Original subtitles

♪♪ Here it comes Started the vibe ♪

♪♪ But it's only A matter of time ♪

♪♪ I've got the fever ♪

-Hey, hey. -[Drew] Hey.

Don't hate me. I can't make it. I'm still stuck.

Waiting for hours at an airport

for flight delays and stuff with a baby is not a fun thing.

Have you already met the Js?

[chuckles] Johnny and Jackie? No.

[Drew] I just think it's an exciting project. It looks bad.

[Jonathan] Yeah, from the pictures,

it looks like the kitchen is in desperate need of help.

[Jackie] One second, everybody.

[Drew] Oh, when you have a seven year old

and also you have five rescue dogs running around,

you need functional space.

Yes, ma'am.

But I mean, they've saved up for five years to do this.

-So, now is the time it's gotta happen. -[Drew] Absolutely.

This is my nightmare.

It's really frustrating.

[exclaims] This is not good.

-What? -I'm stressed.

You're not alone.

[Jonathan] This all has to be ripped out...

-I feel like throwing up. -...and rebuilt.

I don't want to finish a beautiful house and they aren't happy.

No pressure.

My hope is that they will see this house as everything they dreamed of.

I love the house now.

Before it was a love-hate.

[Jonathan] Johnny and Jackie already have enough on their plate.

With five dogs and their son, Atlas,

they shouldn't have to worry about a cramped, dysfunctional space

that just doesn't work for them.

We have to come up with ways to help them transform

it into a harmonious space that works for everyone.

So everything I learn today,

I'll pass directly on to Drew.

-Hello. -Welcome.

-How are you guys? -[Jackie] Very good.

-Thank you. -Welcome. Come on in.

[Jonathan] I am excited.

Because I am a dog dad.

-Yay. -And you guys have, so is it five dogs?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're rescued dogs. -[Jonathan] Yeah.

[Jackie] You know, you fall in love with them. These five were meant to be for us.

See, they all get along, they love each other,

-and I couldn't imagine not having them. -Yeah.

I get it. A lot of the decisions about what I need in a home

-are based off of what my dogs need. -Yup.

So, tell me about some of the struggles, 'cause,

I'm noticing right away, when you come in,

it's so funny 'cause this room is pretty big,

-but this feels... -[Jackie] I call it the dungeon.

-[Jonathan] Yeah. -[Jackie] Because it's tight, it's just gloomy.

It is pretty dark.

It would be nice to brighten that up.

And what is the first impression that this gives your guests,

when you have people over?

Well, we don't have people over.

-Yeah. -Oh, really?

[chuckles] But, my family can come over.

-Because, you know-- -She won't ever let me have a party or anything.

I've had like some friends over before.

They go through the side patio,

-and head out in the yard. -Yeah, she's like,

"Oh, the yard is nice in the back yard."

-But like, she's not good about having parties here. -Why?

We want friends to feel, like they're not coming into, like this dark cave.

-And that's what it feels like. -First of all...

there's nothing to be ashamed about.

Like, it feels kind of weird. I don't-- Is it a music room? Is it a TV room?

-Is it a dining room? Is it a lounge? -[Jackie] Exactly.

Like a mishmash, 'cause we don't know what to do with it.

But I would love for it to be just a beautiful dining room.

Do you use the fireplace?

-[Johnny] Never. -Okay.

We've been wanting to really get rid of the chimney.

Oh, you want it out?

-Yeah, because we're in Southern California. -It just looks old.

[Jonathan] Would you want a sliding door instead?

-I mean, that would be amazing to bring light in here. sure. -Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Do you know what's funny? We're one step in the front door,

and already there's an entry that needs work.

-[sighs] I know. -There's a dining room and fireplaces and--

Well, here's the other thing.

This spot here, is like that spot there. [laughs]

-This is a bottleneck? -It's like accident central.

Because especially with Atlas,

he for some reason, just starts running

with food, with drinks, whatever, and then we're coming with stuff

until right here.

And then the doggies also come to meet him.

-So you'd like to actually see this more open? -Yeah.

A more open floor plan just eliminates those blind corners

that we have a lot of, which creates a lot of accidents.

So I get it. This is a crash central space right here.

And I agree with you.

I think having a better sight line across the whole space

would be better and for entertaining too.

[Johnny] I think really what we need is a space where it's more contusive

to having five dogs and a child.

-[Jonathan] You have space. -[Johnny] We do.

-[Jonathan] But it's just kind of chopped up a bit. -[Jackie] Sectioned?

[all] Yeah.

[Jackie] And this is our kitchen.

It definitely needs the most work.

We hate the layout.

I can look at this kitchen

and realize it does not work.

There's no prep space. I mean, that's the biggest challenge.

I did in all honesty, bought that rolling island.

-And I thought prep space. And then it just became... -[Johnny] All dog stuff.

...a doggy storage cart.

Even having no space to put pans.

-I mean, I can see your... Your just using this... -Aren't those beautiful?

[Jackie] So those have to stay open.

That one got locked, for like six months.

Because a pan fell back, in between wherever it turns.

-Oh. -I'm like, I'm either gonna take a sledgehammer to it,

-or I have to buy new pans and pretend it doesn't exist. -We just got all new pans.

[Johnny] And you notice something that's missing?

-There's only one. -No plugs?

-Zero plugs. -None.

-We only have that one. -We have one plug right there.

-What? -[Jackie] There's nothing here.

So there's nothing all here.

You must come into this kitchen and just be like...

Yeah, it's awful.

-Oh, you've got leaks. -[Johnny] Yeah.

The water damage was from those heavy rains that were recent.

Right. Is there another story above this part of the house?

