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Kelly Dawson is a media consultant based in Los Angeles. She is a prolific writer for notable publications including Cup of Jo, Vox, AFAR, Dwell, Martha Stewart Living, McSweeney’s and Architectural Digest. Kelly is the three-time guest editor for Refinery29’s “Voices of Disability” series, two-time guest host of “Call Your Girlfriend,” and deputy editor at Apartment Therapy.
When Cindy Crawford’s personal trainer-turned-close friend, Sarah, and Sarah’s husband, Rick, announced that they were finally moving into a home of their own after years of renting, Cindy knew exactly how she wanted to give back. In the latest episode of HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU,” Cindy called on Drew and Jonathan Scott to help her renovate her friends’ home in the weeks leading up to their move-in date.
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The biggest renovations took place in the kitchen and family room. The two spaces lacked character, color, and were disconnected by a wall. “The main thing that doesn’t work in this house is that the kitchen is separate from the family room, which I know was the way things used to be, but that is not how families live today,” Cindy said. “It’s about creating an open area where you cook, you hang out, you watch TV.”
The kitchen began as a cramped room with outdated cabinets, countertops, and hardware. While the space had definitely been renovated at some point, the design was still too old for Sarah, Rick, and their family. The overall layout of the kitchen wasn’t conducive to their cooking and hosting needs and required a renovation more in line with the couple’s warm and welcoming lifestyle. A poorly placed laundry room was located off of the kitchen, so Cindy wanted to move it to another spot in the house in order to extend the kitchen into a larger entertaining space.
Jonathan, Drew, and Cindy kicked off the renovation by ripping out the old cabinets and countertops. They demolished the walls between the family room and laundry room, which opened up the space. The team replaced the old cabinets with warm brown wood and installed quartz countertops for a clean and modern look. They also brought in sleek new appliances and a kitchen island, which featured built-in gray bench seating. From there, they brought in a wooden table and four additional chairs, which maximized the number of people that could comfortably dine in the kitchen at the same time.
The team tore up the old flooring and installed medium tone hardwood floors throughout the house. Cindy wanted to pick flooring that was lighter than the original, but dark enough that it wouldn’t show every single dog hair or scuff mark. Later, they painted all of the walls a soft white color. They also switched the large window and door in the kitchen and living room area. “We love reusing what we can so it doesn’t end up in a landfill, and the backdoors and window are in great shape, but for us to maximize the function and flow in this space, swapping them is a must,” Jonathan said.
The family room was in similar shape as the kitchen and was in greatest need of cosmetic updates. After tearing down the wall between the kitchen and living room, Cindy wanted to make the remaining wall into the new focal point of the family room. She opted to have the team extend the wall and build in a trio of arches (along with white shelves and cabinets). They put a large flat-screen TV in the center arch and added various accessories to the others. They also brought in comfortable gray furniture, a small coffee table, and a new rug. “To put in arches and custom bookshelves, it just brought this depth and warmth,” Sarah said. “It just really took my breath away.”
“Celebrity IOU” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and discovery+.
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Name: Krystle Perkins, my husband, and our 3-year-old son
Location: Dallas, Texas
Type of home: House
Size: 2,300 square feet
Years lived in: 4 years, own
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: We purchased our home in 2018 knowing that it was going to be a fixer-upper. We had been shopping for homes in our $250k budget and when we saw this one we knew it was “it.” Most of the homes in our budget were small ’60s ranch style, but this was newer with tall ceilings and amazing natural light. We saw it Friday afternoon, placed an offer that night, and they accepted the next day. We quickly renovated the upstairs prior to moving in just to get it livable. The plan was to live up there and slowly DIY the lower level. Our plans quickly changed when we found out that I was pregnant and knew we needed to do the work fast. Now this house needed a TON of work, both structural and cosmetic.
I had always loved interiors and knew I wanted to try my hand at designing our home. My husband is Danish, which is perfect because we both gravitate more towards the core principles of Scandinavian style. One of the reasons we had so much trouble looking at houses was because so many of them were flips and we couldn’t handle the choices they made! I didn’t want to pay for someone’s poor stylistic choices. Plus, traditional Texas homes are very very beige. We decided to move forward with our remodel and hired a contractor, took out a loan, and began the most stressful 14 months of our lives. We had a horrible experience with a family friend that essentially ended up mismanaging/stealing funds. It extended the project and ended up costing WAY more than the typical twice as much. During the ordeal I was working a full-time job, designed an entire house, became pregnant, gave birth, and went back to work. All without a kitchen.
