Dave and Jenny Marrs of ‘Fixer to Fabulous Italiano’ Reveal What’s Better Than a Wine Cellar

What could entice Dave and Jenny Marrs to leave their children and their beloved Bentonville, AR, for weeks at a time? The opportunity to renovate a historic Tuscan villa in Italy, of course.

That’s the premise of “Fixer to Fabulous Italiano,” where they help property owners Rebecca and Pierre turn a run-down house into a gorgeous hillside vacation rental where they can also run their cheese business.

“Renovating a house in Italy has always been a dream,” says Dave.

“Now it’s our reality,” says Jenny. “We’re taking on the biggest, oldest, most ambitious project we’ve ever tackled.”

“And it’s for our friends investing their life savings into this project,” adds Dave. “Tuscany is their dream.”

In the episode “Italiano: On a Mission,” Dave and Jenny attempt a variety of upgrades, including a cheese cellar. And even though they’re in Italy, many of their renovation tricks translate perfectly to the States. Here are a few lessons you might be inspired to keep in mind with your own abode.

Leave room in the budget for delays

If you think it takes a long time to get permits in the U.S., try getting them in a country that’s hundreds of years older and is famed for moving at a slower pace.

“We’re trying to be realistic here,” says Dave. “The permits alone, for the start of the project, we thought they’d take a month. It took over three. Everything has just taken longer than we had hoped or thought, and even building some pad in the schedule, we have no wiggle room.”

They’d planned to be done by July, but with the delays, it’s looking like September or October. And that means more trips to Italy for Jenny and Dave—some with their family.

Don’t want a wine cellar? Try a cheese cellar

Many homes have wine cellars these days, but not everyone drinks wine. If that’s you, why not have a cheese cellar instead? Just like wine, cheese must be aged in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment.

Since Rebecca and Pierre have a cheese shop, their cheese cellar is going to be a little more elaborate than what most people would have in the U.S. But at a basic level, the cheese-aging room (where you can store your purchased cheese) requires the same thing as a wine cellar: walls, doors (glass is good so you can see in), and shelves. You can basically do this in a closet.

Soak your bricks

Soaking bricks might sound like a strange tip. However, when you’re building with used or reclaimed brick (and these are over 300 years old), you need to soak your bricks before you stack and mortar them. This is so the project you’re working on doesn’t dry too fast.

“If it dries too fast, it pulls the mortar apart,” says Dave. The Italian workmen are impressed that he knows that.

Make sure you get necessary approvals for exterior changes

Whether you live in a brand-new community in Tampa, FL, or a 300-year-old Italian village, you’ll likely have to get approval from some committee to make changes—even if they’re cosmetic.

The village where Jenny and Dave are working is no exception. They’d like to change the shutters on the home, but when checking with local authorities, they find out the current shutters were put up without a permit, and they’ll have to find out what the official specs are for new ones.

“Here in Tuscany, when you want to make an exterior change to a house, you have to go through the local municipality to get approval,” says Jenny. “This is in place to protect historic buildings. I actually love it, because it keeps the character of the region, but it makes it more challenging. So we reapplied for permits.”

The town mayor comes by to make sure the Marrses comply with local regulations. When Jenny tells him that they want to paint the shutters purple, he patiently explains, through an interpreter, that exterior shutters must fit in with the landscape, and that gray, brown, or green are the only acceptable hues.

“Well, I do like green,” Jenny acquiesces. “I see them everywhere, and it feels very traditional, so I do like that.”

Marble countertops don’t have to be expensive

Costs on this renovation are rising astronomically, so Dave and Jenny meet with Pierre and Rebecca to see where they can save a few euros.

Rebecca asks if they can go with stainless-steel countertops in the kitchen, instead of the costly marble finishes that are part of Jenny’s design. Dave and Jenny both wince at the same time.

“It’s going to feel more industrial, instead of the warm, cozy look that we’re going for in the kitchen,” Jenny explains. “Rebecca is suggesting possibly going with the stainless-steel countertops to save money, but really, that isn’t necessarily the least expensive option.”

“Marble that has a lot of veins and a lot of character is a lot more expensive,” continues Dave. “But the marbles that don’t have as much of that, the white marbles, aren’t. So we can still stay in the marble category.”

“We’re here in Tuscany. There are so many marble quarries and options,” Jenny adds. “We are going to find some gorgeous marble that is less expensive and will help them save money.”

Painted cabinetry is less expensive than most natural wood grains

“One way we could save money was by doing painted cabinetry in the kitchen,” says Jenny. “I know just from our experience back home, a more expensive wood used to create a stained cabinet is going to cost a lot more money. As a less expensive option, you can use less expensive wood and paint the cabinetry, and it still looks really beautiful. The difference is thousands of dollars.”

By the end of the episode, Dave and Jenny have created a beautiful cheese cellar, complete with a tasting room. But they haven’t completed much else, and the clock is ticking.

Next week they’ll bring their entire family to Italy for a summer “vacation,” but something tells us the kids will be put to work. But that’s half the fun! We’ll keep you posted.

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