So, no. So like, this part was part of the original house.

Okay. We obviously have to fix the leak issue with the roof.

Guys, we can do so much better.

[Johnny] I know that something's gotta be done.

-Can we? -I mean, I get your frustration.

This is something that causes arguments.

-[Jonathan] Yeah. -And you're like, bumping into each other.

We're rushing in the morning.

We're trying to get Atlas, I'm trying to get his breakfast ready.

And I'm trying to do the dog food.

'Cause we do a bunch of different types of food.

And some of them have special needs food and blah, blah, blah.

He's always kicking me out.

Or he's like, "I'm gonna come back when you're done." And I'm like...

-You're literally on top of each other. -[Johnny] Yes. Yeah.

-This doesn't work. -[Jackie] Right.

If we could have basically two separate spaces...

-Okay. -...Like, one for doggy chef,

-the human chef. -Yeah.

Then we can co-exist in harmony.

I get it. This is not the best use of the square footage

that you have in this area.

If we get rid of the walls that separate the kitchen from the dining room,

we could accommodate an island.

We'll have perimeter cabinets over here.

We'll also have cabinetry wrap around that side.

Lots of prep area,

for more than one chef in the kitchen.

[Jackie giggles] Yeah.

[Jonathan] Modern appliances. Also making sure that you have the two sinks.

I loved the idea of creating a space

that will create harmony.

-That would be fantastic. -I think that'd be good.

'Cause we don't like fight. We're not like-- You know...

-We're like, why are we getting mad at each other? -Yeah, why are we getting mad?

-Yeah. -It should be a happy place.

Food, yummy, you know.

Like, being able to actually share the space

with more people, more family

and have it be a joyous space.

-It's for your sanity. -Yeah.

You know, um... Oh, wow.

That is a huge laundry room.

-[Johnny] It is, yeah. -[Jackie] Laundry room.

I wanted that to be the doggy space.

Which is why we got a big sink instead of a little one.

[Jonathan] That totally makes sense. If you have five dogs,

-you need a place to groom them. -Yes.

I would really love to have a really nice doggy bath in that space.

So much of our money goes towards grooming the dogs right now.

We want this to be a stress-free zone.

-Yes. -That looks good, it feels good.

Everybody is happy. I get it.

I think this is the perfect opportunity

for us to get out of this kitchen.

Because I'm tired of this kitchen.

I wanna see what you guys have done with the backyard.

-'Cause it looks like you've done some work. -Okay. Yeah.

Oh, wow. I can see why you bring all your guests immediately outside.

-Because this looks really great. -[Jackie] Yeah.

[Johnny] Yeah, this was like, the first thing we did, when we moved to the house.

We're happy with it, and the doggies are happy with it.

-Like, this has flow, right? -Yes.

Feel like the house hasn't had flow and we're trying to get flow.

Yeah. Have you ever considered

finding another house that has what you need in it?

[Johnny and Jackie] No.

First of all, like, we bought it before prices kind of skyrocketed.

So, getting a space like this, in LA,

-in this area, I mean-- Yeah. -We couldn't afford it anymore.

-There's just no way. -I don't think we could.

[Johnny] And you know, we have a park right next to the house.

Which has been amazing for Atlas.

His school is right here.

Oh, my gosh, it's a dream. It makes you feel really proud.

You know, I didn't come from money. I didn't-- My parents couldn't...

They...

Um, it was a struggle for them to provide for three daughters.

And my parents immigrated from Guatemala in Colombia in the '60s.

And we just didn't have much, you know...

So the most important thing to us is that, we give Atlas

a happy, joyous family life.

You guys have done an incredible job.

Because you're amazing parents.

You have a great house.

It has problems.

You know, front entry, the dining area,

removing the fireplace, whole new kitchen,

the structure to open things up, new laundry.

You're looking at like, $230,000.

Yeah. So that's kind of the top of where we feel like we can manage it.

I feel like if you're okay with it,

I say we bite the bullet.

Clear things out and jump in and get going.

-Yeah. We're ready to go. -Okay.

It would almost be silly for us to not make this an investment.

This house is definitely the space for us.

The location, um, be it the size.

We plan on being here for a long time.

This is for our future.

[Jonathan] It is gonna be emotional. I'll warn you.

-[Jackie] That's all right. -But if we can even eliminate one argument...

-[Jackie] It's worth it. -...we've done it.

[Johnny] It's worth it.

[song playing]

Jackie and Johnny have an active seven-year-old boy, Atlas.

But they also have five rescue pups.

And their house, in it's current, choppy, cramped layout,

it just causes accidents and instigates fights,

and it doesn't allow them to have company over.

So if their budget allows, we'd like to open up the whole main floor,

remodel that dysfunctional kitchen

and fix that leaky roof.

My only fear is that, that house, you know, it's in its original state,

built in the 1920s.

So what surprises are lurking behind the walls?

I guess we just have to wait and see.

[Jonathan] All right.

I have been so excited

-to smash out this brown kitchen. -[Johnny] Yes.

-Yes, let's do it. -We're excited too.

And that's why you had to bring me in, to help with that.

-Finally. -[Jonathan] Yeah. Thanks for showing up.

-[Drew] I know. I'm glad to be here. -[Jonathan] Yeah.

There is a lot that we need to do today though.

I'd love to rip out as many cabinets as we can.

I wanna punch a hole through the wall here.

-And can we rip up the floors? -[Jonathan] Let's rip it up.

[Drew] There's sledgehammers if you want.

-If you're feeling strong, you guys, you can just... -[Jackie] Oh, my God.

-I'm so not like... -[Drew] These are actually pretty solid.

These are solid wood. They're built well.

