As seen on TV: Home Makeover Shows Have

Totally Upended Homeowners’ Expectations

By Jennifer Barger — [HGTV Magazine] “When we go into an appointment with
a new client, my partner and I joke that
When Kuangchi Chang and her husband, Robert Peter- we live in an HGTV world,” Mills said.
son, were planning a kitchen renovation in 2015, they “In any property we show, everything
drew on a lot of professional help. And we’re not talking has to be together. It’s not what people
only about the contractors who transformed the den and expect when they’re paying D.C. prices.
sun porch of their 1970s Colonial into a sleek white-and- The way reality TV depicts homes going
gray cucina. Chang, a confessed HGTV fanatic, watched from grungy to beautiful means that we
countless episodes of rehab shows such as “Property stage nearly every listing we sell.”
Brothers,” and “Flip or Flop” to get ideas.
Mills counsels sellers to pony up the
“Those programs helped me imagine how I could sometimes hefty fees (up to $10,000 for
completely rethink our layout,” she said. “We moved the a large house) to professionally stage a
kitchen to a completely different area in the house, in- space as she thinks it ultimately leads
stalled an extra window and turned our old kitchen into to a higher selling price that will recoup
a family room. I probably wouldn’t have thought all that the cost.
was possible without HGTV. It got so I’d rewind the TiVo
to show Robert a fixture or tile I liked on some episode!” Imagination TV
All of the shelter shows continue to inspire people to want to improve their
Not all house hunters are expecting
Chang and other homeowners and real estate agents surroundings, to want to better the curb appeal of their house as well as the
pristine, updated properties. HGTV general appeal and function of their interiors.
find themselves in a housing market that’s influenced as
has also taught many people to look
much by reality TV as it is a property’s good bones (or
beyond frumpy 1980s oak kitchen And some buyers, Williams added, have been so motivat-
good school district). Real estate agents and designers
cabinets and closed-off layouts. Channeling suave ed by HGTV shows that they’re searching for properties
say selling practices and budget expectations can be
“Property Brothers” real estate rehabber twins Jonathan to rehab themselves or with the help of a contractor.
colored by factors such as photogenic Chip and Joanna
and Drew Scott, buyers now can envision open floor “Sometimes I’m bidding against a couple of D.C. lawyers
Gaines’s farmhouse-rustic rehabs on “Fixer Upper.”
plans in crabbed Victorian rowhouses and gleaming, who have seen ‘Fixer Upper’ and want to DIY,” she said.
HGTV’s widespread influence is not surprising: Since white-on-white kitchens supplanting beat-up 1970s
the network was launched on basic cable in 1994, its Formica and linoleum. Shelter Shows Create Trends
viewership has skyrocketed higher than offers in a North Realty reality programming might also be responsible for
“I think HGTV has given people some self-confidence to
Arlington bungalow bidding war. According to the most spreading home design trends — colors, materials, furni-
take on houses they wouldn’t ordinarily have taken on,”
recent Nielsen ratings, HGTV is the fourth-most-watched ture styles — from one region of the country to another.
says Great Falls, Va., interior designer Lauren Liess, who
cable network in the United States, averaging more than Take the breezy, beachy vibes (glass tile, muted pastels)
is filming the first season of her own HGTV makeover
1.6 million viewers overall. of the California-based “Flip or Flop,” or the modern
show, “The Best House on the Block.” Liess adds that
farmhouse chic (white furniture, vintage signs) of “Fixer
“audiences see the transformations, and it’s easier for
Staging Reality In The Home them to imagine what can be done to an older place or a
Upper” from Waco, Tex.
Similar channels (DIY) and shows (TLC’s recently
cookie-cutter home.” “We have started getting more requests for shiplap,”
returned redecorating juggernaut “Trading Spaces” and
Bravo’s flashy “Flipping Out”) are capitalizing on reality says Bill Millholland, an executive vice president at
On her show, homeowners (many of whom are recent
real estate and rehab’s popularity, and it’s no wonder remodeling firm Case Design/Build, referring to the
buyers) leave the big remodeling decisions completely
anyone who is selling or renovating property has had grooved, interlocking wooden boards that “Fixer Upper”
in Liess and her team’s paintbrush-wielding hands, a
expectations influenced by these shows. hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines use to add rustic flair to
common practice on makeover shows.
everything from kitchen islands to bedroom ceilings. “I’m
“I think HGTV represents the idea that if you upgrade It’s an idea, she says, that is translating to not sure if it’s Houzz, shelter magazines or TV, but I feel
your house, you’ll improve your life,” says Baltimore more design clients willing to take on edgier like peoples’ taste is getting more modern,” he said.
blogger Kate Wagner, who runs the concepts from the pros.
tongue-in-cheek website Mcman- But is the popularity of boutique-hotel-like rooms (sofas
sionhell.com. “It’s appealing, “When I work with buyers, we talk a with perfectly aligned throw pillows, HomeGoods vases
but in many ways it’s escap- lot about looking past messy paint arranged just so) creating a slightly bland aesthetic?
ism. Remodels and real estate and flooring and having a vision,” Are these fixer-upper shows that purport to be original
transactions aren’t this easy in says real estate agent-turned-de- actually making all our houses look the same?
real life.” veloper Ati Okelo Williams, who
starred in the HGTV pilot “DC However, Compass’s Mills said, “most D.C. customers
Mandy Mills of Compass, a Flippers” last year. “But want old on the outside and new on the inside.” Still, the
web-based realty brokerage, watching lots of HGTV and blend of reality and fantasy isn’t discouraging Chang,
is one of the many real estate going on Pinterest really helps who continues to be inspired by, HGTV. “The before and
agents who have experienced people get a clearer idea of what afters always make me so curious, and watching them is
the network’s effect on home things could look like. strangely relaxing,” she said. “Plus I need ideas for that
buyers and sellers. upstairs bathroom we’re about to redo.”

September 2022 HGTV MagOnline.com • 63