The Surprising Way HGTV’s HOME TOWN Got Its Start

Published: October 22, 2025

Ben and Erin Napier of HGTV's Home Town — NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – NOVEMBER 09: Ben Napier and Erin Napier speak onstage at The 56th Annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on November 09, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

By Mallory Mattingly

Did you know that Ben and Erin Napier’s HOME TOWN HGTV show started, in part, because Erin struggled with anxiety?

In a new episode of Sadie Robertson Huff’s “Whoa That’s Good Podcast,” the couple shared how the beloved home reno series began.

“I struggle deeply with anxiety and worry, which is why Psalms are my favorite,” Erin said. “‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.’ And I learned that when I was, like, 8 years old. And I’ve never forgotten,” she added, quoting Psalm 23.

Erin explained that she started writing daily journal blogs to help her practice gratitude even when her anxiety arose.

“The blog, the journal blog, was a practice in daily counting my blessings, and it really changed my life,” she said. “Because if I had had a horrible, rotten day, if someone I love had died that day, I had to sit down at the computer and write because 10 people were going to read it, my mama, my friends. I mean, no one cared. I just thought it was like a personal challenge, but I had to sit down and think of something wonderful. Something that was a blessing on that day, and that was where the show and everything eventually stemmed from.”

“A producer just saw the journal and reached out and asked. They saw that we were renovating our own house,” she continued. “And we did it really thriftily, because he [Ben] learned how to build things. I knew what I wanted: expensive antiques that I couldn’t afford. Then I would ask him if he could build it. He would build it. And then I got the look for cheap. And that was really, I think, what drew HGTV.”

The rest is history. HOME TOWN officially began in 2016, and the Napiers are now preparing to release their tenth season. Over the course of the show, they’ve welcome their two daughters, Helen, 7, and Mae, 4.

Erin recently posted about several parts of life she is “loving” right now, along with sweet snaps of those people and things.

“Things I’m loving: this very good man who guards the hearts of the 3 girls in his house, more, more, more time with Mae and Helen, getting to teach Helen and learn about classical education alongside her, the color orange, pretending it’s getting cooler outside when it definitely is not, etc,” she wrote.