[Drew] Okay, I'm gonna do this instead.

-[screams] Oh, my God. -So open that drawer there.

All right. And then use your foot. Just over...

I can't. I'm just not a violent person.

[screams]

-[Jonathan] Yes. -Oh, my God, you guys. This is not for me.

[Jackie] The demo is intense.

It's real. And the promise of that idea we've had is becoming a reality.

And we have to think about how we'll live in this new space.

'Cause we can't backtrack.

[Drew] All right. What is that?

-Oh. -That's not good.

[Drew] What is that?

Oh.

[Jonathan] Well, that's your original flooring.

And it does look like that wood contains asbestos.

-Oh. -That's not good.

[Jonathan] So that's something we're probably gonna have to quickly test.

See what it is and then have it removed professionally.

-Okay. -Which is an expense.

It is.

[Jackie] I am a little worried about the asbestos under the cabinet.

'Cause we can't increase the budget.

But if we have to put the money into safety and structure,

we may have to give up stuff we really want or like.

I know that this was like a little farmhouse.

And so this is like the old part of the house.

The other part of the house was like, built in '90 or something like that.

-[Jonathan] Okay. -So, yeah, I guess we'll find random stuff.

That doesn't surprise me that this is the old part of the house.

[Johnny] But the only bad news--

[Jonathan] Why you guys such pessimists? Let's talk about good news.

-Yes. -Yeah, that's what I say, what's the good news?

Who wants open concept?

Yes, open concept is all I heard. I'm like, yes.

Well, looking in here, we have one gas line down here.

We've got some conduit here.

There's really nothing that's gonna prevent us

-from getting that open concept. -Yay.

[Jonathan] Three, two, one, go.

Holy cow.

How cool. We can see the front.

[Jonathan] One more. Got it.

-Oh, there we go. -[Johnny] My God.

-Look at that. -[Jackie] Oh, my gosh.

How does it feel though, to see the potential?

-[Johnny] This is gonna be something... -It' so great, you guys.

I see the potential.

I don't think our mornings will start off as stressful anymore.

I really see an end to that.

Like, we can really wake up and be in this huge space,

not in each other's space.

I just hope we don't have any more surprises.

[Jonathan] See you guys later.

[Jackie] All right. Thank you.

[Jonathan] While we're doing the renovation,

Jackie, Johnny, and Atlas are gonna be staying

at Jackie's grandparent's house,

who I hope love dogs.

Because now they're gonna have five of them.

Inside we have some good news.

The flooring that we thought had asbestos,

we tested it, and it is not asbestos.

So we dodged an overage there.

We continue to tear down the walls that separate

the kitchen from the rest of the main space.

But in order to open this space up,

and give this family the unobstructed sight lines the need so badly,

we're hoping the engineer approves a plan to put up three huge beams,

to carry the load of the house.

Now this home has the original section that was built in the 1920s.

And other sections were added in the '80s.

Because building practices and standards have changed over the years,

I've got a feeling this could get tricky.

And while tearing up the unused fireplace is a monster of a job,

it completely makes sense for this family.

We'll be putting in a custom slider

that will give them direct access to the yard.

But it's also gonna allow a flood of light to come into this space.

The engineer came over after we opened up all the walls to inspect,

and unfortunately, the news is not good.

In fact, this could derail all of Johnny and Jackie's plans.

So, everything is stripped back.

[Johnny] Wha-- Oh, my gosh. You guys took out the fireplace.

[Jonathan] Yeah. Everything is out.

You can see all the way down.

Go on through there. Have a look in the kitchen.

-Watch the holes. -Holes on the floor.

-It's like, overwhelming. -[Jonathan] Be really careful.

-[Jackie] Yeah. -[Johnny] Wow.

-It's open. So that's great. -[Jackie] I can't believe it's all gone.

-[both laughs] -[Johnny] I know.

It is exciting for us.

-So it's not like all... But it's-- Yeah. -It's just wow.

It's really very interesting.

You guys have this somber look on our face.

Well, unfortunately...

we've come across some bad news.

We had the engineer come in, and do assessment.

When he was looking at everything,

he did discover the footings underneath the exterior wall.

Supporting everything, there's no rebar. It's only 12 inches thick.

It is not even close to quote.

"For supporting the entire structure of the home."

Because this home is old.

-100 years old, yeah. -1929.

Yeah, exactly. And now, come over here.

So this is another part. The engineer looked under the floor right here.

You see that footing right there?

-That's a little tiny thing... -[Johnny] Yeah, it's small.

...compared to what you're supposed to have.

And if you look at this point load here,

there's nothing underneath it.

-Underneath that, there's nothing. -[Jackie] And there isn't?

-[Jonathan] There's nothing. -Are you supposed to have these big squares?

-Today, we have big poured concrete reinforced pads. -Right.

And this is like a little piece of wood.

In the areas that we have opened up,

the footings are no good.

They're only a foot thick.

There's no rebar in there. It would not hold the structure of the weight.

Especially if we're putting a wide beam in there.

To completely open everything,

we knew we're gonna have to put up three large beams.

Because, not only is this a load-bearing wall,

this is a load-bearing wall,

that's a load-bearing wall.

And all that weight distribution that would happen by us putting beams in,

puts more stress on the rest of the walls in the house.

Which are all potentially, severely under supported by the older footings.

The engineer said that if all the footings on the main floor

are as bad as the ones he looked at,

we have to do 19 new concrete pads, all the way along.

Plus, an additional beam at the back of the house.

It would be almost $50,000 of work.

Ow.

-I mean, that's a lot added to the budget. -I mean, we can't.

-Uh-- $50,000? -What?

