On “Fixer to Fabulous,” we’ve seen Dave and Jenny Marrs renovate many a client’s house with ease, but is it as easy to renovate their own?

In the Season 5 episode “Marrs Family Farmhouse Reno,” they decide their own property is overdue for a makeover.

“We’re always working on others’ homes, and we don’t do a lot at our house, because we just have so much stuff going on,” says Dave.

When they first moved into their home, they had young twin boys. Now, they have five kids, and half of them are teenagers. Their needs have changed substantially.

They decide to redo the boys’ spaces and girls’ bathroom; update their own bedroom, bath, and closet; and add a gym and a stable for their new horse. They hope to pull this off with just $155,000 and in only 90 days.

It’s a tall order, but if anyone can do it, it’s team Marrs. And they pass along some killer renovation ideas in the process. Check out what we learned this week.

Pack up before you renovate

The family plans to stay in the house during the renovation, and that will involve rotating family members to three different areas of the house as they’re remodeled one by one.

The process is complicated, since Dave and Jenny are working on three other remodeling projects as well. This gives them only nights and weekends to work on their own home. They need to save time and stress where they can, so they decide to bring in help.

“I have friends who have a packing company. They are going to help us pack everything, make sure it doesn’t get broken, and then move it back in,” says Jenny.

It’s an extra expense, but the stress reduction is priceless.

The packers are careful to “categorize and zone” all the boxes as they go. They tell the family to pack away everything they can live without for 90 days. This helps them clear space and mental energy for the renovation tasks at hand.

An extra garage bay makes an ideal gym

Dave and Jenny have one garage bay that is used exclusively for storage, so they decide to put it to better use.

It turns out to be the ideal space for a small gym. They can leave the epoxy floor in and get movable rubber mats for yoga and equipment.

They also decide to leave the roll-up garage bay door as is.

“Because then we can open it up,” says Dave, “if you want to shred it while it’s hot.” It will also be easier to air out, which anyone with teenage boys knows is important.

A vanity has more storage than a pedestal sink

The girls’ bathroom has a pedestal sink and virtually no built-in storage space.

“We need to do a real vanity,” says Jenny. “They just need storage.”

She observes that their oldest daughter has pulled in three separate storage bins.

So in place of the pedestal sink, they bring in a vanity with drawers and a cupboard. Plus, they add extra storage space in a connected alcove under the eaves.

Limit open shelving in kids’ rooms

How many kids do you know who will keep their shelves organized? How many adults do you know who keep their shelves organized, for that matter? Most of us would really rather just throw things on shelves, close the doors in front of them, and be done.

So when Jenny and Dave start designing their boys’ entertainment/study room, they decide to put doors on the open shelving space that already exists.

“I do think we should put doors on these because they’re just going to be messy,” says Jenny.

“I can just build doors,” Dave offers. “I’ll build it out. It’ll be cool.”

And so he does, and it is.

Area rugs add warmth and reduce sound

Dave and Jenny have put a new wood floor in their newly situated bedroom, but there’s one more step before they can start moving the furniture back in.

They unroll a natural-looking area rug.

“You can still see the floor, but it adds a layer of coziness to the room,” says Jenny. It also helps with acoustics.

When everything is completed, the whole family is shown the new spaces.

They are “over the moon,” says Jenny.

“This was one of the more difficult projects that we’ve ever done,” says Dave. “It was a lot. But we are now on the other side of it. We do a lot of renovations for a lot of people. So this is something for us. This is something for our family.”

“Now it’s a house that reflects this new season of life,” says Jenny. “We have teenagers now. They just have different needs. It’s been neat to finally do something for them that we do for other people all the time.”

The post Inside the Newly Renovated Home of ‘Fixer to Fabulous’ Stars Dave and Jenny Marrs—Horse and All appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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