‘100 Day Dream Home’ Stars: This One Room Is a Huge Waste of Space and Cash

While it’s tempting to think a brand-new home should have everything on a homebuyer’s wish list, on the latest episode of “100 Day Dream Home,” Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt prove that bigger is not always better.

In the Season 4 episode “Turning a Page,” the Kleinschmidts meet Allison, whose husband died recently and who feels the need to downsize from her 3,500-square-foot home near Tampa, FL. She wants to go more casual and less formal and has a budget of $775,000.

The Kleinschmidts get to work finding a lot, building the house, and selling her old one—all in just over 100 days. It’s a lot of work, but they still manage to come in on time and on budget. Here’s how they pull it off, passing tons of smart tips along the way you might be inspired to apply to your own living scenario.

Put essential rooms on the first floor

Allison is committed to making her home convenient for herself, because she’ll be living there solo. But she also wants to have room to accommodate friends and family when they come to visit.

The best-case scenario for her is to have the primary suite and her work-at-home office on the first floor, and the guest rooms on the second floor.

That way, if anything were to affect her mobility, she could virtually live on the first floor, without having to bother to go upstairs for essentials.

She also realizes that this is a great feature to add resale value. Those who want to age in place, or those with young families who don’t want to have to schlep upstairs and down with the baby, find this type of floor plan invaluable, and many will pay a premium for it.

A formal dining room is a waste of space—and money

When looking at model homes for inspiration, Allison explains that she’s very comfortable with a formal dining room—she’s always had one, and she thinks she’ll always want one.

Her daughter, on the other hand, rolls her eyes when her mother says this. She points out that her mother uses her dining room only twice a year on holidays, and is always calling for her help with the house because it’s just too unwieldy for her. Her daughter thinks she’s got to let some things go if she’s downsizing, and the formal dining room might as well be one of them.

Mika steps in to moderate.

“When trying to figure out how to downsize, part of the equation today is figuring out, ‘Hey, if we don’t need a formal dining area, that’s going to shave off some square footage,'” she explains. “If it’s not being used, why pay for it?”

“That’s a really good point,” Allison admits. “I’m trying to get more casual in my new house. I want all the spaces to be functional, so I do not need a formal dining room.”

Big trees can mean big foundation problems

As Mika surveys the lot where they’ll build the house, she comments, “The one obstacle is going to probably be this massive tree behind us.”

“That’s the first thing that I noticed when I got on this lot,” Brian adds. “It’s a gorgeous tree. However, a tree that old with that root structure, you do not want that underneath your house. The good thing is, whatever trees we take out, we always replace.”

So the tree is removed, but come groundbreaking time, Brian is still worrying about the tree’s extensions.

“So we got the tree out, but I am nervous,” he admits. “I actually lost sleep last night thinking about how many roots that we are bound to hit in these footers.”

By footers, he’s talking about the foundation, which is buried beneath the house.

“A lot of people don’t realize that as high as the tree is is as wide as the root structure goes,” he continues. “So that’s a 50-foot tree. We’re going to have roots 50 feet in every direction. And guess what? That’s where the footers are going.”

The solution isn’t easy.

“It’s important that we get every single one of these roots out of the footer,” he says. “If one stays in there, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to pour concrete over it, and those roots are going to deteriorate away, creating a gap, an air pocket, which causes settling and foundation cracks. It’s a big issue.”

Chopping away at the root-infested ground actually puts them a little behind schedule. They’ll have to make up that time elsewhere.

The highest offer isn’t always the best

Mika is also a real estate agent, so while Brian is working on the house, Mika is helping Allison sell her current home. It’s a hot market, so there are multiple offers.

“A couple of them are strong offers, and they want to close quickly,” Mika reports. “When I say quickly, I mean quicker than the new home is going to be done.” The ramification if she accepts one of those offers is obvious: “Moving twice is not fun.”

This is why Mika is leaning toward a different offer.

“There’s actually one offer that sticks out to me,” she continues. “This wasn’t the highest offer, but it is $50,000 over asking, and these particular buyers don’t need to sell their home. They can wait and be flexible on when they actually move in. So they’re willing to work a leaseback option for us, meaning that we can close so that you get your money and you’re funded, but you can rent back the home until the new one is done.”

It might seem weird to pay rent on the home you’ve owned for years, but it’s a heck of a lot better than putting your things in storage and then moving them again.

Create an antique mirror out of plexiglass

Mika and Brian always add a few special touches, and in Allison’s house, that involves creating a wine bar. Mika wants to make it extra special, so she goes the extra mile.

“Today I’m going to get my hands dirty and create an antique mirror out of plexiglass that’s going to be the backdrop of this beautiful bar area in her dining room,” she says, and then gives the instructions.

“I want to mainly highlight the edges with a water-vinegar mix that is going to help create this really cool antique finish effect,” she says, dribbling the liquid around the precut piece of plexiglass with a spray bottle. “Now we’re going to spray it down with this really cool mirror paint, and then we absorb the droplets” with a paper towel.

The effect is striking, and this custom “antique” mirror costs only $250.

How does Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt’s latest project turn out?

Despite delays, Allison’s new home comes in on time and on budget. While she admits she’s had a hard time making decisions on her own since she lost her husband, she has absolutely no qualms talking about how pleased she is with her new home.

“I am totally stunned,” she exclaims. “It’s perfect, it’s casual, and it feels very warm and inviting.”

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