[Jonathan] We may have to do 19 new concrete pads.

It would be almost $50,000 of work.

-I mean, that's a lot added to the budget. -I mean, we can't.

-Uh-- $50,000? -What?

Yeah, I don't wanna not do stuff that needs to be done. I mean...

Well, that's exactly, I mean, your budget only goes so far, right?

So if we're taking $50,000 out of your budget,

that's over 20% of your budget.

But the city will never approve what we're doing

unless we fix everything that they see as an issue.

Oh, my God.

[Jonathan] Now, the engineers only looked at the footings in the old part of the house.

Because that's what we had opened up so far.

So our hopes is that the footings in the newer part of the house

are actually up to code and don't have to be replaced.

So worst case scenario, if the engineer determines that all of the footings

in the main floor have to be fixed,

the options are, we amend the plan,

or we come up with the money.

If we absolutely could not come up with the extra cash,

to completely open everything,

you'll still get a fully functional kitchen with quite a big island.

But you would still have that wall separating the dining room.

Oh, so that wall would be closed?

-It'll still be there, yeah. -Up to this point.

Like, that was actually kind of the main thing

-of just having this open space. -Yeah.

Unfortunately, this could be a situation

where you don't get your best case scenario.

I mean, we don't have that much more money.

Our budget's already at the top.

But like, you know...

We have these beautiful plans and ideas,

and so, you know, if we have to give it up, we have to give it up.

-Because safety's first, you know. -[Drew and Jonathan] Yeah.

And, um, how did we not know all this? [chuckles]

We started doing this right now,

because we're like, okay, we're doing it. We're going on it.

We wanna fulfill this dream of what we really wanted for this home.

But we can't just throw $50,000 out of nowhere.

Like, that is a substantial amount of money.

I have a question. Then we would have to ask is,

-what do we have to give up... -Yeah.

...from the plans and the stuff we talked about

to accommodate the safety aspect?

Like, I really want a dog bath in the laundry room.

I would hate to give that up.

But I guess if I have to, I will.

You guys should not have to be the ones that are paying,

for all of these old issues or something else that happened.

Well, 'cause buying a house is so hard as it is.

I think that's why I'm so mad.

'Cause it's so hard to even get to the place where you can buy a house and...

[sighs] Sorry.

-I'll get over it. -I hear the frustration.

After we open up the sections of the floor to expose all of the footings,

we'll have the engineer come back and see it in person

so he can give us the verdict on how much work has to be done.

If the footings in the newer part of the house don't have to be replaced,

which is what we're hoping, then we wouldn't need a new beam either.

And this is gonna bring down the cost considerably.

We will do whatever we can to give them that open floor plan,

while making sure that everything is safe and up to code.

Why don't we call you when we have answers?

We're gonna get the engineer to come by.

I'm gonna get him under the house.

We're gonna dig, we're gonna do whatever we have to do.

So we can get a better idea of what is involved.

If you're telling us, having all of this open is what you have to do,

we're gonna have to make some big decisions together to make that possible.

Before doing this, we wanna do it and feel like we went all in.

But we do understand that's like...

-It's a tough call, so... -Yeah. Yeah.

[Drew] I can understand why Johnny and Jackie are upset.

Because their dream of having Atlas and their five dogs growing up

in his beautiful, inviting, open floor plan

is now in jeopardy. And that's really hard.

And since we can't do anymore work inside until we hear back from the engineer,

we're gonna start doing work up on the roof.

So we can prevent them from having anymore leaks in their kitchen.

They also wanna have a slider in place of where that old fireplace is.

So that Atlas has direct access to the yard.

We have to make that happen.

I mean, this wall almost looks like it needs to be completely reframed,

regardless of what we do.

Everything. I mean, look at the termite damage all the way up there.

-This is crazy. -Okay. So our slider is 80 inches tall.

Here we need two more inches for a rough opening, so...

That takes us up to right here.

There's a beam right here,

that supports the awning outside.

-[Drew] Yeah. -So that's right where that would be.

And if it's a six-foot slider,

centered on this room would need to be...

basically like that.

Then we could just slide the slider

over past that beam.

But then, do you wanna have an off-centered door in your dining room?

And we have the gas line over here, so...

-And to move the meter is gonna be a huge task-- -That's huge.

I know they really would love to have a door here.

What if we move that support

back to where we have the post in the wall here?

-Mmm-hmm. -Probably not a big deal.

So if we could shift this beam

back and up, it's out of the way.

Just boop and put it right behind it right here.

We can re-support this, get it out of the way.

I think we can still do the slider.

So why don't we start pulling this stuff,

go back and figure out where we'd shift this to.

-Yeah, okay? -Nice.

Watch for sparks.

[Drew] We're taking apart the floor

to make sure that when the engineer comes back,

he has full access to assess the structural needs of this house

to make sure this is a fully-open concept.

Hopefully, we won't need to pour all 19 of the footings he originally called for

because that would eat up a huge chunk of this family's budget.

While we're waiting for the engineer's final word,

I'm meeting up with Johnny, Jackie, and their son Atlas

to discuss some plans I came up with for their new laundry room.

-Whoo. -I love this park.

So, uh, how often do you guys come over here, since it's, like...

-[Jackie] Every day. -[Johnny] Every day.

-Yeah. -Yeah, this is like our extended backyard.

That's kind of one of the reasons why we picked this place.

-Yeah. -Nice. Okay, so tell me this,

who are you to the pups?

Who's who?

Um, this is Huckleberry. This is Dublin.

This is Francis right there.

And Hunter.

And the last one is the youngest which is Ginger.

Oh, wow. Well, I can't imagine having more dogs than humans in the house.

