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  • (joyful ukulele music) - I guess we bought a house.

  • This is the reality of setting up a home.

  • (baby cries)

  • (Hannah gasp) (objects clattering)

  • Was this a crazy decision to do while

  • heavily, heavily pregnant?

  • Yeah. (paper rustling)

  • - Whoa.

  • - It is a magical house.

  • (joyful music)

  • - Hi, I'm Hannah.

  • I'm The World's OK-est Mom and we just did

  • the most wild thing we've ever done in our entire lives.

  • We just bought a house sight unseen,

  • clear across the country,

  • in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

  • Now Matt and I have about two weeks to completely renovate

  • and fix this house up

  • before I am physically not able to fly anymore.

  • So we're gonna get started on doing that and

  • see if we can turn this house around

  • 'cause it's a bit of a fixer.

  • So wish me luck.

  • Never done anything like this before.

  • Flying to New York

  • for all of us as a family is very expensive

  • and so we had to make the decision to

  • wait to go until

  • after we had already (faint explosion roaring)

  • found the house.

  • It was still really stressful not being there in person.

  • (paper rustles)

  • I am about to get on an airplane alone,

  • very pregnant with all of my children.

  • I'm very nervous.

  • We took a red eye so I think that helped.

  • The flight was pretty painless

  • and honestly my number one tip for parents out there

  • if you're flying with your kids, bring a bunch of lollipops.

  • Just each one will buy you 30 minutes of quiet.

  • We made it.

  • How was the flight guys?

  • - Good.

  • So we land,

  • Matt picks us up

  • and this is my first time seeing the Catskills,

  • let alone this house.

  • So we're on our way to the house.

  • We're gonna see it for the first time.

  • - [Matt] One, two, (suspenseful fairytale music)

  • Three, turn around.

  • - Whoa! (Hannah laughing)

  • - [Hannah] Oh my gosh.

  • It's just life changing for all of us.

  • I kind of shut down for a second.

  • It was like,

  • "Oh my god, that's our house."

  • Oh my God. - Are you happy to be here?

  • Yeah, oh my gosh, this is awesome.

  • (paper rustles) (upbeat xylophone music)

  • So let's talk about why this house even happened.

  • One, Matt and I are wacky people.

  • This was one of the most wild decisions we've ever made.

  • I think the best way to explain this is

  • that I am a cancer zodiac.

  • I love home.

  • I love having home base.

  • I love just making memories

  • and everything revolving around the home.

  • So it has always been such a dream of mine to

  • have another place that's like our home away from home

  • where we can go as a family, we can enjoy holidays

  • and just make special memories in another location.

  • This house is on nine acres.

  • Half of it is absolute forest,

  • but not only that,

  • it has a half acre large pond.

  • Kids, of course, wanted to just take off running,

  • exploring the grounds.

  • - Blackberries.

  • - [Hannah] Oh my goodness.

  • - Blackberries.

  • - [Hannah] Look at these. - So tiny!

  • - There were blackberry bushes all over the property.

  • My farm girl dreams are coming true.

  • Oh my gosh, these are crazy good.

  • The other thing about seeing a house

  • that you own that you need to fix up is

  • you can't help but just see work to be done

  • everywhere you look.

  • My work is cut out for me

  • so I'm just gonna start unboxing some stuff.

  • I'm exhausted.

  • (paper rustles) (slow funky music)

  • The vibe I chose for this house was modern farmhouse

  • so I wanted everything to look clean.

  • I wanted everything to look simple.

  • So my plan in my head

  • in renovating this house was we would just go room to room.

  • One room at a time and do it,

  • finish each one with a neat little bow

  • and move on to the next.

  • And what I realized very quickly was

  • it wasn't gonna be that way.

  • It was gonna be kind of a mad dash of like

  • this arrived, set this up, this arrived, set this up.

  • And just do what we can when we can

  • until the house is finished.

  • Two fold out couches complete.

  • (paper rustles) (upbeat suspenseful music)

  • - Now the main thing impacted by this timeline

  • was the furnishings.

  • I had to order everything before I even left,

  • before I'd even seen this house.

  • My current huge dilemma,

  • I ordered nightstands for all the bedrooms

  • and one pair just never shipped.

  • When I reached out to customer service and I said,

  • "this never shipped."

  • And they said, "okay, we'll look into it."

  • And then I got an email saying,

  • "we're sending you a replacement."

  • And I look and it's gonna arrive when we're gone.

