5 Questions With The Property Brothers

Drew and Jonathan Scott, better known as the Property Brothers, the good-looking twins who have made an empire from their HGTV real estate and home design program, aren’t too shy about their success. “We’ve gotten really good at what we do,” Drew says, and audiences would most likely agree: Besides their television program, the brothers have a line of home products, plus a full-fledged entertainment company. They’ll be here in the Philly area for the Philadelphia Home and Garden Show on Saturday, January 16, giving insider tips and providing some juicy asides from their television work. I caught up with Drew and Jonathan from their Las Vegas house to chat about what guests can expect at the show.

Alright, so behind the scenes, was there ever a property that you rehabbed that turned out to be a complete nightmare?
Renovations can seriously be stressful, so there’s gonna be some tension, but sometimes you have owners who make no sense at all. There was one client who we did this beautiful, beautiful design for, but he wanted to paint this one banister Pepto-Bismol pink. I told him, “No, I don’t want to do it.” It was a terrible idea, but we did it because we wanted them to be happy. But honestly, when you bring in people with experience, just trust the advice.

There are a lot of people out there who are trying to do more with less these days. What are some tips you can give people who maybe want to refresh a room or re-do a space without spending a lot of money?
A big thing Jonathan and I talk about all the time is that you don’t have to clear the house and get rid of everything. If you’re on a tight budget, look at your furniture design. Is it cluttered? Are some of the pieces dated? Just because you spent too much money on something 20 years ago, doesn’t mean you should keep it. It may be the worst thing in the world if it is old and dated. There was a couple who had this old dining room table and I could not for the life of me figure out why they wanted to keep it. They kept saying it had sentimental value because it was purchased after they got married. After weeks of drilling them, they admitted that apparently the table was where they conceived their daughter so they wanted to keep it. The daughter is 16 now!

What can we expect from you guys at the Philly Home and Garden Show?
Basically, any time we have a chance to do a live appearance, we love to do it. We love to get to do these things, and when Drew doesn’t show up on time, we make fun of him for an hour. We’ll show videos and give renovation tips and tricks so people can walk away with information of value.

Most people know you from your HGTV show, but you had a really strong background in entertainment before the show, right?
We started off as kids. We were actors, and one of our first jobs was being clowns. Jonathan got into magic, and we got into real estate right out of high school because our goal was to fund our creative jobs. We do improv and sketch comedy, so it’s easy to see why we can engage fans in this kind of a live setting.

So how can we get you guys to do a season in Philadelphia?
We’ve been through there for the show and we love it. It’s one of those eclectic cities. If people are wondering how to get us to the city, start talking to the network. There was an entire movement for us to come to Texas. People were contacting HGTV through Facebook and social media, so it really is up to the fans. We’d love to be out there.

You can meet Drew and Jonathan at the Philadelphia Home and Garden Show on January 16 at 1 p.m.. For tickets and more information on the show, which takes places at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, click here.