You’ll Never Guess What Kind of Place Inspired These HGTV Stars

Published: January 3, 2025

You’ll Never Guess What Kind of Place Inspired These HGTV Stars

By Movieguide® Contributor

HGTV long-timers Ben and Erin Napier had some unusual inspiration for their successful series, HOME TOWN.

“It all began when they were studying together at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, MS, where Ben was living in a somewhat run-down home with his peers,” Realtor said.

“Erin, 39, and Ben, 41, who met at the school in December 2004 and quickly began dating, admitted that they knew their romance was meant to be when they both started looking at the ‘decrepit old gray house’ not as an eyesore — but as an opportunity,’ the outlet reported.

“We had a dream of one day buying that old gray house and renovating it,” said Erin.

“I paid room and board just like you do at any university or college, but I got to live in this house on the edge of campus,” said Ben. “Here’s the crazy part: Since then, the school has bought up more and more property around it, these old, decrepit houses that were not that well-built and had not been taken care of, and they’ve been tearing them down.”

He continued. “A few episodes ago, I think it was last season, we did a house on campus at our college and they announced that they were opening a school. Now part of that school is going to be building little pocket neighborhoods for student housing and faculty housing where those houses were, so like, where our house was would be student housing again!

They wanted to live in that old house and pursue careers that weren’t what they’re doing today.

“My goal was to teach in college,” said Ben.

Though they didn’t buy that old house, they’ve restored plenty of other places in their Mississippi hometown. Their college honored them this year by creating The Erin and Ben Napier School of Design. The couple visits the campus every year without fail.

They celebrated the 20th anniversary of when they met last month.

“It is a week of celebration. We listen to the same music that we did. We wear the same perfume and cologne that we did,” Ben said.

“We just do these little things that we did that week. We go to our alma mater for lunch. We did that yesterday. We go look at the Christmas lights. We did that a couple of nights ago with our girls. It’s a ritual and a tradition,” Erin added.

Ben recently turned their basement into a theater room for Erin.

“We were doing a house, and I found one of those old pull-down projector screens in it. I was like, ‘We could hang this and project movies on it and just have a DVD player hooked to it,’” he said.

“The projector screen was torn up, so I ordered a really cheap projector screen, a really cheap projector, and a really cheap DVD player that had speakers built into it. So it’s not a smart system. I can’t stream anything on it,” he explained.

But that was all chosen intentionally, Erin says.

“We have streaming fatigue. There’s so many choices I don’t know how to even find a great show anymore. My favorite date nights were always going to Blockbuster and picking a DVD,” she said.

“Now he’s been buying DVDs for, like, 25 cents a piece on eBay — huge boxes of them — and so we have our own Blockbuster in the basement! It’s very cool because our girls can just pick a DVD that they know is safe to watch. We have a section for them, and they can watch a movie anytime,” Erin said.

The Napier’s oldest kid, Helen, has been helping out her parents after school.

“She comes for the snacks, I’ll be honest with you. We have pretty good snacks there,” Erin joked.

“It’s good for her to see what we’re doing when we are apart from her and for her to understand the value of old things. We want her to see we don’t have to have the newest of everything,” Erin explained. “We can fix and restore things that are broken. I hope it’s a lesson that she’ll take to heart and apply it to her toys, her clothes, to everything.”

Erin was proud when Helen told Ben that she wants a “really old pickup truck” when she’s older.

“A blue one,” Helen said. “But I want it to be a little one. I want it to have just a little bit of rust on it, not a lot of rust, just a little bit of rust.”

Ben said, “A ’53 Chevy pickup truck that has a slight patina to it, [that’s what] she wants.”

Though they love restoring old things, the Napiers have some ways of incorporating modern elements.

Erin said, “I love some dimmable lights. It makes the whole house feel like you’re in lamplight,” she said. “I love music, like hidden little speakers all throughout the house.”

“Music is playing at our house at all times,” she continued. “Those things — lighting and music — create atmosphere, and atmosphere is a huge piece of the puzzle of a beautiful home.”

Ben added they also use smart thermostats.

The Napiers just launched the premiere of HOME TOWN Season 8 on Sunday.

Ben said, “I had never heard of a scullery. We actually end up doing a scullery later this season.”

Erin added, “Mostly our homeowners bring the trends to us because we are not trendy people. If our homeowners are interested in a trend, we’re going to do whatever it is they wish for.”

“I don’t know what the trends will be this year. Every year I say that, [but] I keep seeing more color. We’re adding more color, and I’m excited about that,” Erin said.

This season the housing market has been a challenge. Two homes they showed to clients fell through.

“The first house that they looked at has been a very popular house in Laurel for a long time, but the same family owned it for a long time,” Ben said. “The second house is kind of a sleeper. Everybody is like, ‘Why has that house been for sale for so long?’ That was the one they wanted. They loved it. We were excited to do it. It fell through, [and] the other house had already sold.”

“That was a real story. That was not TV drama. Then we showed them another house that honestly was not what they wanted. It’s not in the historic district. It’s not an old house. But it had a huge yard, and it’s a cool house,” he said.

The Napiers spinoff show, HOME TOWN TAKEOVER Season 3, will also release sometime this year.