Most Watched Home Decorator Shows of All Time
Let’s face it: Home decorating television shows aren’t exactly action-packed. They are, however, a great source if you’re looking for information and ideas about design, so at least you’re not wasting your time watching really bad reality TV. These days, there’s a home design show for just about everyone. You can watch everything from shows that teach you how to spice up your living space with cool, new ideas to shows that demonstrate complete tear-downs.
Take a look at America’s top 10 grossing home decorating shows. To find out what shows are the nation’s faves, we turned to IMDb, an online database of information about movies, TV shows, and video games. See whether your favorite show made the list — or find a new one you think you might like.
1. Property Brothers
Property Brothers is the second highest grossing home design show on the air, according to IMDb. Perhaps you’ve watched Jonathan and Drew Scott help couples find, buy, and rehab fixer-uppers into dream homes. The duo tries to persuade couples to take on radical projects, and they use CGI to show them what the extreme fixer-upper could look like in the future. One of the fun aspects of the show is waiting to see whether the duo completes the house on time — and within budget. Drew, a real estate agent, finds the homes, and Jonathan, a licensed contractor, does the “real work.” 2. Flip or Flop
The third top-grossing home design show on the air is Flip or Flop, which debuted in 2013. On the show, real estate agents Tarek and Christina El Moussa buy rundown houses in Southern California neighborhoods and renovate them to resell them. It’s exciting to see whether the two resell the house for a profit, break even, or lose money on the deal. Sometimes, the pair buys houses for cash — without seeing them. This show involves some seriously risky business.
Next: Flip fever
3. Masters of Flip
When Masters of Flip first aired in 2015, Kortney and Dave Wilson bought, rehabbed, and sold a rundown home in Nashville. They’ve been buying and reselling Nashville houses ever since, and their show is the fourth top-grossing home design show on TV.
The couple works on tight timelines and skinny budgets to turn Nashville disasters into dream homes. The final sale is the tell-all: Viewers wait to see how much of a profit — if any — the couple makes on the house.
Next: The No. 1 highest-grossing, home design show on TV
4. Fixer Upper
You might have guessed that Fixer Upper is the No. 1 grossing design show on TV. When husband-and-wife team Chip and Joanna Gaines came on the scene in 2013, America immediately fell in love with them. Chip is the muscle, and Joanna is the design guru. And their charming antics have gotten them through many a Waco, Texas, home makeover.
Next: Property Brothers, part deux
5. Property Brothers at Home
HGTV’s Property Brothers at Home is the fifth highest grossing home design show on TV. Jonathan and Drew Scott once again perform their magic, this time on their own home. Their mission: to redo a huge Las Vegas renovation — in preparation for a family reunion.
6. Queer Eye
Queer Eye was on the air from 2003 to 2007 and still ranks as the sixth highest-grossing home decorating show. The show was about more than design, however. The five gay male stars gave tips on everything from fashion to food and wine to grooming to interior design. And their tips were aimed to help helpless straight men with no sense of fashion or design get their lives together in a number of areas.
Next: Extreme TV
7. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was on the air from 2003 to 2012, and it comes in No. 7 as one of the highest-grossing interior design shows. Each episode of the show featured a family that had experienced a recent hardship — or was involved in an ongoing one. The show coordinated the home’s makeover, including the exterior, interior, and landscaping. While all of this was going on, the show sent the family on a vacation. When the family returned, it had a completely new house.
Next: Friendship deal-breaker?
8. Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces debuted in 2000 and ran until 2011; it also ranked as the eighth highest-grossing home decorator show. Here’s how it worked: Two teams got $1,000 each and two days to redecorate a room in the each other’s houses. The teams were also given a professional designer and carpenter, but each was ultimately responsible for the room in the other’s home. Some liked what their friends did, and some didn’t. Catch some reruns, and watch the sparks fly.
Next: Friendship dealbreaker?
9. Rehab Addict
Rehab Addict debuted in 2010 and is the ninth highest-grossing decorator show on TV. Detroit native Nicole Curtis is the star of the show, and she spent more than 20 years preserving historic homes before she got on the air. She works in Detroit and Minneapolis, finding homes to restore back to their former lives. A real do-it-yourselfer, Curtis actually does a lot of the manual labor herself.
Next: The Property Brothers again
10. Buying and Selling With the Property Brothers
Once again Drew and Jonathan Scott are in the spotlight. This show ranked 10th on the list of highest-grossing design shows. On this series, Drew helps homebuyers find the right new home, but of course their old home needs some TLC to get it ready to put on the market. Jonathan takes care of that aspect by breathing new life into the old home, and then Drew steps in to supervise the sale of the former house and purchase of the new one.
