As you look around your house, you probably can’t prevent yourself from imagining what your home would look like with a few fixes and renovations.
Perhaps you want to modernize your kitchen, or you want to declutter your bedroom. You may want to enhance the aesthetics in your bathroom with a spa-like shower and tub and a heated floor.
To draw some inspiration, you should watch home improvement shows. The knowledgeable hosts and contractors provide professional advice to motivate you to start your DIY dream project.
Several of these series are HGTV staples like Good Bones and Property Brothers. However, other shows are becoming increasingly popular. Netflix’s Tidying Up with Marie Kondo took the decluttering world by storm.
You don’t have to be ready to sledgehammer a wall or rip out your old plumbing to enjoy these home renovation shows. The shows are fascinating peeks into the guts of your house, and the hosts are incredibly entertaining. Check out the list below and see if you agree with our picks.
The Best Home Improvement TV Shows
- Dream Home Makeover
The show follows interior designer Shea McGee and her husband, Syd, as they help families create their dream homes. The show also documents McGee’s life as they run the studio, raise three daughters, and renovate their home.
- Grand Designs
This British TV series broadcasts on Channel 4, a free-to-air public broadcast network. The homes have unusual, elaborate, or extravagant homebuilding projects
- Home Improvement
What list would be complete without Tim, the Tool Man Taylor? This show was one of the highest-rated sitcoms in the 90s with 34 Emmy Nominations and Awards. It also featured episodes of Tool Time, the home improvement show-within-a-show.
- Good Bones
This popular HGTV show features the mother-daughter duo Karen Laine and Mina Hawk. Their expertise in renovating homes in disrepair into beautiful homes with green spaces and work by local artists is nothing short of amazing.
- Tidying Up With Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo travels across America, visiting families, sparking joy, and leaving organized and decluttered homes in her wake. Watch Kondo as she guides homeowners as they reclaim open space by following her equal parts philosophy, art, and organization process.
- Amazing Interiors
Don’t judge a book by its cover in this surprise-filled show. Although featured homes typically have ordinary, even dull exteriors, the interiors are unique, custom, and produce wonder.
- Home Town
Erin and Ben Napier renovate homes in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. People tune in to watch the married renovators restore houses and, by extension, the entire town, and it’s fun to watch the sweet marital moments that Erin and Ben share.
- Fixer Upper
This HGTV home makeover show is a hit and made Chip and Joanna Gaines into massive stars. Fixer Upper transforms homes in the Waco, Texas area and highlights Chip and Joanna’s loving marriage.
- Property Brothers
Twins Drew, and Jonathan Scott co-host and assist couples in finding, buying, and transforming houses into dream homes. The drama and creativity stem from the same place: following a tight budget and timeline.
- Trading Spaces
This show tests your trust in your neighbors. Trading Spaces is a quirky home improvement show in which neighbors redecorate a room in each other’s home with a mere $2,000 budget.
Dream Home Makeover
You can catch this reality show on Netflix or Netflix basic with ads. Conceived initially as a 2020 web series, Dream Home Makeover follows the journey of Shea and Syd McGee. The couple is on a mission to help real families as they update their homes.
In most episodes, you’ll see the couple working with a client as they plan a renovation. The size and budget of each renovation vary from client to client; projects range from a single-room refresh to entire home renovations.
As each renovation unfolds, there is a unifying story behind the scenes. The story details the McGees and their personal lives, from running the studio, raising their three daughters, and renovating their dream home.
Grand Designs
This highly-rated show has been running since 1999 on Channel 4, a PBS-like channel in the UK. Viewers can stream or purchase portions of the series on various platforms.
The show has more than 200 episodes broadcast with host Kevin McCloud as host and is highly rated on IMDB.
Each of the featured homes has an unusual or extravagant homebuilding project. Each episode has McCloud meeting with a client at the beginning of the project. McCloud continues to visit the project and notes any changes, problems with construction, and budget and time issues. When the project is finished, McCloud tours the house, summarizing the home, construction, and his thoughts about the project.
