Ok ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 20th marks my 3rd episode of “Rescue My Renovation” !

Here is a blurry photo of me and the crew. Blurry and sweaty. It was so hot.

While all of the families that we worked with were wonderful, Tim and Kathy Burden really captured my heart. Have you ever met those special people in life that are almost surreal they are so kind and generous and brimming with love of life? Sparkly even? That is the Burdens for you. We never spent a day in that home that Tim wasn’t fixing everyone coffee, (or green tea or decaf, or whatever obscure drink he would remember each crew member preferred) and that Kathy had not made some homemade pasta dish or rustled up some fresh donuts and a fruit salad. They make other people feel special. We were all prepared to move in with them.

And Tim and Kathy are smiling and celebrating every day despite a really rough hand. Kathy had breast cancer and Tim was diagnosed with ALS.

When they retired to their dream home in Toms River, NJ, years ago, they envisioned great times with family and friends and endless fishing (Tim’s favorite!)! They knew that they would have to do some work to their home to make it handicap friendly for the years ahead, (although I don’t see them slowing down yet!)

They hired a contractor who gutted their first floor. He installed a staircase wrong, put in a rough shell of the master bathroom and then took off with their entire life savings. He was never really held accountable and the Burdens were left with nothing.

I know. I can’t even talk about it. I had to repress bawling every time I thought about it.

They didn’t even have floors. The neighbors had to come in and lay plywood down. They had no bathroom downstairs. I could go on and on, but inspired by the Burdens, I will focus on the positive!

John and his crew were able to come in and completely replace the staircase.
BEFORE:

Which gave them more of an entry
AFTER:

(These are antique fishing lures we put in Ikea shadowboxes on the tall wall)

I got to give Kathy a dining room back, and I tried to make it a little bit glamorous.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

And then we got to give them a fully handicap accessible master bathroom that was huge and featured a “roll-in” shower, “roll up to” double sink on a single slab of quartz, and like 1 million little glass tiles the color of the Caribbean Sea…

Please tune in to DIY at 9ET Wednesday the 20th to meet the Burdens and see way better pictures (that didn’t come from my I-phone) of the transformation!

Love you Tim and Kathy- hope you are enjoying the projects that I worked on ☺