Tag Archives: HGTV Canada

Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

The Scott Brothers help create forever homes in new HGTV Canada series

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From a media release:

Drew and Jonathan Scott are on a mission to turn families’ ordinary houses into their lifelong dream homes in the new series Property Brothers: Forever Home (7×60) premiering Monday, June 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada. In their latest series, the brothers help families whose current property needs a complete makeover in order to make it their forever home. To unlock a home’s full potential, Drew and Jonathan will focus on overhauling several key spaces to suit the families’ needs and wishes.

In each episode, Drew will take the homeowners on a tour of nearby renovated homes to learn about the features they love and which ones they can live without. With this information and the homeowner’s budget in mind, Jonathan will bring the family’s design dreams to life using detailed 3D graphics. He will present the homeowners with two options that showcase different ways their house can be reimagined for different budgets. The stakes are high for everyone – for the couples, who must decide how their ideal home should look, and for Drew and Jonathan, who must deliver renovations that surpass the homeowners’ expectations.

Property Brothers: Forever Home is produced by Scott Brothers Entertainment in association with Corus Entertainment Inc., with Drew and Jonathan as executive producers.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Season 2 of Worst to First premieres May 16 on HGTV Canada

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From a media release:

Skyrocketing real estate prices and renovation costs make owning a dream home a challenging reality, but best friends and builders Mickey and Sebastian are here to help. In Season 2 of Worst to First, premiering Thursday, May 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada, they continue to transform the worst houses in the neighbourhood into the best on the block. While the guys lead the house search and tackle the renovations, designer Catherine Yuen joins the team to find design solutions to enhance each space. Together the trio create forever homes that reflect the needs and personalities of the homeowners.

Making her debut on the network and in Worst to First, B.C. designer Catherine Yuen brings her holistic design approach to the show. Inspired by her mother’s love of design and renovation shows, Catherine became an Interior Designer after earning her Bachelor of Interior Design at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. With a fresh approach and creative flare, Catherine develops beautiful and functional spaces that reflect her clients’ personality and style.

This season kicks off with the Worst to First team creating a fresh start for a blended family. With four kids and two dogs, John and Lyndsay need more space. Their current property has all six of them squished into the upper level because nobody wants to venture into the dark and uninviting lower level. They need an open-concept family room, dedicated office space, and easy access to the pool area that will give their family enough space to spread out. Mickey, Sebastian, and Catherine make every effort to impress to make this family’s reno dreams a reality.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Backyard Builds returns to HGTV with more impressive and attainable renovations

When I last spoke to Sarah Keenleyside and Brian McCourt, their fledgling series, Backyard Builds, was set to debut. They had joined their fellow HGTV Canada designers and builders on Home to Win but that hadn’t been broadcast yet either. They were nervous, and excited, for both projects. Now the duo is back for the sophomore go-around on their renovation series.

“To call this a family is an understatement,” Keenleyside says over the phone alongside McCourt. “The whole HGTV crew takes you under their wing. Brian and I still pinch ourselves sometimes. We’re like, ‘Dude, we’re working with Scott McGillivray and Sarah Richardson!’ These are the people we used to watch and now we’re their peers.”

Backyard Builds returns Thursday with back-to-back episodes at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT with Keenleyside and McCourt once again blowing up bad-looking backyards and turning them into something amazing. And while the transformations are truly impressive—a family full of energetic boys sees their yard turned into a basketball court—the projects add value to the home and aren’t outrageously expensive for the homeowners. Last year, I wrote that the pair are almost criminally good-looking but know their stuff, are articulate, don’t talk down to viewers and have fun. That continues in Season 2, but McCourt says the projects have changed this time around.

“The projects were fun and whimsical [in Season 1] but didn’t relate to the viewer on a practical sense,” McCourt says. “This season we’ve done a lot more practical backyards and really dove into low-maintenance ideas for homeowners.” That’s a tall order when your episode clients vary from big and small families to single guys, but they relished the challenge. In Thursday’s second episode, the pair and their renovation team descend on a small bungalow owned by a dude looking to have space in the yard to entertain. The desert-like landscape and stubborn tree stump provided a challenge for McCourt but he triumphed and, with Keenleyside’s keen design flair, the homeowner ended up with a sweet outdoor pub-themed oasis.

“We have some really strong backyards this season,” McCourt says. “We did an outdoor kitchen with an outdoor pizza oven with two structures—one is a lounge and one is a secondary prep space—and in between we actually suspended a pergola. It’s really something special.”

Backyard Builds airs Thursdays at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

Image courtesy of Corus Entertainment.