-[Johnny] Look, it's... It's a lot. -[Jackie] It's a lot.

But they function as a pack,

-and they're all pretty mellow. -[Drew] They're all rescues.

-Yeah, and they're all rescue dogs. -Oh, my gosh.

-[Jackie] They are. -You guys are so cute.

-We're a full house now. -[Johnny] Yeah.

-We're a full house. -Yes, we are a full house.

-[Drew] Yes. No more. -[laughing]

Maybe we are a little nuts for having five dogs. [chuckles]

[Jackie] But I would say the love and the companionship

of a canine companion, it's like nothing else.

Well, you know what's important?

-This is their house, not just your house. -[Johnny] It is.

Thank you for the handshake.

-[Jackie laughs] -And so we need to make sure

-that the house functions for them. -[Johnny] That's right.

I have a couple of plans I want to go over with your laundry area

because we... knowing you have so many dogs in the house,

we have a couple of options.

-Do you want to sit down for a sec? -[Jackie] Sure.

-Come on guys. -[Drew] Here, come grab a seat.

[Jackie] For the laundry room, it's stressful.

It's just become a space of, like,

just throw things in there and close the door.

And it just sucks because we aren't using it well.

I have a couple of versions I was playing with.

Because you have five dogs,

I thought maybe it'd be nice to have two wash stations for the pups.

If we had more space in there,

but I don't think we need two, only because...

-Oh, you do have. -Yeah, yeah, I did an option with one.

[Johnny] Well, look at you, you're already--

-I was thinking. I didn't know what you would want. -[Jonny] Yeah.

Having one is amazing already.

Like, let's not talk about how much

-I've already spent on the groomers. -Yeah.

To be totally honest, with the savings off of this,

with the number of times you would have a groomer work with them,

you're actually going to save thousands of dollars.

So here we have a sink as well.

And then, if you look on the other wall over here,

stacked laundry here.

-Counter with some storage. -[Jackie] That's good. No, that's all we need.

[Drew] Of course, all this work depends

on what the engineer says regarding structure.

I don't want to promise you a bunch of things, and then we blow our budget.

So I still have to work through this with Jonathan.

But I'm hopeful that we'll work everything out,

and now I know exactly what you want.

[Jackie] Don't know if we're going to get everything

-on our wish list. -[Johnny] Yeah.

The mom part of me is, like, "I don't want to give up the dog bath."

Play. Enough work, Shall we have some play time?

-[Johnny] Yeah. -[dog vocalizes]

[Jackie] The possibility that this space could be configured differently

to accommodate the five dogs, and our son, and us,

that's really exciting.

[Atlas] Huckleberry, go!

[Drew] Go, Huckles.

-Good boy. -[Atlas] Oh, he caught it in the air.

-[cell phone ringing] -Boom.

Oh, hey.

Hey, Jonathan, I'm at, uh, Johnny and Jackie's,

and so, the engineer came back to take a look at those,

uh, 19 footings that we had originally on plans,

and thorough investigation, I mean, we... we really opened up everything,

took a look at all the existing,

-all of the proposed. -[Jonathan] Okay.

What's the verdict?

-What's the verdict? -So, uh, spoke with the engineer,

and you're able to get it down to eight footings.

Oh, my God, that's amazing news!

It turns out that some of the footings, uh,

the existing, were... were in good shape,

and we didn't even need to, uh, redo any of them, yep.

I will take that news to Jackie and Johnny.

They will celebrate cause they've had enough bad news on this project.

Oh, yeah.

[Jonathan] Fortunately, after looking at the sections of the floor we opened up,

the engineer determined that the footings in the newer parts of the house

are up to code, and don't need to be replaced,

so we won't have to put up the additional beam.

The cost for the eight new footings is $16,000,

and we originally accommodated for $8,000 of structural work.

So really, this is only going to be overage of 8 grand,

which means they can find it from their savings

and still have that great open concept they dreamed of.

So we're pouring those eight footings

to make this home's foundation completely unshakable,

and putting up three massive beams

to carry the weight of the house

to give them completely unobstructed sight lines.

Hopefully, that means no more fighting, accidents,

or embarrassment about having guests over.

[grunts] All right.

-Check it out. Oh, my gosh. -Wow!

-Oh, ho. -[Jackie] Hey.

-[Johhny] You got it. -You get a little tease.

Oh, my God!

-Victory. -[Jonathan] You wanted that out, right?

-Yes, absolutely. -Look at that.

-[Jackie] Oh, my gosh. -Oh, my gosh.

-How do you feel? -Look, even this.

You guys don't need bars.

-Look at that. -It looks great.

I know last time you were here,

-there was a lot going on. -Mmm-hmm.

-Something I want to show you. -All right.

Oh. Oh.

-Wow! They've put this whole thing up. -Oh.

Oh, my gosh. See, this is great.

So you said, "Show me the light."

-"Show me the light. -[chuckles]

Showed you the light.

-Wow! [laughing] -Dude, and this.

[Jackie] You can leave it like that. It's beautiful.

[Jonathan] You just want to leave it open.

To me, it's beautiful. [laughing]

I know that sounds crazy because it's just bare walls,

but I didn't think that it was possible to have such an open space.

I see the potential now.

This felt like a cramped space.

-But this is great 'cause now it's just open. -[Jackie] Right. Oh.

-It's just so great. -[Johnny] This is what we wanted, you know.

Remember, they came to us and said,

-"We need 19 footings." -Mmm.

[Jonathan] We were able to reduce 19 footings down to eight.

And as I said to you guys,

instead of it being an extra $50,000

-it was an extra... -[chuckles]

-...$8,000. -[Johnny] yeah.

