Are you an avid TV watcher? Do you spend hours daydreaming about ways to decorate, renovate, or otherwise improve your home? If so, we’ve compiled a list of shows you definitely don’t want to miss.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – Each episode features a family that has faced some sort of recent or ongoing hardship such as a natural disaster or a family member with a life-threatening illness, in need of new hope. The show’s producers coordinate with a local construction contractor, which then coordinates with various companies in the building trades for a makeover of the family’s home. This includes interior, exterior and landscaping, performed in seven days while the family is on vacation (paid for by the show’s producers) and documented in the episode. If the house is beyond repair, they replace it entirely. The show’s producers and crew film set and perform the makeover but do not pay for it. The materials and labor are donated. Many skilled and unskilled volunteers assist in the rapid construction of the house. The show has usually earned positive reviews and even earned two Emmy Awards.
Fixer Upper – Chip and Joanna Gaines worked with clients on buying and remodeling homes. In total the couple had worked on over 100 homes. On the show, the Gaineses start by showing one couple three potential homes for purchase in central Texas, each of which requires a varying amount of repair or renovation. Once the couple chooses their home, Joanna designs it while Chip is the lead contractor. The buyers typically have a total budget of under $200,000 with at least $30,000 in renovations. They renovate fixer uppers. Each episode offers something different.
Design on a Dime – The show has a group of designers that redo rooms for under one thousand dollars. The premise of the show is that you can make rooms beautiful without busting your budget. The designers make a lot of the things that go into the rooms themselves. On the show they will describe how to make the products so you can do them yourself if you wish. Some of the things they make are pretty cool. What they don’t make, they buy at inexpensive stores, yard sales, or get for free. They love showing that you can find nice items at yard and garage sales. Sometimes they will re-paint items to make them match the room, but often.
House Hunters Renovation – In each episode, the featured home buyers tour three for-sale homes and choose the one that is the perfect fixer-upper. The added bonus? Cameras also capture what happens after the home is purchased and the renovation project begins. The progress is charted as the new homeowners turn their property into home sweet home, then they finally reveal their new space.
Flip or Flop – Tarek and Christina El Moussa lead dizzying professional lives. After finding success as real estate agents and then experiencing the drastic downside of the housing market, the young couple switched career gears: They now buy distressed properties — foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned homes — remodel them and sell them at a profit. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. “Flip or Flop” tracks the El Moussas’ roller-coaster journey in each episode, beginning with a cash purchase at auction of a home — often sight unseen — and the fix-it-up process, to the nail-biting wait to find a buyer.
Love it or List it – Interior designer Hilary Farr and real estate agent David Visentin compete for the affections of fed-up homeowners looking to either renovate or sell, as Farr transforms their worn-out space into a welcoming one while Visentin works to find them a new home. At the end of each hourlong episode, the homeowners decide if the changes designed by Farr are enough for them to stay in their current home, or if the new property Visentin has found better suits their needs. So whether they love it or list it, the homeowners come out on top.