  • So I had to cancel that replacement.

  • Nothing will ship in time anymore.

  • I'm freaking out.

  • (electronic blipping) - How are you?

  • - [Hannah] Hi, I'm good.

  • I'm in my little lodge.

  • - How has it been restoring that house?

  • - The word I'd use to describe it is frantic.

  • Trying to get everything together

  • and it's been just nonstop work.

  • - I have a surprise for you.

  • I've been following your Instagram stories

  • and I see that you're antiquing.

  • Are you finding awesome things?

  • - I don't know why it is so hard.

  • I cannot find a small nightstand.

  • So it's been a game of Tetris

  • getting all the bedrooms together.

  • And I have one room that has two twin beds

  • that barely fit and I have about

  • this much space for a nightstand

  • and I cannot find anything.

  • - I found something that I think you're going to love.

  • We bought it and I sent it to your home.

  • - I could cry right now.

  • Oh my gosh.

  • This has been-

  • I literally.

  • I was about to go cut down a tree and use the stump.

  • - You're gonna love it.

  • It's like definitely

  • in the style that we were talking about.

  • - Well, I have to pay you back.

  • So can I send you the money with Zelle?

  • Is that cool?

  • Yeah, I use Zelle all the time with my family too.

  • - [Hannah] I've been using it so much

  • since this whole project started.

  • It has been a lifesaver

  • because the money will go to you just in minutes.

  • It's so much easier to pay.

  • Okay, you'll get it in a couple minutes.

  • I appreciate it so much.

  • - No problem at all.

  • Please be safe and we'll see you when you get home.

  • - [Hannah] All right, bye.

  • (paper rustles) (gentle upbeat music)

  • I was going through every single room and

  • thinking about what I needed to do

  • and then it would dawn on me, I don't have a vacuum.

  • I don't have light bulbs.

  • I don't have soap.

  • I don't have cooking utensils.

  • I don't have any of this stuff.

  • I needed to make a trip to town to get some essentials.

  • We found- - Fans.

  • - Fans, we found pendant lights for outside wall sconces.

  • We did not find any chandeliers.

  • We found a doorbell.

  • Oh, we took pictures of the bathroom vanities we want.

  • - Oh, we got more paint.

  • - We got more paint

  • and light bulbs. - Woo hoo!

  • Something that's so special about this area

  • is there are farms everywhere.

  • I am at a farm stand.

  • Ooh, so cute.

  • So right at the end of our street

  • there is a gorgeous farm stand

  • with these giant tomatoes, giant zucchini, corn.

  • And I had to stop and I had to get some fresh produce.

  • Oh my gosh, you guys look at this tomato.

  • And then I got two zucchini

  • and I got four corn and it was $7.

  • And I'm very excited.

  • We're gonna cook this tonight.

  • I just made the most beautiful plate.

  • Farm foods, cheese and then little foods from the co-op;

  • smoked mackerel, stuffed grape leaves, and cornichons.

  • And I'm gonna devour this.

  • Oh, look who's here.

  • What are you gonna have?

  • Grape leaf?

  • How is it?

  • (Matt moans)

  • This is one of my giant tomatoes.

  • So delicious.

  • Look at what Matt's doin'.

  • Is this Henry's work?

  • (baby babbles)

  • You wanna play run in the grass?

  • - Yes.

  • - Okay.

  • This is the reality of setting up a home.

  • - Hello.

  • - Woo!

  • (kids yelling)

  • - Okay this outdoor table, very nice.

  • I'm building beds and I had to order these

  • before we even got here.

  • Each bedroom has these baseboard heaters that are

  • throwing me off; I thought I had space.

  • I toured all the bedrooms.

  • I saw that it was gonna be a really tough squeeze

  • with the beds that I had bought.

  • Each bedroom has baseboard heaters

  • where you cannot put a bed frame.

  • This bedroom originally was gonna have two twins,

  • but I can't do that because there is a baseboard heater.

  • So there's just nowhere for me to put two beds

  • and the twin beds are gonna go in here.

  • It's not perfect.

  • This closet opens up as well.

  • It's gonna be a tight squeeze.

  • This is why I'm really feeling like we're not gonna get

  • anything done cause. - [Child] Hurry, come on.

  • Anytime, I try to sit down and do something,

  • Henry oh my god.

  • Another thing that definitely factored into this

  • furnishing is my pregnancy brain.

