Good Bones - General Discussion

[LittleIggy]

9 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

Anybody else notice the Marathon commercial that followed later after Mina's stop to fill up at....a Marathon?

 

I don't  believe  you're legally able to add   an unfinished basement to the sq footage of the house

And neither of the guys in the truck got out to pump the gas. They just let the heavily pregnant lady do it!

[Andyourlittledog2]

I think what happened is when in the beginning Mina was describing the square footage she included the basement 1000 sq feet because the intention was to do a finished basement. Later, when they were discussing doing another bathroom on the second floor she agreed but said it would come at the cost of leaving the basement unfinished, which they did. So the original 2900 or so sq footage mentioned was when Mina was going to finish the basement. Finished basements are usually considered part of the sq footage if they act as a floor of the house. She mentioned it was plumbed for a bath and had egress.

[sheetmoss]

5 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

I think you're right about an unfinished basement. Not sure if a finished basement can be added to the square footage, but Mina mentioned that if the buyer finished it off that they would be able to ask a higher price for the house if they sold it in the future.

We don't have basements in my area of the south, but many of us have "Florida" rooms, which are essentially three season sun rooms. They can't be added to the square footage of the house unless they have heat & AC. They also can't be considered in the size of the dwelling for property tax purposes unless they are heated and cooled.

Found this:

https://www.homelight.com/blog/buyer-are-basements-included-in-square-footage/

Fannie Mae spells out that if any of your basement is below grade, the government-sponsored enterprise will not count any of its square footage. If you plan on using any government-sponsored programs to finance your home, make sure to look into their requirements.

[CrazyInAlabama]

4 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

And neither of the guys in the truck got out to pump the gas. They just let the heavily pregnant lady do it!

I don't think Mina wants anyone to do something for her, unless she asks.  

Fannie Mae may not count basement space, but a lot of realtors, and other pros do under certain conditions.    It has to be finished, be attached to the heating and cooling system, and have fire egress.    I've seen a lot of finished basements that would be death traps in case of a fire.   I think that's a reason why so many basements we see on House Hunters, etc. are walk outs, so they count as finished space. 

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I've seen a lot of finished basements that would be death traps in case of a fire.   I think that's a reason why so many basements we see on House Hunters, etc. are walk outs, so they count as finished space. 

yeah we have a finished basement, with sliding door walk out, where the "back half" of the basement is half below grade. A bedroom is back there but still has a full size window that would be a cinch to crawl out of (no drop!). As far as I recall, all that space was included in the sq. ft. of our house. It was ages ago so I guess we'll find out when we sell!

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

In my area, in more recent years realtors have been including finished basements in the "finished living space" as in this house has 2900 sq feet of finished living space.  For purposes of getting a mortgage, I think you have to list the square footage without the basement.  At least I think that's the way it works in the DC area.

The house was really large.  I didn't think I was going to like the flooring on the ceiling but it looked fine in the end.  I did think the cat walk was kind of wasted space.  I would have preferred to have closed off at least one side and had another room upstairs.

 

[Minivanessa]

I have this show on right now, as I'm also on the laptop doing emails. I heard Karen's voice and looked up. 

FFS. She was talking about something to do with the house - while wearing a stupid looking fake "bear head' hat with ears. It's got two long scarf ends and she had her hands in those, and was gesturing with them. If I'm supposed to think it's cute? I don't. She's an adult, not a 9 year old. BTW the online guide says this is S6:E6, "Big Build, Big Risk."

I'm SO over Karen and her stupid shenanigans. They are memorable, I'll give her that. I still remember that time she had a specially scented candle made for the house. And that odd thing she created with, what, macrame, and some glass vials from Karen's father's old chemistry set? Was that the thing that had fish swimming in the glass jars or was that another one of Karen's bizarro "art pieces"? 

I may watch this show again but won't go out of my way to find it. So much of it is tiresome, including the stupid frat boy demolition scenes, and Karen's antics which I think are supposed to be cute and charming and madcap but are just - odd. 

I think all shows have their bits of schtick, which become tiresome after enough repetition, and this show is no exception IMO. Obviously YMMV and - I'm sure plenty of people think Karen is just adorable, which is fine because I'm sure she's not a bad person or anything. 

[MsTree]

I rather watch Karen's eccentricities instead of Tad trying to kill himself every week.

