LAMB & CO.

Twin sisters create home renovation, decor empire with HGTV show

Ellen Hiatt

What’s better than having fun while you’re getting the job done? Not much, if you’re twins from Snohomish. Check out their YouTube car karaoke video where they’re shimmying and singing with their real estate clients. Selling a house can be stressful, says Leslie Davis, but it doesn’t have to be.

It’s that natural goofiness that attracted their latest claim to fame, a three-season run to date on HGTV called “Unsellable Houses.” Leslie and her identical twin sister Lyndsay Lamb, born and raised in Snohomish, were found on YouTube by a scout for the television company and asked to explore concepts, a process that lasted 18 months.

“Lyndsay and I really wanted to be authentic to who we are and what we do. If we were trying to fake it, it wouldn’t work,” said Leslie. “Once [the producers] realized we had a successful real estate business and we invested in homes ourselves,” the show had its theme.

The sisters had already been investing in their clients homes to help them sell for their full potential. They likened it to investing in marketing — the return was more certain than buying an advertisement. Boosting the perceived value of a home with a $10,000 investment meant the buyer made more money, and spread the good word about their business.

They’re serious about the work of Lamb & Co. Real Estate, but they’re also fun loving, goofy, and talkative. Show followers either love their gabby nature and the 101 throw pillows they use to stage a living room, or they don’t. But there is no going back for them.

“At first we were a little nervous about the show.” Having cameras pointed in their faces, people watching, a microphone recording — it was intimidating. But within a few hours, “we realized as long as we were ourselves, we were okay with being a little silly. We would never do this apart. We really shine when we are together. We are kind of natural at it. We absolutely enjoy doing it. It gives us a kick to be silly and goofy together.”

And fun and goofy with a knack for turning a home into a money-maker is exactly what makes HGTV’s “Unsellable Houses” a success. The sisters filmed the third season this past winter and expect to roll right into filming the fourth. Between the pandemic shutdowns and interruptions of weather, it’s been an intensive season of filming.

“It’s nuts, but it’s amazing and we try not to take any of it for granted. It’s been pretty crazy!” Leslie said.

And she’s pleased with their relationship with HGTV staff, as well. “We have all become very connected and really support each other and collaborate a lot.”

She says the same feeling is among their own Lamb & Co. staff of 30 employees. It takes a team to pull off filming for a television show, a real estate and home renovation business, and running a 4,000 square foot home decor store. The retail storefront is below street level on Snohomish’s historic First Street. It’s filled with the light and airy furniture and decorations that the sisters use to stage homes for sale.

“None of us live with 15 pillows on a couch,” Leslie said. “But it evokes an emotion that makes you want to gather in that room and sip coffee in that room with your girlfriends. It’s definitely a different story than decorating for your own home.”

Whether you’re looking to sell your home or make it your own, there’s plenty of good advice to be found by the television stars just by popping into their storefront.

“Our staff is talented, loyal and amazing. Gifted people. Lyndsay and I say it all the time,” Leslie said. “We are the face people see, but the work is done by everybody.”