Q&A: Property Brothers’ Drew Scott readies his Hancock Park honeymoon house
HGTV home makeover twins Drew and Jonathan Scott are renovating a Hancock Park rarity: an untouched 1921 property that will become Drew and fiancée Linda Phan’s first home together.
The makeover of the $2.3-million five-bedroom, five-bathroom residence will be chronicled in the five-part series “Property Brothers at Home: Drew’s Honeymoon House,” which airs in November. The couple are planning a destination wedding next spring.
The show marries an improbable timeline — the 12-week renovation must conclude by an October family reunion — to a tangle of preservation zone requirements, a basement dig and dashes of the twins’ famed faux sibling rivalry.
Halfway through the remodel (the budget is classified), we caught up with Drew, 39, in the home’s kitchen.
Paint an overall picture of the remodel for us.
It’s a massive project. We’re restoring elements of the English-inspired architecture and adding modern, smart-home functionality. We’re sort of going for the Old Hollywood glam, Art Deco kind of feel. We’re completely reconfiguring the inside.
How did the team react to your idea of putting in a basement?
Jonathan was making fun of me; so was Linda. But I’m like, “Hey, it’s my house, it adds value and it’s going to be way more functional with all the storage.” We got our approvals yesterday, so we’re just starting to dig it: 830 square feet. It will have a wine cellar and a ton of storage.
Every ginormous renovation has built-in cliffhangers, even when not being filmed. Care to name one?
Just today: the shoring — big steel beams that hold up the house while we dig out the basement. The plumbers ran a main pipe right where a beam goes through. So now we have to rip all of that out.
What’s with the poodle wallpaper?
The house has all original wallpaper, and in two of the bathrooms, there are graphics of poodles sort of getting ready in the morning: using a makeup mirror, brushing their hair. When we sent a video of it to my mom, she said, “Oh, my God, that’s what I had in my house!” So Linda’s doing a little project to give as a gift to my mom, using that wallpaper.
Does Linda wield a sledgehammer?
Linda’s in a tool belt and work boots every day, literally in every scene, working as hard as all of us. And she’s probably the most creative person I’ve ever met. She wanted to keep the living room more traditional, Old World charm. Her idea was to recess the TV in a mirror, so you don’t even see it until it turns on.
Are you adding any fun features?
We’re adding a hot tub to the new deck on the attic level, and that’s putting in a ton of weight, so we had to put these huge steel strong walls into the lower level under the kitchen to hold that weight. And we have issues with the drainage up on the deck. It’s a big puzzle.
Whose idea was it to install a hot tub off the attic?
Oh, that was me. The new deck is 660 square feet. It’s massive, and so who really needs all that space just to stand around? You want to lay in a hot tub while you’re up there. I added a few things that are a pain in the butt.
Will this be your forever home?
Yeah, that’s exactly it. I’m not going to get rid of my house in Vegas. I love that house. But this is my first house with Linda. I can see us raising our kids here.
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