Grandparents Left Home for 2 Weeks. They Were Stunned By a $10k Renovation Upon Return (Exclusive)

When a Miami couple left for a two-week trip to Cuba, they expected to return home to things just as they had left them. 

What they didn’t expect was a full-blown bathroom transformation — courtesy of their granddaughter. 

Behind the scenes, a whirlwind renovation was underway, all driven by love, gratitude, and a race against the clock.

“Honestly, I just wanted to give back,” Nicole Chuairey, their 24-year-old granddaughter, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “My grandparents gave up so much when they left Cuba – their home, their life – just so we could be close to their family here.”

“I wanted to do something that would make them feel special, something that showed them how much they still mean to all of us,” she adds.

Although Barbara Polo, 70, and Octavio Cruz, 73, hated their old, broken bathroom, they weren’t the type of people to complain or ask for shiny new things. Nevertheless, while the couple traveled back to Cuba in early April to sell their longtime family home, Chuairey got to work. 

“They had no idea what we were up to. Not a clue,” Chuairey reveals. “They left thinking everything at home would be the same when they got back. We were literally racing the clock to finish it before they came home.”

Despite having two weeks, the job wasn’t easy. The project involved gutting the bathroom, replacing tiles, fixing outdated plumbing, and installing all new fixtures. What began as a simple surprise quickly turned into a major production.

“Two weeks — which sounds like a lot until you’re ripping out tiles, fixing pipes, running to Home Depot every five minutes, and trying to keep everything a secret,” she admits. “It felt like a reality show behind the scenes.”

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Luckily, the renovation wasn’t a solo act. Chuairey’s husband helped out, and they hired a handyman and plumber to handle the more technical jobs. Amid the demolition, her mother became the cleanup crew. “She was literally wiping down dust while we were still installing things,” she recalls. “It wasn’t just a construction project — it turned into this whole family moment.”

Time constraints, messes, sleepless nights, and budgeting hurdles all pushed Chuairey and her team to their limits. “There were nights we were cleaning until 1 a.m., trying to figure out if the plumbing was even going to work,” she says. “Plus, the financial side — it was a big stretch for us. But we kept thinking about how my grandparents would feel when they saw it, and that kept us going.”

The total cost of the bathroom came to around $10,000, but for Chuairey and her family, it was money well spent. “It wasn’t easy to pull off, but honestly, making them feel loved and proud of their home again was priceless,” she shares. “You can’t put a number on that kind of happiness.”

After Chuairey posted the renovation online, some viewers questioned their design choices, such as the absence of safety bars, given the age of the homeowners. “At first, I totally freaked out. I saw the first comment and immediately called my mom like, ‘Oh my God, did we mess up?’” she says. 

“But the real story is, my grandparents hated those bars. They wanted them gone but couldn’t remove them themselves,” Chuairey adds. “We designed the bathroom based on what they wanted, not what people on the internet thought they needed.”

In the end, the big reveal made it all worthwhile. “At first, my grandma thought we just redecorated. Then she paused, really looked around, and just gasped,” she recalls. Her grandfather was stunned that it had all been done in just two weeks. 

After seeing her grandparents in the newly finished space, Chuairey knew the effort had paid off. “Seeing them smile like that — it made every bit of dust, every stressful moment, completely worth it.”