  • Sometimes I do this thing where I'll order something

  • and then forget, and then I'll be like,

  • (Hannah gasps) "I never ordered it."

  • And I'll order it again and again and again.

  • So look what happened.

  • I am drowning in bath towels.

  • I firmly believe you can never have enough towels.

  • A couple or, you know, 60 extra towels never hurt anybody.

  • We got the magical chairs

  • that we've been so excited about

  • and they're gonna go in the living room.

  • The living room is like not even close to done,

  • but we're gonna set 'em up just to see if they're comfy.

  • Is it comfy?

  • Yeah, I must fall asleep for a second.

  • Oh my gosh, that's beautiful.

  • Too bad the background is so bad right now.

  • (paper rustles) (gentle guitar music)

  • Just because you're renovating a house

  • doesn't mean fashion goes out the window.

  • Fit check.

  • Is this antiquing clothes?

  • I've got my maternity overalls.

  • Wish us luck.

  • Please give us coffee table vibes.

  • Desk and bench, look how cool this bench is.

  • The owner of the shop made it

  • and he used charcoal leftover from cooking to color it.

  • So on the way back,

  • I had heard about an amazing soft serve place

  • in a little town called Delhi.

  • We are in town getting ice cream.

  • - Ice cream.

  • - Saturday night.

  • They have 30 flavors of soft serve

  • and this is something that I

  • surprisingly can't get in the desert.

  • So I was so excited for us to go.

  • I love soft serve more than anything.

  • I think it is so good.

  • - Hi.

  • - [Hannah] What do you think? - Really cold.

  • - It definitely gave me some motivation to really like

  • get into gear and keep goin' with this house.

  • (paper rustles) (joyful electronic music)

  • Havin' breakfast outside.

  • It's so nice and we don't have a dining table inside yet.

  • Obviously we didn't have time for a full kitchen remodel,

  • nor the budget.

  • Those remodels are very expensive.

  • So I had to get really creative and think about

  • ways that I could improve this kitchen, brighten it up,

  • just make it look a little more modern.

  • Today I'm attempting to start

  • painting the kitchen cabinets; kind of in a time crunch.

  • This isn't something I was really supposed to do,

  • but we gotta do what we gotta do to get this done.

  • I'm doing this padded sticky stuff for the kitchen cabinets

  • and then I got contact paper to line all of these drawers.

  • So I ended up having to take all the cabinets down

  • because they're lacked with some shiny thing.

  • I had to sand everything, primer it, paint,

  • do a couple more layers.

  • I was doing the painting by myself.

  • Was this a crazy decision to do while

  • heavily, heavily pregnant?

  • Yeah.

  • Matt has a very important work deadline today,

  • so he has been like just

  • in the weeds of work, his full time-

  • (Hannah gasps and gruffs)

  • (objects clattering)

  • (Hannah exhales deeply)

  • I was starting to just feel the stress creeping up.

  • Back to work on the kitchen.

  • I'm hoping-

  • So I got this whole section done yesterday

  • and I would like to get this done today.

  • Gosh if I'm like super ambitious, maybe I could-

  • No there's no way.

  • But I can-

  • A girl can dream.

  • So our dishwasher detergent lid wouldn't close.

  • It was completely broken.

  • Another random task that I need to complete is

  • this dishwasher detergent dispenser's broken.

  • You see it won't.

  • (plastic thumping)

  • It won't lock, so I ordered a new one.

  • And it's a little bit more involved to get this replaced,

  • but I think I can do it.

  • I ordered the replacement part

  • and I couldn't get anyone out there to fix it.

  • So I replaced the detergent container.

  • Are you ready for kitchen progress?

  • 'Cause I'm kind of freakin' out here.

  • We're gonna go with painting all of the cabinets white.

  • But then Matt had an idea of

  • what if we take some of the cabinets off

  • and see how it looks having them open for some of 'em

  • It's a very cramped kitchen

  • and so having all of the cabinet doors closed

  • felt a little stifling.

  • So having them off actually felt really open

  • and it felt like we had

  • transformed the kitchen a lot more than we actually had.

  • It's been a crazy long day

  • and we're gonna taste this sugar cube melon

  • that we got at the farmer's market.

  • (Hannah moans) - Yummy.

  • - [Hannah] What do you think? - It tastes like cantaloupe. *

  • - I have a purple thumb.

  • - [Hannah] Wow. Look at my belly.

  • I'm like blocking Henry with my belly.

