Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
ANTHONY: Laura wants to create
a great living space for her brother,
who's coming home from a tour of duty overseas.
He's gonna be blown away.
JOHN: We're heading into a 100-year-old row house
that's full of surprises.
That is the cat cage.
Her brother's coming home in just a few weeks,
and we've got to have this whole place ready to go.
[ Chuckling ] We got to get super creative.
JOHN: We want to help her finally give him his own home.
Thanks, Joe. I love you, too.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
It's right downstairs here.
What's up, guys?
Hello.
[ Chuckles ]
So, what is it we're looking at again?
We're looking at the garden apartment for my brother.
Yep.
...and we'd really love to give him a space.
Yeah, let's check it out.
LAURA: My brother Joe has just finished his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Now that we finally have our first home,
I really wanted it to also be a place for him
to have a home and a home base.
Oh, wow. I haven't seen one of these in a while.
The old "box in the stairs."
Box in the stairs.
I just love when people, instead of taking a stairwell out,
they just throw up some Sheetrock.
Is this storage upstairs?
LAURA: No, it's completely boxed in from the top, as well.
Oh, my goodness.
ANTHONY: Laura told us
since her and Raj moved in recently,
they haven't touched this basement apartment,
and the people who lived in the home before them
left it a little bit of a disarray.
Okay. Wow.
This was being used as the bedroom,
but it faces out on the street,
and there's so much noise and people looking in.
JOHN: This is pretty narrow.
And then this way, we've obviously got the kitchen.
Love the chicken wire.
Yes, that is the cat cage.
Cat cage?
There were like 20-something cats living here.
The owner wanted to have some space when she was cooking to keep them out.
This is what sold you guys, right?
Yes. This is a very limited kitchen space.
"Limited" is an understatement.
Right.
Rather than try to cram in a tiny kitchen in the basement,
I think it would be better for Joe
to have a large living space,
and then Joe should just use our kitchen upstairs.
The more you guys want to rip out, the better.
This is the bathroom here?
Yes, this is the very narrow bathroom.
Whoa! Oh, my God!
There wasn't any shower at all.
I guess if you are a bath lover,
you're just taking some soaking baths.
JOHN: Joe's coming back to the states in just a few weeks.
Until he finds his own place to live,
he's planning on crashing upstairs with Laura and Raj.
Instead, we're gonna renovate this basement apartment
and give him a great home to come back to.
It really is.
Cannot even imagine how surprised he's going to be,
which really excites me because I know he really deserves it.
With you guys living upstairs, it keeps family close,
but definitely...
You want to be close, but not too close.
Exactly. Exactly.
I got a brother and a sister, and he's got two brothers, so...
Know all about that.
All right, so we're gonna get our measurements,
and I think, you know, we can get a really great design
together for him based on all the stuff we talked about.
Great meeting you guys.
We're gonna kick you out of your own home.
Right now, this layout, it can't work at all for us.
I think what we have to do realistically
is do the demo and then come up with the plan.
[ Whistles ]
14 feet.
It's tight.
Tight, tight.
ANTHONY: This is easily a 100-year-old-plus row house,
so we have no idea what's going on behind these walls.
Ohh! Nice electric.
And the stairs are a total mystery.
They've been boxed up for who knows how long?
See if there's Harry Potter under there.
[ Laughs ]
We need to get this demo started right away.
First things first.
This wall, right?
If we determine this is not load-bearing,
then the entire design is awesome.
If it is load-bearing,
[Chuckling] we got to get super creative.
Ready? One, two...
Whoo!
Oh, it's nice in here.
Morning, everyone! How we doing today?
Whoo!
Rip it down.
JOHN: As soon as we started taking down the walls,
the basement felt so much larger.
Really see it open up now.
Man, I'm so glad this wall isn't load-bearing.
This is the way it should be.
ANTHONY: By removing the wall that created that narrow entryway,
we're gonna be able to really open up Joe's living space.
But we're gonna leave a small amount of wall
at the entry to create a coat rack.
Whoa! What are you doing?
I thought we were saving the cat cage.
Couldn't do it.
