Building expert Russell Holmes, the burly host of “Renovation Impossible,” has worked as everything from an EMT to a mechanic to a general contractor.

But in his leisure time, he’s a die-hard biker—and in the episode “Sunken Living,” his past comes back around as he runs into Darcel Chandler, the sweet granny-type who owned the biker bar he used to visit.

She’s the mother of Paul, and they’ve been living together in a ranch house in Plano, TX, that Paul bought about eight years ago. Just last year, Paul married Zach, and now the three of them are happily cohabitating.

Well, somewhat happily. They love one another, but they don’t love the contractor who demolished their kitchen and then left them high and dry. There were other fixes he was supposed to do as well. So they ask Holmes to help them fix their kitchen, living room, dining room, and bonus room—all for $30,000 and in just eight days.

There are plumbing problems. There are termite problems. There are so many unanticipated problems with this renovation that Holmes is seriously worried they might not be able to finish what he’d promised.

Then mama Chandler steps in, saying she’d like to help her boys anyway she can, and she throws $10,000 more in the mix. It makes all the difference.

Watch how Holmes fixes up this house and learn some smart lessons on what can make your own home more valuable.

“This drives me crazy,” says Holmes as he surveys the family’s living room. “This is just silly.”

Holmes is referring to the sunken living room by the entrance. This was trendy at one point last century, but it’s now an eyesore that can sink a home’s value. In this house, it also presents a precarious step down right near the front door.

“If you don’t pay attention, you’re going to fall down and bust an ankle,” Holmes explains. “Because that wood floor is the same color on the step as it is on the floor below.”

“We want to raise the floor. That was part of the contract,” Paul explains. Unfortunately, that was before their contractor flaked.

Holmes writes down on his clipboard that raising the floor is a necessity. A living room floor that takes an unnecessary dip not only looks weird, but can also be a bone-breaking hazard.

When Holmes enters the family room, he sees a massive TV mounted above the fireplace. He just shakes his head and clamps his hand over his mouth.

“We got it big enough to cover how hideous this fireplace looks,” explains Zach. But the TV doesn’t look so great, either.

One of the first things Holmes does is move the TV to a less obtrusive spot.

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For the fireplace, Holmes decides to replace the brick with a different material.

Since they’re using big sheets of patina metal to replace the ugly brick, they need something to soften or warm the effect so the fireplace doesn’t look too industrial. They go to a lumberyard and find a piece of wood with “a lot of character,” says Holmes, noting that it’s over 150 years old.

They save several hundred dollars by using this sturdy beam as a mantel, and it looks fantastic.

There’s a bonus room, but Zach and Paul aren’t sure what to do with it. Paul wants it to be his home office, but Zach wants it to be a guest bedroom.

Holmes tells them to make it into a bedroom, because, “in the long run, it’s a better financial investment for you guys.”

Yet Zach then decides that the room should be used more often than when the occasional guest comes, and that Paul should have his office, which he’ll use every day. Holmes ends up staging it as an office, knowing that if or when they decide to sell, they can stage it as a bedroom. It’s no big deal, and it’s a better use of the space.

Would you rather have more space in your kitchen pantry or your laundry room? It’s a no-brainer, right?

Adjacent to the kitchen in this house is a sizable laundry room with a side-by-side washer and dryer. It shares a wall with a shallow pantry that doesn’t provide the family with nearly enough storage space.

Holmes decides to stack the washer and dryer and extend the pantry farther back into the laundry room, so it takes advantage of the extra space he’s created.

Many people like to use the tops of their washer and dryer to sort and fold laundry, but it’s just as easy (if not easier) to put your clean laundry in a basket and carry it to a bigger surface elsewhere.

That extra pantry space is invaluable, however, because you’ll likely be using it several times a day.

Once Holmes is finished, Zach and Paul are amazed by all he’s done to the house.

“It feels more like home now than when I bought this place eight years ago. It feels like it should have always been this way,” says Paul.

“We are so thankful that Russell delivered such an amazing job,” says Zach.

And as for the biker bar proprietress? She’s thrilled with the recliner they bought her with some of the extra money she contributed.

Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award-winning writer who covers lifestyle, entertainment, real estate, design, and travel. Find her on ReallyRather.com

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