That's good. We may not have to give up other things.

-[laughing] -[Johnny] I know.

I was so nervous.

But with that price difference, we can keep some stuff.

Like, the dog bath in the laundry room. They was scary.

I feel like everything was just coming down on us in a way. [chuckles]

-Or we would have to give up... -I... Yeah.

...a lot of what we had hoped for.

But I'm really happy that we didn't.

I got a note from you guys that you wanted to talk about the laundry room

-a little bit. -Oh, yes, yeah.

-Yeah. -Why don't we take a peek inside?

-Okay. -Okay.

[Jonathan] All right. Laundry, and you wanted to fit

a dog wash station and everything in here as well.

Yeah, that's what we, like, talked about.

-It looks a lot smaller. -I know. It is smaller.

As it stands right now, a stack washer-dryer.

Counter surface coming around.

Sink. Dog wash station.

[Johnny] That seems like a lot of stuff to fit into a room this size.

Should we just not have a sink?

-'Cause we really weren't using the sink in here. -[Jonathan] Okay.

[Jackie] Just so we can have more space for the dog bath.

[Johnny] And it's, like, if we have the dog bath,

that's, like, the best thing we could possibly use.

I'm the one who's going to bathe them.

-She's going to bathe them. -He's not going to bathe them.

[Jonathan] Oh, so, actually, that's a good thing to know too

'cause usually they'll have it elevated up,

-so it's... you're not leaning all the way down. -[Jackie] Right.

Do you want it all the way down on the floor?

-'Cause some of your dogs are pretty big, right? -[Jackie] Right.

The dogs, because... they won't jump,

some of them are senior dogs.

-At least, like, here, right? -Okay.

This is good. They can step over something like this.

-[Jonathan] Okay. -But not up here.

You can even get rid of the step altogether.

That might even be better.

[Jonathan] All right. We'll keep the step low.

Lose the sink. Give you as much space as we can.

Sounds good, but to be honest,

I'm still worried that this space is not big enough

to fit everything that we want.

The new wide-open floorplan has already made Jackie and Johnny's main space

way less gloomy.

But we'll be adding recessed lighting throughout

to make this space as bright as possible.

I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have no electrical outlets,

especially in the kitchen.

So we're make sure to install as many as we can.

And after the hold up with the engineer,

we're moving as quickly as possible with framing and plumbing,

to finish up all the structural work.

Finally, we've opened up the space for the slider,

and we have to reposition the beam a little to get it in.

All right. Give it a little... Give it a little wiggle.

I want this beam, this obstruction out of our view.

-You got it? -Going back.

And then I'm going to pull this. Ready?

-Ooh. -And...

-Oh, look at Amos. -I'll make it happen.

-What are you... -[Amos] Where do you want it?

-Just right here. You guys are crazy. -[laughing]

Oh, my gosh.

I am so impressed that this came together.

Where there once stood a complete obstruction of a fireplace,

we're now going to have, not just light, but access as well.

Now that all the necessary work is done behind the wall,

it's all hands on deck to put up the drywall

and put down the hardwood floors

to give this house a unified look.

It also feels really good to start installing cabinets in their kitchen space.

These guys desperately need a huge island and a ton of storage.

That old kitchen was utterly useless.

You couldn't have two people and two dogs,

let alone five dogs and two people.

It was so hard for their doggy routine.

Now, this is going to be a lot better function.

This is like a human kitchen and a puppy kitchen all in one.

It's that big.

Okay. So, we have to talk because they want...

-What? -...five feeding dishes

spread throughout the kitchen

that can pop out of the kick plate. Five.

These are some pampered pups.

I've never had a house with so many requests specifically for the dogs.

There are more requests for the dogs than the humans.

We have built-in water with a pot filler, or a puppy filler.

And also all the kick plates.

They want to have five different locations for doggy feeding stations.

This is crazy. We never have houses where you need that many.

One pup station is usually enough.

They were saying they wanted to have a pop-out under the sink.

But I don't like the idea of having it...

Imagine, the dogs need their dish set almost all the time, right?

So imagine you have it out, and you're trying to use the sink,

and you're like, "Oh, hold on."

[Jonathan] No, that doesn't make any sense.

I think we say no to the two areas where the sinks are.

Obviously, there's not going to be one where the range is.

We probably would not do them on the other side of the island

-'cause the chairs are there. -No.

So you have to pull he chairs every day.

When you're going to all this work

to custom-design something for the dogs and the humans,

you have to think of all the potential pitfalls.

Don't put a drawer in a place where you're going to be using the sink.

Don't put anything in a place that's going to cramp everybody's flow.

There's a lot of extra thought that needs to go into this one.

Think of all the potential pitfalls,

or all the potential pitbulls they're going to have here as rescues?

I would probably do four of the drawers here.

Is that too close, I wonder?

Because if the dogs are too close to each other,

they're going to eat each other's food.

I think it makes sense to do them on the ends,

but then this... this makes the walking path a little skinnier.

This is starting to get, like,

a bit crazy.

[Jonathan] It's been a bit of a bumpy ride,

but we're finally getting close to the end of this renovation.

We've done a substantial amount of work on the roof to fix the serious leaks

in Johnny and Jackie's main space.

Now Drew and I are taking a look

to make sure everything was done properly.

Yes.

[Drew] Before it actually felt like half the shingles were missing.

Now it feels like a beautiful new roof.

[Jonathan] I've heard so many people who said they did a renovation,

but they cheaped out and didn't redo their roof when they needed to,

and sure enough, ruined.

Jackie and Johnny, they're not going to have water problems in the future.

When we first got here, Johnny described their house as a dark cave

because it felt really gloomy.