[CruiseDiva]

7 hours ago, MsTree said:

I rather watch Karen's eccentricities instead of Tad trying to kill himself every week.

I could do without both of them.

[netlyon2]

On 8/9/2021 at 1:27 PM, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

I did think the cat walk was kind of wasted space.  I would have preferred to have closed off at least one side and had another room upstairs.

 

This bugged me so much, especially since the space above the kitchen would have been great for one of their specialties: the second-floor living space! Since the living room is usually so tiny in these houses, the living space on the second floor always feels like a must-have.

By the end of the episode, I decided that it was just prohibitively expensive to convert that space (filing revised plans, reframing/supporting, maybe tearing out work that was already completed, buying additional materials) and they decided to put a brave face on it by hyping up the catwalk feature.

[Grrarrggh]

Like nearly every progamme on HGTV they HAVE to have wacky people to distract from the fact that after you've seen five episodes you seen every "design" they have (probably three times). 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The Claire house was nice, but did they build the garage?     And if you're putting on an addition for the main bedroom and bathroom, then make the bedroom 10 feet wider, and the bath much wider between the sinks and the shower.    Where is the door to the back yard now?      

[LittleIggy]

They said the garage was built. 
Must be nice to have a mom who can give you a house! 
I didn’t like the gold-framed picture above the fireplace. Didn’t like the gold fixtures in the bathroom either. Otherwise the house was nice. Wonder if mom bought the furnishings for Claire, too.  
Does HGTV sell Two Chicks And a Hammer shirts?

Edited August 11, 2021 by LittleIggy

[CrazyInAlabama]

11 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

They said the garage was built. 
Must be nice to have a mom who can give you a house! 
I didn’t like the gold-framed picture above the fireplace. Didn’t like the gold fixtures in the bathroom either. Otherwise the house was nice. Wonder if mom bought the furnishings for Claire, too.  
Does HGTV sell Two Chicks With a Hammer shirts?

Two Chicks and a Hammer merchandise is on their company website, with a lot of different options.   They also have a store in Indianapolis that has a brew pub or something attached, and they sell design items in the attached store.      It's all on Two Chicks District Co page at:

https://shop.twochicksdistrictco.com/

[LittleIggy]

Do Mina and Karen not know any POC? That soft opening looked lily white. 
Liked that they found those cool Lincoln lintels.

[Andyourlittledog2]

This episode was so boring to me. A bar, serving alcohol, in a doodad store. Good grief. And that rope thing is enough of a 'wall' to separate the bar because children.  So weird. The placement of all those gold-painted bar stools lined up like soldiers was really weird. The tiny shelving they faced was so narrow. And this seating was inside and outside on the narrow 'porch'. Maybe they like this kind of thing in Indianapolis but it just seemed tacky and strange to me.

Is 'glam industrial' really a thing? Maybe I am just not the target for their 'store'.

Are residential neighborhoods really clamoring for more businesses down the street? Maybe they are, I don't know. It was all just so weird to me.

[CrazyInAlabama]

15 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Do Mina and Karen not know any POC? That soft opening looked lily white. 
Liked that they found those cool Lincoln lintels.

The pictures I saw of the opening had a lot of people, virtually all white.     I think frou-frou design, and drinking places like this appeal to the same people who are buying their remodeled houses for $300k and much higher.     

[MartyQui]

RE Claire's house...interesting that Mom would buy her a house, but not help her with med school loans?  It struck me as odd.  Mom must own the house as an investment, and is renting/loaning it to Claire while she finishes her residency?

[3 is enough]

8 hours ago, MartyQui said:

RE Claire's house...interesting that Mom would buy her a house, but not help her with med school loans?  It struck me as odd.  Mom must own the house as an investment, and is renting/loaning it to Claire while she finishes her residency?

Maybe Mom bought the house so Claire could focus on paying off  her med school loans.  Or, given mom is a doctor herself, maybe she was able to fund med school.

[MartyQui]

They made specific mention of Claire being short of money due to med school loans...just a little odd, NBD.  Some (most) of the time the backstories make no sense.

[bilgistic]

It made zero sense to me. Mom can pay almost $200K for a house and almost $200K in renovations for a house for her kid but didn't pay for her schooling? I think it was just a throwaway line that Mina stuck in.

Also, can that lady adopt me?

