Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
NARRATOR: The cousins Anthony Carrino
and John Colaneri are going undercover
to surprise neighborhood heroes with amazing renovations.
But it's gonna take an army of volunteers to make it happen.
Come on! Let's go! Let's go!
It's gonna be big.
It's gonna be fun.
That is it!
Whoo!
And they only have one weekend to pull the whole thing off.
[ Cheers and applause ]
All right. Everybody ready?
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
All right, guys.
All right, we ready to do this?
Is everybody ready?
[ Cheers and applause ]
All right, guys, here she comes!
[ Voice breaking ] Oh, my God! Oh!
[ Cheers and applause ]
How we doing? Good to see you!
This is Tania Liddy.
She spends all her time working
to make the schools and the community a better place.
She founded a program to stop bullying,
she's been president of the PTA,
and she's a champion fundraiser for school improvements.
Tania's the heart of the neighborhood,
and now she's about to get the surprise of her life.
[ Cheers and applause ]
ANTHONY: This is Tim Liddy, Tania's husband.
He's been working with us behind the scenes,
helping us keep everything a secret from Tania.
Do you want to see what we did at your house?
I guess.
[ Laughter ]
Let's go inside.
Come on! Let's go!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Welcome to your new home.
Oh, my God! That's awesome! Whoo!
ANTHONY: Tim set it up so Tania would be away this weekend,
helping her sister move into her new house.
That was three days ago.
What Tania didn't know was just around the corner, out of sight,
her friends, family and neighbors
were waiting for our signal to get to work.
JOHN: All right.
ANTHONY: Is that Tania coming out?
Yep. They're coming out.
All right, dude, just get down, get down here.
Get down. They're coming out.
[ Both laugh ]
I love this.
I'm not built to duck this low.
[ Both laugh ]
You just got to get down and hide.
All right, we're clear. We're clear.
All right. Let's go in. Come on. Let's do it.
All right, friends, family, come on, guys!
We're going in! Come on! Let's go! Let's go!
[ Cheers and applause ]
All right, guys.
All right!
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, Tim.
How you doing?
Nice to meet you.
Carey.
Carey.
MEGHAN: Meghan.
Meghan.
Tyler.
Tyler.
RYAN: Ryan.
Ryan.
So she has no idea.
We're good. We're good.
Let's do it.
All right, guys.
Well, let's go inside.
[ Applause ]
Give us the problem areas.
Give us where you need the most help.
TIM: So, this is the kitchen.
We spend a lot of time in the kitchen here.
My wife does cooking and everybody helping out.
I'm already seeing that this counter
has been through some better days.
Yeah.
Do these actually just come out like this?
Tania spends a lot of time in the kitchen making food
for the endless flow of neighborhood kids.
And it is showing some serious wear.
The cabinets are missing hardware
on some on these, also, I can see.
There was, like, no good appliances except the fridge,
but the handle broke off.
ANTHONY: What happened over here?
Uh...well, we kind of had a toilet leak.
Okay.
We had a leak in our upstairs bathroom --
leaked down in through the kitchen.
CAREY: My mom -- she actually wants to redo the kitchen,
but we just haven't yet.
Living room here.
This is the main epicenter of the home?
Yeah. Whether it's watching TV, homework on the computer,
you know, having friends over...
And is this mom's work area over here?
Yeah.
JOHN: Mom's, like, thrown in the corner.
We're gonna need to get her some more space.
Yeah.
ANTHONY: Whether she's planning events for the community
or setting up volunteers for the next sporting event,
she needs a better area to get her work done,
and it need to be somewhere that's out of the way.
All right, volunteers, if we can start getting boxes in here
and start packing up everything that's in all these cabinets.
JOHN: While the volunteers are inside,
packing up the kitchen and living room,
we need to get our eyes on the backyard
'cause everyone is telling us this is the hub of the neighborhood.
Um, is this, like, a design feature?
[ Laughs ]
It's easy for the dogs.
"It's easy for the dogs."
"Easy for the dogs" -- I like that.
You guys spend a lot of time out here?
CAREY: We always have friends over,
where we spend a lot of time back here, especially in the summer.
And what do we have over here? Let's take a look at this.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm bartending.
Ant, what are we gonna do here? You gonna make some drinks?
What do we want?
No. No drinks.
But we do need storage.
Yeah, it would help.
We have a lot of stuff we kind of hide back there
and try to keep hidden.
TYLER: We also have a TV that's usually there.
Oh, so you actually bring a TV outside here?
Yeah, sometimes her friends and their friends
and families come over.
She really likes having everybody here
like a community environment.
It's a summer living room. It's great.
The extra space is awesome.
Very cool.
Help your family and friends get everything packed up.
All right?
'Cause demo's starting.
We got to get going inside. Let's go inside.
JOHN: Before we can start designing anything for Tania,
we have got a ton of stuff
we've got to get out of this house and the backyard.
How we doing in the kitchen?
Doing good? Packing it up?
