Last year really beat me up. I still haven’t recovered. The work is a huge slog. We’re writing at about half the usual pace. I’m really tired creatively and have to take frequent breaks. It’s a terrible thing, because normally my brain processes things and chews through the next scene of the book while I knit or wash dishes, going about my day, so when I sit down before the computer, I already know where I’m going. Now there are days when I don’t think about the book at all. And I seem to have lost my ability to tolerate sharp turns in my entertainment.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the beautiful sparkle of Bridgertons and no force – hehe – in this Galaxy or any other could’ve kept me from Mandalorian. The extent of my Star Wars geekery can’t be overestimated. I love Star Wars, especially the Galactic Republic/Sith Empire in post Great Hyperspace War. But aside from Mandalorian, I can’t seem to handle any stress. Yet I still want to veg out in front of TV with my knitting and I can only take so much of Gordon’s True Crime kick. Joe Kenda has a new show on Discovery+ about other American detectives. We are watching it. My, my.
Enter the renovation shows. Guaranteed to be uplifting and low stress. Below are my three current favorites.
Dream Home Makeover
Dream Home Makeover features Shea and Syd McGee of Studio McGee and is available on Netflix. Shea and Syd are located in Utah. They have two lovely children and they seem like a very nice family. They met in college and worked typical white collar jobs, until Shea decided to start a design firm from scratch in 2013. In 2014 Syd quit his marketing job and joined her. They worked very hard and now they are a well-earned success story. Now they have 80 employees.
This is a show you watch to see how the other half lives. The price tags are high. Even a minor remodel runs around 150K. The anchor points of the show are million dollar homes with basically unlimited design budgets. While the designs are pretty, it’s not that difficult to furnish a beautiful house when you have no financial limit.
From the design point of view, Shea is a California version of Joanna Gates. No matter what Joanna Gaines gets, she turns it into a white farm house with open shelving and shiplap. One time she announced at the start of the episode that she would be renovating a mid century modern. Midcentury modern is known for its use rich earth-tones like browns and oranges with pops of brighter color here and there. I was like, “Okay, let’s see it.” You can see it, here. Spoiler: it’s a white house with open shelving. Okay, she did keep some woodwork and she did put a bright blue sofa into it, so I am probably being too harsh.
Like Joanna, Shea turns everything white. It’s that gleaming I-have-money version of white: white marble, white walls, white overpriced furniture.
This house pretty much exemplifies the show. Her houses are the gold standard of the current affluent design trends. I saw a house just like this one in Austin not too long ago, and when we sold our house north of Austin, we had done exactly what she does. We painted everything white. That house gleamed from top to bottom and it sold in two hours. A lot of this is driven by the clientele. Clients want standard finishes. At some point in another episode, Shea made a brave decision to use a white tile with slightly uneven edges vs the usual white tile and had to convince her client to trust her.
To be fair, Shea is completely self aware. She says things like “A pop of color. Oh, I hate that so much.” Syd kids her about her white obsession at least once per episode. And her gleaming palaces do feel light and bright. I don’t know how they would wear long term – that much white would show a lot of dirt – but people who live in those houses probably have robust maid service. š
It’s a fun show to watch, but I reccomend watching one episode of that and then something else, because houses begin to blend.
Restoring Galveston
And now we are going to make a 180 turn to Texas, where Ashley and Michael Cordray are renovating ruins on Galveston Island. The show is presented by Diy and is available on Discovery+ and Amazon, although it’s not prime so on Amazon you have to pay per episode. Have I mentioned how much I love Discovery+?
Galveston is a barrier island that lies south of Houston and is a premier destination for the Texas beachgoers, despite gray water and muddy looking sand. It’s a fun place. Kid 2 went there with her boyfriend for a weekend one time, and they rode horses on the beach, and went jet skiing, and had an awesome time.
While McGees are working with million dollar homes, Cordrays are working with this.
Galveston is historic, meaning it’s full of old houses with nifty architectural details that are barely standing. I would bulldoze down 2/3 of what’s on that show. Sometimes they buy houses for 30K and then they restore them into these adorable beach places. The couple tries to replicate original features like built-ins and staircases while still making the houses livable and modern. And then they sell them on the open market.
If you ever wanted to know what Texans are like, this is the show. They love their town, they watch their budget, the go to the beach, they have dogs, and they have zero fear about crawling under a teetering two hundred year old house to fix the plumbing. Also, their foreman owns an adorable Chihuahua names Frankie.
