What It's Really Like Being on HGTV (Hint: It's Not All Glamour)

Hosts Carmine and Mike

Which HGTV Show Were You On?

Season 1, Episode 4: Restored With The Garage Doors of HGTV’s Inside/Outside show which aired in May 2021.

The official HGTV episode summary:

With brand new insight from Mike and Carmine, skills are tested when big-ticket items take away from the budget for renovating a Spanish-style home in Leimert Park. The duo must get creative by restoring vintage pieces around the house to finish the job.

How Did We Get On HGTV?

Us normal folks

Long story short - by responding to an Instagram post. I was already very interested in renovated homes and real estate. I went to a local open house; I ended up following the real estate agent on Instagram. Then about a week later, she posted saying if anyone in the neighborhood wanted to renovate their home and be on HGTV - they were to message House8 Productions, a Production Company.

I didn’t know if it was legit as the production company only had 800 followers, and not that many posts. But I felt it was worth investigating. So I messaged them!

The Production Company quickly messaged back, saying they wanted owners who were willing to spent $100,000 of their own money on their home renovation. I said, that’s possible. The Producer called me immediately, and spoke to me as if I was a network executive. He basically pitched his show’s concept to me.

[In your best show biz voice] The concept is Inside / Outside - in which two designers compete for the owner’s budgets. They present the owners with design plans and the owners get to decide where they spend their money.

While, I was mostly interested in improving the interiors, I knew our landscaping could use an improvement as it was atrocious. Thus, I was excited at the prospect of having a team of designers weigh-in on how to best utilize my design budget.

Before

After - new paint, new tile, new landscaping

A little background on how I ended up here…

First, I had already worked closely with an architect on high-level plans to completely redesign our home. However, when I got bids from contractors their estimates were for $250k and up - as in it was a major change, major budget and I was just too afraid to spend that much on our tiny home! I balked at this cost and the amount of work involved. Thus, put our home renovation dreams on ice for 3+ years. Now that I had time to live with our house as-is, I was itching for a renovation to make it better. So a $100k home reno budget that came with a team of designers, experts and people who were willing to help make my house amazing AND a team willing to record the process for prosperity. This sounded pretty darn good to me! I was super excited to be on HGVT and have that core team help me.

Before

After - new tile, cabinets, countertop, appliances, backsplash

Passing the Network’s Sniff Test

Next steps, we scheduled a meet and greet where we walked through the house and talked about ideal changes, costs, and budget. We aligned on redoing the kitchen, bathroom, and front and backyard. The backyard was going to be a major upgrade, as the plan was to add a built-in bench and gas firepit (a major upgrade from the weed alley we currently had tended to back there).

The Producer then asked me to send photos of ourselves, and a brief write-up of ourselves so he could to pitch to the network executives. After consulting with a few entertainment vets, they suggested I play up our quirks so that we stand out and come across as exciting personalities. Thus, I make sure to play up that we had a talking parrot, that Kyle had a very popular podcast and was a data scientist (all things that made us sounds a little weird!). The Producer was concerned that maybe one of us would be quieter and less engaged in the process - which sounded like it would not be as fun to film. So I spoke to my partner to see if he’d be game to participate and be vocal as well - as they really want us to come across as fun couple on camera (which may include disagreeing on items to add drama to show).

After about a week, the Producer called me back, “Congratulations! The network loves you! The talking parrot and the podcast are all great!” YES, so we were definitely in.

At the time, the show was set to film ten individual home renovation projects around Los Angeles. Each home renovation would be one episode, so together it would be a full season. The Producer’s vision was to capture a different storytelling angle with each show. Luckily, our home was the only Spanish Colonial being done in that season. Our home was nearly 100 years old, so we definitely wanted to preserve the original details which included a lot of curved plaster and stucco work, and several arches.

Before - Bike storage and walkway

After - built in bench/storage, closed wall, new cabinets, recessed lighting

What Did a Normal Film Day Look Like?

In total, we took about 3-4 work days off to film with a crew of 7- 10 people. The first day of filming and the last were the longest lasting about 6-8 hours. The crew did most of the work prepping, getting B-roll, flying the overhead drone, and sometimes filming the hosts talking directly to the camera. Then they would call us in to film a sequence, like walking up to the house, or explaining what we wanted to change about the home. We were taped and microphoned up; which meant we had to be careful what we said as they could be listening (and that would be embarrassing!).

Many times, the crew would show up and film the workers working (refinishing our wooden career, installing floors, tiling, etc), and my partner and I did not have to be involved other than to be out of their way (since they didn’t want us in that footage). For example, on demolition day, the camera crew caught the hosts destroying the cabinets, and countertops on camera. But in reality, they only did a few seconds of work for the camera. The full demolition crew (who were largely not filmed) did all the work behind the scenes. At any time, we’d have a team of 5-7 tradesmen at our house at any given time working on our home renovation.