All the furniture here,
I want you to take it, put it to the back.
Everything. Everything's going.
Ant, you want to get these couches right in that room?
Great.
We keep hearing from volunteers
that even though Tania has four children of her own,
she's the first to lend a hand if someone else needs help.
If someone's ever sick or hurt or something,
you know, tragic has happened to them or to their family,
she's driving them, she's feeding them...
I recently broke my foot, and she picked up things for me,
she's driven my kids places.
Like, she's just always there for you.
JOHN: Since Tim and Tania spend so much time helping others,
their house hasn't been a priority,
so now it's starting to show some wear.
Got that?
I think so.
Wow. [ Laughs ]
Tim, don't you wish you had about 75 people
to come over all the time?
You know, it's great.
That's it.
It got cleaned up in no time.
Cleared off -- five minutes.
With everything cleared out by the volunteers,
we need to start brainstorming
on what we're gonna create for Tania.
All right, Ant, let's start with the kitchen.
Everything gone.
Everything.
New cabinets.
New appliances.
New counter.
New floor 'cause that floor is just...
Yep. We'll match what's here.
The kitchen is over 20 years old.
Most of the cabinets are broken.
The countertop is beyond repair,
and the appliances are on their last leg.
Our goal is to give her a beautiful space
with a lot more storage and new appliances.
We'll also extend the peninsula
to give her more countertop space.
Since she cooks for the whole neighborhood,
this is gonna make a huge difference.
Their four kids and their friends
are constantly hanging out in their living room,
so it's taking a beating.
We're going to give it a complete overhaul.
We'll start by taking out the closet
to expand Tania's desk area
and give her a place for all her volunteer work.
This will also open up the walkway
between the kitchen and the living room
to make more space for all the heavy traffic coming through.
The new space will look better
and be able to hold up to the abuse.
So everything's done here.
We'll get the living room back, set up.
Now, flowing all the way back -- this is our big project --
we go to the back of the house, here.
Then, to increase the flow
between the kitchen and backyard,
we'll raise part of the deck to create a new barbecue area
that's right off the kitchen.
Down here, I mean, we got to figure out something
with seating and entertaining.
Tania loves having people over, and we want to make sure
the whole neighborhood feels comfortable
and has a place to sit and hang out.
Yeah.
Way too many tables up here before.
It was way to clumsy.
Now we got to make it all work together.
Okay.
All right, well, I'm gonna go back inside
'cause the cabinets are coming out.
We got to get the cabinets out before the steps come out
because otherwise it's a nightmare.
It's a nightmare. All right.
[ Thunder crashes ]
Okay.
Ant!
Yo!
Are we gonna get the job done?
It's raining.
It's almost like a joke.
We have to stop now 'cause we have thunder,
we have lightening, we have pouring rain.
A mess.
It's, uh...
A mess.
ANTHONY: We're in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, giving this neighborhood hero
a much-needed undercover renovation.
So far, we're on schedule.
The house has been cleared out and demoed.
Now we've got to figure out this back deck.
All right, man. What do you got going here?
So, I talked to Tania's kids,
and basically, the big thing for outside
is a nice eating area and a lot of seating,
so I was thinking we drop the deck over here
in kind of a quarter pie so it's a separate eating area.
Sunk down?
Right.
And then I want to build up the deck
underneath the sliding door.
The steps they had before really weren't safe, so this way,
they'll be able to walk straight out of their house.
Tim also mentioned that they need outdoor storage
and a lot of seating.
So I'm trying to work up something where we design, like,
a table that can fold underneath this deck
and we can pivot it out on a post.
So we'll have a cozy, sunken seating area
where they can hang out and relax.
But when it's time to eat, they just swing out the table
and pull up additional seating
to transform the space into a dining area.
They watch a lot of games outside when the weather's nice,
but they got to drop the cords down from the upstairs bedrooms.
So I want to do something
where the TV can live outside year-round.
Can we get them an all-weather TV?
Perfect.
The benefit of the swinging table
is when you push it out of the way,
you've got a lot more area for people to sit,
enjoy the TV, and watch a game.
Well, I think this will make a true entertainment
and that second living-room space that we were talking about
earlier when we were walking through.
I'm getting on this right now with the carpenters
'cause this is a huge deck.
All right.
Let's jump on this then. Let's go.
So when Tania's out here with her family, her friends,
neighborhood kids, everybody's got a place to sit,
and it's a real focal point for, you know,
meals and gathering to watch some outdoor TV.
Don't worry, Tim. Don't worry.
I trust you.
JOHN: When Carey and the rest of the Liddy kids
were packing up the house,
they found some old photos and some other stuff
that have been packed away for years.
Tell me what you have here.
Well, these are some photos of my mom and dad's
from high school.
High-school memorabilia.
Can you find your mom?
Yeah. Right there.
Wow! Look at her.
You look just like her.
You look just like her!
All right, I'm gonna think of some ideas
where we can incorporate this into the design of the house.
