Mina and Karen. Chip and Joanna, Ben and Erin. All duos known and loved by watchers of HGTV, including me. I always say I don’t watch reality TV, but I tell a fib. What I don’t watch are the ones that feel a bit too much like a game show or revel in the ‘Wow, aren’t they screwed-up’ ethos. Does that sound judgmental? Sorry. Not. And while I know it’s as staged as any of those, I love me a home revenovation show because your home is a physical manifestation of your values. And now I have a new duo and a new show: The Nate and Jeremiah Home Project.
We all met Nate Berkus through Oprah (Love writing that. Makes it sounds like she gave me a personal introduction. Like I know her. I don’t). He’s been in our living rooms and causing us to look around and consider redecorating for several decades. I knew he got married and became a father, but didn’t get to meet his better half, Jeremiah Brent, in the reality TV sense of the word, until I saw him on Netflix’s Say, I Do. Yes, another reality show, but the hit of joy I needed at that stage of the pandemic.
The Nate and Jeremiah Project
Now they have this new show on HGTV, and I am hooked. The premise is tried and true. They go into a home that for one reason or another need reconfiguring, listen to what the homeowner wants and need, takes their money and fixes it to a bunch of oohs and ahhh from grateful homeowners. The hook for me, they go though the owners belongings and does a yes/no/maybe review of everything. the ‘no’ items get donated or sometimes sold. The ‘maybe’ pile sometimes go and other times get reconfigured and brought back. The ‘yes’ items are what they value most. The do it at the start, and then bering them back in the middle of the remodel, to see if, with an idea of the new space, they still want what they thought they wanted. I love watching people reckon with their past through their objects.
And I’m now considering all my stuff. Thanks guys.
Rethink, Repurpose, Reimagine
Somehow our minds get stuck. Not theirs. They can alter things in ways that seem simple, but that on one in the throws of a move or other big change tends to think of. Re-paint, reupholster, or reframe and it’s a new object. The changes themselves are all relatively easy and/or inexpensive, but take vision. They have that vision and it brings rooms, and houses, back to life.
No Snobs
Best of all, they don’t judge. They don’t stick their nose in the air if what you love is out of date, dumpy looking or not their taste. We endow things with meaning and they get that. They don’t fight it. Better, they tend to love the story behind why we love it. Understanding, they find a place for our beloved, but uncool, possessions that allows them to have the same meaning in new spaces.
During a time when real involves both real stress and real boredom, a show about changing your space appeals. The fact that two handsome men are leading the charge, so much the better. And we get to see their oh so cute kids? I’m all in. What about you? What are your therapy shows.