Her face may not appear on camera, but Sandy Hook interior designer Bobbie Sue Smart’s mark will be apparent to viewers when four of the Season 5 episodes of the popular HGTV program Property Brothers air in coming weeks. Ms Smart, owner of Smart Design, is honored to have been selected as lead designer for a team working with Property Brothers stars Jonathan and Drew Scott, turning homeowners' bargain buys into dream houses.

Property Brothers is a reality show hosted by the Canadian twin brothers. Each episode features the brothers — who are real estate, technology, and film entrepreneurs — helping couples buy and renovate homes in need of a great deal of tender loving care. The Scotts are cofounders of Scott Real Estate, as well as co-founders and executive producers of Scott Brothers Entertainment. In addition to Property Brothers, Jonathan and Drew Scott also produce and host two other HGTV shows reflecting real estate and entertainment, Brother vs Brother and Buying & Selling.

Although both of the Scotts are real estate experts, Jonathan is also a licensed contractor. In Property Brothers, the focus on Drew is of the real estate end, and on Jonathan, design and construction.

“I was very familiar with the show. It’s so popular. Everyone watches it,” Ms Smart said of Property Brothers. She never expected to find herself behind the scenes as a lead designer for one of her favorite shows, however.

When the producers called Fairfield County real estate agent Julie Vanderblue, of Vanderblue Team/Higgins Group, seeking a local designer to work with them on four episodes of Property Brothers to be filmed in Westchester and Fairfield counties, Ms Vanderblue suggested Ms Smart.

The women had met when working together on a fundraiser for Her Haven, a nonprofit devoted to providing “beauty, comfort, and care to inspiring women — and organizations that serve women — through the gift of design,” according to the organization’s website (www.herhaven.org).

“I was so excited. I did a couple of interviews last December, and then started work [on the episodes] in February,” Ms Smart said, a commitment that would take her through August. 

As design lead for four episodes, one in Connecticut and three in Westchester, Ms Smart was responsible for the drawings and space planning for the fixer-uppers — in a fraction of the time normally spent fine-tuning those details.

“Jonathan oversees the design,” Ms Smart explained. As lead designer on the four projects, she was given a budget for each home, and followed Jonathan’s design philosophy of an open concept.

“I did work with the homeowners, as well, and all of them were super nice,” she said. The homeowners provided her with design inspiration, and were able to approve finishes for the kitchens. “And then they let go,” Ms Smart said, allowing Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew to work their magic.

“[The homeowners] don’t see the finish until ‘Reveal Day,’ the last day of filming,” she said. Nothing is staged, Ms Smart added. What viewers see is what is happening during filming.

When it looked like one home needed its 6-foot, 4-inch ceiling raised (Jonathan and Drew, incidentally, are 6’5” inches tall, she said), “We had to go at it backward. We couldn’t break into the ceiling and look until demo day,” Ms Smart said, leaving the challenge of how much space they had — or did not have — to be revealed to them in that moment of filming.

What she loved about working with the Scott brothers was that they were professional and down to earth, as well as quite humorous. “They were awesome to work with,” she said, and every bit as witty as they appear on film.

Adding Talent

Ms Smart is also thrilled that she was able to use the talents of other local women she knew on her team.

“I’ve known Jouk Mallen [Window Treatment Workroom in Sandy Hook] for years,” Ms Smart said. She knew she could count on the skilled seamstress to create the drapes she needed for a space and have them done on time. “Jouk always had the drapes ready,” she said.

Another Sandy Hook woman she called on was Kimberly Charles of Cider Mill Designs, whom she knew through Working Women’s Forum in Newtown. When a space called for a creative plant design, Ms Smart knew Cider Mill Designs could come up with the perfect piece. Because Ms Charles also works for Stone Farm, a nationwide resource for reclaimed brick and stone, located in Newtown, she was also a source for bricks for a fireplace façade in one home.

“I’m extremely excited to see my pieces on national television,” Ms Charles commented, “especially since one of the homes features our reclaimed bricks and my plants.”

Two other women, Sharon Leichsenring of Leichsenring Studio in Trumbull and Rhonda Rist of Nurzia Construction in Fishkill, N.Y., are also contacts Ms Smart knew from Working Women’s Forum. Ms Lichsenring provided decorative paint finishes and fine arts.

“Rhonda is a client and design services manager for the company,” Ms Smart said. She was delighted, she added, to have Nurzia Construction Corp, owned by Pete Nurzia, serve as the local general contractor.

She is also grateful to the assistance of Paul Coleman, owner of L.J. Edwards Furniture in Brookfield, and salesperson Elizabeth Beddows.

“Elizabeth was awesome, and they really pushed to get the upholstery in time,” said Ms Smart. “We all had a great time and worked well together. It was fun, even though it was very stressful.”

Under normal circumstances, designing projects of the magnitude shown on Property Brothers can take several weeks, followed by months of construction, Ms Smart said. Property Brothers projects are completed in only five to six weeks, from the first meeting to the (hopefully) thrilled reveal to the homeowners of the renovated home. Ten- to 15-hour days were not uncommon, Ms Smart said, but the process was amazingly smooth.

“The timeline and stress made it as exciting as it was exhausting,” she said.

Ms Smart is as keen as any viewer to see the completed episodes. The first one is scheduled to air Wednesday, October 14, at 9 pm, on HGTV.

“It will be fun for me to watch, because I don’t know all of the story lines behind the houses,” she said.

There is no question in this designer’s mind as to whether she would undertake this challenge again. “Absolutely. It was a wonderful experience,” Ms Smart said.

Check hgtv.com for air times of episodes featuring Ms Smart’s collaborations on the other three home designs. 

For more information and a portfolio of designs by Ms Smart, visit smartdesignct.com. Ms Charles’ plant creations and contact information can be found at www.cidermilldesigns.com, while information for Stone Farm can be found at www.stonefarmliving.com. Ms Mallen is happy to provide window treatment information at 203-426-8935.