Is that your dad's varsity jacket?
Yeah.
All right.
Daddy.
Tim, come on over here, sir.
All we're gonna do a little experiment.
Can we put this on? Does this fit?
We can try.
[ Both laugh ]
I'm not making any guarantees.
All right. All right.
Well, let's see if the varsity jacket still fits.
JOHN: The Liddys have always lived in Glen Ridge.
Tim and Tania's kids
are going to the same school that they went to.
Oh, look at that.
You're a jock. Not bad!
There's something very special
about having those deep ties to a community.
When was the last time you really even took this out?
I mean, have you tried it on?
I have not tried it on probably since 1988-89 --
somewhere in that time.
All right. I'm gonna get back to work.
You got a real defined dining area over her now.
Custom table will be here.
It'll pivot out from underneath. Same shape.
Benches along the wall. Bench coming out over here.
Gonna be awesome.
These steps have got to go.
They aren't safe because they drop off immediately
when you walk out the door.
We're going to build new ones with a nice, level platform
you can step onto before going down the stairs.
Yeah!
Johnny!
JOHN: Yo!
I got the idol.
That's it.
Competition over.
I found a tiki totem under the original stairs,
and I hope it means good luck
'cause at this rate, we're gonna need it.
JOHN: In order to surprise Tania
with an interior renovation that she's gonna love,
I've called in her family and close friend Heather
to give insight in her design style.
All right, so, cleared the place out fast.
Now I'm trying to figure out
what are Tania's likes, dislikes,
anything you can tell me about her design sense
and what she would want in here.
HEATHER: So, I think she'd want something
that's gonna be low-maintenance --
nothing too fancy -- but work very efficiently
and also be really nice and stylish at the same time.
Tim, how 'bout you? What do you think?
I agree with what Heather said.
Just, you know, simple.
Not purple cabinets.
Not purple cabinets.
[ Laughs ]
Nothing extravagant, you know?
No crystal chandeliers or...
Just, you know, simple that can be used efficiently --
along those lines.
All right, so, girls, old kitchen is out of there.
How are you feeling? You want to put it back in?
No.
No!
"No"?!
The kitchen was hurting a little bit.
The counters, cabinets...
The dishwasher.
The dishwasher.
What was the matter with the dishwasher?
It didn't clean.
"It didn't clean"?
No.
It was nasty.
Really anything, I think would be an improvement
'cause that kitchen was bad.
All right.
Awesome.
All right, guys.
JOHN: Tania does a lot of organizing and planning inside the house,
so she wants to be able to keep an eye on the kids
while she's still doing her work.
So I need to get started
on a custom desk and storage solution for her.
ANTHONY: All the projects my cousin and I have going on right now
are outside, and wouldn't you know it...
[ Thunder crashes ]
You should never have picked up that tiki totem. I knew it.
Yo! Are we gonna get the job done?
It's raining.
It's almost like a joke.
We have to stop now 'cause we have thunder,
we have lightening, we have pouring rain.
A mess.
It's, uh...
A mess.
Right now we are running out of time.
I got to nail all the deck down, water seal everything.
We got two hours till Tania gets home, so we got to move.
Get ready. Hold on. Get ready.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Voice breaking ] Oh, my God. Oh!
ANTHONY: Neighborhood hero Tania Liddy sacrifices
all her free time working to improve her community.
She founded an anti-bullying program
and has helped raise thousands of dollars for school programs.
Come on. Let's do it.
Now her friends, family, and neighbors
want to give back to her.
While she's away, we're renovating her kitchen,
her dining room, her living room, and the backyard.
But the rain is putting a serious damper
on the outdoor construction.
We've lost about three hours, and every minute counts
when you're trying to finish a renovation in one weekend.
We can't afford to stop work,
so we're gonna finish building the deck under a tarp.
TIM: It's all coming together.
I'm amazed. I'm speechless.
When Tania walks home,
I don't even know if she'll be able to say anything.
I think she'll be speechless when she sees everything.
ANTHONY: And we have to empty this room
in order to get the cabinets all in.
Now that the rain has finally stopped
and the forecast is actually clear,
we got to get all this furniture out of the house
so we have more room to work.
Tania arrives home tomorrow and we have a ton of work to do.
We need to kick into high gear right now.
We just got the metal frame for the new swivel-out picnic table
that's gonna be the centerpiece for the new deck.
All right.
This is just for feeling around.
But as is, we've got a serious problem.
The table isn't swiveling far enough
to allow us enough room for that right side bench
and people to sit.
ANTHONY: That bracket, in my opinion,
has got to be flush to the front of that.
Don't you think? There's nowhere to sit over here.
I think we're cutting. We're grinding and welding.
ANTHONY: Between their six-person family
and all the other neighborhood families and friends
that hang out in that backyard,
the Liddys need all the seating they can get.
This has got to be perfect.
Hey, John.
JOHN: Yes?
The table's got to be extended by about three inches.
I'm gonna go over to the shop with these guys.
