“Fixer to Fabulous” stars Dave and Jenny Marrs pride themselves on preserving the history of the old houses they renovate together in their hit HGTV show—but when it comes to their own 122-year-old Arkansas home, they admit things aren’t quite as picture-perfect as the remodels they show on screen.
The couple, who are among the most-watched stars on the home-renovation network, have had to tread very carefully while carrying out multiple remodels inside their historic property, working diligently to adapt the home to accommodate their growing brood, while protecting its most significant original design details.
Today, Dave, 45, and Jenny, 46, share the restored Bentonville, AR, farmhouse with their five children— twin sons Nathan and Ben, adopted daughter Sylvie, daughter Charlotte, and son Luke—as well as their dog, Banana, cat Lloyd, and their many beloved farm animals.
In addition to managing a full household and working farm, the Marrses run their eponymous renovation business and two retail stores while filming their Emmy-nominated series, which is due to have its Season 7 premiere on Dec. 2.
They’ve also starred in several spinoffs of the show, such as “Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn” and “Fixer to Fabulous: Italiano,” along with other network reality TV productions, including “Rock the Block” and “Home Town Takeover.”
Through it all, the 1903-built dwelling has been the Marrs family’s home base, though its 2,400-square-foot interior hasn’t always had the current five-bedroom, three-bathroom configuration.
Now, in the latest installment of Celebrity Sanctuary, Dave and Jenny recall the moment they purchased the structure, which had previously served as a doctor’s office, in 2012 “so it wouldn’t get torn down,” and then “moved it from another part of town” to their own land.
The husband-and-wife team has since remodeled the living quarters on several occasions: Once before moving in to the residence in 2014 and twice since that time to evolve the space alongside their family.
“More than anything, we have adjusted our house as we’ve needed to for the stages of our kids’ lives and our lives, and it’s always a work in progress,” says Jenny.
While room assignments have rotated during each round of renovations, Dave and Jenny’s original vision for a comfortable home with character has always remained intact.
“It’s an old home and it’s warm and it’s cozy and it’s real,” says Jenny. “Life is lived there; It’s not a museum.”
“She’s saying our space is not perfect,” adds Dave, who notes, “It’s far from it.”
Though Dave goes on to describe the lived-in dwelling as “a hot mess,” Jenny counters that “it’s real” and does the job of supporting their family of seven. To that end, the designer and builder each have a designated area in the abode where they can focus and find calm amid the chaos of work and family life.
In an exclusive interview with Realtor.com®, Dave gives a tour of his favorite kitchen features and Jenny unlocks her personal office to share how every design change they’ve made to the home reflects the life changes happening within its walls—and the new history they’re making there with their family.
Dave Marrs: From the moment that I saw this house, and I was actually hired to tear this house down, I just, I couldn’t do it. A church had hired me because they wanted to expand their parking lot. We got them to agree to let us move the house so we could renovate this house.
The exterior of the shell is exactly as it was in the early 1900s. We added a garage and a little apartment above that garage, but other than that, the exterior, it looks as it was.
Jenny Marrs: We’ve also added a back porch that we use a lot. We have a screened-in porch that we use all the time.
In 2019, we renovated. We updated the kitchen at that point because when we first moved to the house, we actually weren’t planning on moving into it. We renovated it with, like, materials that we had left over and we didn’t know what we were going to do with it.
We just knew we didn’t want the house to be torn down, but it wasn’t meant for our family necessarily.
We also only had two kids at the time. So we grew and grew and then when I was pregnant with Luke, we’re like, “We have to redo this again.”
We renovated the kitchen, made it work for us, made it bigger, and basically got rid of the dining area and made it just a kitchen table in the center. We added another bedroom, so the girls moved upstairs from the nursery, [and we] made that Luke’s nursery.
And then, of course, we renovated again on the show. It always is a work in progress as the kids grow and change and needs change.
Dave: Every little room has a neat story. Like, you go into our living room and there’s the notches on the door where the kids heights are at different years, and I love the staircase coming down, not because of the staircase, but because our kids run down and they’ll do little performances for us.
And that’s what makes a home, are the memories that you create in it.
Jenny: I feel like in our home, I have all my favorite things. I have my favorite plumbing fixtures that are handmade by [frequent collaborator] James. I’ve used them in projects and I’m like, “I love these so much,” and now they’re in my house.
And my favorite handmade lights and tiles and things. For me it’s like, those are the things that I love and I get to put them in my house. Makes me happy.
I think it’s easier [to design for ourselves] for sure, because we can do whatever we want and we get to try new things.
We have spaces where we can gather with friends, but people come in and it’s not perfect. … We don’t want people to feel like they can’t just come in and relax and be themselves. You want them to come in and feel like, “Oh, this is a very welcoming space.” If they want to put their feet up, they can put their feet up. Whatever they want to do.
I heard it once where you want someone to come into your home and feel good about themselves being in your home—and with you—and that you’re caring for them. You don’t want them to become uncomfortable, so that is really important.
Dave: I think [sanctuary is] a safe space. It’s a space that is comfortable, where there’s known things. I would say the kitchen [is my sanctuary], for sure.
When you walk into our kitchen, right away, there is a coffee maker, a little built-in to the wall. It’s one of our splurges that we use every single day. I’m a big coffee fan.
Jenny has done an amazing job just surrounding our kitchen with cabinetry and lights, and we don’t have the traditional island. We have a big farm table that I built that has crayon marks on it, has nicks from the kids, has memories built into it, and so I love our kitchen table.
It’s where we talk about projects that we’re going to work on. It’s where we help our kids with homework. It’s where we welcome in friends and family.
I love our kitchen because there’s always room for one more. I just love that. It seems like the heart of our house to me.
I’m a very early riser, so I get up early and that quiet few minutes before everything starts to come alive, you know, with the kids and school and all the things, with just a cup of coffee, I love just sitting in the space of my house.
It’s comfortable. It’s home. It’s what we’ve created with our kids, and so it’s the best space.
Jenny: I would designate my little office space as my sanctuary. It’s the old playroom we added on when we renovated when I was pregnant with Luke. His nursery had this little playroom attached that we added and when we renovated, we made it our bedroom and my little office.
I actually don’t really use it as an office. I use the kitchen table, but we have a little couch in there, which I would say Luke sleeps on that couch, like, 80%, 99% of the time, even though he has his own room with three bunk beds.
We tried to make him this cool room and he always just wants to sleep with us, so he sleeps on this little couch. He loves it. I don’t know, he took over. He has stuffed animals everywhere.
I have two window seats and a bookshelf. I love a window seat, so I always sit in the morning. That’s where you’ll find me in the morning with coffee. I typically always start in my window seat and I read and journal there to start my day.
I have all my books, which, I love books so much, and then all the kids, I have a lot of—not all because I have so many of them, but I have a lot of—the kids’ art and these little ceramic things that they’ve made over the years on that bookshelf. That bookshelf is, like, all my happy things.
If I’m taking the time in the morning to read, read my Bible, and journal, and have a moment just before the chaos begins, that sets my day in a way that it really creates a good starting point for my day.
If I just get out of bed and I’m crazed and I’m frenzied and chaotic, which happens sometimes, then that’s the kind of course the day takes.
I also have this little pellet stove in my office that you just push a button and then the fire starts, and it’s amazing, so I start the fire, have a coffee, sit in there, and it’s the perfect way to start my day. When I have the time to do that, it sets me on a better path.