SARAH RICHARDSON

SARAH RICHARDSON Designer

HGTV’s Sarah’s Mountain Escape

What can I say about Sarah Richardson that has not already been said? She has been an HGTV staple since it started 25 years ago. Her shows include ‘Room Service’, ‘Sarah’s Summer House’, ‘Real Potential’, ‘Sarah’s Cottage’, ‘Sarah 101’, ‘Design Inc.’, ‘Sarah’s House’ and ‘Sarah Off the Grid’. I had to go to the woman herself to get the inside scoop on the newest addition to her resume with this new show, ‘Sarah’s Mountain Escape’ and find out her intimate connection to The Kawarthas, her love of design and, of course, her 350 plus episodes on HGTV.

JAY COOPER (ATOTK): Thank you so much for your time and I am wishing you an early happy birthday!

Sarah Richardson (SR): Well thank you so much, Jay! I’m going to be in France for my BD and it’s the first time in 5 years I’ve travelled with my husband just for fun.

ATOTK: I wish you great success on your new show “Sarah’s Mountain Escape”, but do you watch other current shows on HGTV?

SR: I love to watch the network whenever I can and see what the others are up to. One of the greatest things is that HGTV is running 24/7, with a vast coun try with people with different tastes, interests and preferences. Focused on curating content that ap peals to different people for different reasons. If all the other hosts were doing the same thing, it would be boring (laughs).

ATOTK: HGTV stands for Home & Garden TV but there is not a lot of gardening going on (laughs). SR: Well, gardening, they really try and there is an ap petite for it, but the challenge lies in a very real limita tion which is, when you plant a garden it really doesn’t look like anything. My show “Sarah off the Grid” was 5 years ago and now the gardens look spectacular but it took that long to get there. Everyone wants a juicy payoff at the end of a show.

ATOTK: Yet another reason you love design.

SR: What I love about design is the process, but I love hearing about success stories of projects that have been well executed that I can tour. I would tour an existing garden but not one that is just being built, right? (laughs).

ATOTK: You are a mother, wife, author, a beloved TV celebrity and extremely successful entrepreneur. Is there anything I’m missing?

SR: Ah, over-worked and under-paid (laughs). I’m a creator; I live to be creative with everything I do.

ATOTK: You have a very solid connection to the Kawarthas.

SR: Yes, I truly do. I grew up on Stoney Lake. Both my parents had family cottages there and that is how they met. My grandparents had exactly the same ex perience and outcome. So yeah, I spent my summers there on Upper Stoney zipping around in a tin can and buying penny candy at the general store. Funny enough, my husband was a fan of Kawartha Diary Ice Cream when we met and that sort of sealed the deal (laughs). Another connection is that my daughter goes to Lakefield College. I just picked up the coolest guitar for her at Long & McQuade in Peterborough. My uncle was also a minister at the Anglican Church near the courthouse in Peterborough, so I know the area very well.

ATOTK: Have you checked out the magazine?

SR: I have and it’s wonderful! It’s a great way to see what’s happening in The Kawarthas and equally in teresting to see the area’s resources of businesses that advertise in the publication, as those are the connec tions you need for restaurants to renovating.

ATOTK: Your newest show, ‘Sarah’s Mountain Escape’, is now airing, but you have been a part of the HGTV family since it’s inception.

SR: I’m just a natural born creative person that fell into TV through chance and happenstance. A fun fact is I was the set decorator on the first show that went

to air called ‘Savoir Faire’ with Nik Manojlovich 25 years ago. I pitched my own show in 1998 and it aired in 2000, called ‘Room Service’. I always said I’m not the oldest person on the network but I’ve been around the longest and I’m thinking at this point I may be both (laughs).

ATOTK: When did the first door open for you to get on a set?

SR: After Western University I shared a house with my best girlfriend and got a call wanting to know if I was interested in working on a home design show and I said I would. The criteria was to have someone with taste, as they couldn’t find the right person and a reception ist friend that worked there suggested me. So that was the beginning of my behind the scenes role. Then, a few months later I was asked if I was interested in doing an on-camera segment and I said sure. I always said the only answer is ‘yes’ and ‘sure’ and look where it got me (laughs).

ATOTK: As we see all the time, the designated amount of money for a project gets eaten up on the unknown?

SR: Yeah, well that’s why most of our projects are our own now so we don’t have to negotiate that (laughs). In this project, ‘Mountain Escape’, the budget went right out the window. It’s challenging, but you don’t know what’s lurking behind the walls and the other problems that do arise. It’s only when you start the demo that you see what’s been done wrong previously, what’s gone

wrong, what’s not been sustained and what needs immediate work.

ATOTK: What are the origins of the new show since it was filmed in Whistler BC?

SR: We were on a Covid pandemic escape to get some fresh mountain air and I thought it was just a ski trip. But my husband quickly decided we should connect with a realtor and I thought ‘What? No, we don’t need to be doing that’ and he said, ‘come on, it will be fun’. So let me know after watching all ten episodes how much fun you think it was (laughs). We survived and it was a very unique project, which I like. I don’t like doing what I’ve done before and I’m motivated to take on a new challenge. It’s a small town with a set number of houses that is an inter national destination in a four-season playground. From a rental perspective, you can attract people all year long as opposed to a cottage that is seasonal. It’s a local landmark and I liked the idea of restoring and re-imagining it to make it work for the future.

ATOTK: So you were on vacation in the middle of a pandemic and phoned the network up and said, “Hey we want to do this as a show”?

SR: Well yeah, as we had been in development with shows during that time that had gotten pushed aside. It was an extraordinarily challenging time for an en trepreneur or small business but I couldn’t think that this (pandemic) was never going to end. So I launched 3 books with Simon & Schuster, made huge changes to our business during it and thought, well, we bought the property, now is the right time to get back to do ing another show. I had no clue if they would pick it up. They did and I hope the viewers enjoy it.

ATOTK: Is there anything we don’t know about Sarah Richardson outside of your designs and TV?

SR: I love to cook and educate, snow and water-ski ing. I think I’m happiest when I’m on the water. Jay, you and your readers being in The Kawarthas have a true gift where you get to experience the fresh water lakes and pristine natural environment and have that escape right in your backyard.

ATOTK: I spent my summers on Baptiste Lake, north of Bancroft, so I’ve been enjoying the experience my whole life.

SR: Ah! Camp Ponacka. My dad was the director there and my brother went there along with my husband. It’s just another example of the beautiful places you have in the area.

ATOTK: So, with all that going on in your life, what’s in the future?

SR: Something on the water of course (laughs).

ATOTK: What would you like to say to all of your fans and supporters?

SR: I’m grateful and humbled that people have been with me on this journey for the last 25 years - and it’s still ongoing. My mission is to help create designs that inspire and educate people with the tips and the know how they need to execute their project, so they are empowered to go and tackle them. Live in style and love your home.

www.sarahrichardsondesign.com

Instagram @sarahrichardsondesign

FaceBook Sarah Richardson