New HGTV Couple Davina Thomasula & Kristin Leitheuser on Realizing ‘Small Town Potential’
Outside the concrete jungle of New York City is the beautiful Hudson Valley with expansive greenery, picturesque towns and a wide-ranging selection of homes to suit most tastes and budgets. The area is the setting for Small Town Potential, a new HGTV show debuting March 3.
The series stars real estate agent and designer Davina Thomasula and contractor Kristin Leitheuser (plus her dad Don). The partners in work and life (they are engaged and have been together for 10 years) take pride in realizing their clients’ visions.
Their first challenge in the eight-episode season is transforming an 1800s-era farmhouse into a dream home in Marlboro. Here, Thomasula and Leitheuser open up about the show, and representing the LGBTQ+ community within the home improvement and renovation world.
How does it feel knowing Small Town Potential is coming out?
Davina Thomasula: We still can’t believe it. We’re like, “Is this coming out?” I think what people don’t know is that it has been this long process. From pilot to air, it has been years for us. We get to see the hard work we put in and share it with the world. We’re excited.
Kristin Leitheuser: The anticipation has definitely been boiling. We can not wait share this with everyone.
Where did the delay come from? Was it a matter of right timing?
Kristin: It was just timing. This will be worth the wait. I know that.
How did the concept for the show develop?
Davina: The show came from us fixing our own house we bought. We saved every penny to buy this one house. We were moving out of the big city. The house was built in the 1800s. It was a house in Poughkeepsie. We ended up sitting in it and saying to ourselves, “What the hell did we just buy?” We had to figure out how to renovate and fix it. We just started there, filming the process ourselves. Then it started to snowball.
Kristin: We had some synergy in the line of work we were doing. Davina is so freakin’ funny too and posts all these things on Instagram. It became this big thing. In general, we did what any old person would do. We were working hard in this busy big city and just wanted a different change of pace. We put everything down on a house and started on our little journey. I think our story resonates with a lot of people.
HGTV
How would you describe your working dynamic?
Davina: I think Kristin is more practical at times, and I will come up with creative ideas. She’ll be like, “This is how we execute it or not.” That’s why it works.
Kristin: Working together onsite during projects is so much fun. A blast. There is this synergy. Then you have my father mixed into the whole thing. There are challenges, but we balance those really well. We purposely focus on not bringing work home. I work with my father. I work with my partner. So, naturally, you can bring work home. When we are cooking or settling down for the night, we try to separate that and focus on family.
Kristin, how does your dad Don feel being on TV? What’s it like working with him day-to-day?
Kristin: I don’t know if there was any apprehension, but he was nervous about being filmed. He didn’t know what to expect at all. Now he is a star. He has been in the industry for 40 years, so to have a camera on him was a learning curve. It’s so funny when the cameras are all over him. We’re asking him to explain what he is doing. He is like, “I’m just doing this.” I said,” Dad, you have to explain what you’re doing, how you’re doing it.” So it was pretty cool to have this experience. It’s great for him to show what he does. He is this master carpenter. Once he got the filming aspect, he got it. So, it was fun to see that transition.
Are you prepared to open up your life more than ever as these new HGTV stars?
Davina: I think the best way to say it is we don’t know what is next or what to expect. We’re excited to just have this out and see what happens. One foot in front of the other every day.
HGTV has done a great job building up a diverse roster of talent from various areas and walks of life. How is it for you to be a part of it?
Davina: We’re over the moon excited and humbled to represent our community. You have to stay visible because visibility creates awareness. It’s really important to us that we can stay visible and represent ourselves and the community.
Kristin: It’s such a responsibility that we have. It’s cool to have this big platform of HGTV, which does a great job of supporting that. It’s humbling. We’re excited to be in this position we’re in, but for us, this is the way we live. When people put it in that perspective, there is this wow moment. That there is a reason behind this. We can’t wait to share this. Visibility is important.
Don and Kristin Leitheuser (HGTV)
Anyone who inspires you?
Kristin: We’ve taken a lot of people on HGTV. It’s such a great channel. Leanne Ford, Davina, I know you like it. There are some mashups of great designers.
Davina: I personally love Rock the Block because it’s everyone from different design backgrounds. You see all these people from all these communities coming together to compete. I love that show.
So you’re saying you want to do Rock the Block?
Davina: Yes, please. That’s a life goal.
What can you tell us about the clients we’re going to meet and the projects to come?
Davina: A lot of these houses are very different in style. The same with the clients and the client’s needs with what they want. Helping people find a home I think is a challenge in itself. You want to make sure you see such a variety of houses. That was what was cool about the show, but it was a challenge. Sometimes people don’t know what they want until you can show them specific homes and styles. Some people are just finding their style, what they want, or where they want to live.
Kristin: You’re never going to see the same thing every time. In general, the Hudson Valley doesn’t afford us that. We have old historic homes, rundown homes, and maybe some new construction sprinkled in there. From the houses to the clients, they are all so different. There are different budgets, designs, and houses. Everything varies. That is what is exciting. It’s not cookie-cutter.
What would you say is the state of the market there? Is it hard to get supplies out of the big cities?
Davina: The market in the Hudson Valley is moving quickly. We’re at an all-time low for inventory still. Lots of great houses that are on the market do get swooped up quickly. You will still find multiple offer situations. I think anything that is finished and renovated moves more quickly because there are challenges with renovating and getting materials and labor costs that can be challenging for people. A lot of these people are open to getting a house to renovate because they can’t find a house that is already done. That’s part of it.
Kristin: We’re also not so remote that maybe we can’t get the materials, but demand in general is huge. There are always those things to work with like timelines, budgets, etc. We believe we balance and manage them well. Now we get to show it off on HGTV.
Small Town Potential premiere, March 3, 9/8c, HGTV
