Think Project Runway meets Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and you get NBC's American Dream Builders.
The new hybrid home-renovation show, kicking off Sunday (8 ET/PT), is part competition and part inspiration, packing the tension and drama of a weekly elimination with the oohs and aahs of a fabulous makeover reveal into each episode.
The series starts with 12 designers divided into two teams. Each week, the teams are tasked with a new project: To renovate a California house from facade to interiors to landscape for two families with similar-style homes. At the end of the week, neighbors and friends gather as the families get to see their amazing new digs. For the final winning home decision, neighbors cast votes. And one losing designer is sent home.
Nate Berkus is host and head judge for the "very ambitious competition. We wanted to have a fun show, an energetic show and be bigger than any design show that's been out there." Joining him on the judging panel are former NFL star and landscape architect Eddie George and interior design expert Monica Pedersen.
The featured homes are all in the greater Los Angeles area, except for two episodes that travel to Palm Springs for a classic 1950s house challenge and later to nearby mountains for a log cabin challenge.
Though the nuts and bolts — not to mention drywall and patio space — of the competition are important, "the biggest goal for me was to bring back this high-level inspiration," Berkus says.
That moment comes when a giant crane pulls up a big photo sign that sits in front of the renovated home, blocking the view for the family. In Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,a bus blocked the view and Ty Pennington would yell, "Move that bus!"
Here, Berkus yells, "Welcome home!"
While he says they did "toy around" with trying to come up with something catchy, when he uttered that phrase it seemed a perfect fit. Why? "Because really in the end, that's what we're doing. We're welcoming homeowners back into the space, welcoming the designers to showcase their true talents and creativity, and welcoming America into these spaces."
No mention of money is made on the show, so there's no sense of the cost of the renovations.
"It's not a show about budget," Berkus says. "It's really a show about beauty."
And will we see any of Berkus' signature home goods, such as items from his Target line or fabrics from his Calico Corners collection?
"The designers had access to everything. Some of them pulled some of that." But he says, "I didn't want them using my product for brownie points. Just because you used my linen, you are not guaranteed to win."