  • (paper rustles) (suspenseful music)

  • So some bad news.

  • They found that this is all dipping and like collapsing

  • so we have to take everything out.

  • When they started to repair the deck,

  • we all noticed that

  • that actual wall of the house was rotten.

  • Not only was the deck damaged,

  • but it had gone all the way up the wall.

  • So what started out as a simple deck repair

  • turned into knocking the entire wall down,

  • replacing the slider,

  • replacing all the broken tile,

  • and fixing the deck.

  • At this point, I have no wall on my house,

  • there is a tarp instead of a wall,

  • half the floor is done, half is not.

  • There's still so much painting left to do

  • and I'm thinking

  • my goal of finishing the house

  • by the time I had to leave

  • just didn't seem attainable at this point.

  • This is how we're eating.

  • On the floor 'cause we can't use the kitchen today.

  • Renovation meals are very similar to moving meals.

  • It's a lot of frozen stuff,

  • it's a lot of microwave stuff,

  • so we were eating a lot of hot dogs and a lot of pizza.

  • Every day we're doing stuff,

  • I am also trying to find ways to bond and connect.

  • And so the kids had really wanted to make s'mores

  • and I figured let's just do it.

  • - [Henry] Look at this chocolate!

  • - [Hannah] Yeah.

  • How is it?

  • - Good.

  • I am gonna set up my first bedroom for real,

  • like set up the bedroom.

  • Matt and I get along pretty well,

  • but when you're doing something like this and taking on a

  • project like this on a really tight timeline,

  • there can be some friction.

  • And so we were definitely fighting more over stupid things.

  • One of which was that wooden wall.

  • I was like,

  • "paint it, get it done." (hands swiping)

  • And he was like, "No."

  • When I got there,

  • he had left it and it ended up being a great decision.

  • - Nice. - Is that centered?

  • - [Matt] Yeah, looks like it.

  • - [Hannah] Yay!

  • - Bedroom down.

  • So with a bass pond obviously comes the need to fish.

  • Jackson thinks of himself as a survivalist.

  • He's obsessed with survival gear, survival everything;

  • and so this was his dream.

  • He immediately got a fishing rod

  • and he and Matt

  • learned, together, how to fish.

  • Oh my gosh. - We're like city slickers

  • trying to-

  • - I hate bugs. *

  • - [Hannah] Oh my gosh, you guys.

  • Our city was definitely showing as they were trying to fish.

  • We'll get there, that's the whole point.

  • Practice makes perfect and we'll get there.

  • (Hannah babbles)

  • (baby babbles)

  • (Hannah and baby singing)

  • - [Hannah] Ready?

  • Let's do our kiss, our bird kiss.

  • (Hannah and baby imitating a kiss)

  • - Thank you, baby. - Thank you, baby.

  • - Thank you, baby!

  • - [Matt] Thank you, baby.

  • - Something that I didn't think of

  • when it came to renovating this house was

  • all of the kids would be home with us and Henry would need

  • just as much as attention as he usually does at home.

  • (baby whining)

  • - [Matt] I'm workin', I'm doin' work.

  • - [Hannah] He took your toothpaste?

  • - Yeah. - Okay.

  • - [Hannah] Let's go get PJ's on, come on.

  • - Dad!

  • - Definitely struggled with breaking free for a little bit

  • to be able to do things during the day.

  • And what ended up happening was

  • I'd do most of my work at night after the kids were in bed.

  • Now all I wish is that it was light out when I finished this

  • because you could get the full effect of this room.

  • Simple and done.

  • I'm showing it before the art is hung because

  • I'm not allowed to show, you know, other people's artwork.

  • But I would love to get a shot when it's like light outside

  • so you can see how beautiful the view is from this bedroom.

  • (paper rustles) (slow gentle music)

  • It is pouring rain today.

  • I don't know if this is a fun fact;

  • maybe it's a weird fact about me.

  • I love cemeteries.

  • Anywhere we go to visit,

  • I want to go see like old cemeteries.

  • I just love it.

  • So I just wanna drive through and see it.

  • We have so much left to do

  • and four days to do it.

  • Such a benefit to being out here by all these farms

  • 'cause look at this tomato salad I made;

  • it looks beautiful.

  • And I actually like cooked, I made some pasta.

  • So this is like an actual meal and not a freezer meal.

  • We're makin' progress, everyone.

  • (paper rustles) (upbeat music)

  • Today, this day is all about the bathrooms.