The seat's a little too narrow, so if we add three inches,
it allows the bracket to tuck behind the double two-by-ten.
So they're gonna put on the back on their cable?
I'll be gone for about an hour.
Okay.
You guys got it?
JOHN: The cabinets for the kitchen just arrived,
and we need to get them inside.
Luckily, we have all the volunteers to help
pitch in and get this done.
When you put this down, we got to put it down easy.
Don't just drop it.
Good job, man. Not bad.
Not bad at all. Good work.
ANTHONY: Back at the shop,
I'm adding three inches to the table's main support arm.
I think that'll do the trick.
JOHN: With Anthony gone, I have to make sure
that everything keeps moving inside and out.
As long as that's centered,
I don't care if we rip this down and it's a small filler.
That's fine.
Not only are we adding new cabinets
to replace the old ones,
we're also adding open shelving,
and we're pushing out that peninsula
to give Tania more room to cook.
John.
Yes?
I just got a video from Tasha,
showing her with Tania down...
Oh, cool. All right, yeah, let's take a look.
It looks like Tania's doing some heavy lifting of her own,
helping her sister move into her new house.
[ Laughs ]
She has no clue right now.
They're just moving her in.
She has no idea what's going on.
If she does she text you, call you,
keep her in the dark as long as we can.
No problem. I got it.
Thanks, man.
Thank you.
All right.
ANTHONY: Adding those extra few inches to the frame really paid off.
The modified base fits perfectly,
and now there's gonna be plenty of seating.
I love it.
That's beautiful.
Tania's friend Kathy couldn't be with us yesterday
when we started the renovation,
so I'm really excited to get her in there,
show her what we've done so far,
and get her thoughts on some design.
ANTHONY: The biggest thing that you'll notice
is that we removed this closet.
KATHY: Right. Yeah. Yeah.
So we're building a custom desk area for Tania
so she's got plenty of room to stay organized.
And I was just saying -- we were saying, watching the kids,
they're always doing an arts-and-crafts project,
making a bow, or she's sorting t-shirts
for like some sail, or whatever, so that's gonna be key.
This is so much more open now,
and it seems so much bigger than it did before.
It's really awesome, open space.
Cool.
All right, now come see what we're doing out here.
Oh, my gosh. That is fantastic.
ANTHONY: What we wanted to do is we wanted to create
a few defined spaces so that they could use the deck
a little more efficiently.
Okay.
We want to get the barbecue up here,
so that it's a lot easier, right?
And staging the food should be a lot easier.
Right.
And then we've got a really cool, custom table
that's gonna live underneath this deck,
and it's gonna pivot out.
So they're gonna have a huge, custom built-in table here
with all modular seating that they can swing around.
That's fantastic.
We've also got an outdoor television
so they don't have to move it in and out.
It's gonna live here permanently.
As are all of their kids' friends,
so it'll all work out well.
Well, we heard that's the case, anyway.
Well, it is. It is.
They'll just be very comfortable now,
so we'll have a harder time kicking them out.
KATHY: I think she's gonna be blown away.
And that's fantastic, and that's gonna be so exciting to see.
I've got goose bumps.
Thank you very, very much.
Nice. Very cool.
Well, listen, if you think of anything
you think we should integrate, don't hesitate to let us know.
[ Laughs ] You shouldn't have said that.
[ Laughs ]
ANTHONY: All right, so we're just finishing up
getting the first bench in.
Basically, what we did is we creates a picture-frame effect,
and then we dropped the cedar planks in.
It's gonna match with the lower-deck portion
and the upper-deck portion over there.
And most of all, we're adding a ton of seating, so basically,
this whole area right in front of me here, off the the right --
everything's gonna be facing the outdoor TV.
It's gonna be absolutely fantastic.
JOHN: So, I got that idea for the desk from Mike Donovan.
He's the local principal, who works with Tania and Tim.
You've worked with Tania for years and years.
She is our queen organizer.
Then I think we got to get mom a proper desk area.
I agree.
Definitely.
I mean, it's only gonna help with the school more.
I agree.
With the frame installed,
Mike came back to help with the shelving
and transform it into a closed-storage cabinet.
Have you ever used a nail gun or nailed off --
I have.
Perfect.
JOHN: So, Mike, just put those on.
Thank you. Yep.
Great.
And, Mike, if you want, quit teaching,
come do this every day.
[ Laughs ]
Not bad.
You can tell me that once you see that it works.
Perfect. Look at that. There we go, sir.
MIKE: That was fun.
Always a good time using a nail gun.
One, two...
ANTHONY: The standard butcher-block countertop arrived,
and we're hoping that it fits well
and doesn't need a lot of modifications
because we do not have the time.
I mean, we're 14 and a half over at this point.
I mean, that's way too much of an overhang.
These neighbors have really had enough of this.
And you don't have any permits.
The inspector came in.
He was yelling about, "Where are the plans?"
And you have your nailing schedule
and your bracket schedule?
