By Raiza Giorgi
Santa Ynez Valley native Brett Phillips and his wife Kara have not only built a life for themselves and their three sons, they also have built many homes and renovated many others in their suburb of Fort Worth, Texas.
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“We joke that our style is California Southern. We put our styles of natural wood and light with touches of heirlooms that seem to work really well together,” he said with a laugh.
Now their creative work has landed them a television show on HGTV. The pilot episode of “Home to Last” is scheduled to premiere on July 14 (with times to be announced soon).
“We were working on a project in 2016 to renovate a 100-year-old house, and through that project we were approached by several production companies. After going back and forth we decided on one and started the process to put a pilot episode together and get in production with HGTV,” he said.
Phillips grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley and graduated from Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in 2001. He attended Pepperdine University and got his degree in marketing and communications.
“I ended up in Sydney, Australia, for a year at Bible school and learned a lot about myself in that process. When I came back to Southern California I got my master’s degree in organizational management from Azusa Pacific,” he said.
During that time, two of his friends from Pepperdine became engaged to two women from the same hometown in Aledo, Texas, about 20 minutes from Fort Worth.
“I ended up meeting my wife Kara at one of the weddings, and we knew immediately we wanted to be together,” Phillips said.
Phillips decided to stay in Texas and got a job at Texas Christian University in student leadership and teaching an entrepreneurship class. The couple also decided to get their real estate and contracting licenses and started their own company, called High Street Homes.
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“My wife moved constantly in her home town … her dad was a developer and their family joke was getting asked where Kara’s birthday will be celebrated, as it was never in the same house,” Phillips said.
The home renovating and building bug caught him as well, and in their eighth year of marriage the Phillipses have moved nine times.
“Doing this is just a natural fit for us, and we work really well together. We try really hard to shut off business during pillow talk, but sometimes it makes it in,” he laughed.
The couple focuses on helping other couples design and built or renovate their homes so they can stay in them for a long time.
“I know it’s strange since we move around a lot, but we are a different kind of couple and the show is about the other family and what they need to sustain them moving forward,” Phillips said.
The Phillipses do agree that they will remain in the Fort Worth area since both of their parents live in the area now too.
“Even without the show, our lives with our own business and three children are chaotic and we are so thankful for our parents and family living nearby to help,” he said.
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The ratings and social media buzz from the pilot episode will determine whether the network picks up “Home to Last,” and Phillips hopes that people in the Santa Ynez Valley will be watching the premiere.
“If it doesn’t make it, we are so thankful for the opportunity to even do just the one show … the couple we worked with as well as the crew was amazing. If it keeps going, then we hope that everyone enjoys what we have to share and can’t wait to start filming more episodes,” Phillips said.
For more information, log onto www.highstreethomes.com. Watch our Facebook page to find out the broadcast time for the premiere of “Home to Last.”
