Transforming Sunburst Inn on Florida’s Gulf Coast gave Mika and Brian Kleinschmidt of 100 Day Dream Home a taste for renovating commercial vacation properties, and they headed to North Carolina to find another destination in need of their TLC. In Salter Path, a community on the Crystal Coast, they found two family-owned hotels and decided to cook up a rivalry and tackle both.

Mika and Brian are HGTV’s winningest couple — with triumphs on Rock the Block and the Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge under their belts — and it was time for them to go head-to-head. They settled on 100-day timelines and matching budgets of $225,000. The rules: Renovate one beachfront business each, with the help of a custom crew of all-star HGTV pals. With 15 days to complete each space, they’d face judgment based on metrics like added amenities, overall guest experience, design, the hotel owners’ requests and room rate increase. The Kleinschmidt who triumphed in each mini-challenge would win a $5,000 charitable donation for their team to bestow, and the ultimate winner would score a $50,000 donation to the charity of their choice. This vacation-themed dual project promised to be a beachside sprint. “I mean, do you know anyone more competitive than me?” Mika asked Brian. “Yeah, me!” he replied.

Originally built in 1954 as a four-room fishing shack, the William & Garland has been a beloved Salter Path destination for seven decades. It has been passed through four generations of family owners to the current owners, Amanda (great-granddaughter of its namesake "Big Will") and her husband, Perry.

There’s much to love about the William & Garland and much to modernize. “We definitely need a lot of help with the aesthetics and updates for the business,” Amanda said. “So many of our guests have been coming to us for 20, even 30 years, and we want them to continue to feel welcome to come back. And we also want to market towards their children and future generations to come!”

In their first fortnight of competition, Mika and Brian each tackled one of their hotel’s single and double rooms. Who better to help Mika evolve the William & Garland than Farmhouse Fixer’s Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin? Their thoughtful work on historic New England homes made them just the experts she needed to kick things off in (retro) style. “Looking at this place, I wouldn’t want to change it too much," Jon said. "The reason people stay here is the nostalgia and feeling like you’re stepping back in time. We can figure out something that freshens it up but also keeps it the way it is now.”

The rooms’ floor-to-ceiling (yet mismatched on different walls!) paneling and trapped-in-time flooring were not considered keepsakes. “I hate that the paneling does not match, but I do love the paneling,” Jon said. “It’s very period-appropriate.” “This is the epitome of the history of the William & Garland, so I’m thinking we need to incorporate some kind of wood paneling in the new design,” Mika responded.