by Furnishly | Jun 29, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
The competition is officially over halfway completed on “Battle on the Beach.” The hit HGTV series, which is currently in its second season, charts the progress of three teams of aspiring home renovators as they make over houses in Surfside Beach, Texas. Network stars Taniya Nayak (“Build It Forward”), Ty Pennington (“Ty Breaker”), and Alison Victoria (“Windy City Rehab”) each provide guidance and design expertise to one of the teams on a weekly basis.
After tackling several of the key rooms in their identical houses, the teams found a slightly more relaxed challenge in the latest episode. Each team was tasked with renovating the kids’ room into a space that children could both sleep and play in. The room began as a small space with a lone window, a small closet, and high ceilings. The floors were unfinished and the walls were a bare-bones patchwork of white and gray drywall. On a base level, the room was drab, run-down, and in dire need of some imagination.
Roosevelt and Brandyn, Taniya’s mentees, wanted to find a way to “bring the ocean into [the] room and let it flow,” so the father-son duo went for a ship theme. With a $4,000 budget and a seven-day deadline, the pair kicked off their renovation by designing a hand-crafted bunk bed in the shape of a ship. Brandyn researched the local shipping lore and discovered a boat called the “Elissa,” which was one of the oldest transportation boats in the Surfside Beach area. He opted to have the bunk bed ships crafted with the boat’s look (brown with a blue base) in mind, for some historical flair.
“To me, those are the things that tell a story,” Taniya explained, regarding Brandyn’s decoration inspiration. “And in every great design, if you can tell a story, you’ve got them.”
Roosevelt and Brandyn added a detailed orange and brown ladder to the structure, which allowed for easy access to the top bunk. They also built two portholes, which peered into the lower bunk. To complete the ship-themed look of the beds, the duo added sea-themed sheets for the two mattresses and a dark railing to the upper level.
“The whole idea of doing a kids room is thinking like a kid, and they’re thinking like a kid, and it makes me so happy,” Taniya said.
Once Roosevelt and Brandyn finished with the bunk bed area, they were left with a large, blank wall on the opposite side of the room. At Taniya’s prompting, the two hired an artist (Darvin Jones) to paint a seaside mural with sunset motifs. After painting the other walls gray, they also added a small cloud mural by the upper bunk. In an effort to incorporate realistic, high-tech features into the space, they also installed lights and outlets by each bunk.
To help bring the entire space together, Roosevelt and Brandyn added several small finishing touches to the room, including wooden beach chairs, a chalkboard, a low-key rug, and a small ship steering wheel on the wall.
“I think it became more than just a space for kids to play in,” said judge Sarah Beaumler (“Renovation Island”). “But it also became a sleeping space, a creative space, a spot where they could become anything they want to do in their imagination, which I love.”
“Battle on the Beach” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and Discovery+.
by Furnishly | Jun 16, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
The competition is well under way in “Battle on the Beach.” The HGTV series, which returned for its second season earlier this month, follows three of the network’s design superstars as they coach teams of up-and-coming renovators through three identical beachside home renovations. In the latest episode, the teams — led by Taniya Nayak (“Build It Forward”), Ty Pennington (“Ty Breaker”), and Alison Victoria (“Windy City Rehab”) — were tasked with renovating the main bedroom and bathroom into a swoon-worthy suite.
“When it comes to the main suite, there’s unlimited potential for added value,” Taniya explained. “This is where the buyers are looking for some luxurious upgrades, and you all know that they are willing to pay big bucks for them.”
The bedroom began as a decently-sized space with two windows, white walls, and ripped up green carpeting. The bathroom, which was located off of the bedroom, was slightly more outdated. The room featured a small water closet for the toilet, a double white sink, a lone window, and old vanity lights.
Wally and Jacqueline, Ty’s mentees, had the winning renovation. With a $18,000 budget and a 7-day deadline, the duo’s renovation was natural, beachy, and wood-centric. Under the guidance of Ty, they completely rearranged the bathroom. They demolished the original vanity, toilet, and shower and installed large antique wooden double doors. They put a fresh vanity and walk-in shower (with two-tone gray tile and vertical stacked glass) on one side of the double doors, and a toilet and large soaking tub on the other side. The new vanity, which was built on a dark wood base, featured gold-colored faucets and handles. An antique chandelier helped pull the entire space together.