I think this imbalance of what was filmed versus reality is best captured by my friend’s text message as she watched the show, “OMG, I can’t believe they did all that work with those expensive watches on!” LOL, the truth is they did zero of the work. Instead they had to halt the existing construction crew mid-stream to get in there and make it look like they helped out on the demo, installation, refinishing, etc. This is all to say, don’t believe what you see on camera! We had a full on construction crew in and out of our house at all hours. The hosts were only there to make it look like they were part of it! So many hardworking people were left out of the story!

Sometimes, we’d try a storytelling angle (like talk through the tile selection), and the team would film it. A lot of what was filmed didn’t make it in the final cut. I imagine they wanted to have options for how the story arch proceeded. I recall the Producer talking a lot about how he wanted each episode’s conflict and resolution to be distinct and different. So if he thought it came across flat, or too similar to the other houses - I’m pretty sure he cut it.

I remember a few scenes where my partner and I stayed still and didn’t move much. But the feedback was that it would look too boring, so he encouraged us to move more so that it would look more interesting.

The TV show focused on the two hosts and their camaraderie and their competitiveness. So my partner and I were the normal people who reflected much of the host’s personality and jokes. Sometimes the two hosts would joke together and other times they’d make comical insults at each other, all for the camera.

Before - mediocre grass, overgrown palm trees

After - flagstone, new plants, new landscaping

Most Surprising About Being On The HGTV Show?

For me, I gained a whole new level of respect for those who tell stories with film. For example, the host would make a joke in person — and in my mind, I was thinking, “This joke is NOT funny!” But when I watched it on the final, edited and aired TV show - I actually laughed! The editors managed to make a distinctly not-funny joke actually funny on air! I was so surprised!

Many moments, I was unsure of how our home renovation could be a full 45-minute episode - as it was really a drama-free renovation. There were unexpected costs, but we budgeted ahead of time, and they were minor compared to more expensive left field costs that other homeowners have experienced. So I consider ourselves lucky.

The Producers and Editors managed to turn a mundane story of a home renovation to an actual beginning, middle and end episode! Our main point of conflict during the show was the asbestos found in the floor. In reality, it was really a non-issue, we just paid the extra couple of thousand to get it abated and removed, and it added a few weeks to the timeline. Meanwhile, the editors blew it up to be the central point of conflict on the show! They built it into a - what will we do with our budget? How will we move forward to finish the project?

It was funny, and entertaining to see how the behind-the-scenes worked!

Secondly, I found it funny that the show hosts were positioned as experts in everything. For example, the story point about the asbestos, what happened, the mitigation, the costs, and how to resolve it - all came from our general contractors who told me about the issue. I then approved the additional cost / scope of work, then my contractors moved forward removing the asbestos with a third party vendor.

By the time the Show came around to film this element, I explained the details and situation to the Producer/Director and show hosts. Then on camera, the show’s hosts “explained” it back to me, as if they had a direct relationship with the General Contractors. Thus my partner and I had to “play” like we were being told this info for the first time on camera. Talk about a man-splain! LOL .

Did You Get Paid To Be on the Show?

This is our living room

The short answer is no and yes.

Yes, because they graciously paid for $10,000 of the renovation. Keep in mind, we were putting in more than $100,000 of our own money (in the form of a loan) towards the renovation - and viola, the show gets to film pretty much all the content they want. I was not in it for the money. We had free design consultations. The front/backyard designs all came from the show’s designers - and they did an incredible job (real pros about it)! The interior design was very easy as Carmine sent me recommendations and I picked the final finishes and always had someone to ask questions and bounce ideas off of- it made it very easy and seamless. Most of all, it made me feel very confident that the 100k was going towards impactful areas of the house. These were all services by the show’s hosts and team that we cannot put a price tag on. Thus, it was worth it for me.

There were trade-offs. The show wanted meaty areas to film. For example, I had considered removing the backyard bench and firepit as it was over $5,000.00 line item. But the show’s Producers blatantly told me, that it would not be worth it for them to do the show if the backyard didn’t have a focal point — as the whole show is called Inside/Outside so they were relying on it to meet their basic promise to its viewers.

I don't feel forced to move forward with the firepit and bench, but I know if I were just doing the renovation myself, without a show and film crew - I would have definitely delayed the firepit for a later time. That being said, everyone who comes over says they love the firepit and backyard! So perhaps it’s best for guests? :) Again, no regrets!!

In summary, if I had to do it all over again - I would! I love having this filmed chapter of our lives as told through another lens. I loved having the professional consultation, which made our first big renovation seamless, easy and just made me more confident that we were maximizing our budget. I would 100% do it again.

After The Show

Our lives are pretty much the same as before the show and after the show.

One neighbor stopped by my house to pick up an item, and then later texted me saying, “Your house looks just like one from HGTV…it wouldn’t by chance be you?!?” And of course I admitted that was us and this was indeed the local HGTV house! She replied, “It’s even more beautiful in person.”

Yup, that’s our life. We go on and enjoy our newly renovated kitchen, bathroom and front and backyard :). It was worth it.

If you have any other questions feel free to reach out! linhdy@outlook.com