Living and working together has many advantages for longtime HGTV stars Dave and Jenny Marrs.
But one area that might need some work, the couple adorably admitted during a chat with EntertainmentNOW, is when and how they discuss ideas for their latest projects — like the motel makeover they’re conducting for friends on two episodes of “Fixer to Fabulous” starting on March 11, 2025.
Sometimes, Dave confessed, he gets so excited about an idea he will wake Jenny up to discuss — a strategy he acknowledged could probably use some improvement.
Dave & Jenny Marrs Joke About Needing ‘Counseling’ For Communicating His Ideas
With Dave working on the construction side and Jenny handling design and decor, the Marrs have developed a good system for mapping out each renovation they conduct. That includes compiling a book and inspiration board to track every little detail for each project, from the floor plans to paint colors, “so that everybody is on the same page,” Jenny told EntertainmentNOW.
But that system doesn’t keep the ideas from flowing at all hours, which Jenny described as a “constant push and pull” between them. Dave said he tends to “come up with ideas at five in the morning, or, you know, at random times, and then I feel like I have to wake Jenny up and tell her, ‘Hey, I need this because this is my newest idea!”
As the couple laughed, Dave conceded, “I need to work a little bit more on, like, scheduling that stuff. I mean, with creativity, when you have that idea, you just want to share it! And you want to figure out a way to do it. But I probably need to work on better times of, you know, talking about those ideas.”
“You didn’t realize that you were going to be, like, mediating a counseling (session) between me and Jenny right now, but, yeah, this is our life,” Dave joked.
But it’s that kind of transparency which makes the beloved HGTV couple, raising five kids on their northwest Arkansas farm while renovating dozens of properties for clients each year, so relatable and endearing to viewers.
“You know, there’s a lot of hard things in the world,” Jenny said, “and we just want our show to be something that people can turn on and feel joy when they watch.”
Dave Marrs Often Uses an Online Visualizer Tool to Help Him Envision Jenny Marrs’ Design Ideas
Over the years, the Marrs have found that they process their design ideas in different ways. And though they don’t always see eye-to-eye while swapping those ideas, they trust it will all work out in the end.
“I can see a footprint … a house plan that’s just on a piece of paper, and it becomes three dimensional for me,” Dave told EntertainmentNOW. “Jenny does the same working with tiles, with lights, with paint colors, with finishes. She’ll come to me like, ‘Hey, I’m going to paint this house pink.’ And I think she’s a nut job! But then when it all comes together, it’s incredible. So you know, I think there’s trust on both sides.”
When Dave can’t quite envision what Jenny’s planning for a home’s exterior, he said he uses Cornerstone Building Brands’ Mastic Home Design Visualizer. Homeowners can upload a photo of their house and input different design options, including color palettes hand-picked by Jenny for the site.
“I like to see the house with (different elements) like, ‘Hey, this is the siding I’m doing, here’s the shutters, here’s the window colors,'” Dave explained. “I think that’s one of the hardest things for homeowners today, and I think for builders like myself, is basically narrowing down all the millions of choices that are out there. There’s just so many different directions you can go with a house.”
“Anytime you can use tools like what Cornerstone Building Brands provides, it just makes it that much easier,” he said, adding that homeowners can get the design elements they like from a local distributor or installer. “And to know that you’re getting matching colors from one source is just reassuring.”
That was particularly helpful as they tackled a new challenge — renovating the Arka Motel for the “Fixer to Fabulous” episodes airing on March 11 and 18. Jenny wrote on Instagram that it was a “major undertaking” and that they “had a thousand decisions to think through from a perspective of a motel owner rather than a home owner.”
The Marrs leaned on Cornerstone Building Brands for many of their exterior design decisions, they said, including installing Mac Steel siding in a color they loved and Simonton Inovo Sliding Doors to modernize the property.
New episodes of “Fixer to Fabulous” air on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Dave & Jenny Marrs Reveal Hilarious Drawback to Working Together (EXCLUSIVE)