- Today we are making over
Ariel's sister's studio apartment.
And we have to do it all in 24 hours.
I just don't know how we're gonna get it all done in time.
I have to sneeze.
- [Ariel] Don't.
- We should know what we're doing by now.
- [Ariel] Ready?
One, two, three!
- Open your eyes!
(Danielle exclaims)
- [Ned] Welcome to Try DIY.
The show where we transform our friend's forgotten spaces
into beautiful new interiors using the power of DIY.
Ariel knows what she's doing and I'm her husband.
Why DIY Ariel?
- [Ariel] It's cool to be able to do something yourself.
Also rewarding.
- [Ned] And it saves money.
Each episode we're gonna listen to what our friends need
and then set them up with a DIY project
that'll help them save money and be awesome.
- Right.
This show is about making our friends awesome.
(upbeat music)
Today we're actually doing my sister's apartment.
It is very small.
- Ariel's sister Danielle just moved to Los Angeles
and she is living in a studio apartment.
She just graduated, she's starting a new job.
So there's a lot going on in Danielle's life.
- She really likes to entertain.
She's an excellent, excellent cook.
She's probably lived in seven different places
in the last 10 years.
I want to make it really nice for her,
so that she can invite people over and make new friends
and really put down roots.
So that she stays here and babysits Wes
for the rest of her life.
- Yes.
- Okay, well, welcome to my space.
All zero square feet of it.
I'm Ariel Fulmer's sister
and I recently just graduated from a program in London.
Yeah, moved to L.A.
Just trying to live my best life.
- [Ariel] Yeah girl.
(laughs)
- Ariel has always been an inspiration to me design-wise.
Every room she was in happened to be better
than mine and I wanted it badly.
- That's really nice, thank you.
- Aw, you're welcome.
I've just moved around a whole bunch.
Never really found a place
that I really liked until I lived here.
(suspenseful music)
So, most of my furniture is hand-me-downs.
I think there are just a couple of pieces
that are actually mine.
I've had this bed probably since high school.
This is my printer that I never use.
This, originally my parents got it
for a house that we lived in, in London.
This is the one piece that I actually have bought, myself.
My TV was a hand-me-down.
It's been with me for a few years now.
- She's got like old chairs from my parents, stuff from me.
- So it all works, but it doesn't really work.
- All the furniture it's like haunting me, you know?
My plan for decorating this place was
to just fit everything that I had in.
You know, I'm not totally happy with how it is.
I hide some stuff behind here.
This is my oar.
It's from Skidmore College.
I won it at an event.
This is my closet.
One person's trash.
(laughs)
- We are going to give her a surprise makeover.
We're gonna go into her apartment,
take everything out, and redo it.
- And at the end hopefully she likes it.
Otherwise, it's gonna be awkward around Thanksgiving.
- [Ned] Oh wow.
- [Ariel] It's a little small.
- [Ned] Oh this is it?
- And you'll recognize some of the furniture.
- Oh yeah, that used to be ours.
- And these used to belong to us.
- That's right.
- So thanks for inviting us to your humble abode.
- Yeah, no problem.
Open invitation.
Is there anything in this apartment that you would be sad
if it was gone?
- The oar, I actually won.
I've been rowing for a long time.
I'd say that it definitely has a fair amount
of sentimental value for me.
- [Ariel] Danielle loves to cook,
but her kitchen is about this big.
- Oh no!
When I lived in this type of apartment,
I just did takeout all the time.
- But Danielle loves to cook!
- This is true.
- Where do you eat?
- Right here
- Oh, okay.
- On the floor.
You eat on the floor?
- On the floor, yeah.
- She wants a full-size couch that pulls out
into a pull-out because she's gonna have guests.
- What?
You want a pull-out couch?
- Yeah!
I think so.
- Well, I mean who doesn't?
But you want a pull-out couch for this apartment.
Having friends around the world,
I really think that a space where people can come visit
is really important to me.
Then it would be like a slumber party.
- The sleepover queen of Los Angeles.
(laughing)
So you currently need a way to watch television,
a place for guests, and you need a place to eat.
- [Danielle] Yeah.
- [Ned] So we gotta figure out how to give Danielle
the slumber party of her dreams.
- [Danielle] That's right.
- The great thing is Ariel knows
exactly how to help you with that.
- Oh, good.
- And I'm here too.
- Awesome.
- It's gonna be a challenge because you need
to create zones of living.
The small space that we have,
I'm thinking of keeping the color palette pretty neutral.
You know, normally bedding isn't that important,
but because her bed is essentially the--
- [Ned] The star, star of the show.
- [Ariel] Center-point of her room.