You know what? Let's just do this.
He pulled out his "Did not pass inspection" stickers.
What, I can't work?
JOHN: We just started installing Tania's kitchen,
and already, we have a huge problem.
Oy.
This butcher-block countertop
is sticking way to far out into the walkway
between the kitchen and dining room,
so there's not enough room to get by.
So we're cutting here. We're going here.
Yep.
And then we're going here.
We don't have time to get another butcher block
that is properly sized, so I'm taking a chance.
I'm making the cut myself.
This is really a job for a woodworker,
and if I slip, that's one expensive mistake.
Good?
The cut worked, and the butcher block looks great.
I was like, "oh, man!"
I'm like, "if I cut this wrong..."
No.
"...that counter's done."
I know.
It's gonna give the kitchen
that country-looking feel that Tania likes.
Johnny's got the touch.
We are tight on time with a lot to get done,
and everybody is going full-tilt.
Rather than painting the back of the house just one color,
we're painting bold, blue stripes
to really break up the space.
Tim, can we find more things
that you've collected over the years?
I don't care if it's trophies, pictures --
anything that is personal to the family.
Yeah. We can find that.
'Cause we're trying to build this custom piece
that we're gonna be putting all those items on display.
Yesterday when the Liddy kids were showing me
some family memorabilia and some sentimental items,
I got an idea how to incorporate it into the design.
Oh, that'd be great. Perfect. Wedding picture.
"Mom's are special" -- very cool.
All right, this is perfect.
We're getting some good stuff here.
Anything else? Let's see.
Oh, wow. That's cool. I'm gonna take this.
Let me figure out how we're gonna make this keepsake box.
We're gonna get figured out,
'cause we're gonna put some of this stuff on the wall.
All right?
Okay.
Thank you, guys.
Hi, Anthony.
Yes.
Hi, I'm Peter Hughes.
Hey, Peter.
I'm the mayor of Glen Ridge.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Pleasure.
Thanks for coming by. Appreciate it.
Thanks for having us.
PETER: Tania is someone who's always giving to her community.
People who do that, they don't take time for themselves.
They're great people. They're always there to help.
And for them to get something back like this, boy, what a gift.
And we have a lot of fun doing it.
I mean, the people that you're doing it for
is all the motivation you need.
It's a lot of adrenaline,
and it's a lot of pulling together for a good cause.
The volunteers cleared out this downstairs
in probably 45 minutes, you know.
And they come back the next day,
and they come back the next day.
It just speaks volumes about the Liddy family.
Is there anything we can do to help you guys?
Let us work.
Okay.
Let us work well into the night,
and don't give us a ticket for noise.
[ Laughs ]
Well, I can't guarantee that.
[ Laughs ]
I can't guarantee that.
You want to check out the kitchen?
I would.
John, have you met the mayor yet?
No, I have not.
PETER: No, we haven't met.
Peter Hughes.
Nice to meet you. John Colaneri.
I know Tania's done a lot
with block associations and everything.
Have you had any, like, personal experience
working with her on committees or anything like that?
Every year, we have in town a mayor's gala.
And, so, Tania was in charge of one of our mayor's gala,
and they raised a substantial amount of money.
All the proceeds from that dance go towards
computers for the schools, a new gym floor,
and various community groups.
Wow, that's great.
We got the neighbors. They're going nuts with what's going on,
and you don't have any permits.
We got a problem.
What happened?
We have an issue that the neighbors have been complaining.
They don't think what we have going on is encompassing
and staying within the scope of work
that we've all been permitted for.
Okay, well, we have the plans.
No problem.
So...
Yep.
So, why don't we at least show him what we're doing so far?
Yeah, I mean the kitchen is replaced.
All the appliances stayed in place.
There was a water leak in the bathroom.
Yep.
There was a tub leak, so we patched up.
You didn't get any roughs, though.
We got rough photographs.
But not inspected.
ANTHONY: The inspector came in.
He was yelling about "where are the plans?
Where are the plans?"
And, you know, our project manager, Jimmy,
was starting to get a little jumpy.
Well, we got find them. They're on the counter.
They're on-site.
Let's, everybody, just chill out, and we'll find them.
I'll get them.
INSPECTOR: You know what? Let's just do this.
ANTHONY: He pulled out
his "did not pass inspection" stickers awfully quickly.
Before you fill that out, give me two minutes.
Here we go. There's the plans.
Even after we showed the inspector the plans,
he still wasn't satisfied.
You have your nailing schedule and your bracket schedule?
Um...
All right, let's go outside
'cause these neighbors have really had enough of this.
But what are we supposed to do?
What, I can't work?
JIMMY: They had a non-compliant set of stairs.
There was no railings. So we decided --
Railings all around.
...railings all around.
We're setting up to spindle some railings now.
They're on 4" centers.
And then you've got your planters and benches.
So...
All right.
Are we okay?
[ Laughing ] All right.
I'm out of steam, man. I'm out of steam.