Edited August 21, 2021 by bilgistic

[CrazyInAlabama]

Good point about the remark about loans being a line for the show.     I think there are a lot of story lines that are just for filming.    I think most of the potential buyers who tour the house who don't buy, weren't in the market anyway.   

I wouldn't be surprised if the daughter didn't have student loans, and that line was just for the show.   Or the daughter having a paid off house means she can spend the mortgage amount on student loans and pay them off very quickly, if she actually has any.   

Edited August 22, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[RoxiP]

I don't know.  A house in a developing neighborhood is an investment that will increase in value.  Her daughter gets to live presumably rent free, do her residency, get a good paying job, pay off her own student loans (and a lot of practices will pay them off for you if you sign a contract for a certain number of years) and mom will still have a tangible asset, not to mention maybe a tax write off. If all mom did was cash flow the tuition she would have a wonderfully educated daughter but no tangible asset.  Makes a weird kind of sense.  Of course only people with a certain income level can think like this...i certainly am not in that category (I'm in the unemployed category with no job right now myself, which is probably why I think about stuff like this).

[SusanwatchingTV]

I watched the one with the warehouse and I must say I'm unimpressed.  The front is terrible looking, imho. Very VERY bland.  Where's the contrast?  Nothing stands out at all.  They could use a touch of JoJo's magic black and wood or something. I really expected them to make more out of the movie theater history, too. It would have been cool to see some touches to make it look more retro, other than just uncovering the signage.

If I were in Indy I'd go see the shop, but it just didn't look like much to me, particularly after seeing the Magnolia Markets. I'm not even much of a fan of JoJo and Fixer Upper, but I have to say she knows how to do retro right. That coffee shop is adorable.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm watching the marathon of reruns, and one from the first season with Lenny the contractor.      Mina clarifies that Tad is her half brother, his mother Cheryl was her father's third wife, but Lenny the contractor's first and third wife, so Lenny is Tad's step father.   But they're all a very close family.   

Tonight's new episode with the Italian Villa theme was a big disappointment for me.    First, the outside of the house is awful, it looks pieced together out of odds and ends of finishes.    They shouldn't have staged it, because they'll have to use a giant forklift to remove the staging, and who ever buys it won't be able to use the forklift, because of the second floor deck railing.     So, the home buyer will have to get pieces that fit up the stairway, unless there is still a way to get to the deck with the railing there.   I see nothing Italian about the interior, and I couldn't stand the mural.      

I don't like the marble inset in the butcher block kitchen counter either.     The home buyers love everything in the house, and my guess is they picked everything out, including the ugly exterior mix of patterns.    The second floor deck over the alley way behind the house, and the road right next to the house would make the deck unusable for me.    

The few shots that showed the neighboring houses, were depressing.    I wonder if the homeowners will have issues with graffiti, or other issues too.   That house is right on the sidewalk, and street, and that's not a good idea to me.    I'm guessing the home buyers already decided that they wanted the house, and that's why there were so many specific choices that seemed so disconnected to me.     

The little searching I've done online, at the neighborhoods they are remodeling or building in, are a mish mash of various modern, vintage, remodeled, junky looking, and all types of houses on one block.     There doesn't seem to be any restrictions on what type of house you build, and the prices are really high.     

Edited August 29, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[AncientNewbie]

I have to say this show has really grown on me. I have no opinion on the design sensibilities or what they do with the houses, knowing nothing of design and a bare minimum about real estate. It's not quite bland soothing background--I actively watch, but...look, the house smells bad and the foundation is three bricks and a piece of plywood, look, there's Tad being goofy and Karen collecting trash, and zoom, a half hour later we're touring something I wouldn't necessarily want to live in, but sells like hotcakes in Indy. 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

On 8/24/2021 at 12:30 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Tonight's new episode with the Italian Villa theme was a big disappointment for me

I totally agree with you.  I was with Corey on "Team Change It" for the outside.  I know Corey's big complaint was the color but I didn't like any of it.  Mina said that they did different colors since the front was so flat.  Since they rebuilt from scratch, why did she build it so flat - couldn't she have added some dimensionality to the house?  Even putting shutters on the windows would have helped. 

Then, I thought the piece of marble behind the sink would have looked better if it had been the same width as the sink.  Having it be smaller??(or was it wider???) than the sink threw off the symmetry. 

