If there’s one thing the world could always use more of, it’s kindness.
How did you initially get interested in home renovation and interior design?
Her and I both have such a similar story… it’s something that we’ve always been doing.
Some call it a passion, some call it an obsession.
We have become this team that’s been doing this behind the scenes for a while.
No one was quite expecting us to be like, “Great, let’s do it.
Where’s the mood board?
Here’s the swatches I found.”
[Laughs] We definitely went all in with that.
She was working on her house, and we it [started out on a much smaller scale].
When we really started working on major kinds of renovation, it was so seamless.
It doesn’t seem like working.
It does not feel like work when we’re doing it.
It feels like a total expression of fun and creativity and inspiration.
It is our happy place.
Growing up as aspiring actors, did you and Melissa always hope to have a TV show together?
Melissa and I, our parents are brother and sister: her dad and my mom.
By the time I was born, Melissa was moving to New York.
We would see each other in passing, but I was little.
She had pursued her thing, and I was in college studying theater.
Right when I was getting out of college is when she was on the “Bridesmaids” trajectory.
After college, when I moved, I had never [renovating] was always something I did.
It wasn’t like, “Oh, I should do this in addition.
Design should be my day job.”
I never had that thought, and I don’t think she did either.
It wasn’t really until we both got to … the magic of us coming together.
We like it."
It was like, “The two of us together, we see things in a fun way.
We really like doing this and not only for ourselves, but for other people.”
It fell into place following “Celebrity IOU.”
We talk about this all the time.
Though we grew up separate, there is such a genetic connection between the two of us.
I couldn’t wish to work with anyone better.
That’s also I love this: They’re a family connection.
We’re a family connection.
We always talk about [how] we need to do a brother/cousin, brother/cousin challenge.
They’re so lovely.
They’re the nicest gentle giants you’ll ever meet.
We’re working on people’s homes, so they need to be finished properly.
This isn’t like slap sticking anything together.
They have an attention to detail and to care that is unparalleled.
It got a base from where we also wanted to work.
Is there any home renovation advice or knowledge that you picked up from working with them?
It is the age old, “Measure twice.
Take the time to be prepared correctly.
and the proof is in the smallest details.
What is your personal favorite part of the renovation process?
It’s starting to [become obvious] in the show a little bit.
I do love some demo[lition].
I do love taking a sledgehammer to a wall and ripping that bad boy down.
I like getting dirty and sweaty.
I like getting in the middle of it, and it’s cathartic.
Will it be better when this wall’s down?
Then you physically do it yourself, and you get to see, “Yeah.
It already looks better.
It already is lending itself for the change.”
I love the demo, because it leads to everything else.
It isn’t that different than if you’re seeing it in real time.
There’s the episode with our lovely Shelli and Dawanna.
It was Episode [3].
She was our police officer … and we lost the bedding.
I’m in a flop sweat.
I totally forget I’m filming, and I’m in the heat.
I watched footage later.
I was like, “Oh, my God.
I’m a nightmare.”
The pressure was on.
There’s that other level of, “We got to do this right.
This isn’t just for us and for fun.
If anything, the cameras are reinforcing [the fact that] this is for other people.
We got to do a good job.
I love, from the [start], Melissa and I … wanted to show the truth.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies when you’re designing.
We’re told no.
Things don’t show up.
You have to make a pivot, and those stressful situations often lead to the best results.
That brings a surprise or challenge, like a new way of doing something, to the table.
It’s not always so polished.
You have a thought, and you’re like, “Okay.
I know how to do this.
I know how I can do this.
Oh, that can’t happen?”
Melissa goes, “Oh, well this is another way to do this.”
It’s really fun, because I know the next episode is with our lovely mama.
There was a major [idea].
We had a whole plan, and then that whole plan got told, “No.”
It was like, “Oh.
How could we even think about doing this the other way?
This works so much better.”
That’s fun, and I love showing that, because you don’t always see that.
What has been the most challenging aspect of doing a show like “The Great Giveback”?
Wanting to do everything and everything, and more than that, and not being able to.
There’s always a limit.
There’s always some kind of constraint.
It’s for the loveliest, most amazing people.
You meet them, and you read about them.
So having to cap it at some point is the absolute hardest part.
I don’t think it really is that different.
Her and I are both like, regardless of what it is, we like to do our homework.
What was the best part about working with her on “The Great Giveback”?
[Melissa] and I have fun together.
We enjoy being together.
We are best of friends.
We are like sisters, so we enjoy getting to spend time together.
We both enjoy this world.
We love every little bit of it.
[It’s great] being able to do that and get to work together.
[We would end up saying], “Okay.”
It was a new challenge to be like, “These people love X, Y, and Z.
How do we do that?
Let’s experience that.”
It was really a fun challenge of getting to stretch our own limits and learn new things together.
There have been so many.
I really wanted to show a renter.
That was so important to me.
That’s the reality.
I’d like to.
I’m working toward it.
I felt it was important to show someone like me who is in this place in their life.
There was something in knowing he is someone working towards He’s out in LA.
There was something really close to home with that particular episode.
[It was the] same with Melissa, because Melissa was that 20-year-old moving to LA, too.
It was a cool experience.
He has the most fabulous style that was super in line with Melissa and I. I’ll leave it at that.
Anything and everything that we could do together, we would do together.
We hope to keep being able to do this, because we love it.
Yes, we love the home renovations.
The dark and the bad in the world has the microphone.
Good goes a long way, and there’s a ripple effect there.
“The Great Giveback” is such an amalgamation of, yes, design aesthetics.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
