Their careers flourished, and they hired a contractor to build them a new home.
Then things started to go seriously wrong.
In this exclusive interview, the Gilliams share the details of their surprising journey.
Brooke:You want to tell them how we met?
You always like to tell the story.
Brice:Brooke was on a bachelorette party here in Nashville, and I’m from Nashville.
And I was out with a couple of my guys, and we had mutual friends.
I was friends with her bachelorette.
So we’ve been together almost 10 years now.
And how did you get into home building, decorating?
That wasn’t your original field, right?
Brooke:Yeah, exactly.
Brooke:So when we were building our house, we didn’t have the best building experience.
We worked with a contractor that we had different expectations for.
So they were really eager to say, “Hey, come learn how to do this.”
And so, because of that, I ended up learning trades that I never thought I would.
And I took on a couple projects for friends and family, and one thing led to another.
How did you get into that?
And they were all kind of rooting for us so they would all be outside, cheering for us.
And when she came, she was like, “You guys should have your own show.”
And Brooke and I were both like, “Yeah, sure.”
Because we’d never even thought about it.
It never even crossed our mind.
And then we were like, “Yeah, that’s fine.”
And next thing we know, we have our own show.
So tell me about working with Joanna.
What’s it like working with Joanna Gaines?
They’ve been like mentors to us and been really helpful.
So what’s that like to launch a new business while you’re on camera?
People still come to me saying, “Hey, can you help me design my space?”
And I’m like, “You’re my friend.
You should get it by now.
I don’t design.
I just build.”
And so it’s been interesting having the cameras follow us along, but it’s been exciting too.
And I feel like we’re able to kind of document the experience.
Brice:It is really cool that we do have this true documentation of this growth.
And it’s hard because everything that you see, Brooke and I do.
So it’s not like we have this huge team, it’s really us.
And then we have a production crew, of course, they do production.
So the builds and all the other stuff is us.
And it’s a lot, but it’s really fun.
Brooke:Yeah, definitely so.
But I think that what’s cool too is with the show it’s a docu-follow.
And that’s the same with starting our own business.
You see the struggles and having to build out a team and trying to figure out what’s next.
Brooke:Friends and family and our own married life.
It’s tough to balance, but it’s been interesting trying to navigate it.
But we’re getting the hang of it.
Brice:Just how much work goes into it outside of the work that we do.
Because it’s really two different businesses running at the same time.
So that was really surprising.
And so to me, that’s the most surprising thing with filming [the] show.
Brice:Yeah, I agree.
And what has been your favorite project so far and why?
Brooke:I feel like there’s little things from each project.
I don’t know if I can name just one.
It’s really hard, if I had to pick one, there’s this bedroom that we redesigned.
It’s a newer home, but the family needed the space to be more inviting.
They needed to have something that they could just rest in.
And we designed and built custom things for that bedroom.
It was seriously something that I would love to have in my house.
And what would you most like your viewers to get out of your show?
Brooke:This one’s my favorite because I feel like the construction industry is lacking the female touch.
So I just really hope that it encourages women to just try it.
It doesn’t have to be a male-dominated industry anymore.
And I think to piggyback off that, the goal is to just try something.
If you have a passion, it may not align with your profession.
But that doesn’t mean you’re able to’t do it also.
Brooke:I agree.
What kind of plans do you have?
I mean, most people don’t, I do.
Brice:Yeah, they can definitely look for us creating modern, but in a livable format.
So we’re showing you a new approach to a modern design that is livable and functional.
