Even though it’s far from finished, our beach house made a surprise television appearance on HGTV this past Sunday night. Do you see it on the right side of the screen? Our deteriorating siding managed to claim a solid five percent of the episode’s screen time.
We had no advance warning, so Sherry immediately cranked her excitement up to eleven on her Instagram stories that night for anyone watching along. If you missed it, here’s a clip of the episode:
The segment was part of Beachfront Bargain Hunt because the house right next door was one of three properties the featured couple considered. The show follows a format similar to House Hunters. Spoiler: the couple didn’t choose the house next door, so the people you see aren’t our neighbors, and the agent on the show wasn’t ours either. Still, it was exciting to see our little block on television.
When we bought our place last fall, our realtor — who had previously represented the buyers of the house next door — mentioned Cape Charles had been featured on the show before and that another episode filmed here was expected to air. A few weeks ago she texted to remind us to check the DVR when the Cape Charles episode appeared. None of us realized the neighboring house had been filmed until after the fact; filming had taken place before the new owners purchased it. Once we all realized that our row of houses appeared on screen, texts exploded with exclamation points.
We found the whole thing hilarious. You can almost picture the production team grimacing and deciding they couldn’t crop the siding out, so they shot it from multiple angles — including wide crane or drone views. They tried to move the camera quickly over the problem areas, but several readers still recognized the janky siding and messaged us. Apparently even a fast pan isn’t enough to hide it.
We’re not certain when the filming took place — likely last summer, judging by the hydrangeas — but whatever the timing, at least the lush greenery helped distract from the unfinished exterior. “Look over there,” we joked, “big blue flowers!”
I’m sharing this because the episode was a neat illustration of the potential we saw when buying our house. The featured home is one of four near-identical houses on our street, and it’s actually the same model our realtor let us tour before we made our purchase. It’s the one we often mention that sold for substantially more than ours, so thanks to HGTV you can now see inside it too.
The kitchen and dining area showcase some of the layout differences. That house kept the original chimney column and used it to anchor a kitchen peninsula; their stove and hood sit on the opposite side of that column. Our chimney had been removed by a previous owner, though, so the same spot is an open wall in our layout.
They also retained a back staircase but traded a back door for a window, which allowed them to place cabinets and counters along that back wall. Our house keeps the back door for convenient deck and yard access. It’s entertaining to see these “alternate realities” created by the same basic floor plan.
Their back stairs lead to an open landing with a daybed and an attached bathroom, which gives a sense of how our upstairs might look once we finish. Our upstairs layout will open directly into the main bedroom instead of a living area.
Interestingly, the upstairs bathroom in their layout sits on the opposite side of the house from ours, so the bathroom window you see on their episode actually faces our bathroom window in real life. Curtains, thank goodness.
The inside of the featured home was nicely finished. The couple’s reasons for passing on it seemed to be size—they wanted an extra bedroom—and location; they preferred a house that was closer to the beach. They didn’t voice concerns about the neighboring property on camera, but it’s easy to read between the lines.
If you catch a rerun, the episode gives a nice overview of Cape Charles, including some attractive aerial shots, and highlights many of the things that drew us to the town. It even reminded us about local spots to explore—looks like the kids are getting a trip to the train museum soon.
The good news is that if HGTV or anyone else shows up with cameras again, our house should look much more presentable now that we’ve begun improvements.
We’re heading back this week to see our freshly painted white trim, which can’t arrive soon enough. The current yellow-tan with the pink trim looks a bit off, but it’s not nearly as memorable as our house’s first TV cameo.