Very fun show. You can see some short clips of it here.
Home Town
If you know where the quote “My colors are blush and bashful” comes from, this is the show for you. It’s set in Laurel, Mississippi, a small Southern town, and it is as sweet tea southern as it can get. You can watch it on HGTV, also available on Discovery +. I think the first season might be on Hulu.
The show features Ben and Erin Napier, who are trying to revive the historic district of their small town. They pretty much succeeded at this point. The show is a huge hit, so they have done for Laurel what Gaines’ (Gaineses?) done for Waco. To some extent. Waco is still the armpit of Texas. Fight me.
Unlike the previous show, each of the houses on the show is owned by someone and the Napiers renovate with specific clients in mind. Ben does a lot of construction and woodworking. He has a woodworking shop with hilarious signs in it like, “Measure once, cuss twice.” Erin is the main force behind the actual design. Erin is extremely flexible. If the client wants bright colors, they get bright colors. If they want white and grey, they get white and grey. If the client wants a kitchen and they have only a little money to spend, they get butcherblock counter tops. If they have more money to spend, they might get quartz or granite.
The prices are low. Some houses are so old, that they can be bought for about $50K. Click here and look at the Feathered Friend video. Hehe. Renovation budgets rarely exceed $200,000, and most are less than that. Floors are restored. Walls are recycled. Furniture is often custom made by Ben. They are very careful with people’s money. This video pretty standard for the show.
They seem like very nice people, too. There is a lot of humor in the show. On the latest episode I watched, Ben got a cowboy hat somewhere and it became the running joke through the episode. He was making bad cowboy puns and Erin laughed at them.
This is probably my favorite renovation show right now. It’s warm and uplifting, but it doesn’t attempt to exalt their hosts or their lifestyle. The Napiers don’t try to hold their family up as a standard to imitate. They just want to help their neighbors find a good affordable place to live.
And that’s my guilty pleasure. š What’s yours?
These shows/channels are on 24/7 army parentsā house. I get totally sucked in! The cable channel play the same show/different episodes all day long. Donāt usually watch at home. I didnāt see anyone mention Barnwood Builder. Love the stories, the desire to save and reuse and Mark Boweās voice/accent. My husband loves American Pickers. We watch some of the car shows, too. Currently heās watching Junkyard Empire.
*at my -not army
If you like renovation stuff, two of my favorite youtube channels may interest you. Doing it ourselves, where they are renovating a french chateau, currently doing the gardener’s cottage. And Renovation East, a German man renovating a tiny house built around WW2.
Other topics I currently watch on youtube are Bernadette Banner, a historical costumer, and Rachel Maksy, another costumer whose style is likened to hobbits.
You might like Billy Matsunaga who is a English speaking Kimono teacher
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3sNNrqCyIW88Hh0Cu9lKeg
Totally different region of the world to virtually visit.
I absolutely love Home Town! It’s uplifting and interesting. Unlike the Gaines’s, they work with gay and lesbian couples, interracial couples, pretty much everyone! It’s awesome!
For when I can’t handle any stress: The Repair Shop, on Netflix. It warms my heart tremendously! It’s inspired me to repair more, or at least given me confidence that I can and it’s worth the effort. Now I’ve started mending my clothing in a frenzy (after collecting items in a basket for years!).
For my current mood, inspired, in part, by WandaVision: I’ve gone through any remaining MCU movies that relate to WandaVision that I missed in the past (MCU burnout was real for me for a number of years). Now I’m going through additional episodes of Agents of Shield. Also Republic of Doyle, which I had started years ago, and out of the blue it bubbled up in my thoughts again a couple weeks ago. These are the shows I can watch and mend at the same time.
I just started watching the Brazilian show “Invisible City” also on Netflix, and it’s fantastic. My favorite mix of folklore as it might appear in day-to-day life, gritty mystery, and the world around us – particularly a community I am not familiar with. I love this mix, but needing to read the subtitles means that I can’t multitask during the show, so I save this for focused tv watching times. All of what I can say about Invisible City also applies to my love for the show “The Protector”, set in Istanbul.
I second (or third or fourth) Escape to the Chateau (set in the French country) and also Escape to the Country (set in the English country). The views!
I feel the same – news & other programs are too stressful. I like home Reno shows. My new favorite is Escape to the Chateau. I am obsessed. The show is about an English couple that re-does a chĆ¢teau in France. It comes from UKās Channel 4. It can be found in the US via Peacock (NBC streaming channel) or some of the episodes are available via HGTV. (FYI: The season & episode numbers are weird on HGTV).