For the design of the home we knew we wanted to bring this 1980s basic builder grade home to a modern place. We removed some load bearing walls to make the home open concept. We focused on a neutral color palette of white, wood, and black knowing that we would use furnishing to add warmth and color. We were working on a budget so everything that I sourced had to be affordable while also giving us a more modern sleek look. I remember doing everything I could to pinch pennies on finishes. We finally finished the remodel at the end of 2019 and had a blank slate. No furniture, but a functioning kitchen, FINALLY. We were also severely overextended financially due to our remodel. But in 2020 I (like most of the world) was able to start working from home. It gave me some extra freedom to start DIYing some of the projects that I wanted to do.
My first woodworking project was a kid’s nook for my son in the awkward spot under the stairs. I love marrying form and function. Our house today is almost unrecognizable from where it started and we continue to evolve and tweak corners everyday. I still have a project list that is a mile long, but I love having this safe haven that is truly a reflection of our personal style. I am looking forward to adding some more color this year and redoing our upstairs (we’ve got some stuff that needs fixing after our quick flip four years ago!).
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Organic Modern Minimal DIY’d Scandinavian
What is your favorite room and why? My favorite room is our main living room right off the kitchen. It is one of the boldest design choices that I made, to have the wood slats on the ceiling and black beams. It informed a lot of design choices throughout the rest of the home. We also have our feature bookshelf wall — which created some mild controversy on TikTok. My husband loves to read when we finally had bookshelves to unpack his books onto after them being in boxes for so long he said “it finally feels like home.” It also features my kids nook, which I am so proud of and just overall it’s so cozy.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The most recent thing we bought for our home was a new fence! It was something that we have needed desperately since we bought the home, we kept thinking wood prices would go back down, but alas… we decided to bite the bullet (goodbye $$) and we are so happy we did. We have already spent so much more time out there since extending the side yard and making it more functional. More recently I just picked up my DREAM bedding from Dusen Dusen that I have had my eye on for years. I am working on a guest bedroom remodel and I can’t wait to use it!
Any advice for creating a home you love? I think a lot of making a home is trial and error. Some things that you try aren’t going to work out and you need to embrace it as part of the process. You are on a journey to find something that works aesthetically but also functionally for your family and sometimes the only way to know that is to try. Don’t worry about it being “Right” don’t worry about resale, if it’s something you love, go for it and live with it.
This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
Renovating your home, although rewarding, can be an extremely stressful process. The truth is, it’s unlikely it’ll be plain sailing the whole way through, but the ups and downs will be worth it in the end.
To find out which rooms of the house are the most (and least) stressful to make over, Toolstation conducted a study to find out people’s renovation regrets and how the process made them feel.
49 percent of renovators thought that the kitchen was the most stressful room to work on. This is likely due to the kitchen being the center of the home, and when it’s being renovated, cooking up a meal is going to prove challenging. Take out it is, then.
The second most stressful room to renovate, according to the research, is the bathroom. 22 percent of respondents sat that they dread bathroom renos, probably due there not being easy access to the toilet and shower. This, plus any plumbing or design issues make for a stressful time.
When it comes to the easy breezy renovation rooms, only 3 percent of respondents find dining room re-dos stressful. After all, not everyone has a dining room so it’s pretty easy to cope without one. Just skip the dinner parties for a while.
As for renovation regrets, 56 percent of survey respondents regret attempting any sort of DIY, wishing they had left it for the professionals, while 31 percent of say that they underestimate the likelihood of problems arising, wearing rose-tinted glasses and thinking everything will go smoothly. 16 percent of people say that they focused too much on the aesthetic, rather than functionality, when renovating, and 16 percent of people wish that they hadn’t automatically gone with the cheapest quote.
But in the end, 86 percent are satisfied with the finishing product of their renovation, which is the main thing.