Actually, he's goofing on you the whole time.
Oh, my God! You know...
He's in on it, too.
He's in on it, too? Oh, my God!
[ Laughter ]
PETER: It was all in good fun.
If you can't have fun at your work,
you should be doing something else.
I knew it had to be something,
because every neighbor on the block is helping us.
Exactly.
All right. Good time, man. All right, back to work.
ANTHONY: Yeah, man, it's coming together.
Coming together.
John? We kind of need you.
JOHN: Hey, Ant, the girls want to show us something.
Well, our mom always plans block parties for the street,
and we want to show you how much fun we have.
Oh, my God. Look at this.
Ta-da!
All right.
Wow!
I dig it.
Oh, this looks awesome.
You guys are throwing a full-blown party here.
Wow! It looks awesome.
Good job, girls. Give it up.
Here you go. Good job.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
ANTHONY: The block parties that they throw,
you can see the thought and you can see how many people
are into it and how they all come out.
So, it was cool to be a part of, you know, their tradition.
We all feel a little weird being at a block party without Tania,
because, you know, she's the queen, and she's the organizer.
She loves doing this.
She does.
And it's a little sacrilegious to do it without her, but, uh...
ANTHONY: Well, this one will be in her honor.
Then we can have many in her backyard.
That's it.
That's where it is.
That's where you want to move the party to.
I know.
Seeing all the people come out for Tania,
it makes us realize how important she is to the neighborhood.
ANTHONY: It's people like her that keep giving
and never spend time on themselves.
[ Cheering ] "Cousins Undercover"
the best show that's around.
They came out to the Liddys
and they took it to the ground.
We thank you so much
for all that you have done.
You are forever in our hearts,
and you're always number one.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Whistles ]
Yeah!
Awesome! Wow!
Whoo!
That is our first cheer ever.
That was awesome.
[ Laughs ]
Hey, guys, just real quick, just from me and my cousin,
thank you very much for both this great block party barbecue,
but also, you know, for all your help with the Liddy house.
I mean, it's a lot of work for two guys to do,
so all you guys who are volunteering time and effort,
we really, really appreciate it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I'm sure that Tania's gonna be hosting even more functions now
that she's got a brand-new kitchen
and a brand-new deck with tons of seating.
Right now, we need to make a wooden tabletop
for the swivel-out metal frame.
Oh, wow, man!
Jimmy's almost done with the top.
Is that cool?
That is cool.
I'm glad we took a break to re-energize at the block party,
because we're gonna be going all night long.
Dig it.
Good.
Check it out.
[ Grunts ]
[ Exhales deeply ] Thank you.
Wow. Coming to you, John.
Very, very cool.
[ Whistles ]
Wow.
The day we got here, we started soaking the cedar,
which means it's much more bendable.
You're jealous of a vintage planer, man.
Ohh!
Oh, my God!
JOHN: We've been in Glen Ridge, New Jersey,
for the past two days renovating the house
of neighborhood superstar Tania Liddy.
Volunteers, family, and friends have been helping
rebuild her kitchen and living room
and creating an amazing outdoor space.
There he is.
How are you?
It's your new dining area.
You like the table?
[ Laughs ]
I'm just kidding. It's over here.
Oh, it is?
Oh, my God.
Wow.
Isn't that cool?
Yeah. Oh, my -- oh.
So, we're gonna have a bench built on that wall.
We're gonna have a bench built on this wall,
be able to slide right in.
Boom.
Oh, that's great. That's --
TV goes right there.
Awesome. That's awesome.
You good to give us a hand?
Yeah. Whatever you need.
'Cause it's all hands on deck.
I'm ready. Let's go.
All right, we've got a lot of sanding we got to get done.
All these frayed corners from the saws,
we're just gonna soften it up so the kids don't get hurt
and so we have a nice finished product.
Sounds good.
ANTHONY: It's crunch time.
Fortunately, Tania's friends Heather and Kathy came by
to roll up their sleeves and help out with the final push.
Heather?
Yes.
You are with me inside. Kathy...
KATHY: Yep.
...You are with Anthony out here.
Terrific. All right.
Yes. Kathy, come on. Put you to work.
All right. Heather, let's go inside.
Right now, we're just picking up scraps,
so any of these little pieces that we find,
just going in the garbage can.
Sand all these corners,
and then we're gonna start painting this entire --
Great. Yep. Definitely. Perfect.
We heard that Tania really likes that rustic,
kind of cottagey, maybe country kind of feel.
We're incorporating a lot of those elements -- farm sink.
We're gonna clad a wall with some barn-style siding.
We're gonna do some beadboard
behind some of the open cabinets.
We're also leaving rustic beams
exposed to deliver on that aesthetic.
Here we go.
That's it.
Oh, it looks great.
Yep.
Good with the gun?
Um, yeah.
Hang on to this.
Yep.
Now pull the trigger. Natural.
I love working on projects like this.
Like, Tania and I have built some stuff.
