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The past few days have been an emotional roller coaster for the Internet as we all attempt to unravel the moment Brad Pitt held (clutched? desperately grasped? lovingly squeezed?) ex-wife Jennifer Aniston’s wrist backstage at Sunday’s SAG Awards. The encounter left a lot of fans pondering a potential reunion, but amid all the “Will they? Should they?” conversations, everyone seems to have forgotten the one real sign that the former flames could make it work again: They renovated a house together over the course of three years. How many couples do you know who could survive that? 

The project started back in 2001, when Aniston and Pitt (then newlyweds) bought a 1934 mansion in Beverly Hills. The 11,000-square-foot estate, which the couple sold post-breakup in 2006, is now on the market for $44.5 million with Hilton & Hyland, but the upgrades the A-list pair made when they lived there are still evident.

They Warmed Up the Kitchen (Literally)

Aniston and Pitt went with retro kitchen flooring, opting for a black-and-white checkerboard pattern made of—no, that’s not vinyl!—marble. What’s more, it’s heated. If we’ve learned one thing from homeowners who have done similar remodels in the past, you’ll never regret having warm toes in the morning (even if the splurge means compromising on something else in your budget). 

They Sourced 200-Year-Old Wood for the Bar

The wood flooring in the “pub” room didn’t come from a local lumberyard—these centuries-old boards were sourced from a French château.

They Added a Nontraditional Guesthouse

The tennis court and pavilion, complete with a guesthouse, explain the couple’s three-year timeline; no matter who you are or where you live, adding an entirely new structure is a huge, time-consuming undertaking. For Aniston and Pitt, it’s definitely one that paid off. The bedroom on the upper level features sliding glass doors that can serve up fresh air 24-7. 

We might not be experts in body language, but we can say that if you manage to survive daunting (and expensive) home improvements, you can overcome just about anything. 

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