Designing Besties

HGTV’s Home Town - Season 9, Episode 16 - “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”
Erin and Ben Napier close out the season with a rescue reno for Rose Meyer, a retired English teacher who moved cross-country—only to be ghosted by her contractor and left with a gutted shell of a house. With a tight budget, a clawfoot tub crisis, and no open floor plan in sight, the Napiers bring vintage flair and 1950s charm to life in Laurel, Mississippi.

Shari and Rhonda are recapping every design choice—from the cast-iron sink revival to the harlequin porch paint to a custom built-in that had them swooning and side-eyeing the TV placement. Plus, we talk pink tile, retro stoves, and the return of chintz (?!).

💬 Bonus: This week’s special post asks which vintage feature you'd keep in your dream home. Sink, stove, wallpaper? Come tell us!

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Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

HGTV’s Renovation Aloha – Season 2, Episode 7 – “Toughest Clients Ever” takes a heartfelt turn as Tristyn and Kamohai tackle their most personal project yet: renovating the Oahu home where Kamohai grew up… for his own parents.

With three decades of memories packed into a tiny galley kitchen, a timeline tangled up in holiday deadlines, and the unique challenges of designing in Hawaii (hello, shipping costs that cost more than the item itself), this episode delivers big on family feels.

We dish on the design choices, debate the second-floor primary suite for surfing grandparents, and admit to more than a few pangs of tropical lifestyle jealousy. Plus—our take on why this is HGTV’s most heartwarming flipping show.

🎧 Listen now at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com and follow us everywhere you podcast.

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

HGTV's Lottery Dream Home – S16 E2 – Gold Lady of Lake Mendota takes us to Madison, Wisconsin, where Cathy—an accidental tech millionaire with an eight-figure biotech payday—teams up with her sister Peg and David Bromstad to hunt for a $3–4 million lakefront stunner… and then promptly blows past that budget like it was pocket change, scooping up a $5.2 million resort-style dream home. From sleek modern boxes with putting greens to a warm contemporary with a brass-and-burgundy range, a pickleball court, and enough kitchens to host a culinary Olympics, we’ve got plenty to gush about (and nit-pick).

We talk sisterly banter, lakefront luxury, David’s hot pink checkerboard suit, and why Whistling Wake was the only right choice.

🎧 Catch all our snark, shout-outs, and design takes at: https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

HGTV's Love It or List It, Season 20, Episode 1 - "A Place to Go or a Place to Grow"

It’s the Season 20 premiere of Love It or List It and the Designing Besties are here to break it all down—shiny brass fireplace and all. Page Turner steps into Hillary Farr’s designer shoes (or tosses them aside entirely) and takes on a cluttered Canadian starter home with no main-floor bath and some serious basement energy.

Rhonda and Shari recap all the design wins, parenting chaos, real estate drama, and questionable bathroom math in this fresh episode from HGTV’s long-running hit. Will Jen and Theo love it? List it? Or fake it for production? And is David still doing all the driving?

From heated floors and emotional pantries to baby-shoe-strewn basements and slider-door standoffs—this one has everything.

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

HGTV's Renovation Resort Showdown Season 2, Episode 1 - "1... 2... 3... Go!"

The resort renovations have begun—and chaos has already checked in. In this episode, we recap the Renovation Resort Showdown premiere, where hosts Brian Baeumler and Scott McGillivray kick things off with a tool-grabbing relay, a surprise headboard twist, and their signature mix of side-eye and sarcasm. Four teams take on their first challenge: transforming blank bedrooms and baths into bold, vacation-worthy spaces. From upside-down crown molding to motion-lit masterpieces, we’re calling out the wins, the wobbles, and the wallpaper we now want in our own bathrooms. Plus: one tiny nitpick, one Designing Bestie Hall of Fame moment, and—of course—an apology. 

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

In the Season 10 premiere of Celebrity IOU, Rachel Brosnahan trades red carpets for renovation boots to surprise her best friend’s parents with the ultimate kitchen and dining room makeover. Shari and Rhonda break down all the emotional reveals, clever design choices (hello skinny shaker cabinets!), and one awkward cabinet corner that nearly derailed the dream. From doughnuts and demo to induction stoves and chosen family feels, this episode hits hard. Grab your tissues, Besties—it’s HGTV at its heartwarming finest. 

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

Don’t panic, Besties! — we’ve just had a little makeover.

We’re still your go-to podcast for spicy design opinions and HGTV recaps, but now we’re rocking a new name: Designing Besties 💅✨

Same voices, same snark, same hatred of barn doors in condos. We’re just doing it in a more algorithm-friendly outfit (and yes, the new name looks really cute on a tote).⁠

🛠 PSA: The rename is still in progress — so if you see our old name floating around, just know we’re updating as fast as we can between episodes and hot takes.
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🎧 Hit follow so you don’t miss what’s next. New episodes drop every Monday. You can also find all our episodes at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com.

#DesigningBesties #PodcastRebrand #HGTVAddicts #InteriorDesignHumor #DesignPodcast #NoMoreShiplap

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

Recapping Magnolia's Mini Reni - Season 1 - Episode 1 "Whimsical Indoor Garden."

In this episode, Shari and Rhonda dive into Mini Reni, the Magnolia Network’s newest design gem starring Joanna Gaines—minus the demo, the drywall dust, or Chip’s cockroach stunts. With just paint, trim, and $15K, Jo transforms three rooms in a 1930s cottage into a whimsical indoor garden dream.

The Besties break down the design details, debate the reality of DIYing a Mini Reni yourself (spoiler: you'd need a tile fairy), and fawn over that Shari-coded breakfast nook. Plus, Shari confesses to being color gutless, Rhonda drops a Marie Antoinette candle fact, and both launch their own mini reni challenge—with serious regrets already.

If your brain is basically made of HGTV and your dream is a room with zero demo but max drama, this one’s for you.

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

Nicole Curtis is back, Besties—and she’s not easing into Season 9 of Rehab Addict. In this double-episode recap of “Nicole Goes West” and “Attic Antics,” we’re talking attic bedrooms, squatter drama in Detroit, a hot water heater in the kitchen (WHY), and the Wyoming flip that started as a spontaneous online buy.

We unpack Nicole’s return after a three-year hiatus, her signature flag moment, her monster truck detour, and whether we'd actually be friends with her IRL. Plus, one of us may or may not be in denial about painting brick—and you know Nicole has thoughts.

🎧 Listen in as we reveal what gave us history-nerd chills, what made us gag, and what absolutely deserves the Designing Bitches seal of approval.

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

HGTV’s The Flip Off wrapped up with leather, landscaping, and low-key shade—just the way we like it. Christina’s curb appeal had us swooning, Tarek and Heather’s pergola made us question everything, and Jeff Lewis brought the perfect amount of petty to the judging table.

We’re breaking down the design drama, the behind-the-scenes relationship realness, and whether anyone actually won in a house under a flight path.  Plus, what would Season 2 look like with Real Housewives as guest judges? We have ideas. Too many. 

🛑 Spoiler alert: this is the very first episode we ever recorded—back when we were still figuring out our intro, outro, and how to use a microphone, edit audio, and politely critique pleather pants. We saved it for a lazy Monday or vacation week, and besties, today is that day.

🎧 Come for the flip talk, stay for the snark. And if you're currently Googling “motion-activated Miami Vice toilet music,” you’re in the right place. Find all our episodes at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Love and Kisses,

Rhonda and Shari

Find us at https://designingbesties.buzzsprout.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).