Property Brothers’ Home Renovation Advice for Every Budget

Drew and Jonathan Scott are attempting an awkward elbow bump from their respective livestream windows on Zoom. The identical twins and home renovation experts, better known as TV's Property Brothers, are sheltering in place separately in Los Angeles — Drew with his wife, Linda Phan; and Jonathan with his girlfriend, the actress and musician Zooey Deschanel — but they connect like this on their phones and computer screens several times a day.

Even in quarantine, Jonathan and Drew have designs on making millions of homes more beautiful, peaceful and organized by way of books, apps, a podcast, a magazine (Reveal), a home goods line and popular HGTV shows like Brother vs. Brother and Celebrity IOU. “Honestly, we thought things might slow down, but we're busy as ever,” says Drew, the bearded brother, to which Jonathan adds, “Isolation turns out to be a perfect excuse to think about improvements, big and small, that you'd like to make.”

That's true no matter how old you are or how much you have to spend. So we asked AARP members to send photos of problem areas on your fixer-upper lists: the cluttered bathrooms, outdated kitchens and tired bedrooms you've been cooped up in these past few months.

Courtesy of Amy Shroads, Caitlin DeFlaviis, Lesley Palmer, Richard Heydenburg, and Karen Walls

We then took those pics — along with a few from AARP staffers — to the brothers for their expert advice, from simple upgrades to total overhauls. Now it's time to dig out that measuring tape and maybe a few tools, and get busy. As Jonathan puts it: “There's no time like a global shutdown to get your house in order."