We're gonna have to get her some really nice bedding.
The one thing that Danielle asked
was if she could have people stay at her place.
So, I found this sofa.
The back cushions are actually removable.
You can just take the cushions off
and it it turns into a twin size bed.
- [Ned] That's pretty good.
- I know.
Danielle like to watch television.
- [Ned] Right.
- But she doesn't like watching TV from her bed.
This is were I think you come in.
- [Ned] I'm here for two reasons.
One, I bring the booty.
Two, TV stuff.
- [Ariel] Then I'll probably do a table that can fold down.
And maybe two chairs,
so that she can have somebody over to eat.
- [Ned] Almost like a tiny house.
- [Ariel] That's exactly what it is.
- Well, this looks like it's gonna be a real challenge.
You've given it a ton of thought.
I just hope that it comes together.
- I hope it comes together too.
We only have one day to get it done.
- Yikes!
(upbeat energetic music)
It's makeover day!
Danielle has left for work and we're gonna spend
the entire day transforming her apartment.
And when she comes home,
she's gonna have no idea what we've done.
First thing's first, let's clean this place out.
(Ariel's mouth popping)
(Ned's mouth popping)
- Where do we start?
- Well, this oar we'll definitely put in a safe place.
That's a cute top.
- I know.
- Did that used to be yours?
- This did.
(Ned laughs)
Still is mine.
I don't think I ever officially gave it to her.
- Uh-oh.
Oh, she has a bag for her bag.
You can't just go through her stuff.
Isn't that the point of this?
- No!
- I warned her to put away all of the
like personal items, you know like--
- Personal items?
- You know, like her underwear.
I warned her to put her underwear in a box
so that Miles over here isn't like, "What about this?"
(laughs)
- [Miles] That makes me sound like a weirdo.
- We got our crew helpin' us out today.
- Miles, our resident weirdo.
- All right.
Ooh, what's she readin'?
The Goldfinch.
I've heard this is a good book.
- Helpful.
She doesn't realize the extent
to which we are transforming this apartment.
I think she just thinks we're bringing
in some pillows and maybe a sofa.
- No, were taking out the entire thing.
So what's your opinion of your sister's style?
- I know that she has style because she dresses well.
And so I want that to be reflected in her house.
- So we're gonna put pants all over the cabinets.
- That's right!
(upbeat music)
- We did it.
Completely cleaned out.
- [Ariel] I think we're ready to start bringing stuff in.
- Let's get started on your first DIY project.
So what's the project?
- What we're gonna put in Danielle's little dining area.
So the first thing that we need to do
is kind of measure out like where it needs to go.
- Mm-hmm.
- 34?
- Seems a little high.
- Okay, how 'bout 30?
- That might be a little too low.
- 32?
- Oh, I don't know, that seems high now.
- Maybe we just Google it.
- Mm-hmm.
Here's the screws.
- Ned, Ned!
- Oh shoot.
Oh gosh.
(metal clanging)
Oh shoot, that one was my bad.
- They're all your bad.
(power drill whirring)
You're doin' great hun.
- Thank you.
You don't think that's a little too far to the right?
- Seriously?
(power drill whirring)
Jesus!
- Um, the good news is the screw is halfway in,
the bad news is the screw is halfway out
and it's stripped.
(suspenseful music)
- This isn't like a piece of Ikea furniture,
these are supposed to be idiot proof, Ned.
- Okay, I hear ya, so what are some things
people should keep in mind
while they're doing this sort of project?
- Don't fuck it up?
- Quality advice, you can only get at Try DIY.
Oh no, you're underneath it.
No Ariel, no.
- Well, there's no other way to put it in the wall.
- Oh God, the pressure.
I have to sneeze.
- Don't.
(power drill whirring)
- Oh, it's a yawn instead.
Is that it?
- Yeah.
- Ooh.
- [Both] Yeah.
- Folding table.
Really isn't so much a DIY project, it's just--
- [Ariel] Installing something.
- Installing a cool piece of furniture.
- So this DIY's pretty simple.
- [Ned] Yeah?
- [Ariel] It just has to hang from the ceiling.
- First of all, I think the idea is awesome.
I never thought about lamps as like taking up space.
- Mm-hmm.
- But yeah, the fact that a lamp takes up
limited table space, huge problem.
- Mm-hmm.
- Right about there?
- Here, I'll get a chair.
- You could get a chair or you could just poke jump it.
One, two, three, poke jump.
- That's really helpful.
- Never been a good basketball player.
How do we make sure that this hook
doesn't come out of the ceiling?
- By not pulling on it.
- Oldest trick in the book.