We got rid of the horrible kitchen,
and we've now got a great space for the bedroom for Joe,
and then we were able to push out that wall of the bathroom
a little bit to give him much more usable square footage.
[ Yowls ]
It looks like we lucked out.
There's a fireplace behind all the plaster.
That's sweet.
That's awesome.
Now, down here should be the hearth.
We want to make this a focal point when you walk inside
and bring this back to its former glory.
It's gonna look really nice.
ANTHONY: At this point, the way the mortar looks,
it's all like dust, so we got to grind all these joints,
repoint them with new joint material,
and then we can open this up.
This is what's gonna be king inside the house.
This and this.
We still have no clue what those stairs look like.
We're gonna be in a really bad spot
if we've got to rebuild these stairs.
I mean, we just don't have the time.
Oh, wow.
Oh, this looks good in here.
So, I mean, now that the majority of the dust is done,
it is time to open up these stairs.
We're gonna be in a really bad spot
if we've got to rebuild these stairs.
I mean, we just don't have the time.
Oh, wow.
Joe's coming back in a couple of weeks,
and he needs a place to live.
Let's go upstairs and take a look.
When the previous owner decided to separate the bottom floor
from the rest of the house,
they did it in a really, really shoddy way.
[ Grunts ]
The good news for us is, it makes the demo nice and easy.
And this way, we can quickly get a sense
of the condition of the whole staircase.
JOHN: The stairs are functional. They're solid.
They're structurally sound. This will clean up real nice.
JOHN: Now that the overall layout is set,
we can start planning some projects
that are gonna maximize the space for Joe.
ANTHONY: I think we've got a great floor plan.
Taking the bedroom in the back obviously gives you the privacy.
It's great that we're no longer trying
to squeeze a kitchen in here,
but it's still only 550 square feet to work with.
Looks good. Bathroom's opened up.
I mean, this is great.
This is actually gonna close off,
and this is gonna be a small closet.
That's a big extra closet to have.
This could totally work.
It's 26 inches right there.
You could put in some storage space under the stairs.
You know what? While we're here, John, let's just open this up.
Let's get it down... down and out of here.
Good pencil sharpener for the office.
It's great.
Sharpen the pencil!
All right, this is gonna be great.
Utilizes this space now.
Absolutely. It uses every last inch of it.
JOHN: So, down in the subbasement,
there was this old fireplace mantel
that must have been a part of the house at some point.
Oh, my God. Dude!
This is awesome.
It's in great shape.
JOHN: We really don't have a lot of extra time.
Joe's gonna be home in only a week,
but this mantel is gonna be too good to pass up.
It was almost like it was petrified
for all those years, right?
What I'm thinking is, use it as a headboard for the bed.
ANTHONY: That's cool.
Right on.
Repurpose it a little bit.
It's gonna make a statement in the bedroom.
I totally agree. This is a heck of a find.
Yeah.
JOHN: I'm over at Laura and Raj's right now
finishing up the drywall and insulation.
This one is really moving fast now.
Before, if you remember correctly,
this is where the cat cage was.
So we're doing all the heavy lifting right now.
Got to get this done under such a tight time schedule.
What's my cousin Anthony doing?
Arts and crafts back at the office.
ANTHONY: So, we're prepping all these components
for a custom shelving unit we're doing for Joe
out of raw black-metal plumbers' pipe.
Since we're installing this under a staircase
and we got the staircase coming down on an angle,
I can really customize this to fit just perfect.
That's the first part.
But more importantly for Joe,
we want something that's nice and masculine,
but still has a really finished look to it.
The high-gloss black, the finished pine
that we're gonna stain a nice, dark walnut,
you're gonna get a real finished, elegant piece.
The biggest thing with spray paint --
To avoid...drips and runs, never stop moving.
The idea today is to get all this stuff prepped
so that it's dry because this is the kind of system
you have to build in place.
There's always adjustments that have to be made,
and we'll do all the assembling of the black pipe
and all the cutting and drilling of these boards onsite
to make sure everything fits just so.
To go with the custom shelving unit,
we're also doing a fold-down table.
We know he's using the kitchen upstairs with Laura and Raj,
but, you know, when it's a nice time
for an intimate dinner with his girlfriend,
we want to spare him eating with his big sister.