Beyond the double wooden doors was the bedroom, which featured a soothing and simple color palette. The pair stripped the remaining carpet from the room and added light oak flooring. In addition to a pair of wooden dressers and an accent chair, Wally and Jacqueline added a large wood-framed bed in between the two windows. The duo hung two calming white lights on either side of the bed and placed an abstract piece of art (supplied by Ty) over the bed. They made a custom pinion (long, thin pine) wood headboard, which gave the room a “rustic but elegant” look, according to Ty.
The headboard was installed into the wall and held together with thin rope, which added to the nautical feel of the room. Wally and Jacqueline used a very light turquoise for three out of four of the bedroom walls, and Ty painted the headboard wall gray to contrast the light blonde pinion wood. “I think having a darker accent wall can really make that wood pop,” Ty shared.
Judges Bryan and Sarah Baeumler (“Renovation Island”) were most impressed by the headboard, which helped clinch the competition for Team Ty. The feature served as an aesthetically pleasing (but still practical) piece of furniture. “It looks cool, but it’s also functional,” Bryan explained.
“Battle on the Beach” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and Discovery+.
by Furnishly | Jun 7, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
Before she was an Academy Award-winning actress, Halle Berry was a little girl attending school in Cleveland, Ohio. She credits Yvonne, her local fifth grade teacher and longtime mentor, with changing her life and being like “a second mother.” In the latest episode of HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU,” Halle gave Yvonne’s 1920s Cleveland heritage home a completely modern overhaul.
The renovation specifically focused on the kitchen, living, and dining room in Yvonne’s house. The rooms began as outdated, distinctly ‘20s spaces. The dining and living room flowed into each other with worn out carpet and drab yellow walls. The furniture pieces (including a leather armchair, old couch, and well-used table) had seen better days and were in dire need of contemporary replacements. The focal point of the living room was a white bookshelf, which had slowly begun to sag under the pressure of all of Yvonne’s literature.
While the kitchen (dark wood floors, dark wood cabinets, green walls, black countertops, and old appliances) had slightly more updated fixtures, the room still wasn’t practical for Yvonne and her work. Halle recalled gathering around the kitchen growing up and noted that Yvonne often used the small wood-and tile-table as a work area. “How can we make this space functional as a kitchen, but also let it be like a pseudo-office for her?” Halle asked.
With a timeline of five weeks, Halle began the renovation with Jonathan and Drew Scott (“Property Brothers”). The trio — and the Scott brothers’ crew — kicked things off by ripping out the old cabinets and countertop in the kitchen. They replaced them with fresh, custom white cabinetry and black quartz countertops. Halle picked the white cabinets in an effort to match the “warm, yummy tones” that she knew Yvonne would like. The Scotts also built a white peninsula off of the wall (which could function as a culinary prep space), and added chairs and a round wooden table top (so that Yvonne could sit and entertain guests).
Halle, Jonathan, and Drew also tore out the wall that divided the kitchen and dining room, which allowed the entire space to flow more easily from one room to the other. They added the same light wood floors to each room to help with the cohesiveness. In the dining room, they went with a dark, bold gray-black wall color that juxtaposed the new floors. The brothers finished off the space with a light wood table and black chairs.
Drew and Jonathan removed the dilapidated bookshelf in the living area and replaced it with a well-structured, custom replacement, which was able to hold all of Yvonne’s books (as well as her treasured letters from former students). They added a sleek teal couch, warm brown chair, and white ottoman to the space. Prior to the renovation, the room’s radiator wasn’t working, so the Scott brothers replaced the ancient basement boiler.
“We wanted to keep the integrity of the original house,” Halle explained. “It’s a very old house built in the 1920s. There’s value in keeping the bones [and] the history of it, but make it functional and let it breathe.”