Escape to the Chateau is the fantastic! Duck and Angel!
Also NHK World has Video on Demand on their website and they have tons of 30-min segments on everything and anything related to Japanese culture, from bamboo bento craftsmen to tea production in Shizuoka (and many other areas), to okonomiyaki and Tokyo Izakaya. It’s the best and some of them are so relaxing (like Seasoning the Seasons, based on Kyoto culture).
As a contractor, and someone remodeling a place in the French Quarter, I am a fellow addict, though I havenāt branched off into Discovery+ yet. (LOL on Joannaās āmid century modernā ā you nailed that.)
Most of the time, designers on these shows choose white not just because itās light and bright, but in the given time they have to get a whole place decorated and stay on their shooting schedule, itās *much* easier to coordinate all of the furniture / decor if all the walls in every room are white. (So if youāre staging and bringing in a lot of stuff, what doesnāt work in one room might go in another.) I think thatās why I like Ben/Erin so muchāthey will dive deep into color and that takes a significant effort to find the right things to work when the color choices are bold, and the places look a lot more ānormalā ā I could live in her homes and breathe and be happy; the all white places would drive me to drink really fast.
(Of course, I live in the Quarter where color is supreme; probably one of the reasons I was drawn here in the first place.)
I enjoy Good Bones. They really get some nasty houses. One had baby snakes in it. Also like Restored by the Fords cause it shows my hometown Pittsburgh
While I default to HGTV for self-soothing, I will endlessly watch episodes of the original Law and Order anytime, anywhere. It’s on every Sunday 12 PM-12 AM on WETV plus on a lot of the cross-owned cable stations at other random times. Honestly, I’ll watch it over and over, and recently found I had missed some of the episodes from the last years of network TV. Score.
On Sundays I’m watching The Office on the comedy channel. As many hours as you can stand, but relaxing and pleasant. For home decorating I still like the old standard, Love it or List it, but just the last 10 minutes to see the big reveal.
HOME TOWN is my favorite show on tv right now!!! I went with a friend to look at apartments she was hoping to buy and I was able to point out architectural elements thanks to Erin and Ben. When this mishegos is “over” I want to visit Laurel!
I’ve also been watching comedy specials on Netflix. John Mulaney is great for lifting the spirits!
My guilty pleasures are your books. Iām not saying that to gush; Iām being very literal. My dad died 6+ years ago, and that was an extraordinarily hard blow in a long line of hard blows that have happened since I turned 18. Iāve since ceased being capable of dealing with āhard turns,ā so, I read your books. I love them; your heroines are strong, intelligent, and self-aware, and that inspires me. The characters remind me that people and life are messy, and sometimes things are difficult, but the job gets done, and life can be brilliant, if you let it. Do I have a long list of other things to read/accomplish? Yup, lmao. Am I still going to pick up an Ilona Andrews book whenever things get stressful, and I need a minute to cope, or when I have some free time and want to relax? Every time. So, thank you. For everything.
Iām with you – I love renovation shows. We only have HGTV via Spectrum and donāt pay for any others. Although I just found some more shows on the Roku free channel.
Home Town is my favorite. Ben and Erin seem like a nice down-to-earth young couple. Like you, I like how she is flexible in her design according to the clientās wants. Some of the other shows you pretty much have to like the designerās style as that is their specialty.
I personally dislike all the white on white aesthetic – not my style – and I cringe when they paint over high quality wood and other finishes. I hate how they destroy nice oak cabinets and granite countertops. Recycle / donate them for heavenās sake! So wasteful.
Good Bones on HGTV also takes rundown houses and fixes them up. Half of them I would say are tear downs but they make them beautiful. Restoring Galveston sounds like my kind of show.
On Roku there is Tiny House Hunting where people are looking for houses 120 to 650 sq ft depending on the buyer. Hubby and I have lived in a 900 sq ft apt for 13 years which is fine for the two of us. Before hubby I had a 300 sq ft studio apartment. If I was alone now I could do 400 or 500 sq ft but those 120 to 200 sq ft places usually involve a loft bedroom that you canāt stand in and a steep ladder to get up there. Iām too old for that stuff now ????
I too am a renovation show addict. I could not agree more about Home Town, also my current fave!!
We love Home Town so much we went to Laurel last summer on vacation! The town is truly charming and we spotted lots of the houses from the show
You might like Restored. Working on old houses and preservation. Itās on DIY Network, I had to buy the show on Amazon because I donāt have that station.