[ Saw whirs ]
It is a small space, and the idea being
that when the table's folded up against the wall,
it's gonna be a picture frame.
The way this is gonna work,
it'll hang on the wall like this,
and then you'll undo the hook in the top,
fold down, and you have a table.
So basically the table top
we're gonna stain dark walnut to match all the shelves of the shelving unit.
And then the picture frames are gonna be sprayed a flat black
to match all the pipes.
This is it. It's the moment of truth.
There's no way I'm putting it up on the wall without an extra set of hands.
How is this gonna work?
After 4 years overseas we want Joe to return home to an unbelievable surprise.
We're gonna give him an open and modern living space
but we still have a ton of work to finish before your eyes.
So basically with all the black plumber's pipe
that I've already painted at the office
I'm gonna create shelving on this side,
a four-foot wide desk here with a shelf above.
Okay.
All right, you start on the headboard.
This was a small, little treasure
that we found in the sub-basement.
We're gonna use it as a headboard for Joe's bedroom.
What we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be stripping it
and just getting off any paint
or finish that's on here currently.
Once we strip it we're gonna be painting this in a high gloss paint.
Oh, dude, that's deep, that'll really stand out.
You want to sand it down and get the varnish off
because we want the spray paint to adhere.
As soon as we have all of the dust off
we're gonna be ready for the spray paint.
There's a lot of nooks and crannies on this one.
This is it, this is the moment of truth.
It's looking nice.
What's really nice about this is, it's something ornate.
It's a much more traditional bed board,
but we're going with that high-gloss blue --
give it a little contemporary style,
make it really pop.
Wow, that's nice.
I'll show you how I used to tag back in the street days.
And then to top it all off...
I put a T period.
It's the JMC.
Done, signed, sealed and delivered.
ANTHONY: So, we're running into a pretty serious problem
with the shelving unit.
Because this is such an old place
and the floors aren't level, the walls aren't plumb,
it's getting really difficult to level out this desk.
[ Grunts ]
I mean, this is the third pipe I've changed.
The floors are so out.
I know.
'Cause this is the desk part.
It's got to be level and it's got to be firm.
It's these old houses.
It's just these old beams that are below us.
We do not have time for this.
I mean, we might have to take the shelf down.
[ Grunts ]
[ Grunts ]
I don't know if this is gonna work.
Killing me.
I kept at it and finally got that desk level.
Of course you did, buddy -- never doubted you for a second.
Appreciate it.
[ Whirring ]
We have no time to rest. We still have a lot to do.
We have tile in the bathroom. We got trim.
We got to finish out the fireplace.
It never ends.
[ Hammer taps ]
ANTHONY: I got that fold-down table set.
There's no way I'm putting it up on the wall
without an extra set of hands.
The left's gotta come up.
Fold this down.
Up like this.
Okay.
Picture-frame table.
Done.
Can you push to me a little bit?
Okay.
JOHN: Because the bedroom is pretty small,
we wanted to add some extra storage.
ANTHONY: The bed frame lifts up the mattress on a hydraulic hinge
so you have plenty of storage below.
Up and on.
Up.
Boom. Look at that.
72's right there.
JOHN: Now that the bed frame is put together,
we want to get that headboard in.
It's just a little too tall,
so we have to take 8 inches off the bottom.
Got it?
Watch the walls.
Yeah, plenty good -- plenty good, plenty good, plenty good.
Oh, dude.
John, I need an extra set of hands.
Can you just grab the other side for me?
It's really important that this dries right.
That's just the right even amount of heat and cooling.
That's it, it's lovely being on the opposite side of that.
Thank you for not having coffee this morning.
I've got more sofa cushions.
You know, Anthony and I both have siblings,
so to see Laura do this for Joe,
it makes us really excited
'cause he's finally now getting home.
ANTHONY: I can think of no better cause than for a veteran,
so really, really excited to give this one back to Joe.
Thank you so much.
It's hard to find the words. It's really overwhelming.
JOHN: As we're getting ready to reveal this
and give this back to Joe, we get hit with a snowstorm.