I don't always agree with the design choices but I didn't like much of anything on this house.  I was super surprised when she said the couple put in an offer on the place.  I was sure this was going to be one where it was still going to be on the market.

[tinderbox]

I realize this is becoming a pattern for me but didn't like anything about this rebuild. Mina began the design of the home with a clean slate.  How could she (all of them, actually) go soooo wrong?

The outside siding choices were beyond ugly, not only in terrible color combinations but the overall design as well.  So ugly.  Mina et al are REALLY loving that vertical siding look lately. (There's a specific name for it but I've wiped it from my brain.) 

She's also into gold fixtures BIG TIME.  I can accept gold is becoming popular again but I still don't love it.  I should probably give her a pass on that.

Let's talk about the mural...  Eeeeeek!  Let's not.

How can a home be built in 2021 with no way of moving large pieces of furniture in or out of the house?  How?  Doesn't Indianapolis have building codes/rules.  Don't they have home inspectors?

Last thing...  What was the first floor about?  You walk in the door and head directly upstairs.  Why?  

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by tinderbox

[joanne3482]

11 minutes ago, tinderbox said:

Last thing...  What was the first floor about?  You walk in the door and head directly upstairs.  Why?  

I think the first floor was the bedrooms because she did call it a 3 (or 4) bedroom house but showed no extra rooms beyond the master. I didn't understand the kitchen on the 2nd floor. It is likely because I'm kind of lazy, but I can't imagine lugging groceries up the stairs and the kitchen trash down the stairs. 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I believe a good portion of the first floor is actually garage.  As I understand, in addition to the garage, there is one bedroom and bathroom down there that wasn't shown.  So, unless your room is on the first floor, you need to go upstairs for all of the other living space.  So, kitchen, dining area and family area plus 2 bedrooms and 2 full baths are upstairs.  

In the DC area, town houses are common and often when the town house has a garage, it is basically the first floor.  Then there are generally two more floors on top of the garage, so you walk upstairs to the main living area on the 2nd floor and the bedrooms on the 3rd.  But I've never seen such a design in a single family home although we do have some split level homes here where you walk into a foyer and either go up or down stairs to get to the living space.

I thought they could have put more living space on the lower level and kept the bedrooms all on the same level.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Mrs. Stanwyck

[Andyourlittledog2]

Having the living level (kitchen and dining and living room) on the second floor and the bedrooms on the third floor with the garage on the first was rather common in builds near the beach in southern California. The lots were narrow but deep and it made sense although I would have hated it. Of course there was an actual front yard and the house looked otherwise normal and there was a backyard as well. A balcony-deck in the front was kinda common also.  Having a house that is right on the street with no yard and a balcony basically looking over the street would be a complete no go for me.

Of course having a home that you need a forklift to bring anything of size in would be ridiculous and I'd never buy such a thing. That seems so stupid in a new build in a suburbanish area. I realize old buildings in urban areas may have such issues but they are old issues. Building a new one with such a problem makes no sense to me. As for the 'Italian theme' -- paint, mural, etc. I have no words.

This is my problem (among many) with Mina. They create homes with a specific theme as though they or a contracted buyer was going to live there. Why would you go out of your way to get so specific with built in nonsense when the buyer may completely differ with you on what makes sense or is aesthetically pleasing? Stay neutral, stage objects and furniture so the buyer can see what it could be but don't build weird shit that a buyer would have to remove or fix as soon as they move in. Built in bed swings? Wall size murals? Those weird plant hangar things (pick an episode, there's more than one weird plant hangar situation). Karen's ridiculous 'decorative' wall situations, some of which are not easily removed. Remember the PVC pipe wall planters along the fence in one episode? So ugly. The broken pavement 'fountain'? Dear lord that was a mess and not easily removed.

I have been watching this show for years and have come to the conclusion that Mina and Karen are not talented at design. They are good at renovating houses (usually) but the design elements and specially included crap is mostly superfluous tacky junk.  And Mina's love of carrera bothers me. It's too soft, too prone to staining.

I mean, look at the house she designed and built for herself. It's a monstrosity in the neighborhood. The backyard is ugly as seen in this episode. I don't know, she had money and the ability to do what she wanted and somehow came up with that awful house and it doesn't get better with more viewing.

