Tag: home renovation

previews, series

Series Redux: Fixer Upper Mysteries

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Number 11 in the Fixer-Upper series – The Knife Before Christmas came out on Tuesday – and as I said in the Christmas series post, this one getting a hardback release, which is new thing for the series and probably a positive sign for the health of the series. And as I do love a series of mysteries about house renovating I thought I’d take an opportunity to talk about them, especially as this is probably the best of the construction-set mystery series that I’ve read – because (and this is a common theme with series that I like) the lead character is good at her job, and her competence (or otherwise) isn’t really used as a plot point.

Our detective is Shannon Hammer, who runs a building contractors in a small town on the California coast. Over the course of the series she’s worked on all sorts of buildings – as Lighthouse Cove has plenty of historic buildings of various types and Kate Carlisle has been able to invent more when necessary without it seeming weird! Shannon has a solid group of friends at the start of the series and has added a love interest as well – which has been a pretty slow burn, which again I like because it’s annoying when (mostly) heroines are married off fast because authors seem to find it harder to find scenarios to put them into after that point – particularly when kids appear for female leads. The blurb for this one has her working at a hotel in the town who are famous for their events between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The family of the owners are less keen on the festivities than their parents are, on account of their potential inheritance – and then of course someone turns up dead. It sounds like a lot of fun – and it’s a shame that I’ll probably have to wait a bit to read it, on account of that non-matching hardback. Hey ho. I’ll get there in the end though.

You can buy it now though, if you’re a kindle reader or don’t mind that non-matching thing – here are the Kindle and Kobo links. You probably won’t be able to find the book in shops – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in a UK store, but you should be able to order it in.

Have a great weekend!

tv

Not a Book: Home Town

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Given that I’ve already written posts about two series about home renovations and made a romance about a home renovation a book of the week, it should not be a surprise to you that I love a show about renovating houses – particularly American houses where it seems like it’s much easier to rip things up and reconfigure than it is here in the UK. And with autumn being all cosy and making me want to nest, this is the perfect time of year to be watching them!

Home Town is probably my current favourite of the HGTV series – and I’ve watched a lot, including several on my various long-haul flights over the last six months. Home Town is set in Laurel, Mississppi and features Ben and Erin Napier, a husband and wife duo (as do so many HGTV series) who restore historic homes. In the majority of episodes, Ben and Erin show their renovatees (is that a word?) a couple of housing choices, and present them with a painting of how the exterior would look after it’s been renovated and then once the hosue has been bought, they renovate it without the new purchasers seeing what is being done (or at least that’s what they say!) until the big reveal at the end,when they’re also presented with that painting from the start – now framed and with The *family name* house written underneath it. Coz every show has to have a thing right.

Ben is a carpenter and woodworker and Erin is a designer and artist. The series started in 2016 and having recently watched some of the earlier series you can see how both of them have got better at renovating things and also how prices in Laurel have gone up as more houses have been done up over the last eight seasons. I find Ben and Erin charming and I love that her decorating style isn’t black and white with shades of grey like some (Christina on the Coast I’m looking at you) but is all about colour and pattern. I also really like their commitment to improving their small town – which seems really genuine and backed up by the fact that they own and run businesses in the town. It’s all very low stakes, and low conflict and just perfect for watching while you’re doing the ironing!

Home Town is on HGTV and Discovery+ in the UK. Have a great Sunday

tv

Not a Book: Home Renovation TV

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I’m slightly left field today, because this is part recommendation, part recommendation request! I really love home renovation and home improvement TV series. I think I always have – I watched Changing Rooms back in the day, and Justin and Colin’s Million Pound House Experiment or whatever it was called, and I’ve been watching Grand Designs for probably two decades at this point. But British home makeover programmes have limits – they’re called planning permission and brick houses. So the real joy for me these days are American home renovation shows.

I remember when I first watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition back in the day and being perplexed at how quickly a house could be built – because I hadn’t properly absorbed that many American homes aren’t made of brick or stone like the houses that I grew up in, but are wood framed construction with cladding. And of course this means that you can do a lot of changes very quickly – and that flipping homes can be a a much quicker and more viable business than it is here in the UK. When I was living in the US five years ago (!) I discovered Fixer-Upper and Flip or Flop and thus it really started – and these days on any given week I’ve probably got episodes of two or three different shows on the TiVo box that I can watch while I’m doing the ironing (if I’m not watching Miss Marple or Inspector Alleyn or Doris Day). At the moment it’s the final series of Good Bones, the latest series of Home Town and Christina on the Coast. But basically if people are buying houses and ripping them apart – either to renovate for clients or to sell on, I will watch it. I find them tremendously relaxing. Yes there’s loads of money involved, but they feel quite low stakes compared to some of other reality TV options that are out there and I like watching houses be transformed. Whether I’d live in a haven of white and grey is another matter, but that’s not the point really is it?

But obviously renovating houses – even in America – takes time. So there aren’t a lot of programmes in a season which means you need to have your eyes open for quite a few different shows. At this point, I’ve done all the obvious things – as well as the shows I’ve mentioned I’ve done Flipping 101, Property Brothers (although I find them a bit wearing after a while so small doses), Christina in the Country, Fixer to Fabulous, Rock the Block and Hollywood Houselift on the renovation front and then Selling Sunset (the early series when there were actually houses) and Luxe Listings Sydney on the buying and selling houses front.

So if anyone has any recommendations for more stuff that I can add to the list – let me know! Have a great Sunday everyone.