My Experience on a DIY Network Reality TV Show

My husband and I are basically celebrities. I mean, we were on the DIY Network! If you are not familiar with the DIY Network, I’m surprised to find you here! It is a cable network devoted to Do It Yourself projects. Read on to find out what our show was about and more stuff from behind the scenes! (You can even see a clip from the show!)

Here’s what it was really like on the DIY Network

(At the bottom you can follow the link to see an excerpt from the episode! Promise me you won’t laugh too hard.)

Let me give you a little background information before I give you all of the juicy details about being on the reality TV show. When we first moved into our house, our kitchen looked like this, minus a few accessories from the previous owner. I took this picture while we were looking to buy the house. The kitchen was big and had potential..a lot of potential.

(These pictures were taken with a point and shoot camera and before I had any photography knowledge!)

Everything was squished into the far corner with the sink, and then we had this buffet line counter top! I tried to make it work for a while, with paint and accessories. The space was definitely brighter, but still really awkward! I’ll show more “before” pictures when I share my post about my recently refreshed kitchen!

After living in it for a couple of years, it got to the point where it wasn’t functional with two people cooking. Not that I cooked that much then. 🙂 You couldn’t open the dishwasher and the refrigerator at the same time. The vinyl floor was peeling up. Our ceiling was two different heights, and we had one random beam running through the middle of the room. I knew that we needed a new kitchen! To see the space today and my newest kitchen refresh, see my post, “DIY Network Kitchen Refresh!”

How did you get on the tv show?

Pure luck or pure obsession? You decide. I just had started to help a few people to decorate their space, and I loved watching HGTV and the DIY Network. I decided that we should have our kitchen renovated on a TV show. Sounds easy, right? Over the course of a few months I must have applied to 15 different shows! I didn’t give up hope though. I really believed it would happen. Then randomly at a Phillies game, I ran into a friend of a friend who had just been on Kitchen Impossible! What were the chances! She connected me to an assistant at the DIY Network, to whom I sent my application for Kitchen Impossible. After having it accepted, she came out to interview us to make sure we looked normal and could talk on camera. (insert laughing emoji)

A few days later she called to tell us that they did not have more open spots for Kitchen Impossible, but they’d love to have us on a new show called, “Good, Better, Best!” YES, please!!!

What was the show about?

The premise of the show was that you were given three different designs, by three different designers for a space you wanted to renovate. You picked which one was good, better, or best! Obviously the one that was chosen was the best! Prior to taping, the design had been chosen. Throughout the episode, you also picked accessories that were good, better, or best. These items were also predetermined. For us it was our backsplash and the ceiling beams. It would have been impossible to order everything while taping the show. They had to purchase everything far in advance. Our side porch was FULL of stuff for weeks prior to the show taping. We may have peeked in the boxes. WHAT!? Can you blame us!?

Who was the host? How was it to work with the production and construction crew?

Jeff Devlin bio from the DIY Network — Jeff Devlin image via the DIY Network

Our host was Jeff Devlin, from Stone House Revival, on the DIY Network. He was hysterical! He had a great rapport with the crew and made us feel comfortable in front of the camera…even when we stared at it blankly.

The production company and crew were amazing! You really get to know people who are in your house from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for two weeks! The contractor and his assistant were amazing guys. They were both very humble. Our head contractor knew his stuff. He even offered to come back and change something that I didn’t like after the show was over. We are grateful that they put our kitchen together! We had a great time filming the whole thing! I cannot confirm or deny that they all enjoyed a refreshment with us after the show was completely wrapped up! Good people!

Did you enjoy being on camera?

What can I say? Yes, I got to live out my acting fantasies! My husband wanted to crawl in a hole. Honestly, once that little red “recording” light comes on the camera, it’s so easy to forget what you are going to say! Many times the sun was blaring in our eyes as they held a light reflector, and we were expected to talk with ease! I’m laughing so hard just thinking about how many times we messed up! A big thank you to the Glass Entertainment Group (Formerly Nancy Glass Productions) for putting up with us!

There were several mortifying moments on camera. Moments when you are like, could we PLEASE do a retake!? But since I’m not Kate Winslet and my husband is not Leonardo DiCaprio, we didn’t get to call the shots. I like to say, “if you can’t laugh at yourself while millions of other people watch you, who can you laugh at?” 😉 My husband and I both cringe and laugh hysterically when we watch the episode!!!

What was the cost!?

For all of you wondering about the $$$$, here are the details! We did NOT get our kitchen for free. Some shows offer their guests free kitchens, but this show was not one of them. The show supplied all of the products, but we had to pay for the labor. We still ended up paying around 25k for the job. We live in the northeast, so that is relatively cheap for a kitchen remodel that was taken down to the studs! And remember, it only took two weeks!

Did you get to choose the products in your kitchen?

Yes and no. WHAT??? They had me fill out a form describing my dream space. Luckily for them ;), I had been dreaming up that kitchen space for a few years! I described everything! They said it was very detailed. I know what they really meant…”You are crazy and clearly have OCD.” They were right, but it got me a kitchen that I loved! After describing the space, they took that information and purchased products based on my descriptions. Would I have chosen a few different things? Yes, but when you put everything together, I was happy overall.

Was there anything you really didn’t like that they chose?

I really didn’t like the metallic/stainless steel tile above the subway backsplash. They felt like it needed a pop of color to break up the white cabinetry and the white subway tile. I had to pull out all of my method acting tricks in order to pretend that I was totally into that tile. Like I mentioned above though, when it was mixed with everything in the whole room, it looked awesome! The tile is cool, it was just a little dark and heavy for my taste. I changed out the plain brushed nickel knobs for crystal and chrome knobs. Stay tuned for my kitchen refresh where I update the stainless steel tile for under $100!

How was your overall experience? Would you do it again?

It was such a fun experience! At least that’s what I say! My husband may have a slightly different view, since he worked from home and was not so keen about being on TV. Even though the renovation only took 14 days (yes, only two weeks!) he had to endure the loud banging, drilling, etc. while on conference calls and writing up quotes. Since I was still teaching at the time, I thought it was fantastic! Haha! I think he would do it again, even if he makes a big stink about it. I would definitely do it again! You save a boat load of money and time on the renovation!