“Celebrity IOU” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and Discovery+.
by Furnishly | Jun 1, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
Erin and Pete Connor spent seven years in their Tudor-style home waiting for their kids to get a bit older so that they could “make it nice.” When the time came, they enlisted Meg and Joe Piercy to help give the living space — including the kitchen, dining room, and office — some much needed updates. In the latest episode of HGTV’s “Renovation Goldmine,” the Piercys helped modernize the Oak Park, Illinois home and make it more functional for a busy family of five.
Before the renovation, the layout of the house was tight, consisting of several small rooms that were loosely connected. The kitchen was cramped (especially in proportion to the rest of the house) and had no cabinet space. The pots and pans were hung awkwardly over the small wood and marble island and all of the dishes had to be kept in the dining room, which was situated in a small dining area off to the side of the kitchen. The cramped dining room extended into a large catch-all back room space, which the family once used as a playroom for the kids and had since turned into an office space.
With a $75,000 budget, the Piercys kicked off the renovation. They began by tearing down one of the kitchen walls and opening up the entire space. They also gutted all of the original counters so that they could rebuild the kitchen from scratch. With the new square footage, they installed dark wood (upper) and green (lower) cabinets along an entire wall. Erin picked out an understated gray backsplash, which added warm tones to the cabinet colors.
Meg and Joe got rid of the original small island and instead brought in a “massive” island that extended along the majority of the room. To help with the sizing, the couple and their crew “waterfalled” the island so that the white counter dropped off to a walnut wood tabletop at a slightly lower height. The variation in height helped make “it feel like it’s not quite so long,” according to Meg. They also added chairs to the tabletop for casual dining experiences.
The Piercys decided to swap the office and old dining area. In the new dining room (the back room), the Piercys ripped up the carpeting and added black and white “checkerboard” tile for a vintage (but still updated) look. They also painted the trim and walls “off black,” because it was balanced out by the abundance of natural light that came in through the windows.
The new office space (the old dining room) received the most colorful update in the house. The room started out as a blank canvas, with white-gray walls, white window trim, and white built-in corner cabinets. The Piercys removed the old dining table and placed a classic wooden desk and chair in the center of the room. They painted the trim and cabinets blue and brought in floral wallpaper (with a light blue background) to help pull the space together. The wallpaper had a very traditional look, which gave the appearance that it had been a part of the house’s original build.
“This was a budget-saving room,” Meg explained to the homeowners. “We really just wall-papered, painted, and everything else was already here.”
“Renovation Goldmine” airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.
by Furnishly | May 20, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
While it can be easy to obsess over your property when preparing to list it for sale, sometimes the best thing you can do is look at the house next door for inspiration and guidance.
Twins Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb often check out nearby properties when working on a new house in HGTV’s “Unsellable Houses.” In their show, which is currently in its third season, the sisters focus on getting hard-to-sell houses in the Pacific Northwest up to the market standard.
“We definitely look at the price, because that’s what helps us determine that sales price or list price that we’re going to be going for,” Davis said during a recent interview with Apartment Therapy. “But we also obviously look at the condition of the home. What are the trends that that house had?” She said that they’ll focus on the materials used throughout the property and check to see whether the house has hard surfaces or carpets.
In the premiere episode of the new season of “Unsellable Houses,” Lamb and Davis can be seen touring the house next door to one of their work-in-progress homes. The house had the same square footage as their project and had recently gone under contract, so the sisters used it as a baseline for their own work.
Lamb shared that the process is two-fold. Looking at nearby houses can help sellers figure out what they need to do to get their home up to the neighborhood standards, but it can also keep them from spending too much.
“When a buyer in that neighborhood, or that pocket, is only expecting quartz countertops and tiled floor in the bathroom, there’s no reason to spend the money to do a granite countertop and marble floor in the bathroom,” Lamb said. “You have to match what that neighborhood, or what the buyers in that neighborhood, are expecting.”
“Unsellable Houses” airs Tuesdays at 9/8 central on HGTV and Discovery+.
