When their show “Home Town” first hit the HGTV airwaves in 2016, husband-and-wife design team Ben and Erin Napier quickly found a loyal audience. In fact, their success and style of home renovation show caused many people to call them the next Chip and Joanna Gaines! Their work renovating houses in Laurel, MS, helped define their signature design style and showed their passion for raising their humble town’s profile and real estate values.
Since then, the Napiers have been busy with a second HGTV show, “Home Town Takeover.” Each season, Ben and Erin lead a team of design and construction pros with the goal of revitalizing a small town through a number of major renovations, focusing on historic homes, shops, restaurants, and public spaces. Season one took place in Wetumpka, AL, and this year they’re making over Fort Morgan, CO.
The Napiers may now be considered HGTV royalty, but how well do you really know them?
With a bit of digging, we found out that they have a lot of surprises and, yes, even skeletons in their past. Here are some fun facts about these “Home Town” stars you probably never knew.
1. They’re college sweethearts
Erin and Ben seem to be a really close couple, and here’s one reason why: They’ve known each other a long, long time.
These two met at Jones Country Junior College—and knew within a week of dating that they’d one day marry. Talk about love at first sight!
2. They weren’t big HGTV fans before they got their show
As it turns out, these “Home Town” stars hadn’t ever dreamed of being on TV. In fact, they admitted that they’d only just started watching shows like “Fixer Upper” when an HGTV executive asked if they’d ever thought about doing their own show.
“I never really watched HGTV before,” Erin said in an interview. “We weren’t big TV watchers at all.”
In the end, they decided to sign on for “Home Town” because, as Erin explains, “anything that can draw some positive attention to our town, we’re game.”
3. They don’t have much renovation experience
As it turns out, Erin and Ben didn’t have a home renovation background. In fact, Erin has a degree in graphic design while Ben has a degree in history.
Before they got the show, the couple filled their time by running their small businesses: a furniture shop, a stationery shop, and a home goods store in Laurel.
While Ben and Erin may not have had a lot of experience renovating homes before the show started, clearly they picked it up quickly.
4. Health struggles threatened their ability to have kids
While Erin and Ben may have gotten into HGTV fairly easily, things haven’t always been smooth sailing for this couple. For years, Erin suffered from a mysterious illness with weeklong episodes of terrible stomach pain and fever, rendering her unable to move without pain.
Then, in 2014, an exploratory surgery revealed that her appendix had been continually bursting and healing itself over the years. After Erin underwent the surgery to remove her appendix and scar tissue, she was told having kids “wasn’t likely.” Nonetheless, their daughter,Helen, was born in January 2018.
5. They kept their first pregnancy a secret
Erin and Ben had their first baby in January 2018 (just before the Season 2 premiere), but fans didn’t know she was pregnant until she was almost ready to deliver.
In October 2017, Erin posted a photo on Instagram with a caption that read, “I have a secret to tell you.” The post directed followers to a link to their pregnancy announcement on her blog.
Erin was seven months along and had managed to keep the pregnancy quiet (even while filming) until the pair were finally ready to tell the world.
6. Baby No. 2
The couple’s second daughter, Mae, arrived on May 28, 2021. Just as she did with her first pregnancy, Erin was able to keep it a secret—despite working on two shows. The couple didn’t reveal the pregnancy until Erin was in her eighth month. They announced it on an episode of “Home Town,” saying they are thrilled that Helen will have a sibling and playmate to grow up with.
Erin has since become somewhat of a spokesperson on bottle feeding, as she was unable to breastfeed and wants to let other moms in her situation know that it’s all okay. She shared that Helen was a formula-fed baby, as well, and so far has none of the allergies or attachment issues that so many moms who can’t breastfeed feel anxiety over.
Erin seems like a multitalented person: From interior design to graphic art to stationery making, what can’t she do?
Well, it looks like we have to add music to her long list of skills because Erin can sing, play the piano, and strum a guitar, too!
In one Instagram post, she explained that she used to be much more interested in music.
“When I was 14, I started playing music at the coffeehouse in downtown Laurel to earn my money,” she said. “I did that until I graduated high school.”
Every so often, she’ll post a video on Instagram of herself singing and/or playing, but it seems like her music has taken a back seat to home renovations. But who knows, maybe she’ll play a song on “Home Town” one day.
7. Ben and Erin have a unique morning routine
In one interview, Erin described a sweet habit Ben fits into his morning routine.
“Every day he’s up before me, and he writes me a letter,” she says. “It’s a short one, but it’s a letter.”
She also says that he always has a co*ke waiting for her.
That’s right, while Ben drinks coffee in the morning, Erin reports that she washes down her breakfast cereal with a co*ke Zero. It might not be the most conventional morning drink, but whatever works!
