Riluxa’s Top 5 Property, Architecture and Home TV Shows

Unless you’re Patti Smith, Picasso, Le Corbusier or some other acknowledged genius, inspiration isn’t something that just hits you like a bolt from the blue. Most of us mere mortals have to look for it amidst our surroundings. Fortunately, if you’re looking for home-buying, architectural and property development inspiration, all you have to do is switch on the television. Because, today, there are literally dozens – if not hundreds – of TV shows dedicated to helping bring your domestic dreams to life. We set ourselves the unenviable task of selecting our Top 5.

5. George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces

The baby of our list, at just 8-years-old, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces has nevertheless become a staple of early evening viewing for British home improvement enthusiasts, inspiring even those of us who don’t have five-plus-bedroomed detached houses to play with to get creative. The show focuses on the sheer resourcefulness of regular, everyday people in turning the most unlikely of builds – from old boats and shipping containers to beach huts and gypsy caravans – into idyllic homes filled with wonder. Its host, George Clarke, is a serious, impassioned mackam who’s been obsessed with architecture since childhood and trained as an architect from the age of 16. And the beauty of the show, which is currently on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, is in its ability to convince us that anything is possible if we set our minds to it.

4. Property Brothers

The Bee Gees of the home improvement sector, twins Jonathan and Drew Scott bring toothy grins, sibling rivalry and a bizarre admixture of effete trendy-ism and macho DIY skills to our screens in their beloved HGTV show, Property Brothers. So popular that it launched an entire media franchise, the show follows the brothers as they help families turn their fixer-upper properties into the homes of their dreams. We love it because it appeals equally to those of us watching for the soft furnishings and marble countertops as it does to those of us watching for the sawdust and termite infestations. Also, considering just how over-caffeinated and… well, honestly… annoyingly sparky the brothers can sometimes seem, they sure do treat their clients nicely and always include their kids in the process. It’s all about making sure that each development feels complementary to their clients’ lives and not intrusive and that’s what makes it such a special show.

3. Big Dreams Small Spaces 

It wouldn’t be fair of us to make a Top 5 list and not make room for a little bit of outdoor space. Which is exactly what our number 3 entry is all about, funnily enough. [Smooth segue, there! – Ed.) Monty Don is a British treasure who weakens the knees of mums and grandmas up and down the country, not just because he’s a charming, doubtlessly posh but vaguely bohemian bit of greying eye candy, but because he also has them down on those knees, in the dirt, planting furiously to create glorious gardens. And, as the title of the show suggests, in the smallest of spaces. He has transformed tiny, clay-clogged building sites into Portuguese-inspired idylls, shown budding gardeners which plants will work best in shady, sunny and seaside gardens, and turned rocky, unwieldy hillsides into rich herb gardens ripe for the picking. The idea is that luxury isn’t only available to those with the square metreage to accommodate it, but to everyone – the only limit to what we can achieve is our imagination.

2. Rehab Addict

Nicole Curtis is, without doubt, the most badass home improvement expert on the small screen today. The Detroit-born-and-bred single mother, to use her own word for it, ‘hustled’ her way through careers in real estate, interior design and house restoration for a number of years before landing a television contract and making hers a household name on the fantastic HGTV show Rehab Addict, which debuted in 2010. There are two things that make the show must-see TV. First of all, the fact that every house Nicole flips (each of which was built, almost exclusively, pre-WWII) is lovingly restored to its former glory, rather than modernised, means that the finished results are nothing short of a delight for those of us who love design classics. Secondly, Nicole herself is an absolute inspiration to independent women, being that she is one of the most hands-on developers you’ll see on TV, climbing onto roofs, taking sledgehammers to walls and leading her project team by example at every stage. After a two-year break from our screens, Nicole is set to return early in 2021 with a spin-off from the show entitled Rehab Addict Rescue.

1. Grand Designs

The original and the best, as far as we’re concerned. Grand Designs turned 21 years old in 2020 [does that mean it gets the key to the door? – Pun-loving Ed.] and, more than 20 series and 200 episodes in, it remains the ultimate TV inspiration for aspiring property developers and the architecture profession. Host Kevin McCloud is a Cambridge educated history of architecture scholar and a captivating, lovably snobbish presenter who isn’t afraid to express his opinion about his subjects’ elaborate design choices. Each show starts with a site and a set of CAD drawings and follows the developers (usually a couple) through a luxury home build that results in some of the most stunning homes in Britain (and occasionally overseas). The flagship Channel 4 architecture programme has been so successful that it has launched a number of spin-offs, not to mention two of the biggest home exhibitions in the UK – the annual Grand Designs Live events in London and Birmingham. Utterly essential viewing.

Looking for something else to read? Check out our article on 10 Black Interior Design Professionals You Need To Know.

Main picture: Photo by JESHOOTS.com from Pexels