The Untold Truth Of Home Again With The Fords

For fans of family-oriented home makeover shows, Home Again with the Fords may be right up your alley! The first season of the renovation show, which premiered on HGTV on Tuesday, Feb. 2, follows siblings Leanne Ford and Steve Ford as they rebuild and restore homes for clients as they move back to the cities and towns they grew up in.

Leanne is the designer and Steve is the builder — similar to Property Brothers stars Jonathan Scott and Drew Scott — and the siblings make an incredible tag-team duo as they tackle projects for the clients in their hometowns. "People all over the country are now returning to the places they grew up. And what a wonderful place to be," Leanne told the network in a recent interview (via HGTV). "It truly is a privilege to help people come home again, and to create a space they love."

Steve added, "It's great to work with my sister, Leanne, and she pushes the limits of design. It makes my job challenging, but it's worth it in the end."

HGTV fans will likely recognize Steve Ford and Leanne Ford from their other popular HGTV series, Restored by the Fords. In a 2018 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Leanne opened up about the pros and cons of working with her sibling, saying, "The best part is the worst part, which is that we know each other so well! In one way, it's a total advantage to be able to read each other's minds and know what they are thinking without talking. In another way — because we know each other so well — we don't have the joy and benefit of the 'polite conversation' when we are debating anything regarding the design or build out."

Leanne also revealed what particular thing she and her brother fight over the most when renovating is. "Mainly I come into a project thinking, 'What's the coolest and most beautiful thing we can do in this space?'" she shared, adding that she herself may be the siblings' toughest client. "Steve, being the contractor, tries to talk me back down to planet Earth. I'm a tough client for him, I'll tell you that!"

According to Loren Ruch, the Senior Vice President of Programming and Development for HGTV, Home Again with the Fords is basically an evolution of Restored by the Fords (via TribLive). The difference? The series features seven hour-long episodes instead of thirty-minute episodes and focuses more on the stories behind the families featured on each episode, as well as the Fords themselves.

"The new season is special to us for so many reasons," Ford said. "We now have hour-long episodes, which lets us dive more into the client's stories, which directly impact design decisions" (via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

HGTV fans are somewhat divided on the new show, though. "It's great to see Home Again With The Fords. Love these guys," one fan tweeted, while another expressed their opposite opinion of the Ford siblings, writing, "Home Again With the Fords is a weird show, man. The brother sounds drunk every time he's on camera and their vibe with the client is just super awkward, clipped, and borderline rude."

In a self-written post for Domino, Leanne Ford gave fans an inside look at her newly renovated Pittsburgh home, and let readers in on one of her go-to design secrets, giving them the inside scoop about why her designs have a warm vibe. 

"People ask me all the time why my designs feel so warm. Not to totally give away my cheat sheet, but it's pretty simple. I walk into a space and I think: Okay, what is good? What can we keep? I'm not looking for perfect. I'm looking for special," wrote the 39-year-old interior designer. "At the same time, I'm not trying to make a movie set. I want it to be livable. What most people don't realize is that the first step to adding character and warmth isn't actually about adding anything at all: It's about keeping as much soul as you can."

While Steve Ford and Leanne Ford may have some qualms when it comes to renovating their clients' homes, Steve opened up about the importance of having a comfortable, unique space to call home, and how his sister helps him achieve that goal no matter where he's living.

"Yeah, I mean, for me, it's impactful to have a place that you're happy to go home to, a home you're happy to wake up in," he shared (via Jesus Calling). "Entertaining has always been something I feel like [I need to have], a space where I could bring my friends over and be proud of."

"Even when I had a rental, I had Leanne come over and design my rental space, and that makes me feel so much happier to be in that space that I didn't own that now felt like it was mine. And now owning my first home and having it exactly like I wanted, every day I wake up happier than ever before," Steve added. "I love to be able to do that. I like being able to do that for a client, too. We go into their house, and this is their opportunity to make it exactly how they want. And we get to help them. It's pretty special."

The Ford siblings released their debut memoir, Work in Progress: Unconventional Thoughts on Designing an Extraordinary Life, on Oct. 29, 2019. In an interview with Pop Culture, the brother-sister duo spoke about the process of writing a book about their lives and sharing it with the world. Steve, who admitted he's never really been into reading, writing, or books, shared what the hardest part about penning a memoir was for him.

"This was definitely overcoming some obstacles for me because I haven't ever been someone that really read books or thought I'd write a book," he revealed. "That has always been difficult for me. I think that's personally why I have a much smaller part in it than Leanne, thankfully. [But] it was cool."

You can catch Steve and Leanne Ford on Home Again with the Fords on HGTV. Check your local listings for specific air dates and times.