A good interior design show is a lot like a cup of hot tea and a warm blanket on a cold day: the ultimate comfort.
And with temperatures dropping and so many of us staying home amid the latest COVID-19 surge, you can binge design shows on a range of streaming services or through your cable subscription to give you some design inspiration for your own home and let you escape.
Whether you’re a “Fixer Upper” fan or “Rehab Addict” fanatic — or love home organizing shows — there’s a show for everyone. And the good news is many are free on demand or available right now through streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Below are some of my favorite design shows to stream this fall or winter. Some are classics like “Fixer Upper”; others are new like HGTV’s “Home Town.” And if you love organizing shows, check out Netflix’s “Getting Organized with the Home Edit.”
And you can’t have a list without Detroit’s favorite HGTV star and hometown girl, Nicole Curtis. As she gears up to debut a new show in early 2021, “Rehab Addict Rescue,” her original hit, “Rehab Addict,” is available on the HGTV Go app. Eight seasons are also available for free with some cable subscriptions.
‘Home Town’
Ben and Erin Napier are #couplegoals. This sweet duo have an easy rapport that just flows in between the homes they renovate with a vintage vibe in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. The show’s entire first season with 10 episodes is now streaming on Hulu.
Each episode starts with the Napiers showing someone new to Laurel several options for a home that needs serious renovations. They overhaul each house and then completely decorate it, always incorporating a mix of vintage and new decor.
“Home Town” is, in many ways, a love letter to not just the homes the Napiers create but to the power and community of small towns. And it oozes some awesome Southern charm such as when Erin, after discovering oak floors under some yucky carpeting, declares: “I am just pleased as punch.”
‘Fixer Upper’
Speaking of #couplegoals, does it get any better than Chip and Joanna Gaines? While the beloved duo who put farmhouse design on the map in a new way is gearing up to launch their new TV network next year, their original HGTV hit, “Fixer Upper” is available on demand with some cable subscriptions. The entire series also is available on Hulu.
Chip, the goofball carpenter, and Joanna, the steady interior designer, said goodbye to “Fixer Upper” after five seasons in 2018. But earlier this year, the couple announced the show would return to their Magnolia Network in 2021.
If you love farmhouse design and haven’t watched this super fun series, run — don’t walk — to binge as many episodes of “Fixer Upper” as you can.
‘Getting Organized with the Home Edit’
For design fans who swoon over good organization, Netflix’s “Getting Organized with the Home Edit” is for you. It follows professional organizers Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, both young moms now living with their families in Nashville, Tenn. as they work with both celebrities and everyday folks to organize problem areas.
Each show takes viewers step by step as Shearer, Teplin and their team tackle each project. And who doesn’t want to see inside actress Reese Witherspoon’s closet? (Witherspoon is an executive producer.)
“Getting Organized with the Home Edit” — Shearer and Teplin also have a line of products with the Container Store — will motivate you to get off your couch and tackle that unwieldy junk drawer or closet. But only after you’re done binging the show.
‘The Big Flower Fight’
Floral design climbs to crazy new heights in “The Big Flower Fight,” which debuted earlier this year on Netflix. The British show pits eight teams of floral designers — some of which are from the United States — and pushes them to create fashion, bugs, sea creatures and giants out of plants.
The show is fun and whimsical and has drawn comparisons to “The Great British Bake Off” — except without food.
‘Rehab Addict’
For eight seasons of “Rehab Addict,” Curtis has brought back old homes to their former glory. For Detroit viewers, the show has been a glimpse into our own backyard — told through the prism of a home renovation show.
‘Rehab Addict,’ available on the HGTV Go app, has followed Curtis, a Lake Orion native, as she’s restored homes in Detroit, Royal Oak, Ferndale and Minneapolis. All eight seasons also are available on demands.
‘Flea Market Flip’
I’m not going to lie: I adore “Flea Market Flip.” And I assume I’m not the only one since this popular show has been running for 14 seasons.
Hosted by Lara Spencer, each episode follows two competing teams as they buy items at an East Coast flea market, flip them and then go head-to-head selling their three re-imagined pieces at another market. Whoever sells their items with the biggest profit margin wins $5,000.
It’s a treat to not just see what each team comes up with — you’ll see more coffee tables and bars than you could ever imagine — but also how they go about closing the deal with potential buyers.
‘Good Bones’
What makes this home renovation show unique is not just where it’s set — Indianapolis — but that it features a mother and daughter duo buying and renovating old homes.
Karen Laine and her daughter Mina Starsiak Hawk have been renovating homes for more than a decade with their firm, Two Chicks and a Hammer. Each show ends with the home completely decorated, usually in an updated traditional aesthetic.
‘Love It or List It’
Talk about an oldie but goodie. What makes HGTV’s hit show, “Love It or List It,” so popular is not the slightly wacky premise — homeowners renovate their homes to address major problem areas while also looking for a possible new home — but the relationship between Hilary Farr and David Visentin.
These two have such a fun dynamic, playfully competing against once another, that it adds a whole other dimension to the show. Now on the air for 15 seasons, several seasons are available on Hulu.