We've never been allowed to use one of these before,
but I think we're gonna get one.
JOHN: With very little time and so many details left,
everyone from the neighborhood
pitched in on Tania's renovation.
Heather?
HEATHER: Yes.
Excellent.
I want to make you happy!
I knew I could leave it in you hands!
Perfect.
Yes.
I wanted to get Carey's stamp of approval on the keepsake box
that was inspired by her parents' mementos
she found for us the other day.
Carey, we made a custom keepsake box for your family.
We actually saved -- this is your wallpaper from the kitchen.
Even have your mom's wedding invitation.
So, we're gonna glue it down, tack it down,
and then this will be going up last.
What do you think?
I like it.
ANTHONY: The day we got here,
we started soaking this nice piece of cedar.
We got it nice and waterlogged,
which means it's much more bendable.
You're jealous of a little vintage planer --
Ohh! Oh, my God!
We were soaking the cedar molding so it would bend easier,
and it should have stayed in a little bit longer.
But with our ticking clock, we have to make this work.
Fortunately, it's a clean break,
and once it's screwed in, it'll be perfect.
We got two hours till Tania gets home, so we got to move.
Get ready. Hold on. Here we go!
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Voice breaking ] Oh, my God! Oh!
JOHN: Tania's arriving in just a few hours,
and we're racing to finish this renovation.
The appliances still need to be installed.
We've got to get the entire deck sealed
and bring in all the furniture.
Wow. That was a heavy one.
That's a heavy stove.
"That is a heavy stove," is right.
Holy cow.
Go, Meghan! Yeah!
Hello, guys.
Okay, what are we gonna do?
You ready to paint?
TIM: John, thank you for having the girls do this.
I've been asking my sons to do this for the last year or so,
and they -- as you can see, it hasn't been finished yet.
Tim, sometimes you have to call in the girls to get the job done.
Yeah, and they're getting it done.
ANTHONY: Kathy's made the deck her personal mission.
From nailing to sanding and now staining,
she has definitely earned her spot on it when it's finished.
This is just to make sure we're totally water-sealed
all the way around.
Got it.
Thanks, Kathy. Appreciate it.
No problem.
The Liddy family, the neighborhood kids,
the adult volunteers -- everyone's cracking
because they all realize we are down to the wire.
How much longer do you have on this?
Uh, 15 more.
All right. 5 minutes.
Put in the last screws.
Let's get to staging this. This has got to get done.
Everything out. Let's get it out.
We'll get the fridge in here.
5 minutes, 10 minutes,
and we're gonna get this vacuumed inside here.
Tania, our relationship has meant so much to me.
You're such a great mom.
[Voice breaking] You're one of my best friends,
and this couldn't happen to a better person.
ANTHONY: All right, guys, we got two hours left.
We got two hours till Tania gets home, so we got to move.
We're cleaning. We're ready for furniture.
We got to get it all in, and we got to get stuff on the walls.
Girls night out is only gonna be at your house from now on,
because we don't want to be anywhere else
but your home and your backyard.
So enjoy every single minute of it.
You deserve it, and we can't wait to celebrate with you.
Let's go, Nick. Come on, Nick.
This is nuts. This is just nuts.
Tania, when we think of people in the town
who would certainly deserve a home renovation,
you pop to the top of the list.
You have done so much for the schools.
You've done so much for the community.
And for that, we are all so grateful.
That's a float in the pool with a beer
watching the game.
Can't wait.
Tania, you mean the world to me.
Thank you for everything you do for me and for our kids.
I can't wait for you to come home
and see all the amazing work that has been done.
I love you, mom, and I hope when you come home
that you're gonna love it,
and we're all here because we love you.
ANTHONY: All right, guys.
All right, are we ready to do this?
Is everybody ready?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Have we had any contact? Have we heard anything?
They're close by. Yep.
Just close by?
And she's gonna see everyone standing on her lawn.
[ Both laugh ]
All right, guys, are you ready?
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Voice breaking ] Oh, my God! Oh!
JOHN: All right, guys, here she comes!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah!
[ Cheers and applause continue ]
[ John laughs ] How we doing?
Good. How are you?
Good to see you.
Good to see you, too.
How you doing? Anthony. Nice to meet you.
Yes, I know you.
Do you know us? So you know what we do?
Yes.
[ Laughter ]
Well, the reason we're here is all these people --
your friends, your family, your neighborhood --
they all told us how much you do for other people,
so now we all wanted to do something huge for you.
Let's go inside. Come on. Let's go.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah!
Welcome to your new home.
Oh, my God! That's awesome!
[ Laughs ] Oh, my God.
We weren't kidding. You can really say whatever you want.
Oh, my God.
What happened?
[ Laughter ]
Do you remember how it used to look?
Ugh, unfortunately, yes.
[ Laughter ]
ANTHONY: Tim, you haven't seen it either.
TIM: I'm speechless.
I mean, I haven't seen it either at all.
I can't believe how this transformed
over the couple of days, and it's unreal.
