‘Hack My Home’: Inside Netflix’s Most Uplifting (and Innovative) New Reality Show (Exclusive)

Netflix is no stranger to uplifting reality TV — look no further than Queer Eye or Love on the Spectrum. But now, the streamer has brought those feel-good vibes to the home makeover genre with its innovative new show Hack My Home.

You won't find sprawling villas, penthouse lofts or ocean views in this series, which debuted last month. Instead, Hack My Home aims to help people like the rest of us — ordinary families whose living rooms also have to work as offices, nurseries, classrooms or bedrooms.

"Home is work, and work is home, and home has to be everything to everyone," said general contractor Ati Williams, one of the show's four hosts. "Especially since this opportunity came up to us right when COVID was in its throes, it was very relatable. We would be helping people with a tangible problem that's happening right now, which is people are just running out of space."

That's certainly the case for the eight Atlanta families featured throughout the season. In one episode, the Hack My Home crew helps a family whose son is sleeping on a bed that folds out from a little closet in their postage stamp living room. Another episode features a family whose second pregnancy turned out to be surprise quadruplets — and the babies' cribs, swings, bottles, diapers and laundry have taken over every inch of their house.

"It's one thing when somebody just has, like, the disposable income of God, versus you know, the average person," designer and co-host Mikel Welch told The Messenger. "I think it's a lot trickier, because the designs that you come up with, you really have to think about… how are we helping these families who have multiple children?"

In each episode, a family whose home is failing to meet their needs gets a visit from the show's four co-hosts: Williams (DC Flippers), who oversees construction; Welch (Murder House Flip, The Drew Barrymore Show), in charge of design; Jessica Banks (CEO, RockPaperRobot), head of engineering; and Brooks Atwood (Shop Class), whose area of focus is innovation.

After the home visit, the hosts put their heads together to brainstorm creative solutions for the family. Unlike many home renovation shows, the resulting designs go far beyond a fresh coat of paint, trendy furniture and a neutral color scheme.

"I feel like so much of what we see now on television is like, 'Let's just knock down this wall! Open concept!'" said Welch. "And it's just like, okay, that sounds great, but what did we solve here, other than an aesthetic fix?"

Rather, Hack My Home sets itself apart by having its hosts reorganize and repurpose existing space instead of expanding it, utilize technology in surprising ways and actually deliver on the ambitious designs they promise viewers when they begin the project.

"In terms of home shows, this was the first time where I had seen innovation and engineering be a part of the show," Welch said. "It was interesting to be able to sit down collectively, brainpower-wise, to come up with these innovative solutions where we weren't necessarily tearing down whole portions of the house. It was kind of like, 'Let's just work with what we have and really explore what you have first.'"

In some cases, that means rethinking a room's layout, adding floor-to-ceiling storage or installing multifunctional furniture, like a swing-out table that provides extra surface space in a tight basement kitchen. In other episodes, the hacks are more inventive, like a bed that drops down from the ceiling or movable walls that can transform an office into a cozy media room at the push of a button.

Of course, not every unconventional idea is a winner. A suggestion for a door that twists and folds like origami is deemed unnecessarily complicated. An idea for custom-built cribs is dismissed due to safety regulations. But the duds are dispatched quickly, without drama and with plenty of good-natured banter. In one episode, Atwood suggests a hack for a dining table.

"What if the table could sink down and go flush with the ground so it's totally invisible?" he says. "That could leave the whole great room open for dancing or whatever, and then when you need it, it comes up out of the floor."

Welch responds, "Brooks, honey, nobody is gonna eat on a table where people have just danced and walked on."

"You can put down a rug to cover it up," Atwood suggests. "And then when you want the table, you just roll the rug up."

"Or you could take this whole idea and roll it up in your rug and put it in the trash because this does not work," Welch retorts.

Ribbing aside, the decision to work through potential "oops moments" up front during the brainstorming phase rather than later in the process was intentional, Williams said, and it marks a departure from the typical home improvement formula in which an "unexpected" plumbing or budget or building code issue forces the designers to alter their plans.

"We didn't try to do that like hokey 'Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do, guys?' And then after the commercial break, of course, you're going to fix it or it wouldn't land on television," Welch said. "We kind of took that hokeyness out of it, which was nice."

That's not to say there aren't problems or complications throughout the renovations, but when there are, they're handled calmly — a reality TV rarity. In one episode, after suggesting an alternate option for an incorrectly sized drawer, Williams brightly tells her project manager and carpenter, "See you guys, we worked it out! Can we, like, turn those frowns upside down?"

Without contrived drama to drive the narrative, the show leans on the comfortable rapport between the charismatic hosts — "The four of us just worked together really, really well," said Williams — as well as the impressive home transformations and the owners' reactions to them. And while Hack My Home doesn't rely on swelling music to trigger your tear ducts, there's no shortage of emotion or inspiration. It's intended to be a low-stress, highly satisfying watch, and it succeeds.

"I think that the emphasis for this show was for it to be a little bit different," Williams said. "Just, you know, let people enjoy it. … The way I see it, the whole world's a dumpster fire. It's just nice to have a little piece of bliss."

Hack My Home is now available to stream on Netflix.