- Yeah.
(power drill whirring)
- I'm twisting it with my whole body.
Okay.
- You're doing great.
It does need to be all the way in or else it will fall out.
- Okay.
Maybe I just need a song of encouragement.
♪ This is a song ♪
♪ A song of encouragement ♪
Yeah, we can do it.
♪ For you Ned ♪
Woo, yes!
- [Ariel] You're done?
- I believe so.
- Good job.
How does it feel?
Strong?
Nope.
- I decree, this house is nearly complete.
(triumphant music)
- [Both] One, two, three.
(cheering)
(hands clapping)
- Love it.
Its 1:00 p.m., we've got four more hours
to get everything else done.
- We only have four hours?
- We only have four hours.
- And I let you take an hour to do all of those.
- [Ned] Well, I wanted it to be good.
- Crap.
(fast-paced upbeat music)
- So the day's been going pretty well.
We have made good progress.
We built the bed, we've been building some furniture.
I can see that it's gonna be awesome
and she's gonna be so thrilled but right now
I just don't know how we're gonna get it all done in time.
- Yeah.
- Okay, what do we do next?
The oar?
- The oar!
I totally forgot about the oar.
(upbeat music)
- [Ned] Got the oar.
- I have bike hooks.
The bike hook is gonna have to go like here.
Oh, I'll just do it.
- Okay.
- We're gonna get stuff all over this couch,
we should put some plastic on it or something.
- [Ned] Get screwed!
♪ This is a song ♪
♪ Of encouragement ♪
- We have 30 minutes left.
Oh my God!
And the great thing is,
if she decides that she doesn't like rowing anymore,
she can also hang her bike here.
Ah, Ariel, all our projects turned out great,
but we only have half an hour left.
- [Ariel] I know, let's get it done.
- Looks like we're gonna need some montage magic.
(Ariel laughs)
♪ Summertime ♪
♪ Feelin' fine ♪
♪ Chase the clouds away ♪
♪ 'Cause family time is all I need ♪
♪ To survive and love my boo ♪
- Okay, so I think we're all done.
Everything looks really good.
- It's actually better than I expected.
- Really?
- Yeah, like I had everything measured
and I picked out all the colors,
and I picked out all the things, but it has come together.
- It looks like a sweet pad.
This is awesome. - Like, I can't wait.
I can't wait.
I can't wait for Danielle to see it.
I can't for you to see it.
I see her, I see her, I see her.
- You see her?
- I see her.
- Oh my god, oh my god.
- Look, look, look, look.
She's coming, she's coming, she's coming.
- Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
Keep 'em closed, keep 'em closed.
- Keep 'em closed, keep 'em closed.
- I'm gonna let you up.
Keep 'em closed.
- Keep 'em closed.
- Come on in.
- No I'm not gonna leave you, I'm not gonna leave you.
- Put your hands over your eyes.
Danielle is always in the process of getting settled.
She really needs to have a home base
that she can feel good about.
- I love her so much.
I want her to be able to put down roots.
I want her to feel really settled here in L.A.
- [Ariel & Ned] You ready?
- I am ready.
- Ready?
- [Ariel & Ned] One, two, three.
- [Ned] Open your eyes.
(Danielle exclaiming)
(cheerful upbeat music)
- I am blown away.
Blown away!
It looks so--
Oh my god, the oar!
I love it.
- And this is a pull-out couch,
so that you can have two beds for when friends come over.
- Sleepovers!
Oh, look!
Oh, my bar cart!
- Yeah, I'm really just blown away.
- I knew that she was gonna be completely overwhelmed.
- [Ned] She was totally shocked.
I mean, I'm shocked.
- [Danielle] This is not my television.
- That's 'cause I bought you a new TV.
- Oh my god, you did.
Feeling at home is really important
because I've moved around so much.
The transformation really solidifies that I can live here
and I have people that really care about me.
- It's not just a chair.
It can turn into a table for two.
- Whoa.
Oh my gosh!
What!
- [Ariel] There's all your clothes.
- Just really excited about living in L.A. for longterm.
- [Ned] It went from one space that was feeling cramped
and not working well to two spaces
that really, you can have all aspects of life.
- It feels really, really amazing.
- So thank you guys so much.
(laughing)
- You're a good big sister.
- You're sweet.
- You are, you're a great sister.
- Well, my sister's pretty great too.
You know?
- She is.
(upbeat rock music)
That's a wrap for this mini season of Try DIY.
Submit your room to the email address
in the description below
and maybe you could get featured
in a future season of Try DIY.
- [Ariel] You want me to makeover your house?
- Yeah, I do.