The funny thing about sharing our Oprah-related experience during blogiversary week is that we nearly appeared on Oprah’s show during our very first blogiversary (spoiler: we were bumped last minute by Ty Pennington and a makeover segment). Now, five years later, things have come full circle. Yes, that was an intentional O pun.
First, the exciting news. For anyone who missed the short film when it aired on Sunday, the kind folks at OWN allowed us to share the clip here. Below is the segment that was produced about our home and our story.
Working with Oprah’s team was a thoughtful experience. They encouraged us to pause and consider what a home truly means to the people who live there. Even watching the final edit, which condensed an entire day’s worth of footage and conversation into a few minutes, felt purposeful and sincere. The piece reminded us that while it’s easy to worry about how a project looks or whether a room turns out exactly as planned, those details aren’t what make a house a home. They’re enjoyable parts of the process if you can step back and appreciate the journey. We don’t pretend to be philosophers, but the editors on this project certainly know how to bring out the warm, human elements of a story.
One surreal moment came when Oprah herself said our names in the introduction—pronounced correctly—just before the clip. We were so giddy about hearing our names that we recorded the broadcast off our TV.
Shortly after the segment aired, Oprah tweeted a quote from our piece. Not only did she introduce us on air, she listened to our story—and that felt pretty incredible.
So how did this collaboration start? The story goes back more than ten months to last November, when our book tour took us to Chicago—Oprah’s hometown. While in town we learned through our publisher that a producer from Harpo, Oprah’s production company, hoped to meet us. The meeting was casual—a quick chat in the hotel lobby a couple hours before a book signing—but it led to a creative conversation about making a short three-minute film. We thought it sounded like fun, and Heather, the Harpo producer, was enthusiastic and warm. That energy made saying yes easy.
The shoot itself took place in May, while we were still living in our old house. The day was organized and relaxed, thanks in part to the friendly crew who arrived prepared and professional. We had grown comfortable with Heather by then, which made hosting the team feel like welcoming friends into our space.
Not everything went smoothly: within ten minutes of the crew arriving, Sherry threw out her back for the first time in her life. She was tidying in the living room while the crew set up in the dining room, leaned over the sofa, and described the sensation as if a piece of her spine had been pulled out. She fell onto the sofa and struggled to move for a few moments, trying not to let anyone see her floundering. After a quick call to her doctor and a recommendation to take a high dose of pain reliever and rest, the medication kicked in and she managed to get through the day. In person she was stiffer than usual, which is why she later joked that her walking scenes looked like “that time she waddled like a duck on national TV.”
One of the highlights of the day was watching the crew work their magic. Their techniques for capturing light and framing shots were fascinating—especially when they filmed our framed-photo hallway, a feature we miss dearly. We also enjoyed a quiet moment when Clara joined part of the shoot. She was at school or napping for much of the day, but she later appeared for a family baking activity. There’s a shot of her that looks like she’s hosting her own little cooking show, and it perfectly captures the domestic warmth we cherish.
We also visited our new house briefly with the crew so they could capture footage about the “next chapter,” as OWN phrased it. That material didn’t make it into the final cut—likely for the best, since the new house was still very much a work in progress and we were awkwardly asking the team not to look too closely.
We’re incredibly grateful to Heather and the whole Harpo crew for their enthusiasm and for treating our story with care. We’ve always admired Oprah, and this experience deepened our respect for the many talented people behind her work. For the record, we never met Ms. Winfrey during this process, but perhaps another blogiversary will change that. You never know.