Iāve been playing House Flipperā¦the game where you renovate housesā¦oddly addictive and relaxing.
Of course, Iāve been painting in some of the most disgusting and eye bleeding colour comboās I could findā¦
Ahhhā¦fun
(apologies for the repost, I accidentally posted in the wrong place)
I love watching home improvement shows, it’s why I do crazy things like building a bookshelf into part of a bedroom wall (should be done soon,
you can’t have too many bookshelves!), or build storage beds. I just wish they showed a little more of the reality of projects sometimes. I think it can definitely be misleading for some people who then bite off more than they can chew.
Guilty pleasure TV: game shows – The Price is Right, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and To Tell the Truth.
How does anyone actually live in a house with that many white walls? (I would have a headache after 15 minutes….) Too sterile. Life and living space needs color.
Iāve always loved the reno shows. My current favorites are Maine Cabin Masters, Restored and Home Town or whatever British version I can find. I also love the architectural salvage shows like Barnwood Builders and Salvage Dawgs. They always throw a hefty amount of good humored ribbing each other in that makes them fun.
Escape to the Chateau on Netflix is my favorite home renovation show hands down. I canāt say how much I love it! He (Duck)is an engineer and she(Angel) is an artist. I highly recommend watching this home porn show.
I love Good Bones, with mother and daughter team Karen and Mina. They renovate Indianapolis one neighborhood at a time. They donāt consider it flip but bringing neighborhoods back to life. Never miss it.
I have Discovery+ thanks to Verizon so Iāll have to checkout Hometown.
I used to watch House Hunters but got tired of yelling at the tv for realtor not listening to the buyer.
I will confess to watching Selling New York just to see how the other side lives. (Oregonian here). The one thing I couldnāt figure out is how/why all the women carried their big purses on their bent arm?
Iām addicted to Ameribags and they are so easy to carry.
My comfort show right now is Midsomer Murders on Acorn and now I see that Balthazar is returning tomorrow. Such a treat to watch.
Take care.
Better times are coming.
I can’t wait for Balthazar tomorrow! Great show, love pretending I understand the French.
when carried on one shoulder the strap often slides off the shoulder and you are constantly catching / rearranging it. We walk a lot in NYC as most of us donāt have cars and constantly fussing with your purse is annoying.
Another reason is it is harder to steal. If you carry your purse by the handle down by your side or on one shoulder only it is much easier for a purse snatcher to grab. Personally I only wear cross body purses around NYC. Also never hang your purse on the back of your chair in a restaurant or place on the table top when dining outside. Also easier to steal.
There is a lot of petty theft here. If you leave a bicycle unlocked outside it will be gone in 10 minutes. Even locked bikes are often stripped of all parts (wheels, handlebars, seats, gears etc) so all that is left is the frame with the lock still on it. Really nice bikes get stolen even if locked they spray liquid nitrogen into the lock and break it with a hammer – takes mere seconds.
I used to watch DIY shows, now I am addicted to Chateau Shows on YouTube. All because of Chateau Diaries! It combines my love for historic architecture with the do it your self mentality I like. Living in a Chateau is an odd combination of Glamorous and roughing it. Glamping but with a really old roof š
I like Building Off Grid on discovery. It’s interesting to see who flounders and who excels at construction, and to watch ‘ordinary’ people deal with issues I see at work. I find it especially interesting to see how they get water and deal with sewage (but I am a civil eng so maybe just me…)
I’m getting excited for HL 6, and I have questions. Are Arabella and Leon in college, or did they skip/delay like Catalina? Will Runa’s little bro join the family compound? Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out š
Discovery channel is my guilty pleasure. I have a free subscription through my phone service for 12 months. I cut the cable and miss the home buying, Renos and some of the cooking shows. I already know that when the freebie is up not only will I subscribe but I will be doing the premium without commercials.
Binging. Go RV (camped as a kid in an RV before it became a thing). Following Chip and Joannaās reboot. (Cause you have to see what Chip is up to). canāt say I cared for Joannaās cooking show but thatās because there are just so many. Looking for a go gardening program but YouTube has a great variety so Iām all over that for different subjects. What would we do without the internet?
I, too, am addicted to renovation shows! I love Home Town and Restoring Galveston. I also enjoy Good Bones, Rehab Addict, Home Again with the Fords, Fixer to Fabulous and Maine Cabin Masters! I never heard of the Dream Home Make Over but do enjoy My Lottery Dream Home and Bargain Mansions. ????
