When spouses are both real estate pros, house hunting can be a little … intense.

“We would wake up at 5 a.m. and drive around different neighborhoods, just for fun,” says Tarek El Moussa, who stars in The Flipping El Moussas with his wife, real estate agent Heather Rae. After hundreds of viewings, they fell in love with this 3,000-square-foot house just a block from the ocean in Newport Beach, California — but they weren’t sure if they should flip it or make it their first home as a couple. They decided to keep it and ended up on a year-and-a-half-long renovation roller coaster.

More than halfway through construction, the house flooded and they had to start over. Then, just as finishing touches were being put on the nursery, the place flooded again because of a poorly installed pipe. “After all that, the house means so much to us now,” Heather says. And it’s the perfect spot for their growing family: They share Taylor, 12, and Brayden, 7, with Tarek’s ex, Christina Hall, and the couple welcomed baby Tristan in January.

Instead of keeping the brick white — a more typical choice for a house this close to the beach — the couple had it painted Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams. “We love a darker, more dramatic look,” Heather says.

“When we first saw this house, the interior was completely white, so we had to put our own flair on it,” Heather says. To make the brick fireplace a focal point, they covered the surround in textured wallpaper from Designers Resource Collection and built an iron frame around the firebox. “I love wallpaper because at a pretty reasonable price, you can create the effect of stone or metal,” Tarek says.

The black marble backsplash tile from Mission Tile West sets the tone for the entire space. “We looked at a lot of options and fell in love with this because it’s so bold,” Heather says. Tarek had the hood vent painted black, then coated with wax for a textured effect.