HGTV’s HOME TOWN hosts, woodworker Ben Napier and designer Erin Napier, have a few surprises tucked behind those old-house makeovers in Laurel, Mississippi.
“I think home is the best place on earth,” Erin wrote while introducing the show’s pilot. Getting that feeling onto television, however, involved everything from a small-town care package to a crate beneath her feet.
Here are seven behind-the-scenes details that might change how you watch the next reveal.
1. The show started with a late-night email, not an audition. In her original account of the show’s beginnings, Erin recalled that HGTV executive Lindsey Weidhorn began following her after Southern Weddings shared photographs of the Napiers’ house on Instagram. On July 27, 2014, Weidhorn emailed to ask whether they had ever considered television.
“We’ve absolutely never thought of that, but we are interested if you are interested,” Erin recalled their response.
2. Laurel sent a care package to help recruit the pilot’s producers. Erin wrote that producers from FIXER UPPER’s first two seasons had planned a long break after their demanding schedule. To persuade them to take on HOME TOWN’s pilot, the Napiers sent a video and a package filled with letters and gifts from people around Laurel.
The producers agreed to come. Before viewers ever met the town, its residents were already helping get it onto television.
Related: 5 Fun Facts About HOME TOWN’S Ben and Erin Napier
3. Erin used a crate to share the frame with Ben. A little television practicality helped the couple’s early on-camera interviews: Erin stood on a half-apple crate so their different heights would fit the shot. She described the arrangement while looking back on making the pilot, alongside their introduction to quick interviews about the action.
“I always was standing on a half-apple (a crate) so our heights weren’t so different and we fit in the frame together,” she wrote.
4. The reveal furniture does not all automatically stay. In a 2017 explanation on her own Instagram account, Erin said homeowners’ budgets usually cover many furnishings, including Ben’s custom pieces, and she incorporates their existing belongings whenever possible. For additional goods from local shops, homeowners receive a catalogued binder showing special prices if they want to keep them.
That distinction matters: a beautifully furnished reveal does not mean every item comes with the renovation. Owners can choose which of those extra pieces to purchase.
5. A favorite childhood memory can help shape a room. Season 2 homeowner and Laurel Mercantile team member Aly Smith described a design questionnaire that went beyond favorite colors. It asked about childhood memories, books, music, bands and favorite movies—and why those movies mattered.
Those questions gave Erin more than a paint palette to work with. They offered a glimpse of the experiences and interests that could make a house feel personal to its owners.
6. One renovation connected Erin to her grandmother’s past. In HGTV’s interview celebrating the 100th episode, Erin named the Bird Dog Cafe project among her most emotional renovations because she learned her grandmother had once lived in the house. By then, her grandmother could no longer speak after a series of strokes.
“I wanted to know so much more, but it was all locked inside her forever,” Erin said. The discovery made that old house’s history painfully personal.
7. The crew’s workdays can stretch beyond 12 hours. HOME TOWN’s unhurried atmosphere takes plenty of work: a 2024 behind-the-scenes recap from Laurel Mercantile described crew members working 12-plus-hour days, even when new episodes were not airing. The recap showed the less glamorous business of production, including a sound technician adjusting Ben’s microphone.
“We try to not make this job feel any different from every other job out there,” Ben told HGTV when discussing the 100th episode. Behind the cozy result, there is still a day’s work to do.
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