I have a deep deep affection for the BBC’s “Gardener’s World.” It’s full of pretty plants! Pretty plants, and pups that try to help the host plant out by dropping balls in instead, and visiting historic gardens and homes across Britain. So Relaxing.
That or “Escape to the Country.” Why does every British person want a country home with ‘glamping business’ potential? Just how many MORE glamping businesses does Britain need? It’s tiny! Is half the country glamping at any one point in time, to make this economically rational? Vitally important questions.
Sadly, I never have time to watch TV, or let’s say it is near the bottom of my choice list. I read a lot which doesn’t require equipment other than my e-reader – it goes almost everywhere with me. Amazon just did an update, by the way. It showed up today on my Kindle Fire and I’m not a fan. When I open my kindle app on the Fire, it shows *ads*. Not cool.
I hope you feel more rested and relaxed soon. I know the feeling of being overwhelmed. I look at it like, yeah, the house is a dumpster fire but it will still be there tomorrow. My advice to myself is to embrace the mess and accept it won’t get done today and that is okay.
I paid extra to skip ads on my Kindle, only to have to constantly deal with Amazon ads, which are apparently not ads but “notifications ” of services or products I might be interested in bases on some mysterious personal preference list. ????
A couple of years ago, I was seeing a chiropractor. I usually scheduled an early appointment, and there was usually a number of trucks representing the various building trades in the parking lot. Renovation programs were often playing on the waiting room tv. It was an absolute delight to watch the workmen giggle and guffaw at the odd choices the owners and decorators made. They would nudge each other, point at the tv, and say how it Should be done, why it wouldnāt work, etc.
I remember Ilona posting about open shelving in kitchens would be a pain to clean. Now all this white. The shiplap trend just makes me think about how many nail holes they’d need to fill when removing it in 3-5 years when trends change.
“Work to Sell” is now different than “Work to live in” in my mind. Mark this under “Things I did not expect to learn from an author blog”.
I did the same thing turned off the news, itās was just negativity anyway and turned on 9Life here in Australia.
My favorite show is Selling houses Australia there 13 seasons I think. There are 3 main hosts: Andrew (realtor, Shaina Blaze (interior), and Charlie (landscape).
The owners of the property cough up a budget a s the team has to split it to make the house sell ASAP. In the meantime, Andrew shows the couple other places they could buy.
Each house is different from state or family requirement or budget and thereās an auction at the end. Highly recommend it!
Gardening shows , especially British gardening shows. Our winters are long and very cold so these shows are what get me through. If all my family didn’t live here I would move in a second to some place where I could grow year round!
It’s also reading lots of urban fantasy but that is a year round pleasure for me.
Tiny houses of all kinds, House Hunters International as well, (all the couples tensions and high expectations with no budget!)
For any Phryne Fisher fans, just discovered a Chinese version called Miss S, on SBS on demand in Australia and so far (3 episodes in) its an almost exact replica, with a bit more fighting action.
I love House Hunters International. Especially in Europe or Asia. I feel like I know the real estate experts in London, Paris, Germany and the Netherlands ????
The Tiny House shows drive me crazy. I belong to a re-enactment group, and about 20 year ago my allergies drove me to find a way to camp without being in canvas on grass.
I found a wonderful Tudor house Shepherd’s Hut in a Medieval miniature. Since then, I am one of a handful of us who have done many of these, so we have houses to camp in – and the Vardo re-creation group is big, too.
Tiny house shows? I take more camping than they seem to own.
Teaching online. chemistry. yeah….. everything takes 2-3 times longer and students very stressed. ????
I feel the same way about tv! I don’t want to watch anything too serious. My friend made me watch “What We Do In The Shadows” and if you liked the humor in The Office, you’ll like this show! It’s hilarious!!
Watching baumgartner art restoration and you tubes friessian horses breeding barn in netherlands for my happy
Not a reno show, but my current favorite is Heartland, a Canadian show about a horsey/ranch family in Alberta. There are 13 long seasons on Netflix and it is the most gentle, G-rated happy ending fest you can imagine. Horses, pretty men, and low-conflict drama, and the writing is actually good too!
My husband loves to watch Restoring Galveston and Home Town along with This Old House. I, on the other hand, prefer period drama so I can admire the costuming.
Only the first season of Home Town was in the couple’s town. There are only so many homes in a town they could fix up, right? Last year, my home town applied to be on the show after the show put out a casting call of sorts. My home town wasn’t accepted, for which I am glad. I don’t live there anymore, but I still have a love/hate relationship with it.
