Heavy/Annie Schlechter for Better Homes & Gardens Dave and Jenny Marrs' family is featured in the April 2023 issue of "Better Homes & Gardens" magazine, on newsstands March 17
Beloved HGTV couple Jenny and Dave Marrs have a lot to juggle every day, overseeing the renovations of 16 houses for each season of their show, “Fixer to Fabulous,” while raising five busy kids and tending to their Bentonville, Arkansas, farm.
In the cover story of Better Homes & Gardens’ April 2023 issue, on newsstands March 17, the couple admits their life is “crazy chaos” and shared how they juggle everything during each busy day.
A Day in the Life of HGTV’s Dave & Jenny Marrs
Annie Schlechter for Better Homes & GardensThe BGH April 2023 cover story features HGTV’s Dave and Jenny Marrs with their family
In the BHG cover story, the Marrs, who began renovating homes in 2004, detailed what it’s like to juggle the demands of their show while tending to their farm and five kids — 12-year-old twins Ben and Nate, daughters Sylvie,11, and Charlotte, 8, and their youngest, three-year-old Luke.
“I’m an eyes-open-at-4-a.m. kind of person,” Dave said. “And Jenny’s still up at 10 p.m. with her mental wheels turning.”
The whole family is up by 7 a.m., he said, helping to feed the animals on their sprawling farm, which includes twin lambs born on Jenny’s 44th birthday in January. In 2022, she wrote on Instagram that their sheep birthed six lambs during the first five months of the year, joining the rest of their animals on the farm including llamas, cows, donkeys, dogs, and bunnies.
“We have a farmhand who helps us with the larger animals, but the kids feed the smaller ones like the dogs and the bunnies every morning,” Jenny told BHG. “All of the kids, except for Luke, make their own breakfast and pack their lunch in the morning. We supervise and help, of course, but they are so self-sufficient.”
Dave then drives the older four kids to school while their nanny arrives to help with little Luke while Jenny gets “camera-ready.” A film crew follows the couple all morning as they check on the progress of up to the homes they’re renovating. With up to four homes being renovated at a time, the Marrs typically spend their lunch breaks taking phone calls or having quick meetings before heading back to their construction sites.
“We’ll sit in the car to take a call, stuff some food in our mouths, and get back to work,” Jenny said. “The cameras are on all day, and we don’t have time to stop. Mostly, I’m glued to my phone, checking on orders, reading texts. There’s never a relaxed timeline; it’s always a rush with no wiggle room. We always need everything tomorrow.”
The couple told BHG that by 5 p.m., they pick up their kids at various sports practices, and then head home for dinner, which Dave typically cooks, paired with a glass of wine, music on the radio and conversation around the family table. Afterward, the kids do the dishes, which Jenny said has been “a life-changer.” Saturdays, the couple said, are spent cheering on their kids in various activities, and Sundays are for laundry and rest.
In a 2020 social media post, Jenny shared how difficult it is managing all of their kids’ sports practices and games.
“Four kiddos playing sports is NO JOKE,” she wrote. “I always said we wouldn’t be the family that ran from sports field to sports field and we would protect our down time on the weekends but … here we are.”
Dave & Jenny Marrs Say They Always Have Work on the Brain
GettyDave and Jenny Marrs attend Better Homes & Gardens BHG100 event in 2022
The toughest part of their work, the Marrs told BHG, is that it’s always in the back of their mind and they know they can consult each other at any time. While Dave makes dinner, for instance, they often talk about design ideas for the homes they’re working on and the stories they’ll tell in each episode.
“That work usually happens around our kitchen table at night,” Jenny said. “Dave will make dinner, and we’ll talk everything through to come up with a plan and a story for each house. We stick to that blueprint as much as we can. There are always things that go wrong, orders that are canceled or delayed. With construction, so much can go awry. Sometimes plan B turns out better than plan A. Other times, we live with it.”
“The hard thing about working together is it’s always going,” Jenny added. “We’re sitting at dinner and Dave says, ‘Hey, did you get the light?’ And I say, ‘Oh, shoot. Let me check.'”
The Marrs are also unafraid to take on challenges that require them to travel. Later this year, the Marrs will star with HGTV hosts Erin and Ben Napier on the next season of “Home Town Takeover,” for which they helped transform a small town in Colorado.
Right now, the Marrs are working on a top-secret project in Europe. On February 25, Jenny shared an Instagram photo of their passports and has since shared additional photos and videos from their latest adventure.
“We are about to start a dream project in a dream place,” she captioned the post, adding that their faith is getting them through the unknowns of the project. “Yes, we are likely in over our heads with sooooo much to learn and so many what-if’s looming and doubts surfacing and questions mounting. But, we are in this together and know exactly who is at the helm.”
“It’s insane,” Jenny told BHG of making their manic schedule and daily juggling act look good for TV. “And there’s a lot of editing involved. But it’s our normal. It’s our job.”