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Island of Bryan premieres April 7 on HGTV Canada

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From a media release:

Starting Sunday, April 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, HGTV Canada gives viewers an in depth, personal look at the Baeumler’s struggle to transform their beachfront resort in the new Canadian original series Island of Bryan (13×60). Taking on their biggest challenge yet, Bryan and Sarah Baeumler move to the Bahamas with their four children to overhaul a run-down resort into a booming business. Despite the stunning backdrop of Bahamas’ white beaches and crystal blue water, they quickly discover that this is no vacation. Faced with daily hurdles and unforeseen challenges from construction delays and design limitations, Bryan and Sarah must work together to turn their embattled piece of paradise into the stunning dream of the Caerula Mar Club.

After a successful second season of Bryan Inc. – the #1 program on HGTV Canada last spring* – fans will experience the Baeumler’s bold and risky adventure first hand, seeing the step-by-step progress of the resort as it is transformed – from the hotel block and the private villas, to the poolside and the main club house. The final result is a beautiful boutique hotel that marries Sarah’s distinctive style with modern Caribbean design concepts and Bryan’s high level construction standards.

Island of Bryan is produced by Si Entertainment in association with Corus Entertainment’s HGTV Canada. New episodes will be available On Demand and at HGTV.ca each week after broadcast. Viewers can travel behind-the-scenes with exclusive Island of Bryan content at HGTV.ca, including tours of the Baeumler’s favourite rooms and spots around the island, fun videos of their four active kids (a.k.athe “B Team”), Q&A with Bryan and Sarah, and more.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Home to Win: Bryan and Sarah Baeumler and Sangita Patel preview Season 3

Bryan and Sarah Baeumler are no strangers to working together. The pair, in addition to being married and with a passel of kids, the home builder and interior designer are business partners too. Viewers have seen that both in House of Bryan and most recently in Bryan Inc. But the pair is still getting used to working with the massive group of HGTV Canada talent assembled for Season 3 of Home to Win.

Returning Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada, Home to Win once again reunites 26 of this country’s biggest names in builders and designers with host Sangita Patel to renovate one piece of property for one deserving Canadian. But unlike the last two seasons of Home to Win, the home is only up for grabs for a first-time homebuyer (get details on how to audition). And, in the bursting Southern Ontario real estate market, that’s huge.

“It was a great concept, a great idea,” Sarah Baeumler says alongside Bryan and Patel during a press junket at Corus Entertainment headquarters. “When we’re talking to people that want to buy a house and what to look for, the idea and cost right now is a very difficult thing to talk about because it’s out of most people’s realm. To be able to do this and have somebody win their first-time home is spectacular.”

As with last season, Sunday’s return follows Bryan Baeumler and Scott McGillivray as they walk through a trio of homes that are potential projects. The show’s producers hit a home run when they paired the veteran builders together for the task; as contributor Tanya writes in her preview, Baeumler and McGillivray share a similar sense of humour and get on like gangbusters.

“We show up, have fun and have a laugh,” Bryan Baeumler says. “I’ll be honest, nobody laughs at me as hard as I laugh at me. Scott’s the same. We don’t get a lot of time to hang out when we’re not [filming] because we’re both very busy with family, kids and work, so it’s nice to just hang out with the brother I never wanted and have some fun.”

We won’t give away which of the three homes Baeumler and McGillivray choose as the one to be made over (well, that, and we’re not allowed to say), but it’s a great choice. And one with plenty of challenges. Still, folks like Brian McCourt, Sarah Keenleyside, Kortney and Dave Wilson, Drew and Jonathan Scott, Sabrina Smelko, Jo Alcorn, Carson Arthur, Danielle Bryk, Kate Campbell, Sebastian Clovis, Mike Holmes, Mike Holmes Jr., Paul LaFrance, Tiffany Pratt and Samantha Pynn are up to the test. With Sarah Richardson and Tommy Smythe coming up with the overall design style of the home, the over two dozen-strong team gets to work.

“This is one of the most important things about this season and what we learned from [making] the last two seasons,” Sarah says. “We didn’t take the time to come up with a cohesive plan, we went off and were creating all of these things. Being able to stand together and say, ‘OK, what does everyone feel?’ You pick something that is sort of neutral ground. Somebody like me, who is into neutral colours and white, can wrap my head around it. We all came to a consensus on the overall feel and then go off on our own little tangents.”

Are you hoping to be one of the Canadians in the running to win the home? Patel has some advice when it comes to the audition process and making your video.

“Just be real,” she advises. “Be yourself in your audition tape. Don’t do anything crazy. Tell us why you need this house and why you want to get this house.”

Home to Win airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada.

Images courtesy of Corus Entertainment.

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