Do Homeowners Get To Keep The Furniture On Fixer To Fabulous?
From the moment you turn on an HGTV show, it's easy to get invested. The homeowners are charming, and the hosts seem to want to genuinely help them create their dream spaces. But the nagging question of whether reality television is real or scripted may lay in the back of viewers' minds. Questions like whether the hosts actually work on the home and if the homeowners can keep the furniture are often at the forefront. While there may be some television and editing magic to speed up the timeline, lovers of HGTV's "Fixer to Fabulous" can rest assured that the show is very real.
"I was amazed that people put so much trust in us," host Dave Marrs says in an interview with PureWow. "They'll literally move out of their house for five to six weeks and give up full control." Couple Dave and Jenny Marrs renovate homes in Northwest Arkansas on "Fixer to Fabulous" and always try to create a finished product that reflects the homeowners living there. "Our business prior to this was custom — with a custom house, you're really getting input every step of the way. But with [the show], we have an initial conversation with the homeowners and then after that, they really leave. And then it's a surprise." So when the cameras stop rolling and the crew leaves, what happens to the perfectly curated furniture in the homes they design?
They can, but they don't always do it
The spaces designed on "Fixer to Fabulous" are stunning, partly thanks to the furniture and décor. But where does the new furniture come from? Renovations and décor come from the homeowners' budgets, as HGTV doesn't pay for any part of the remodel. Therefore, Jenny Marrs tries to be conscious about the new items she brings in. "If there's a piece of their furniture that we can use, we do," Jenny Marrs says via PureWow. "But otherwise, I work with a local firm and pretty much figure out what I would do for the client."
The finished rooms on "Fixer to Fabulous" are a mix of the homeowners' furniture and décor and pieces brought in from local staging companies. Betsy Ayala, HGTV's senior vice president of production and development, confirms that's the case for most of the renovation shows on the network. Ayala says that occasionally the renovation will include some of the furniture, but in most cases, the final look is staged (via HGTV).
If the homeowners like what they see, they can choose to purchase the pieces. "They come in and if they like everything, it's done, and they move right in," Jenny says. "Or if they don't and want to bring their old furniture back in, then we'll move [the staged furniture] out." If the homeowners want their space to look like it did on reveal day, they'll have to pay a little extra.