you guys for letting us do this and for trusting us.
Oh, my God. I can't thank you guys enough.
Thank you.
I kept trying to envision what the house would look like.
And I tried to do a walkthrough in my mind
of coming in the front door.
And then when we walked in, it was more than I ever expected.
-Oh, it's beautiful. -Thank you very much.
We're just thankful to see Jenny and Dave come in.
And they personalized it for us.
-All right, come and see our house. -Well, hi, everybody.
-Come see our new home. -Look at this.
Oh, my gosh.
They were both tuned into our story
-and what we've been through. -Yeah.
They really listened to what we really enjoyed doing.
They just built it right into this house.
-Oh, my goodness. -It's so cozy in here.
-Nice. -Oh, that is lovely.
That's the original watercolor.
Fantastic.
What hit me was we went from having the tree fall,
and it sounded like the whole house was going to come apart.
That was a very emotional night.
It was so scary. And I go back to that.
But the difference is there's a new memory there now.
And it's something really good.
-Here's to the Ludwig family. -You know what?
-To getting home. -Good friends.
We've moved on to something much better.
-It's just really something. -Yeah, I agree.