Are you a homeowner who likes to tinker, build, redesign, or upgrade? Do you like to watch others do the same thing? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of others love it too and that’s made home renovations a great topic for reality based TV shows. If you’re a fan of home renovation TV, chances are you’ve seen at least one episode of the three most popular home renovation shows in America. In case you’ve been off living in the wilderness with no TV access, we’ve listed them below.
1. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition airs Sunday Nights at 8:00 PM. It’s the highest rated show during that time slot, and the competition isn’t even close. Hosted by former Trading Spaces carpenter Ty Pennington, Extreme Makeover combines renovation and design with compassion and charity. Perhaps this is the single biggest reason for its overwhelming success.
Each episode features the crew completely renovating an entire house for a deserving family in need. The family is sent away for a week’s vacation while the crew enlists the help of friends, neighbors, and sometimes complete strangers to renovate the house in just seven days. The icing on the cake is found in the fact that the selected family doesn’t pay a dime for it. Whether a single mother trying to raise her own children and her nieces and nephews, a couple who have dedicated their entire lives to getting troubled kids off the streets, or families devastated by Hurricane Katrina, EMHE not only entertains the home renovation enthusiast, it also tugs at the heart. For Ty and the gang, that’s not a bad gig.
2. Trading Spaces
The wildly poplar Trading Spaces began its run in 2000, and continues on despite many changes over the years. Most renovation TV shows have their own unique spin, and for Trading Spaces it is the opportunity for neighbors to go into each other’s houses and redesign a single room. For the first few seasons the show consisted of a host and a single carpenter working on both projects. Each home had its own designer, and along with the neighbors they did the majority of the work. At the end of the weekend the home owners returned to their own houses for the final reveal.
Trading Spaces has tried a few different things, such as having no host but two carpenters, and using two houses in different cities. The cast has changed seemingly constantly, with the show using dozens of different designers and carpenters throughout its nine seasons. Yet with all that, Trading Spaces still remains a fan favorite among home renovation TV shows.
3. While You Were Out
While You Were Out ran for four seasons on TLC from 2003-2006. It started with the basic premise of remodeling a single room or area of the house, but then added an interesting twist: one member of the household was kept totally in the dark. Usually it was a husband or wife whose spouse wanted to do something special for their loved one. Take for instance the man in Toronto who was an avid hockey fan. He had a dark and not so attractive room in the basement to display his hockey passion, but the space also doubled as the kids play room. His wife wanted to give him something special; a dedicated space for him. In came the crew and turned his once drab basement into a hockey clubhouse. Needless to say, the husband was surprised after returning home from a weekend away.
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