When Angie and Nick Rossello purchased their first home in Saugus, the couple and their three children never expected to be stuck in quarantine only a few months later.
“Nick and I’ve been together since we were kids,” Angie Rossello said. “We bought our first house six months before this all happened, so we moved in and then got laid off — both of us.”
Isolated together in their newly purchased home, the Rosellos heard about HGTV’s first, self-shot series, “Design At Your Door” — and Angie knew they had to apply.
“We had just moved in, and I looked at our living room and the room needed help,” Angie said. “I’m social, so I love having people over, and we don’t really have any other room in the house to entertain in, except for that room.”
Thousands of fans and fearless DIY-ers submitted videos, but only 16 homeowners were selected to work with HGTV designers virtually for the first-of-its-kind show.
Each episode follows a family as they receive coaching and a customized design plan to fit their needs, along with everything they need to completely revamp their space in need of a makeover, which for the Rossellos was their living room.
“It looked like it was from the 1960s or something,” Nick Rossello said.
Angie agreed, adding, “It was just a dark, dingy room. I just wanted a room that the family could spend time in, and I could entertain in.”
The Rossellos were paired with HGTV’s “One of a Kind” designer Grace Mitchell, who was the perfect fit for the family, Angie and Nick agreed.
Boxes were then delivered to the Rossellos’ doorstep, filled with anything from paint and pillows to wallpaper, headboards and sofas, as they worked with Mitchell to combine fresh, new items with repurposed gems.
“In ‘Design At Your Door,’ our home renovation stars are faced with a unique challenge — designing a space they’ll never see in person and virtually coaching novices to express a personalized design vision,” Jane Latman, president of HGTV, said in a prepared statement. “Once the homeowners open their design boxes, it’s game on as they unleash their creativity and get that makeover done without outside hands-on assistance.”
The Rossellos used repurposed items that were sentimental to the family, such as artwork made by Angie’s grandmother, who died the same day as Angie’s son was born in 2008.
“She was an amazing artist, and he got that little touch from her,” Angie said, adding that it made it all the more special.
For the first time, homeowners took on the challenge of documenting their design process every step of the way, which the Rossellos agreed was the hardest part.
“You don’t realize how much work goes into shooting a show,” Angie said. “We had to do the camera work, sound work, and all uploading and downloading.”
“The work was fine. I mean, it took us awhile, and it was hard to do,” Nick added, chuckling, “but we got through it, just working late nights, drinking coffees and going at it.”
Even so, the hard work seems to have paid off, as the Rossellos love their new space.
“Now, it’s all bright and nice, and it came out great,” Nick said.
“We just really want to thank HGTV and Grace Mitchell for giving us the opportunity to do the show and picking us,” Angie added.
HGTV’s “Design at Your Door” premieres with back-to-back episodes 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Thursday via cable or the HGTV GO app. For more information and additional content from the show, visit HGTV.com/DesignAtYourDoor.
