A Seward mother-daughter duo is taking their home renovation skills to national television.
Michelle Mueller of Seward and her daughter, Sydney Lorence, who is moving back to Seward, are contestants on HGTV's “Battle on the Beach.”
The seven-episode series premiered on June 1 and airs on HGTV every Monday at 8 p.m. It is available on HBO Max the following day.
Set in South Carolina, the show features three two-person teams, each competing to flip a rental home with a $100,000 budget. The team that increases the value of their home the most wins a $50,000 grand prize. Each team is paired with an expert mentor.
Mueller and Lorence's mentor was Ty Pennington, a longtime host of ABC's “Extreme Home Makeover.”
For both women, the competition drew on years of experience renovating homes. Mueller said she began flipping houses when she and her husband purchased their first home.
“We started out just fixing up our own homes,” she said. “We lived in them two to three years and sold them, then went to the next one and fixed it up. As we got a little bit older, we were able to do it without having to necessarily live in them.”
The Muellers also owned Cornerstone Interiors & Design in Seward for 24 years, which lent itself well to flipping houses.
In turn, Lorence, a 2012 graduate of Seward High School, grew up around home renovation.
She stepped onto the scene herself when she and her now-husband purchased a home to flip. Her parents helped with the renovation and taught the couple the house-flipping skills they needed.
“I realized my love for it at that time, and so that’s kind of where my journey began on seeing potential where others don’t,” Lorence said. “So, together, here and there with my parents’ help, we have renovated like six houses. We’re on our seventh right now.”
Lorence then started an Instagram account, @diysquid, to show family and friends her do-it-yourself projects and renovations. The account eventually grew to 270,000 followers, and content creation became her full-time job.
The “Battle on the Beach” casting team discovered Lorence through her account and encouraged her to apply for the show.
“It was kind of one of those things where you don’t really think it’s actually going to happen, and so we just kept moving along in the process, and we’re like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re really doing this,’” she said.
Mueller said she and her daughter entered the competition with a game plan, but everything changed once they arrived and got into their house. Although they brought years of experience to the competition, they often had to pivot.
“You can’t really prepare too much until you’re there,” Lorence said. “We tried to plan out our dynamic too, knowing it was going to be difficult being a mother and daughter duo.”
Because Lorence had been living more than an hour’s drive from Seward, the pair had not worked together as frequently in recent years. When they did work together, it was either her project or her mother's project. This means there was a clear lead designer. This was the first time they led a project together, and it was challenging to find a balance.
“There were days where we were both ready to pack our bags, probably, and haul it home, depending on how we were working with each other, or just the overall experience could just be overwhelming, because you are expected to do a lot in seven weeks,” Mueller said.
Despite the challenges, both women said the experience was fun and one they would do again.
“When I got home from (the show), for weeks every night I had dreams of not finishing something or needing to finish something,” Mueller said. “Then, I’d wake up thinking, ‘Oh, the show’s over, I don’t have to do that.’”
Lorence said their competitors were talented and could not be underestimated. She and her mother felt fortunate to get to know the other teams and hear their stories throughout the show.
The duo’s favorite aspect of filming was the camaraderie.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better team,” Mueller said. “Between the producer and the camera crew, the audio crew, Ty – it was a really good team.”
Lorence said knowing she would appear on national television was both surreal and intimidating, especially because cameras captured many emotional moments. The family gathered at Bottle Rocket Brewing Co. for a watch party during the premiere.
“When you’re there, you kind of forget that people are going to be watching,” Lorence said. “After a while, you become comfortable, and then you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, how many people are going to watch this here in a couple weeks?’”
If they win, Mueller and Lorence plan to use the money to start their own business flipping homes. Find out what happens on HGTV.
