This week, Bryan and Sarah Baeumler were at the HGTV Canada headquarters to chat about the new season of House of Bryan, premiering THIS Sunday at 9e/p! What could be new you ask? Is this really “the final straw” for House of Bryan? Read about this and more from Bryan and Sarah in my interview below.
Tina: What are we going to see this season that we didn’t see last season?
Bryan: The original plan was to finish the addition, move in there, and leave the existing house as is. That was the original goal and we thought we’d take a break from the chaos and financial strain. But, I kind of decided one day “let’s just get this don.”
Sarah: We were in the thick of it already and I think, when you’re living through that, by that stage we were ready to see the finish line and said that we could probably complete the front half relatively quickly, and relatively pain free.
B: It wasn’t as painful as the bathroom. So you’ll get to see the living room that was going to be the library, the kid’s homework room, the study. The loft that was our bedroom, we turned that into a couple play rooms for the kids. There’s the barn, we may have done a little work in there, and there may or may not be chickens that have a home to live in. A spectacular home, if I might add. We spent a little time around the forest with Quintyn working on a couple projects for him as well. So it was a lot of fun. It’s kind of the wrapping up. Everything makes sense at the end of these eight episodes.
T: So, is this really ‘the final straw’?
B: I can’t see us going anywhere else. There are certainly other projects that we have on our radar, but I don’t see myself ever moving.
S: This could be the last project for us in the foreseeable future in that location for our family, but definitely I think Bryan and I are just getting started on building together. You learn so much every project that you do that I feel like now we kind of have it down a little bit better. We’re in tune with one another.
B: The next time I move, I’ll be on a gurney.
S: And then it will be ‘House of Sarah.’ [All laugh.]
WATCH this sneak peek from the new season!
T: Is there anything in the house that you’d go back and change?
B: The only thing I’d have done is make the opening from the stairway into the old loft wider. But I would have had to restructure a lot of stuff. I already did rip apart the ceiling in the atrium there when the drywall was off because it just wasn’t the way I wanted it.
S: I think this home, as we built it, we stopped ourselves, took a couple steps back and said “OK this is really our forever home are we 100% positive this is the way we want to do it?” And Bryan did do some re-engineering of things, we literally took out some skylights and put in all different skylights and things like that because we had to take the time to stop and think “Is this really what we want?” I think sometimes you’re in the thick of it and just wanting to reach the finish line, and we didn’t do that this time.
B: Yeah we put the brakes on when we needed to, and I think that’s important. A lot of people don’t do that, they just keep charging ahead. But yeah we stopped a few times.
T: What have you guys learned about each other throughout this whole process?
B: I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff. That in six months from now, a year from now, you’re really not going to give a crap whether you have the grey or the slightly beige tile. I’ve learned to pick my battles.
S: I think I’ve actually enjoyed this project the most out of all three of them. I looked back to a lot of the chaos of living there with our kids, but those are some of the best memories we have. I learned to try and enjoy the process a little bit. The first home, and even our cottage I was very fixated on trying to get it perfect and trying to get it done for the family, and I think that this time I’ve watched it almost through our kids eyes and they had a really good time. They learned a lot watching Bryan build the home and I think they’ve taken on a new respect for the house because they watched Daddy build every single wall in the house.
T: (To Sarah) Were you surprised by your love of design? Did you ever see yourself going down that road?
S: I think that I’ve always been that creative minded person and if it wasn’t designing rooms for the home it would be designing costumes for [a ballet] show. I love clothes and fashion everything, but there’s actually a huge overlap between the two. If you’re just that type of person and your brain works in that way, you’re just funneling your creativity in a different way.
T: Do you have a favourite moment from this new season?
B: I have a tough time picking favourite rooms, or favourite moments, or favourite foods, or favourite anything. When I’m at home, that’s my favourite thing.
T: Do you have a worst moment?
B: For me, it was getting the phone call that the one foundation wall that I didn’t dig and waterproof, and I had built a deck over, was leaking. Yeah, that sucked.
S: That stuff always happens when Bryan is away, and I found it or Adam will find it, or somebody else will have to call Bryan and we’re all scared and going, “Oh no. How’s this gonna play out?”
T: Would you live through your own renovation again?
B: Right now I can’t foresee us going anywhere else. So, knowing that, I’d say “Yeah sure, I’d do it again,” because I don’t plan on doing it again. [Laughs.]
S: It takes a certain person to be able to live through it, so you have to know your family and know your family dynamic about whether or not you can survive this.
B: Because 99% of the fights that come up when you’re doing a renovation or a construction is not about the tile or the hardwood. It’s about something else and that’s the catalyst and you’re manifesting it there. It’s not for everybody.
See how the new season of House of Bryan plays out, Sunday nights at 9 & 9:30e/p!
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