Even COVID can’t stop HGTV from airing new episodes of their best shows with new episodes of Love it or List It, Good Bones, and Property Brothers. While those shows are all great, here I list the three newest shows that I have really enjoyed watching. I too want to pretend I’ll have the marble backsplash of my dreams one day. Maybe.
To be fair to HGTV, they’ve done a great job weaving in new footage from the hosts of shows watching back old episodes. On shows like LILI, Hilary and David actually followed up with past homeowners to find out if they truly loved or listed their properties. (Or so the show posits.) Which brings me to my first suggestion!
Hot Mess House
If you’ve found yourself with the energy to declutter and want some support, this is the show for you. Host Cas Aarssen (like our favorite Marie Kondo) focuses on what works for her clients and creating spaces that reflect their personalities. Using the clutterbug framework, Aarssen points out that most (if not all) of us fall into four categories. (I’m a bee!) If you can figure out which clutterbug you are then you’re more likely to organize in ways that actually work long-term instead of feeling stressed, awful, or guilty about the mess and clutter.
Each of the four episodes follows two families struggling to declutter and organize their lives in ways that work for them. All of it was shot remotely, with Cas using video calls to work with her clients. She also sends them curated products that will last a lifetime and actually serve organizational and functional purposes which is what any of us could ever ask for, really.
Plus unlike the newest organization series on Netflix, Cas does not have a love for plastic containers! Seriously don’t watch that one. The show is just an extended Container Store advertisement.
Build Me Up
Orlando Soria’s new series is actually the second season of Unspouse My House (also on HGTV) which I discussed last year. With much smaller budgets than his colleagues, Soria goes about renovating areas of the home that have seen better days after big life changing events in his clients lives like divorce, job changes, and even death. His energy is infectious and he actually provides tips for viewers to use in their own home which is why I watch HGTV in the first place!
Each episode also has a really great moment where the homeowner and Soria talk through the life-changing event spurring the wish to renovate and move forward which I super appreciate. So much of the renovation world is about remaking a space for the viewers as opposed to what the homeowner wants and actually needs.
Backyard Takeover
Finally, though certainly HGTV has more shows coming, I’ve really enjoyed the sheer chaos that is Jamie Durie recovering large backyards from all manners of brush and overgrowth. Some of you might recognize Durie as the judge and host of The Apartment, an Asian reality series where contestants renovate their way to the prize of a luxury apartment in Kuala Lumpur.
Honestly the video from HGTV’s Instagram below is enough but if you need more convincing, the show follows Durie and the homeowners camping outside in the backyard while they renovate it to be safe and usable. There’s a machete! The family members all have their part in the renovation which feels much more relatable than the staged “host does some demolition but really contractors do the majority of the work.” Durie too provides suggestions to the viewers on how to make our own backyards (if they exist) functional.
Future Shows
In the vein of the above series, HGTV has ordered Ty Breaker with Ty Pennington for 2021 helping families choose to renovate their current home or with the help of Alison Victoria (ugh), Grace Mitchell (!!!), or Sabrina Soto (!!!) choose a new home to renovate. So Property Brothers Buying and Selling meets Love it or List It meets Stay or Sell with a competitive twist.
Lorraine Bracco also has her own series My Big Italian Adventure coming in October after she purchased a 200 year old house in Sicily for one euro! I have many thoughts but will wait to watch before yelling about how ridiculous that premise is.
Finally, the series I’m most excited to watch is with $50K Three Ways from HGTV Design Star winner Tiffany Brooks. She will present families with three radically different plans for three different spaces and the family will pick which one works best. Yet another twist on the Property Brothers “option one or option two” premise but I love Brooks and it’s set in Chicago which is an area less seen on the network.
Now to eat through my screen all the new Food Network competitions themed around Halloween…
Images courtesy of HGTV.
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