But now their team's giving everything a light coat of paint

and installing recessed lights throughout,

it should be positively luminous in here.

And in the new laundry room,

the bath that Jackie and, eventually, Atlas will use

to groom the dogs is well underway.

-What's happening? -Getting into the grout.

Do you, uh, need a little help sort of figuring out

how everything's going to work?

Is this going to be a pooch-friendly shower?

Well, it's definitely pooch-friendly. It's also people-friendly.

[Jonathan] I think that it's so much more functional not having the curb.

I was actually a little worried about having the curb there

because if and when they're using this for laundry,

-you could kind of step back and trip over the curb... -Yeah.

...and go for a tumble.

So I feel like, aesthetically, this looks better,

and it's also going to be safer.

Dogs like to shake when they get in the bath.

So it's nice that we've got the tile all the way up on the wall, really high,

and it's a savings too 'cause they spend a fortune on dog grooming.

-Oh, yeah. It does. -And it looks good.

[Drew] I'm just worried that it's a pretty small space

for a laundry and for the dogs.

So I hope that Johnny and Jackie

don't find it too tight in here.

The stone counters we're putting in today,

are not only beautiful, but very durable,

which will be great for a high-traffic kitchen like this.

Hopefully, with so much available workspace,

Johnny and Jackie will be able

to stay out of each other's way as they cook.

I also hope we've picked the best locations for the hidden dog stations.

We're aiming for true harmony here.

And it feels awesome to finish up Johnny and Jackie's new slider.

When it's all done,

it'll look like this is how it always was meant to be.

This is a game changer for them.

They are going to lose their minds.

It's so nice.

The counter space and storage were top priority in this kitchen,

so everything, even down to the size of the refrigerator

had to be perfectly integrated.

[Drew] So hopefully, the improved layout and functioning

gives them the peace they've been craving.

Station one.

Can you imagine from before, where they were all, like,

-trying to use the space like this to prep for the dogs? -[Jonathan] Yeah.

Now, look.

Jackie's over here. Johnny's over here prepping for Atlas.

The dogs can run around. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

Nobody is tripping over anybody.

The beautiful chairs. The seating.

They get the storage.

I feel ready, and I like this space,

but I am a bit nervous because I want them to feel

this is the space that's good for them.

The kitchen is big,

but this is a family of two adults, one child, and five dogs.

-That's a lot of movement. -Yeah.

And so my hope is we've given them something that will make life easier.

Let's go get them.

-How do you feel? -[Jackie] I'm like this. [laughs]

-Yeah. -You didn't want to go.

-What I'm most worried about is did we ask for too much? -Uh, yeah.

We opened up the space, but we're filling it up with, you know,

a big island, and other stuff, and is it all going to work?

There's a little something you'll notice right off the top.

-I see a roof. -[laughs]

-A new roof. -[Jonathan] Yes. That doesn't leak.

[Jackie] I've never found a roof so beautiful.

-[Drew] What do you notice? -[Jackie] No bars.

-No bars. [laughs] -No bars.

-[Johnny] Oh, my gosh. -[Jackie] My gosh.

-This is it. -Oh, boy.

-[Drew] What once was a dark blue entry. -[Jackie] Oh, my goodness.

-[Jackie laughing] -[Johnny] Oh, my gosh.

-Can I... Check this out. -Oh, God.

-Oh, my gosh! -Oh, my.

[Johnny] Oh, my gosh,

-this looks amazing. [laughs] -[Jackie] I knew I was going to cry.

I said I wasn't going to cry.

-Oh, my God, Johnny. Look what they did. -This looks amazing, yeah.

Oh, my, honey, look what they put up.

-Oh, my. Guys. -[laughing]

-[Johnny] Oh. -Wait, is this good or bad?

-This looks unbelievable. -It's fabulous!

I can't believe I'm going to live here! [crying]

Wow!

-[laughing] -[Johnny] Oh, wow.

[Jackie] Oh, my gosh, I can't wait till Atlas sees this.

-Oh, my boy is going to be so excited. -[laughing]

Isn't it crazy that you can see

-all the way to the back to the kitchen? -[Jackie] I know.

I've never lived in such a nice place either.

-No, same. [laughs] -Some people grew up in nice places like this,

and I didn't, and...

I don't know, guys. I don't have enough words

-in my vocabulary right now. -I know. It's hard to be speechless.

Even when you walk in,

-you no longer have the dark blue... -[Jackie] Nasty floor before.

-...nasty front entry. -[Jackie laughs]

-[Jonathan] It actually feels bright and inviting. -[Jackie] There's light.

[Jonathan] In fact, take a seat at the table,

-You can see everywhere. -[Johnny] Yeah.

-[Jonathan] See the kitchen. See the living room. -So can I watch TV?

-Oh, yeah, look. -[Jonathan] Yeah, you can.

-Oh, yes. -Oh, my gosh, look at this view.

-[Jackie] Oh! -[Drew] This room felt so isolated before.

[Johnny] I know.

[Drew] Everything's open now. So you can see your guests.

-You can feel like you're part of the party. -[Jackie] Yeah.

I feel a sense of calm when I walked in.

So it's this weird combination of excitement,

and then feeling good in this room.

This open space and accessibility to the kitchen,

and I can see the backyard.

And, you know, the dogs lay out there a lot too.

So it's so nice that we'll be able to just be here and all feel still together.

I'm almost thinking there's something else

that was added to this room that you didn't...

-Oh, the door! -Oh, my gosh. [laughing]

-That's why I said that fireplace is gone. -[Jackie laughs] Oh, yeah.

-[Johnny] Oh, and you put a little deck out there. -[Jackie] Oh, man!

