Jasmine Roth of ‘Help! I Wrecked My House’ Spots One Thing You Should Never See Right Inside a Front Door
HGTV
On “Help! I Wrecked My House,” host Jasmine Roth knows that it’s all too easy for homeowners to start a home renovation project—but then never quite finish.
That’s what’s happened in the latest episode, “You Don’t Complete Me,” where homeowners Audrey and Darin attempted some DIY upgrades around their house in La Palma, CA, got stuck halfway through, then gave up.
Throughout their house, Roth finds holes in walls, tiles pried off countertops, and exposed wires in the ceiling. Darin is a union pipe fitter trying to become a full-time longshoreman, and Audrey is a communications coordinator. They also have two young children. With so much going on, it’s no wonder their home projects stalled.
“They do not have any extra time to work on their house. Yet, for some reason, they keep taking on projects that are above their skill set and are way too ambitious,” says Roth.
She aims to renovate almost the entire first floor, which includes a kitchen, family room, dining room, living room, and staircase, on a budget of $120,000 and in just seven weeks.
While she’s working her miracles, she shows us how to actually complete a project or three quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively. Watch and learn!
Make the pool table multipurpose
Go multipurpose with a pool table that converts into a dining table and a bench that offers storage space.HGTV
As soon as Roth enters the house, she sees the living room is dominated by a massive pool table and little else.
“Not to throw any shade, but when you walk in the door and see a pool table, it doesn’t exactly set the tone for a family house,” Roth says.
“It’s not very inviting,” agrees Audrey.
“Having a pool table is cool, but if you don’t have an extra dedicated room for that pool table to just sit there, it can feel like a waste of space,” continues Roth.
So she orders a sleek, black cover for the pool table that converts it into an alternate dining table. Then she designs a bench that can be used as dining table seating, but also opens up and reveals storage space for cues, balls, and other pool paraphernalia.
Consider porcelain countertops
Jasmine Roth examining a porcelain counter slabHGTV
You see a lot of home remodeling shows where they tout the virtues of quartz, but Roth shows us another material that has many of the same advantages.
“This is an interesting material,” says Roth as she shows Audrey around the materials yard. “This is actually porcelain. It looks like marble, but it has the durability of porcelain. So it won’t stain, won’t scratch, lasts forever. It’s large-scale, and it’s printed to look like marble.”
It’s also less expensive than marble, making this a win-win.
Don’t eliminate the stove vent in your kitchen
Custom hood and vent systemHGTV
Darin and Audrey have a small kitchen island that contains an electric stovetop, and they hated the low-hanging vent that came down from the ceiling over it. It blocked their view and made the kitchen feel claustrophobic.
So they just ripped it out and put duct tape over the hole in the ceiling to keep bugs from coming in.
“When we’re cooking, we just usually leave the windows open or put the fan on,” explains Audrey.
Roth does a good job of hiding her horror, but does plan to move the stove up against the wall and have a gorgeous hood and vent custom-made that will solve this problem.
“We’re going to add a custom hood vent, and I think that’s going to be the ‘wow’ factor in this kitchen,” she says.
Fix a dangerous staircase
New, safe staircaseHGTV
It’s obvious that the staircase has not been built to current code. There’s so much space between the balusters that a child or pet could easily fall through, and the railing is so low an adult could actually fall over it.
Roth, of course, will remedy this situation, but rather than having a whole new staircase built that could cost upward of $10,000, she calls in experts who can remodel what’s already there.
It’s easy enough for them to add balusters between the existing ones, and a new, higher handrail.
“Being able to fix this is not just a design thing. It’s a lot about safety,” says Roth.
Remodeling the railing ends up being a clean, simple, and inexpensive task—it costs only $2,000, leaving an extra $8,000 in the budget that can be used elsewhere.
Some tools, like a level, now come as a phone app
Your phone might have an app that works as well as any level.HGTV
As workers are installing the cabinets in the kitchen and trying to get them straight, Roth pulls out a tiny level that she uses for picture hanging.
“Do you want me to use my photo-hanging level?” she jokes.
“I usually use my phone,” says contractor Scott Cross. “That works perfect, too.” And it’s even tinier!
As with everything these days, there’s an app for that. No need to buy and store a large, unwieldy level any longer!
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