HGTV’s New Series ‘Home Town’ Features Classic Home Restorations

This new series doesn’t air until March, but it already has a growing fan base after the pilot episode of Home Town aired a little over a year ago. Country Living shared that Home Town will follow Ben and Erin Napier, residents of Laurel, Mississippi, as they restore classic, older dwellings to their former glory using updated traditional designs and fresh ideas. Their ultimate goal is to encourage families to settle down in small towns in order to preserve the small town culture.

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“When you live in a small town, you can make a difference,” Ben told The University of Mississippi news. “It’s affordable. You can travel if you want to see the world, but the small towns are important. That’s where most people’s lives begin.”

Erin is the creative genius behind the designs featured on Home Town, while Ben builds 22 beautiful furniture pieces from reclaimed material. Each piece is uniquely customized for the homes they renovate on Home Town. On the ten-episode season of Home Town, the couple will complete 11 stunning home renovations.

“It’s a show about how we’re helping a new family find an old house in our historic little town, bringing them into the fold of our quirky, lovable neighborhood, and bringing together a team of local architects, builders and craftsmen to use our design and vision to restore the old house,” Erin posted to the Laurel Mercantile website.

For those who love what they see on Home Town, Ben and Erin Napier, along with two other couples, Emily and Josh Nowell and Mallorie and Jim Rasberry, recently opened Laurel Mercantile Co. in December of last year. The website offers many heirloom wares and durable goods to choose from, and also offers clothing from their Scotsman Co. line. The store itself sells items that are Americana in nature and are long lasting, high quality, useful pieces that families can pass down through the generations.

Hattiesburg Business Today noted that besides bringing older homes and neighborhoods back to life on Home Town, the opening of the mercantile is another way that Erin and Ben are working to help revitalize the downtown area of Laurel. They try to find items for the mercantile that are produced in Mississippi, but if a product is unavailable in the state, they branch out to the Southern region of the U.S., then move on to the rest of the country to find that perfect item.

Some signature products made in Mississippi include a myriad of items made from wood that is grown and harvested in the state. The mercantile carries original pieces such as furniture, butcher blocks, cutting boards, serving trays, coasters, rolling pins, and even toys. Antiques sold in the store include curated vintage collections of dishes, silverware, and quilts.

“We have so many stories attached to every product,” Erin said. “We hope everyone who comes to visit will take time to read the stories. We choose the products with love. They are not just beautiful and cool. The things we sell are the things we really love.”

On the premiere episode of Home Town, Ben and Erin will help a military family with three children transition to small town life as the couple renovates a 4,000-square-foot, 1917 Craftsman-style cottage for them. The plan on Home Town is to implement an open concept floor plan with an attached mud room, and a space that is perfect for homeschooling. Ben and Erin also surprise the family on Home Town by using their own original touches, including a hand-crafted copper gas lantern and a kitchen island counter top that is re-purposed from a vintage bowling alley floor.

The families Erin and Ben work with on Home Town are as diverse as the newly renovated, small townhouses they will be calling home. On Home Town, they will be helping first-time home buyers, couples with young children, and grandparents wishing to live closer to their grandchildren find the perfect home that fits their lifestyle and their expectations.

“I think the trend toward finding a simpler life is happening in small towns everywhere,” said Erin. “We want these families to feel like they are truly at home and to feel it in their heart when they walk in the door.”

Did you watch the pilot episode of Home Town? Will you be watching the series? Leave your comments, thoughts, and opinions concerning Home Town below. Home Town premieres on Tuesday, March 21 at 10 p.m. ET on HGTV.

[Featured Image by HGTV]