[SusanwatchingTV]

Yeah, I thought the “Italian villa” was laughably bad.  The siding was hideous, and the inside wasn’t much better.  The only thing it had going for it was it was fairly roomy and not terribly expensive, but It just seemed like there had to be a way to make something not so ugly.

Overall, I just don’t like their taste, but I’ll keep watching.  I love to laugh at how bad things are.

Edited to add: Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention - WHAT ON EARTH were they thinking building a house you can’t move anything into up the stairs?  That’s just horrible.  

 

And of all the houses to actually find a buyer it was this monstrosity?  I couldn’t believe they actually got it under contract.  People surprise me.

Edited August 26, 2021 by SusanwatchingTV

[3 is enough]

Not going to lie, I used to enjoy Good Bones in the earlier seasons, but not any more.  It has just become so predictable- the demo hijinks, skimping on the size of the common areas to squeeze in an extra bedroom or bath (or both), Karen’s rescue projects, and the prospective buyers taking a pass.  
I guess all of the HGTV shows follow a formula of some sort, but it seems extra predictable with Good Bones.

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:09 PM, SusanwatchingTV said:

And of all the houses to actually find a buyer it was this monstrosity?  I couldn’t believe they actually got it under contract.  People surprise me.

My guess is the ones that have a buyer show up, and the house seems to be exactly what they wanted, and they love everything, I bet the buyer designed, and already had the house under contract from the beginning.  I suspect the people who 'fall in love' with the house already have it under contract, and love everything because they picked it out.    I wonder if the giant kleenex box of a house this week was staged with the owner's stuff, at least the big furniture.  

Edited August 28, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[pasdetrois]

Quote

In the DC area, town houses are common and often when the town house has a garage, it is basically the first floor.

In nearby Arlington there are single family homes with this design feature. Developers are using a loophole that allows two stories to go on top of that first floor garage. So suddenly we've gone from a neighborhood of two-story houses to new three-story ones. Usually huge white modern blocks. I have them on each side of me and they cut off the sun and ruin the view. I noticed that Mina's home looms over all of its neighbors.

Watching this show has revealed to me that there's a buyer for every property, even if the property seems impractical to me. I guess this is true in every hot market.

I was disappointed in the new store. Mina fell in love with the booze + furnishings concept, and I think it's a bad idea. Will that store be open at night? That's when people usually want to drink. I think she has to serve food, no? Because of the alcohol. I didn't see a commercial kitchen.  Will COVID minimize customers?

She must have spent a fortune on it.

Jack is so adorable. And her decorator is probably more talented than he is allowed to show.

Oh, and I noticed Mina bought gas at Marathon, and we had Marathon commercials So that gas stop was product placement.

Edited August 28, 2021 by pasdetrois

[CrazyInAlabama]

Mina's new house was an empty lot, next to Karen's house, and Karen's big two story garage with the apartment on top for her son, and family to stay at.    Then, on the other side of Mina's new house was Mina's original house, I don't know if she sold it on the open market, or to another relative, or rented it out.        I've noticed the houses around their remodels have a lot of very tiny spaces between the remodel, and the neighbors, and they often buy several on the same street, so they're working on several side by side at one time.   

They also usually replace the same foundation on a teardown, so they don't have to get variances when they rebuild.      

Despite what they show, it takes a lot of months to do the renovations, or rebuilding with the same footprint, so they have more than one contractors, and more than one crew.    Sometimes you can recognize the in progress houses that are right next door to each other.   

Edited August 29, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[CruiseDiva]

So, we're supposed to believe that Mina's nitwit wrecking crew relatives do good quality work when it comes to rebuilding those run-down houses? I have my doubts. Lately I record shows, watch the first part and then FF to the reveal. I can watch a one hour show in ten minutes. It's very efficient.

[Grrarrggh]

1 hour ago, CruiseDiva said:

So, we're supposed to believe that Mina's nitwit wrecking crew relatives do good quality work when it comes to rebuilding those run-down houses? I have my doubts. Lately I record shows, watch the first part and then FF to the reveal. I can watch a one hour show in ten minutes. It's very efficient.

With how much their houses look alike you could almost skip the reveal too if you're running short on time. 