Home Improvement
This show is a departure from the rest of the shows, but the Tool Time segment of this sitcom really was a great home improvement show. It presented us with the zaniness of Tim’s hijinks as he attempted home improvements with Al’s zen-like patience and steadiness. It was a funny parody of This Old House and a respectful send-up of Bob Vila and his master carpenter Norm Abram.
You can catch Home Improvement streaming on Hulu.
Good Bones
Good Bones airs on HGTV and follows Karen Laine’s and Mina Hawk’s exploits. This mother-daughter duo flipped houses and started a home rehab business called Two Chicks and a Hammer, Inc.
They specialize in creating green space, using local artists, and restoring items found in homes. The historic Indianapolis homes they choose are run down, and the renovations and facelifts they give the homes are remarkable.
Tidying Up With Marie Kondo
Netflix’s Tidying Up With Marie Kondo follows Marie Kando, the creative force behind the KonMari method. She visits homes, helps the homeowners tidy and organize, and moves on to the next family.
Kondo’s method combines organization and psychology and requires participants to go through their items individually. If an item “sparks joy,” it stays; otherwise, it gets donated or trashed. This show might be the perfect accompaniment to cleaning a hoarder’s house.
Amazing Interiors
Netflix’s Amazing Interiors has no host or narrator. The show finds and shows homes with nondescript exterior appearances but extraordinary interiors. Some homes perform double duty as part-time museums and often feature rooms that aren’t actively lived in, like basements, bunkers, and garages.
Each episode features three houses under construction or renovation and two others as segments during the show. Some notable homes include House of Horrors, House of Dictators, and House of Neon.
Home Town
Home Town is an HGTV show that follows husband and wife team Ben and Erin Napier. The married couple restores Southern homes in Laurel, Mississippi, to their former glory. The couple started restoring homes in the historic district and were featured in Southern Weddings magazine and on Instagram.
The show has a change of venue to Fort Morgan, Colorado, in 2022.
Fixer Upper
Fixer Upper is an HGTV home design and renovation show. It first aired in 2013 and starred Chip and Joanna Gaines. It became popular shortly after its debut and made the Farmhouse-chic interior design and home decor a mainstay of the 2010s.
A typical episode had Chip and Joanna working with clients as they bought and remodeled a home. The Gaineses would show a couple of three potential homes, each requiring different amounts of renovation or repair.
The show ended in 2018, but in 2020 was revived for the Magnolia Network (formerly DIY Network), a channel overseen by the power couple. The spin-off show Fixer Upper: Welcome Home premiered in January of 2021 on Discovery+.
Property Brothers
Property Brothers is a show on HGTV that features twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott. Drew is a real estate expert who finds neglected houses and negotiates their purchase. Jonathan is a licensed contractor who renovates homes.
Leaning on the expertise of the Property Brothers, prospective homebuyers find a dilapidated home and remodel it into their dream home.
Usually, there is a strict timeline and budget. Drew and Johnathan lead the prospective homebuyers through bidding and purchasing a home. Then the homebuyer is whisked away as Johnathan renovates the house, and the show ends with a big flourish and reveal.
You can also catch Season One on Amazon Prime.
Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces aired initially on TLC and Discovery Home. It ran for eight seasons and then had a one-year revival.
The show’s format featured two sets of neighbors who redecorate a room in each other’s home. Each neighbor was given two to three days, a $2,000 budget, a designer, and a carpenter. Neither set of neighbors have input on the renovations occurring in their own homes
The carpenter in Trading Spaces, Ty Pennington, would go on to host Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Conclusion
Looking at your home without picturing how you could improve it is challenging. Whether you’re fantasizing about a deluxe kitchen or simply wanting to get rid of some bedroom clutter, there are countless possibilities for change.
If you need inspiration for your next home improvement project, why not watch a few shows on the subject? The knowledgeable hosts and contractors can provide professional advice to help you get started on your DIY dream project.
Home improvement shows can be enjoyable even if you’re not planning significant renovations. These series provide a detailed and often humorous look into the maintenance and repairs that keep homes functioning.
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