Erin Napier shares ‘Bittersweet’ update while filming ‘Home Town’

HGTV / YouTube

Erin and Ben Napier

HGTV’s Erin Napier took to social media on Feb. 21 to share an update as she worked on a home makeover for her hit show Home Town.

Napier first shared a message Instagram stories, but she later posted a screenshot of the image to her twitter. The post included a selfie of Napier with the message: “I’m doing demo work on the home of a couple who went to our church and have since passed away. Perhaps the most complicated part of our job: honoring people we cared about who lived in those homes, while also making it personal for the next family. Bittersweet.”

See Napier’s message below.

Erin & Ben blog about families in their hometown

One way Erin and her husband and “Hometown” co-host Ben Napier honors homeowners is by sharing their stories. In addition to featuring local families from Laurel, Mississippi on their show and referencing homes by recent owners, the couple also kept a journal about their business Laurel Mercantile’s website. The posts go all the way back to 2010Years before the Napiers had any inkling of landing on HGTV.

While their journal articles fall into a variety of topics, there is a full section dedicated to them “hometown”and Erin, Ben and their Laurel Mercantile team use this section to highlight various homeowners and homebuyers who have appeared on the show and to share their stories.

One such story was that of Ella Roberts, known as Ben and Erin “Miss Ella”. Although Miss Ella doesn’t live in Laurel, she was in “Home Town Takeover” when Erin and Ben traveled to their hometown Wetumpka, Alabama. Napiers’ blog post tells the story of how Miss Ella worked to become the first African American woman to serve on the Wetumpka Police Department team.

“I have served in the Wetumpka Police Department for over 21 years and I love my job so much. My greatest passion is ministering to children in the community. I love creating programs that teach kids the most important things and keep them out of trouble. It’s a small town and everyone knows everyone, which I think is even more reason to look out for each other,” said Miss Ella of her career achievements.

Erin and Ben helped update Miss Ella’s home to show more of her personality, and wrote in the blog post that the entire Wetumpka community was thrilled that she was given the opportunity.

Erin Napier is honoring her own home with her upcoming book

In addition to honoring homeowners, Erin has also emphasized the importance of honoring a home and the memories made in a home. As such is the two-time author comes out with her third bookHeirloom Rooms, October 3rd. Her goal in this book is to show homes that are lived in and loved.

“I’m bored with the photos of perfectly styled and staged interiors that you see so much of in the online world, and I wanted to write a book that celebrates the imperfection of our homes…I wanted to write essays about our own homes in which each space is a separate chapter about a specific time in our lives together, and I’ve invited friends and designers to contribute, photograph their empty and occupied spaces themselves, and share their stories of what makes it theirs and nobody else’s.” , Napier wrote in her announcement of the book on Instagram.

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