The best home renovation shows to inspire your next project

If you want to start from scratch:
The Block, Channel 9

A mainstay on Australian television and now in its 17th season, The Block is a reality/lifestyle series hosted by Scott Cam and Shelley Craft. Featuring five pairs of people from around Australia who renovate separate abodes before selling them off for auction, each pair gets to keep any money they make above the reserve, which can go into the hundreds of thousands.

Each week, the pairs are giving a challenge, such as a home bedroom, where they are required to build and style. This is then judged by three industry professionals to determine the ‘winner’ of each design challenge. Inspiring designs such as Hamptons, the ‘throw,’ and sales for many of its commercial partners, the fun is in the armchair judging and as the biggest money giveaway in the country, the final auction – who will win and walk away with an extra $100,000?  

If you’re looking to buy and fix up:
House Hunters Renovation, 9Life

Whilst there are many variations of this show, such as the regular House Hunters and House Hunters International, House Hunters Renovation features a ‘double episode’ of sorts. First, you watch your buyers chosen between three homes to buy. None are perfect, so they need to pick the one that best suits their lifestyle (you may find yourself yelling at the tv over their decision, but we digress). Next, you watch them fix up their purchase and turn it into their dream home. Very easy viewing, and plenty of episodes for you to binge and get inspired by.

If you just want to renovate the bathroom or backyard:
The Living Room, Channel 10

An Australian lifestyle program hosted by Amanda Keller alongside Dr Chris Brown, Barry Du Bois and Miguel Maestre, the show focuses on a range of lifestyle topics such as pets, cooking, and renovations. In this heartfelt program, each episode is focused on helping a family with a surprise, such as a new bathroom or patio.

What’s great is that you are entertained, feel good for those in need, and it’s easy to feel motivated for your own home project when they focus on a singular space such as a backyard or kitchen to revamp in the home.  
 

If you need some serious style inspiration:
Queer Eye, Netflix

The revamped Queer Eye series focuses on five experts, one including home renovations, who help a person in need. Each episode, the ‘fab five’ assist the person in areas of their life, including style, hair, cooking, and mindset. As a grand finale, they walk back into their space to find it magically renovated by the fab five’s interior designer Bobby Berk.

What’s great here is that his styling is a 10/10, sleek and stylish, but he never takes away from the core of who the person is. Whether they are country, old-fashioned or luxe, he finds a way to work it in and inspire your inner interior decorator. This show occasionally focuses outside the home, such as doing up a community centre or restaurant if you need some creative juices flowing for your next business venture.

If you want to get really creative with your home design:
Grand Designs, ABC iView

One for the true masters of design. This show and its variations, such as Grand Designs Australia, follow home designers looking to build the home of their dreams. Usually quite ambitious (and expensive) in nature, some out-there projects include turning a disused water tower into a home, making a treehouse liveable, restoring a castle, or creating a house made of glass. Prepare to be amazed – and inspired.

If you want to become a house flipper:
Fixer Upper, 9Now

Perhaps known as the King and Queen of home renovation, Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines, an American couple who renovate houses and turn them into dream homes. With Chip’s building skills and Joanna’s designing prowess, the show has become a powerhouse in the renovation world and has been credited with igniting trends such as ‘farmhouse chic,’ barn doors, clawfoot bathtubs and their own line of homewares. A definite program to get you motivated to start styling and flipping! 
 

If you want to downsize:
Tiny House, Big Living

For those thinking of downsizing, then Tiny House, Big Living is for you. Taking off with the ‘tiny house’ trend over the last few years, this show focuses on people looking for their dream mini home on wheels. This may inspire you to redo your van or caravan, find storage in places you never knew you had, or simply take the leap into downsizing and go off-grid once and for all! 

If you are thinking of selling:
Love It Or List It, Foxtel

Focusing on a dilemma many homeowners will face, Love It Or List It follows people facing this very concept: renovate and stay where you are or sell and find a new dream home to make memories in. Hosted by Andrew Winter from Selling Houses Australia and Neale Whitaker from The Block, the two show the homeowners different options: the kind of new place they could live in (Andrew) or how their house will look with a brand spanking new renovation (Neale). While you may shout at the tv, it may help with your own decision  - love it or list it when the time comes.

Overall, there are many programs that can help us with new ways of looking at our homes, inspiring creativity, renovations, style and design. So what are you waiting for? Time to get cracking on your next big home project.