[irisheyes]

Just finished watching Tuesday’s ep. As a mom of four kids, there is just not enough living space in these houses!  If you’re building a three bedroom house, there’s could be four or five people living in the house with just that little living area. That would be a no. 
But, weirdly, I didn’t hate the mural. I think cause it was very muted. I did hate the exterior. Pick a color!!! 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's French Modern or French Country, or whatever they called it was underwhelming.     Dining room, or bedroom, off of the kitchen?   A big fail for me.   That was an odd layout upstairs and down.     

That was a whole lot of money to spend on a railing for the stairs, but it was spectacular.     Kitchen needed a lot more cabinets, and I would have raised the windows, or put cabinets under that side, with countertop.      

Edited September 1, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

I thought those stair rails were gorgeous. I liked the house. Loved how Karen used the gingerbread trim. But what happened to that stone mantelpiece? I thought they were going to save it.

[RoxiP]

I thought the dining room/bedroom option was good, because obviously the lady who bought the house did not need the extra bedroom.  I probably would have preferred a larger kitchen (and I could care less about a dog nook - I would have preferred storage under the stairs) but it wasn't my house.  Given the age of the woman though I would have also preferred my master be on the main floor, and why couldn't they connect the bathroom upstairs to the bedroom instead of having a separate entrance?  That was the strangest choice in my opinion.  

I did like the stair rail though.

Apparently they got rid of the entire fireplace for one reason or the other, which would be fine with me because I never use my fireplace and I thought the marble on the original fireplace was rather ugly.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by RoxiP
Random add on thought.

[bilgistic]

The "master" bedroom was tiny, especially with it being under the eaves(?). I'm "only" 46, and I wouldn't have a house with stairs because of my arthritic knees. I'd have my bedroom on the ground floor.

I know this forum has become an echo chamber, but I'm SO TIRED of the boys' antics. That falling chimney just missed Cory, who wasn't wearing any head or eye protection or gloves.

[RoxiP]

The bedroom downstairs looked like it was a fairly decent size to hopefully it will also work as a master, plus I believe there was an adjacent bathroom, in case she ever needs it.  I live by myself in a 2-story home and I rarely go upstairs...it is on a separate cooling/heating system so I keep it cranked up (Texas summer here) to keep my electric bills lower.

[LoveIsJoy]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I know this forum has become an echo chamber, but I'm SO TIRED of the boys' antics. That falling chimney just missed Cory, who wasn't wearing any head or eye protection or gloves

I only DVR the show.  Never watch it live. As soon as I see the scene of the crew coming down the street, I fast forward until it gets back to Mina and her assistant at the design table.  I gave up watching those scenes practically from the beginning, since I can't stand Tad and his bro antics.  It's beyond tiresome, juvenile, and predictable. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wish they would show clean out and demo, but no antics.    Design, and construction is enough to show. 

The kitchen on this week's house was too small.   I would have put pantry cabinets between the two windows, not the door turned into a spice rack.   Or, raise the windows on the outer wall, and make that lowers, with counter space.    They wasted so much space.     That kitchen should have had at least double the cabinets and counter space.    

Everyone who talked about the near miss with the chimney is right.  One of these renos they're going to pull a stupid stunt and a house will cave in on them or something equally deadly. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, LoveIsJoy said:

I only DVR the show.  Never watch it live. As soon as I see the scene of the crew coming down the street, I fast forward until it gets back to Mina and her assistant at the design table.  I gave up watching those scenes practically from the beginning, since I can't stand Tad and his bro antics.  It's beyond tiresome, juvenile, and predictable. 

I like Austin. He doesn’t seem to be a reckless hotdog like Tad.

[alalaxmom]

There is no way my 6'4" husband could function in that upstairs bedroom or bathroom.  The buyer looked to be a tiny little lady and her head was at the very top of that bathroom mirror.

[mmecorday]

Quote

I thought those stair rails were gorgeous. I liked the house. Loved how Karen used the gingerbread trim. But what happened to that stone mantelpiece? I thought they were going to save it.

I was wondering about the fireplace too. Karen seemed to like it so much. Maybe they discovered it wasn't structurally sound or it was haunted or something.

Gotta love Karen and Mina's optimism. "Ooh, this basement has concrete floors!"

I would have kept the loft space as is. I thought the layout was fine. It reminded me of my childhood bedroom.

[LittleIggy]

Loved Austen’s tiny Statue of Liberty. Jack has an adorable smile. Reminds me of Karen’s smile.