ANTHONY: Fortunately we're all done
and everything's inside on this one, so no big deal.
After all this work, I'm just happy
that we could finally give Joe a home 'cause he deserves it.
We opened up the basement here.
Oh, wow. All right.
Oh, my God!
How we doing, man?
Oh, wow!
Oh, my God!
That is amazing.
JOE: Where are we?
Wow. You guys forgot to tell me a couple of things.
[ Laughter ]
When I was coming down the stairs,
it was like hardwood floor.
Was that there before? I don't think so.
I'm a little overwhelmed.
No worries.
Oh, man.
JOHN: You realize what we've been doing here?
Uh, no.
I think you guys should explain.
You know, we bought this house.
And we had this idea that we really always wanted you
to have your own space.
So we decided to do this for you.
I really appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much.
It's hard to put into words -- exciting, earth-shattering.
I mean, all those big words, you know,
that describe something huge in your life just happened.
It's really overwhelming. It's great.
So, first things first.
You can see that we really wanted to open up this room.
Where we're standing right now,
we had a wall that ran all the way down here,
and now you have that open living space
that we really wanted to give you.
I really don't even feel like I'm in the same, like, basement anymore.
This is like revolutionized. This is incredible.
We wanted the right balance.
We wanted to have the warmth of the wood floors,
but then you have the exposed brick.
I mean, I love the brick wall over here.
ANTHONY: We figured a good dark leather sofa.
There's gonna be a lot of time I'm gonna spend here
neglecting everyone, watching TV...
...just hanging out.
It's not a huge space,
so we had to maximize as much space as possible.
We didn't want to waste anything under the stairs,
so, actually, we designed and built
this modular shelving system for you.
So you've got, you know, a small desk area here,
and then, you know, family photos
and knickknacks and everything.
It's plain-and-simple sexy.
[ Laughter ]
I love it, guys.
So we have all of your old pictures.
I know who some of these people are.
You know who these people are?
It's a great picture frame, and then, you know,
people come over, it's not a picture frame,
it is your drop-down table.
[ Laughing ] What? No way!
ANTHONY: Throw a candle on the table, a little tablecloth.
You know, an Army guy loves practicality,
so, wow, that's a winning strategy.
I love it, guys.
All right, last, but not least, the master bedroom.
Let's get into the master.
RAJ: Oh, wow.
This makes me feel like a master.
Wow, look at this.
This is where the old kitchen used to be.
Oh, my God. If I knew it was leaving,
I would have taken a picture of it.
I think the mantel looks awesome.
We actually found that mantel.
It's a handcrafted piece,
and I'm really happy that it wasn't something
that went out in the trash.
ANTHONY: You don't find stuff like that anymore,
and that's the whole reason you buy a house like this
and you don't a buy a house, you know, built five years ago.
That's pretty cool.
Of course, you have your closet, but for extra room,
this bed...
LAURA: Oh, wow.
[ Chuckling ] Whoa.
...and you have all storage underneath.
So you can use this,
and if you have any extra blankets, pillows.
Uniforms.
Drops right back down...
and done.
So here's what the bathroom looks like now.
Wow. Look at the shower space.
Oh, this is incredible. This is awesome.
JOHN: Before, that bathroom was so narrow.
So now you have that nice big bathroom,
and it's plenty of space.
JOE: This is beautiful. This is a work of art.
I'm taking a shower tonight.
All right, guys.
Listen, this is now your home.
I think finally, after all these years,
you have a space, you can settle down.
I think it's well-deserved for everything that you do
and you've done for our country,
and we're happy that we can give back
and help you out, as well.
You know, when you go over there,
you don't do it with all this in mind, but you come back,
and it makes it all worth it, you know.
Our pleasure.
We're happy that finally
the next part of your life, you're here, man.
All right? You're home.
I'm excited about that next part. Thanks.
All right, guys. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
JOE: Last four years I spent active duty.
Space is so limited.
It's always an issue, always, always an issue,
and now that my sister bought this beautiful home,
and she's invited me to live downstairs,
it really brings reassurance to me that I have a home now.
At this point in my life, you know,
I can finally call a place home with my family.
Simple as that.
Thanks, Joe. I love you, too.