As much as we love home renovation shows, and as satisfied as we feel after watching the big "reveal," there are a few lingering questions leave us scratching our heads: Why don't we get to see some rooms on programs like Fixer Upper and Home Town? Do the unseen spaces even get renovated? Are they included in the overall budget? And how does the network decide which rooms get airtime?
Joanna Gaines recently revealed why we don't see all the rooms on Fixer Upper (they use them for storage), but what's the reasoning behind it on other HGTV shows?
Now, thanks to Erin Napier, co-star of Home Town, we have some answers:
“We design the rooms that our homeowners tell us matter most to them.” — Erin Napier
"People often ask us why we don't do bathrooms or why all the rooms aren't shown on the show," she wrote in a post on Instagram, "and the answer is easy: we design the rooms that our homeowners tell us matter most to them (usually common areas), what their budget will safely cover, and what we have time to do for television since we only have 8 weeks and are renovating 3 other homes in that time frame! If you don't see a bathroom or bedroom, it's typically because it didn't need much work or our handy homeowners are weekend warriors who take it on themselves on a budget and with ample time."
Ah, so that's why some rooms get left out of the reveal. While the rest of the house gets most of the "love" (and the budget!), other spaces might sit untouched until the owner has more money and more time to spend on them. It makes sense that HGTV wouldn't be able to show everything within the constraints of a 30-minute episode, and anyone who's ever purchased a home can relate to the idea of prioritizing funds to the most pertinent parts of the project.
We can always count on Erin and her cohost husband, Ben Napier, to keep things real. The down-to-earth pair frequently shares intimate looks into their lives and their home on Instagram and Erin's blog. They've spilled some other behind-the-scenes secrets before and have remained refreshingly honest about what it's like to become HGTV stars, always keeping the focus on their beloved hometown, Laurel, Mississippi. "In a small town, everybody already knows everybody's business," Ben told us back in February, "which is part of the beauty of a small town. [The people of Laurel] are excited, but we're still just Erin and Ben from around the corner."
