Before and After: HGTV’s “Mash-Up Our Home” Creates a Hotel Suite Feel In a Once-Messy Garage

A love of serenity and a passion for bright colors left one couple at odds as they attempted to redesign their 1950s Sacramento bungalow. Husband Jeff favored “risky patterns,” while wife Sara was an “aspiring minimalist.” In the premiere episode of HGTV’s “Mash-Up Our Home,” design team Kele Dobrinski and Christina Valencia helped the couple find balance in their differing design styles with a $125,000 budget. The end product was a bright, harmonious makeover of the 1,600-square-foot space.

The greatest point of contention was in the kitchen, which was outdated and impractical for a busy family of four. Kele and Christina got rid of the yellow-tiled backsplash and countertop and instead added a white-tiled backsplash with one thin strip of blue tiling. It provided a pop of color in an otherwise white space, without detracting from the clean and serene vibes. 

They made the main countertops white quartz and added a wooden island for additional cooking and eating space. Most importantly, they gave the room a more functional layout, to create a safer cooking experience around the two young kids. Instead of having the stove in a random spot across the room, it was moved into the white countertop space (with a tambour hood and wooden accents to help pull all of the wooden features together). 

But the most drastic transformation came in the garage, which started as an empty, run-down room with a dark wooden ceiling and walls. Kele and Christina turned the space into a contemporary “backyard bungalow” that could easily host extended family. They started by getting rid of the old garage door and adding french doors (matching the new white walls) for easy access to the backyard. The space also benefited from the addition of a crafting nook and a kitchenette. The kitchenette served as a miniature version of the house’s main kitchen, even using the same tiles (with a blush pink for the stripe of color, instead of blue). 

They also added a low profile pull-out bed to the area, making it into a “hotel suite”-like space, and lots of additional storage. A curtain was installed around the bed for additional privacy. Most importantly, Kele and Christina added an updated ensuite bathroom in the garage, to keep guests from running back-and-forth to the main house.

The entire space, including the bathroom, kept with the white and blue theme of the house, creating a cohesive living space without ever having to physically connect the garage and main house. Both Jeff and Sara sung their praises, with the latter noting, “It all just goes together, without being matchy-matchy.”

“Mash-Up Our Home” airs Saturdays at 8/7 central on HGTV.