You saw my kitchen before. It was awful.
A lot of your friends and family speak very highly of you.
Oh...
So, you know, their help
is what made this come together in three days.
We learned a thing or two.
I hope we got it -- did we get it?
Did we do all right?
Oh, absolutely.
Oh, my God. It's amazing.
Oh, it's 10 times better than my old kitchen.
It's more than 10 times better than our old kitchen --
about a 3 million times or more better than our old kitchen.
Okay, I'll give you that. Yeah.
And your girls, let me tell you right now.
Carey and Meghan specifically said "new dishwasher."
[ Laughs ]
So [ Laughs ]
That was it.
Well, we were supposed to get our kitchen done.
I said, "oh, we don't need a new dishwasher."
And they were all like, "that one's gross."
ANTHONY: We have a lot more to show you.
Oh, my God! That is so awesome!
[ Laughs ] God!
It is so beautiful!
This closet is gone.
Exactly.
'Cause what used to be here,
this was a coat closet that protruded out.
Right next to it, you had your desk area.
Oh, yes.
You needed a proper desk.
You have to have the proper space.
So, what we did for you is...
Oh, my God.
...we made you a little hideaway space here that opens up.
Oh, my goodness.
You're gonna drop this down...
Oh, my God.
So, all you have to do is take a chair, pull it up.
[ Gasps ] This is so cute.
I do my work either at the kitchen table
or at the desk, so it's nice.
I mean, it makes the space, which is beautiful,
look even more beautiful because you can kind of tuck that away.
I'm sure there'll be some piles of papers in there,
so at least I can close it up and hide them away.
Oh, my God. Look at my pictures.
This is a keepsake wall.
If you come up close...
Yeah.
...you'll see we have your...
Wedding invitation.
...wedding invitation.
These are actually pictures that we were taking
throughout the build.
Oh, the process -- oh, my God.
Where did you find your coat? In that closet?
ANTHONY: John made him put it on.
I got Tim to put on the varsity jacket.
Yep. I wore it. And it looks good.
[ Laughter ]
It looks -- Tim, I think you look pretty good in that.
I dig it. I dig it.
Thank you.
From now on when I'm in my home and I look around,
I'm gonna think of all the great friends
and my awesome family
and what they all came together to do for me.
It's amazing. It's beyond words.
ANTHONY: And I think you'll be very proud to know, too,
that your daughters follow very well in your footsteps
and they threw us a heck of a block party
as appreciation for all the time we've put in.
Oh, my God.
Everybody thought it was sacrilegious
that you were not there, so...
[ Laughs ]
I will tell you that.
Well, we'll have another one. [ Laughs ]
Well, we did hear that you guys spend a lot of time outside
and the backyard is really an extension of your home,
and not just for you and your kids,
but the neighborhood kids and everybody's over here,
and a lot of sports games outside.
So, this is what we were able to accomplish outside.
[ Screams ] Oh, my God! That's awesome!
ANTHONY: What we learned from Tim was that
you guys cook indoors and out.
So we wanted to get you a big enough platform up here
to get the meat fired up on the grill outside.
TANIA: Oh, it's beautiful.
Let's step down, and we'll get into a couple of the details.
ANTHONY: Obviously,
entertaining being at the center of what you guys do back here,
we needed to make sure that you had space for everybody.
Wow.
So, when it's time to have dinner...
Oh, my God!
That is awesome!
We got you a custom hideaway table...
Wow!
...that seats, I don't know, 8, 12.
Enough.
And then when we move our benches in...
Ah, you can sit on the other side.
Exactly.
Oh, my God!
That is amazing.
And we didn't want you guys to have to keep
hooking up the TV and dropping wires.
Out the window.
Oh, my God!
You now have a weather-proof TV mounted outside here.
The new outside space is awesome,
'cause we love to be outside.
ANTHONY: And you owe your friend Kathy a very big thank you.
Kathy, where are you?
Of course.
And where's Heather?
Heather, up until -- what? An hour ago, she was --
Did she do any of her nails?
[ Laughter ]
What?!
I don't have any because of this!
No. They were here sealing all this cedar for you guys,
so you are protected for years and years.
But your friends and your family
put in a lot of time and effort.
JOHN: Everyone worked on this.
We had people on the deck, people inside painting.
You name it, we had all these people here working.
People came together and showed their appreciation,
and, you know, you don't do it for the pay.
You don't do it for the glory.
You don't do it for the glamour.
But to know that everybody appreciates what you do
is incredible.
Everything we've really been hearing over these past three days is that
Tania really considers her whole community her extended family,
so as much as this was a project, you know,
to thank Tania for all her hard work, you know,
it extends to her family and extends to her larger family.
And we just kind of thought that, you know,
that's what she would want.
And the yard is really an extension of the home,
so why not give her a great space to do what she does best?
These are like memories that'll last a lifetime, right?
Absolutely.
Like, I mean, we've got awesome family and awesome friends.
We're blessed.