I love Hometown! I absolutely love that they stay within the budget. If unexpected things pop up they still work within the budget. I also liked Dream Home Makeover. It’s beautiful and kind of untouchable. I couldn’t live in those houses but I like to look at them. I will have to check out the Texas one you recommended.
After hearing Ilona is besties with Ms. Frost, I keep wondering- just how many of my favorite authors know each other and are friends? Talk about a geek out! Iāve often read anthologies, and wondered if all the authors knew each other- particularly a few oldies but goodies- āMy Big Fat Supernatural Wedding,ā and any of Esther Friesnerās wildly hilarious Chicks n Chainmail anthologies. How awesome would that be if they knew each other?!
Try Fixer to Fabulous. Season Two is especially good. Couple of transplants to Northwest Arkansas are taking advantage of our building boom. All the people I know who know personally them say they are genuinely nice people.
They have one episode where they discover a hidden cellar and turn the kitchen island into a secret entrance to what is now a wine cellar. Hubby has decided to copy that one. š
UGH. It never pays to post without reviewing. Sorry for the mangled sentence in my post.
Kingsville is the armpit of Texas…Waco doesnāt stand a chance against Kingsville.
Consider giving yourself a staycation break from writing. We can just reread your existing titles while you refresh.
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Great British Baking Show – everyone is kind and supportive and the competition aspect is… gentle. They are all amateur bakers who simply love baking and are very creative with it. My daughter (18) and I watch and rewatch seasons because they provide escape without tension. There is a Great Canadian Baking Show as well, also lovely.
Great British Sewing Bee is similar in flavor. Escape to the Chateau as well. Iāll get back to Prodigal Son when the pandemic is over.
Is the Canadian baking show on Netflix? Iād love to watch it. ????
It is on Canadian Netflix! I’m not sure about its availability in other countries. Probably yes? Dan Levy was one of the hosts in season 1 & 2 and then two of the women from Baroness Von Sketch Show host in season 3.
Iāve always like the Property Bros. and Flip or Flop. Last summer Vacation House Rules was on and I really liked that. It was interesting to see how the renovation and decorating focus was different when renting was the goal. And it didnāt hurt that the host Scott McGillivray is so cute ????. But my new favorite is Escape to the Chateau. Renovation and redecoration as always but on a very old 18th Century house.
I have the same issues with Joanna Gaines and also like the Napiers/Home Town.
Have to recommended Stay Here on Netflix. Unfortunately there is only one season. The premise is a designer and a marketer team up to help people across the US renovate their AirBnB-type vacation rentals to make them more profitable. The hosts are likeable with good advice, the designer is a real designer not a one-trick pony, and the style and locations change from episode to episode.
I also am loving Home Town. I love embracing the original character of homes while still having a budget. Because letās face it, Iām never going to have a blank check to hand over for reno… plus I just appreciate that they seem like genuinely nice people. Iām currently on the hunt for more shows like this if anyone has suggestions!!!
Ps: I agree, Waco is still the armpit of Texas – as someone who lives in that region, I feel entitled to that opinion š
Fixer to Fabulous on hgtv. They are out of Arkansas. They have a farm, 5 kids and a bunch of animals that are pets. They fix up a house for a particular client and budget. It is quite good.
I definitely love home reno shows. I am planning to move back to the US in the middle of this year, after almost 6 years of living in Seoul, South Korea. Remembering US homes/apartments have so much space is a huge adjustment. I plan on getting rid of perhaps 95% of what I currently own (instead of shipping it back) and am making amazon wishlists for all my replacement stuff.
Yes! Hometown is my favorite, and I have come to Extremely Dislike the open it up and paint it all white. The Property Brothers have destroyed houses with gorgeous woodwork, but it has gotten so that most of them do that.
The longer a show stays on the air, the more expensive things seem to get.
Even This Old House has gone from Bob Villa working with homeowners (I’m old) to save a house, and mostly small budgets, to where I think you have to have a million before they talk to you.
I have an 1830 house with 5 additions, and have spent a lot of time stripping layers and layers of paint. I would do a lot more, but have found out that trying to strip any woodwork with curved surfaces is not something I can tackle. At least I have gotten the plaster walls repaired, and the carpet up!
As one show says “Why in the world would you cover that up?” when there is oak under there?
AND NO WALLS OF MINE are white, except the few places where there is white trim.