The Time We Were Featured On The Property Brothers As The Dream Home
Updated: Aug 13
Early on in my journey to becoming an interior decorator, something pretty incredible happened. At the time, I was raising three young children and taking online interior design courses, dreaming of one day turning my passion for decorating into a career. Our North Vancouver home was for sale when the producers of HGTV's Property Brothers reached out and asked if they could feature it as the "Dream Home" on an upcoming episode.
As a longtime HGTV enthusiast and aspiring designer, I was thrilled. What made the opportunity even more meaningful was that the producers were drawn to the family-friendly spaces I had created throughout our home. The homeowners featured in the episode, Danielle and Chad, had three young children and were specifically looking for a home with a dedicated playroom. Hearing that our home checked all the boxes felt like a wonderful affirmation at a time when I was just beginning to pursue a career in design.
There was just one small problem: because our home was listed for sale, most of our children's toys had been packed away in the garage! I agreed to transform my home office into a playroom for filming, and I had only four days to make it happen. What many people don't realize is that the show doesn't provide staging assistance for the featured homes, so the challenge was entirely up to us. Thankfully, I had a few enthusiastic helpers to oversee the playroom project!
Another fun detail to thicken the plot - the day we officially agreed to be on the show was also the day that we travelled to Victoria to pick up our new puppy! Yep, life wasn't hectic enough with 3 kiddos and a house for sale, so we doubled down and added a malti-poo puppy to the mix!
Looking back now, I can appreciate just how ambitious this whole undertaking was. At the time, however, I was running entirely on adrenaline! I was equal parts excited and stressed as I prepared our home for its television debut. I was used to getting the house show-ready for real estate showings, but preparing for a nationally televised HGTV show felt like an entirely different level of pressure!
On filming day, I cleaned right up until the moment the crew politely informed me it was time to leave. Homeowners weren't permitted to be on site during filming, but I was so curious about the process and I'll admit - super keen to meet the Brothers! But finally I couldn't stall my departure any longer so I handed over the keys and left the filming crew to work their magic.
As per the filming agreement, I left for a few hours and came back after the filming had wrapped. Our home was left exactly how we left it, minus one of the cute cupcakes I bought for staging. (months later when the episode aired, I learned that one of the Brothers ate one of the cupcakes!) The only evidence that Jonathan and Drew had visited our home was a signed thank you post-card (which I still have!).
Later that evening I was chilling on the couch with my new little puppy and a hard-earned glass of wine. I was scrolling social media and the Property Brothers website and an image immediately caught my attention…there was something very familiar about it. Turns out, Jonathan had posted a picture on his social media feeds of himself standing in my very own family room holding onto Sadie and Stella’s princess dresses!
The caption on his photo was “Ug, I never know what to wear”! This was pretty exhilarating for me, I have to say. To see a picture of this celebrity standing in my family room? Pretty cool!
Looking back, I am still amazed at what we were able to accomplish in such a short period of time to prepare our home for filming. Between raising three young children, getting our home market-ready, and making sure every detail was camera-ready, it was certainly a memorable experience!
More than anything, I remember feeling incredibly excited and honored that our home had been selected as the "Dream Home." As an HGTV enthusiast and aspiring designer, it felt like such a special moment. Little did I know that 13 years later I would be running my own interior decorating business and still sharing my love of home design with others.
Below is a clip from the episode. Watching it today always brings a smile to my face. My design style has certainly evolved over the years, but I can still appreciate the thought and effort that went into creating a home our family loved. I especially enjoy seeing the playroom, a space I worked so hard to pull together for our kids, and hearing the brothers joke around in a room that held so many happy memories for our family.
Jonathan and Drew, if you are out there reading this, thank you for featuring my home at such a pivotal time in both my personal and professional life! If you ever come back to Vancouver, I would love to work with you!
Here are a few more pictures of the playroom I staged, all snapped in quite a rush on my iphone, so excuse the poor quality!
xo, Kerri
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