All the Rooms You Didn’t Get to See in Our HGTV Home Tour
And the real reasons why we didn’t let the cameras show them, plus some fun behind the scenes facts and photos
Hi!
How was your weekend? I wanted to share something fun today that we’ve always wanted to show you but never got around to it…
While our home tour with HGTV came out last summer, it was actually filmed one year ago this month (on February 10th, 2023 actually). That’s production for you! It also aired on the same day as PJ’s horrible car accident last summer, so that day is etched in my memory for more than one reason.
An email came through towards the end of 2022, saying that HGTV would be doing a few home tours in our neck of the woods and wanted to know if we would be interested in filming one with them. We immediately said yes because this was a great opportunity to have a well-made piece of content that told our house’s story and all the history behind it. If you don’t already know, we live in the same house I grew up in until I was 18, and I’ve only not lived here for eight years of my life. Needless to say, it’s a very, very special house for me.
If you’ve been with us a while, you may or may not know we had a television pilot with HGTV in the summer of 2017 called Down to the Studs. It didn’t get picked up for a full series, but we spent six months of our life filming it and it premiered on HGTV twice, once in June (on Pride weekend, no less!) and a month later in July.
When it didn’t get picked up, we were devastated for a short while. We had devoted so much of our blood, sweat, and tears (all three especially true for PJ, who lost 15 pounds during the filming of it because of all the stress) into fixing up this house and shooting that show, and it all just felt like it was for nothing.
But it wasn’t for nothing. It just felt like it at the time. We received a lot of fun press for the show, with features on Country Living and Pride and other publications promoting the show. It exposed us to a wider audience who weren’t familiar with our little Instagram account of 60k followers at the time.
We worked with HGTV again later that year in a web series about crafts which was a blast to shoot. We were pitted against each other and had to complete a certain number of crafts and were judged on each one. Who doesn’t love a good ole’ fashioned competition between husband and husband?
So when they reached out to us again for the home tour, it kind of felt like an old friend you haven’t talked to in a while popping in to say hi. It felt familiar. So we said yes.
Some of you pointed out, while watching the tour, that we didn’t show all the rooms in our home. That’s true, and there was a reason for it.
Not all of the rooms were “camera ready”, if you will. Let me break it down room by room and why we didn’t show them:
Our bedroom
We didn’t include our bedroom in the tour because it was an actual disaster. The roof had been leaking for months right above our room, which led to water spots and the paint chipping in some areas. We got the roof fixed, but not in time to get our room back together for filming. Such a bummer.
Our bathroom
We didn’t let the cameras into our bathroom, either, because it didn’t make sense for us to not show our bedroom but show our bathroom, which is connected to our bedroom. So the solution was to just not show any of it: our bedroom, bathroom, or our closet.
The downstairs hall bath
I’m not sure why this bathroom didn’t make it into the final cut of the episode, to be honest. It was camera-ready and even had a fresh coat of paint! You’ll get to see what it looks like and the color I chose (that I’ve always wanted to use) below.
Our boys’ bedroom
This was another room that just wasn’t ready for its close up. No way, no how. To be honest, their room has never really felt “finished” to either of us, and it’s because we haven’t yet dedicated the time and energy to design it like we have our bedroom and our daughter’s and even our guest room. The time will come, though, and I can’t wait. And when it does, we will be doing a complete makeover with paint, curtains, furniture, rug, the works.
The landing
This is the open room at the top of the stairs that leads into the boys’ room and connects to the upstairs hallway. It’s been many things over the years: our office, a TV room for the kids, a hangout room for the kids sans TV, and, currently, a workout room for when PJ works out at home. It’s not a decorated space, but I really want to get away from that mindset that every room needs to look a certain way in order to show it online. I cringe even typing the words “It’s not a decorated space” as a valid reason to not share it. But I suppose that’s what this post is all about! Showing the spaces we didn’t feel were "done” enough for the cameras.
Without further ado, here are what all the rooms we didn’t show you on our tour look like today: