That Time Steve and I Appeared on HGTV's Urban Outsiders with Matt James

Back in 2005, Steve and I bought our first house in Echo Park, California. It was the quintessential first home fixer-upper. An artist lived there before us, and she covered it in pink stucco on the outside, while inside it featured a cottage cheese ceiling, subfloor instead of carpet or hardwood, mermaids painted on the bathroom walls, Tuscan-style sponge painting in the hallway -- you get the idea.

We fixed that place up, and it looked great. The outside, was another matter. We just didn't know what to do or where to start, and anything we planted there died pretty quickly.

Six months later, I went on the HGTV website to see if they were shooting any garden makeover shows. We had no money, so this was one way we thought we could get a better yard and not have to spend too much cash. 

We never expected it would introduce us to Matt James, a.k.a. The City Gardener.

We'd been fans of Matt James and his UK show The City Gardener, which was being rebroadcast on HGTV in the United States. He made over urban gardens, which really spoke to our needs, and now HGTV was trying to recreate that magic in their own US-based show.

I submitted that Friday, sending in a photo of us (above), multiple stories I created that the producers could use for building an episode, and Steve's photos and measurements. They contacted us that Monday, were out to interview us that weekend, and within a month they were working on our yard. It came together through some good timing, along with having a yard that made for good TV. And because of us. 

Yep, it's true. When the producers came to meet us, they said we were so cute in our photo that they had to have us on the show. We loved it, and the crew, and the episode is super fun and funny (if I do say so myself). 

You can watch the full episode here. Enjoy.