If you select links we provide , we may receive recompense .
On this installment of The Better Buy , Dave and Jenny Marrs share tips on creating an bid home base and let on how to preserve a home ’s character when remodel .
The Better Buy , a new podcast from Better Homes & Gardens , research all things home — from decorating and DIY to renovating and budgeting . Each hebdomad , we ’ll talk with homeowners from around the body politic about the senior high school and lows of abode possession , and share stories , advice , and hard-nosed tips you may put to work in your own menage . We ’re on a mission to inspire and empower you to create your dream dwelling . New episodes every Wednesday !
Credit: Better Homes & Gardens
On This Episode
HostMélanie Berliettalks to Dave andJenny Marrs , the husband and wife duo turned HGTV virtuoso , who have transformed 300 fixer - uppers into awesome homes . The two talk about how their marriage helps their line , being enneagram sevens , and some of the most memorable home base they ’ve remodeled . They share their wad - breakers when it comes to theater hunt , where to save and where to splurge when remodeling , and why they apply blank paint with five new kids at home .
Meet Dave and Jenny Marrs
Dave and Jenny match in 2002 while work in the same corporate office . They married three years later on and move to Arkansas where Dave began pursuing a life history in building . He start up his party , Marrs Developing , and he promptly became known for his usage woodworking and designs . In 2012 , Jenny link up the team as a designer . Today , the pair bear on to build up , design , and remodel homes in the domain . In addition to their get business , the couple stars onHGTV’sFixer to Fabulouswhere they help homeowners make their dreaming homes . In April , they plunge a collection of furniture and appurtenance for Better Homes & Gardens ( sold exclusively at Walmart ) and recently open a magical Airbnb , The Welcome Inn , near their hometown of Bentonville , Arkansas .
Advice from the Episode
Creating your dream home from a mender - upper can seem overwhelming . Read on for Dave and Jenny ’s best tips for transforming the bones of a home base into a welcoming , family - friendly abode .
Dave Marrs
When we ’re looking at these homes , we really care to keep the same trend of the home that it is . So , if it ’s a Craftsman home , or if it ’s a strait-laced plate , or modern dwelling — it ’s really hard to go in and make a prim home this ultra modern theatre . I really enjoy classic architecture . So , a deal breaker for me is if we go into a house and the householder really want to entirely change what the house is . I just want to look at him and say , ' You know , you just take the wrong star sign . I ’m good-for-naught . It might be a great localization , but it ’s just not something I wanna get involved in . ' The way that these houses were built , and the way that they were done , and to take and destroy that is just something I ’m not interested in .
Consider the Style of Home Before Buying
Jenny Marrs
I think the first matter is really trying to figure out what we can keep , particularly if it ’s an old theatre . So , when we go in and we talk with our homeowners , we ’re asking them what do they desire to see change , what do they wanna update ? We talk through all of that , but then we also talk through , ' Okay , but what can we keep in this house ? ' What can we keep original — if it ’s the flooring ? If it ’s even just the structure ? I be intimate how one-time houses have all the nooks and crannies and uncanny Angle and really embracing that . Ninety nine percent of the time we do update a kitchen , for case , and privy . Because those are the spaces that really date themselves the quickest . But we do essay to incorporate the same style of the house .
Start Remodels with the Kitchen and Bathrooms
opt where you want to spend your money . Like , in your living room , you may not wanna pass a gross ton of money . But in your kitchen , you may feel these awesome pendant lights that you have to have , and that ’s where you spend your money . You desire , like , a focal item . You want a minute , not in every infinite , but I conceive in most space you want some sort of , ' Oh , that ’s the matter decent there ! ' Whether it ’s a really amazing handmade faucet , or a beautiful light , or beautiful countertop , or tile , whatever it is that is gon na be that focal pointedness for you in the space , I think , it goes a long room .
Choose a Focal Point when Designing a Room
I imagine a band of people corrupt a house or they move into a house where there ’s a designated space , ' Okay , this is supposed to be a dining room . ' But you need to cipher out what your family use . Like , if your family just sits up at the island every nighttime , why do you have a dining tabular array sitting there that you do n’t apply ? switch it into an role , or a rumpus room , or something else that is useable for your family . Who cares what it ’s supposed to be ?
Get Creative with Your Space
For me , also for our house , I chose to do ashen paint . It get everything feel a little bit brighter and a little bit bigger , because we have a small house . And although people think it ’s a bad choice with kids , it ’s actually the easiest selection with kids . In an ideal humankind I would touch up our key more often , but I justuse a wizardly eraserand I call it a day . Where , if you have a really blue blusher people of colour , and it gets nicked , you ’re in trouble .
For a Clean Look, Choose White Paint
Links and Resources
Credit: Aaron Menken, Hatch & Maas Collective
