‘Fixer to Fabulous’: Dave and Jenny Marrs renovate 'blank canvas' karate studio to warm three-bedroom apartment
Dave Marrs played the role of a minister to marry Zac and Hailey. Zac had been working on the Marrs farm for 5 years and he seemed very close to the family. After the ceremony, Jenny and Dave headed to where their new renovation project was waiting.
On the December 1 episode, Jenny and Dave were renovating the Cristofaro house and their clients were Jennifer and Philip Cristofaro. Philip had recently lost his job and the family wanted to downsize from what their life was. The house they purchased was built in 1996 and used to be a karate studio. It’s spread over 2,216 square feet and has three rooms and one bathroom. Since the space was used to practice karate, all the walls inside the house were taken down and it looked like, in Jenny Marrs’ words, “A big blank canvas.”
The house looked kind of boring from the outside as well. They wanted a better-looking garage door and cover up the second entrance and wanted to have more windows to get more sunlight inside the house. Jennifer told the renovation couple not to be afraid to go bold. Dave and Jenny started working with their trusted crew. Jenny visualized a beautiful patio in their barely existing backyard and her husband got to work and poured out a new slab. Jenny said she wanted to make a “perfect little oasis” for the couple who lost so much, they also decided to take off the roof and give the house a new roof. Inside Jenny decided they should break down the bathroom walls and make it bigger and reconstruct the bathroom layout entirely.
They installed giant windows that could be spotted from the outside. The second front entry was taken down and the outside was painted in black. The black made the house look very edgy and masculine. Jenny decided to give the back of the house a seated wall where they could entertain a lot of guests. Since the budget was low, Jenny decided to handprint on the white tile using stencils. She made a beautiful gray pattern all through the white tiles on the patio and called it a labor of love. They also installed a few small trees in the entryway that the couple loved.
Inside the house, Dave hand-built the fireplace and installed it in the living room. Jenny decided to give a distressed brick wall in the kitchen like the one they had in their last home using reclaimed bricks. Jenny designed separate rooms for the Cristofaros' daughters Madeline and Maize, keeping their personalities and interests in mind. She added a lot of colors to Maize’s room and got a custom-made painting of a horse for Madeline because she loved horses and the wildlife. The couple’s bedroom was cozy and it was unimaginable how Jenny managed to design all that space under one roof. Dave built a headboard on top of the bed and painted a bright green color. In the living room, Jenny decided to give the couple a wall with big colorful flowers. The living room was spacious with a lot of seating since the clients told them they entertain a lot of guests.
Watch ‘Fixer to Fabulous’ every Tuesday, at 9 pm ET/PT on HGTV.