[Johnny] This is the biggest thing that immediately,

-that was closing everything off. -[Jackie] Wow.

I feel like we have more liveable space,

like, we've got a bigger house all of a sudden.

And it's the same place, so...

-Cheers to that. You deserve a little. -[all] Cheers.

[Jackie] Whoo.

What about your other seating here?

-This beautiful big breakfast bar. -[Jackie] Oh, so beautiful.

You talked about how you guys were tripping over each other.

The flow has improved, but also,

this is all 24-inch deep storage across the back here.

-[Johnny] Yeah. Oh, wow. -You have so much storage.

[Johnny] This is fantastic.

This was the thing for me when I first walked into your place.

This wall continued all the way across the stairs.

This was closed off.

[Johnny] That was the big problem

was walking out of the kitchen,

and then into the dogs

-or into Atlas running into the kitchen. -[Jonathan] Yeah.

Well, you have space coming down the stairs. Some storage.

The most important, we found dining spaces for each of the pups.

Little areas for their water dishes and for their food dishes

so that it was out of the way.

-So starting right here. -Take a peek at this.

[Johnny] Oh.

You have a faucet.

-Oh, man! -[laughing]

-[Johnny] This is amazing. -[Jackie gasps]

[Jonathan] All you do is... [both laughing]

-[Jackie] Oh, that's so special. -[Johnny] Oh, wow.

This'll make life easier for the pups.

This'll make life easier for the humans.

-Come on into your new kitchen. -[Jackie] Yeah.

[Jonathan] Think of the kitchen before.

It was so closed in and pretty sketch.

-[Johnny] I've erased it from my memory. -[Jonathan laughs] Good.

-Oh, my God. Clean lines and smooth surfaces. Yay! -[Johnny] Yeah.

-I know you want to see the range. -[Johnny] Yes.

-Push the button. -Can I do it?

-Dah-dah-dah-dah! Ta-dah! -Ta-dah!

-Bom-bom-bom-bom. -Oh, Johnny.

The good thing is by doing a down draft,

you all of a sudden don't have anything obstructing your view.

So it keeps it feeling nice and open.

You had said to us when we first walked through

that you were embarrassed by your kitchen.

You never brought people into your kitchen and whatnot.

Can you imagine entertaining family and friends now?

-[Jackie] Yes. Yes. -[Johnny] I mean, come on.

-Right. -And just being able to not scream.

Like, I can talk in my normal voice,

and if someone's standing there, they can see me and hear me.

-And that's huge. -Or screaming at each other.

-'Cause, Johnny, if you're cooking right here... -[Jackie] Yeah.

...and you're prepping the pup's food right here...

-I'm all the way over here. Hey! [laughs] -...you guys have space.

-But this kitchen has a secret. -For my spices.

-Multiple secrets. -Ready?

Look at this.

-[Johnny] Oh, my gosh. -[Drew] Separate dog bowls.

Oh, my gosh!

-[Drew] You wanted separate. -[Jackie] Oh, my, you guys!

-They all have little feeding stations. -[gasps] We can get more dogs.

[all laughing]

Yeah. No. [laughing]

You were asking for instant hot water.

-Boom. Have that in. -Amazing.

-Microwave tucked away here. -Microwave. Yeah.

-[Jonathan] It's a drawer-style microwave. -[Jackie] Wow.

[Jonathan] And a beautiful stone sink.

-[Jackie] Look at that, huh? -[Johnny] That sink.

He cooks. I wash dishes.

-So this, to me, is fabulous. -[Johnny] Amazing.

Everything in here feels spacious.

You've got the sight lines.

But something else you said would make life so much easier.

-How about a dog wash station? -[laughing]

-Check this out. -Oh, yeah.

[Jackie] Yes.

-Wow! Oh, my gosh, this is a full-on, like... -[Jackie] Ooh.

-open... I did not imagine that at all. -That's a good idea.

-[Drew] If you were using the folding station... -[Jackie] Yeah.

-...we didn't want you to trip stepping back into it. -[Johnny] Yeah.

So it just makes more sense to have a wet-room floor in there.

[Drew] The whole thing can get wet, and it drains.

I have been worried that this space was going to be too crowded

because did we ask for too much?

But if feels even more spacious.

You think Atlas gets to grow up in this house now,

and you've worked so hard for this?

What does that mean to you to know that you're providing this for him?

It's... It's such an emotional thing

'cause, you know, my parents did the best they could.

They provided a journey for me so that I could be where I'm at today.

And when you have a child, and you want them to thrive and succeed

and not have to stress about not having enough.

So if he's in a calm and fun home with his doggies,

-and mom and dad are not at odds... -[laughing]

...just from things that we shouldn't be,

I think that just creates a better environment.

I can tell that you guys are great parents.

You're so dedicated to making sure that everyone has what they need.

And my hope is that this home

will now make it a little easier for you to do that.

To me, this is what it's all about.

This is just the backdrop to the rest of your lives.

Guys, I love everything about this and more.

You have no idea how you've impacted our lives.

-Thank you so much. -Yeah.

-Of course. -You're very welcome.

-Let's get Atlas. -Yeah.

-Grab Atlas. -[Jackie] Oh, yes.

-Okay. -Can't wait to see what he thinks of the place.

Oh, my gosh.

It's so good.

-It hasn't sunk in. -[Johnny] Yeah.

-But it's this beautiful, bright, welcoming space. -Yeah. [chuckles]

What? Oh, wow.

[Johnny] It's more open. It's more free.

It's more conducive to having five dogs and a child.

Somebody's getting a bath.

Five dogs.

And maybe more.

-[laughs] -Uh...

Ginger.