  • I'm gonna switch out all this hardware

  • on this bathroom vanity.

  • Looks so much better.

  • The funny thing is when Matt first got there,

  • he called me and was like,

  • "I think these bathrooms are kind of fine.

  • I actually think it's okay

  • like we can just leave them as they are

  • and it's gonna be fine."

  • And then when I got there I was like,

  • "ex-squeeze me?"

  • So I had to get hardware and the

  • countertop for it and install all that hardware myself.

  • And these changes were on the thriftier side

  • and honestly the difference it made

  • in these bathrooms was astonishing.

  • Can you believe this?

  • So extremely proud of this.

  • Hi.

  • I can't believe it.

  • It's changed so much with just a few tweaks.

  • (paper rustles) (upbeat rhythmic music)

  • So at long last, the floors were finally finished,

  • the walls were finally painted,

  • and we could start truly taking everything out of the boxes

  • and really staging the rooms.

  • My big thing, whenever I'm staging a house

  • or I'm furnishing a house, is functionality.

  • I want all of the spaces of the house

  • to function and serve a purpose.

  • Final night and guess what we're having?

  • - [Everyone] Pizza!

  • - We ordered some pizza to pick up, we're bringing it back.

  • I was a little sad that we were finishing so last minute

  • because I wanted to enjoy it.

  • I guess the end goal is that it gets done

  • and that's what happened.

  • (paper rustles) (gentle uplifting music)

  • So the major changes that we made to this house were

  • fully painting the interior;

  • we did a white with black trim.

  • We ended up ripping up a lot of carpet

  • replacing it with a hardwood oak floor.

  • We painted and removed cabinets in the kitchen,

  • painted the back splash.

  • We changed out the toilets and vanities in the bathroom.

  • We changed every light fixture in the house

  • to something a little more sleek and modern.

  • And then the rest was basically just furnishing.

  • This house has a fairly large entry way

  • so I wanted to create a space

  • where people could sit and take their shoes off.

  • You go right into the living room

  • and it's like super comfy and cozy and all set up.

  • There's a breakfast nook.

  • I'd say I'm most proud of the dining room.

  • The way that room came together,

  • the way we showcased that stained glass

  • window that had been hidden before;

  • it's something I'm really proud of.

  • So the first room is the twin bedroom

  • and it has two twin beds; it's perfect for the boys.

  • Words cannot express how much I love this little table.

  • Rob came through; his tables fit perfectly.

  • They were sleek, they were modern,

  • they went in line with the style of the house.

  • Now the big room, the big honker,

  • is the room with the king bed

  • and that's kind of the master bedroom.

  • It has a desk.

  • The other thing I bought was this massive faux cow hide.

  • I absolutely love them.

  • Then we have a queen bedroom.

  • Everything was a very tight squeeze in that room,

  • but I was just so excited to hang my pom garland.

  • And then there's one final bedroom off the kitchen;

  • it's another queen bedroom, it has its own bathroom.

  • And so this is kind of what I was considering like a

  • guest room?

  • It was just a really happy ending

  • to a really grueling two weeks that totally paid off.

  • - [Hannah And Matt] Bye house.

  • - I don't wanna leave.

  • If we could each use one word to describe this trip,

  • what would it be?

  • - Amazing, amazing.

  • - Amazing.

  • - [Hannah] Amazing, amazing.

  • - Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.

  • (baby babbles)

  • - At the end of the day,

  • the kids are in love with this house;

  • it is so warm and inviting.

  • As hard as this was to do,

  • I feel nothing but gratitude to be able to do it

  • because what a special thing for my kids to have growing up.

  • (kids screaming)

  • - [Hannah] Woo hoo!

  • - [Jackson] Oh yeah!

  • - [Hannah] Woo hoo!

  • (loud screech)

  • - [Hannah] He got a fish.

  • Oh my gosh.

  • Wait, lemme get a picture.

  • Oh my gosh.

  • All this work was so that next time we can come

  • and we'll have our new baby

  • and we'll actually be able to take a trip

  • as a family, instead of trying to juggle

  • one more kid with more renovation.

  • So that's all for now, I'm Hannah and

  • tell me what do you think of the house?

  • What do you think it's missing?

  • What do I need to add?

  • What do I have left to do?

  • Let me know on Instagram.

  • 'Til next time.

  • (joyful music)

(joyful ukulele music) - I guess we bought a house.

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