Interior designer from Jacksonville to appear on HGTV show next month

By Gary Scott on June 23, 2016 at 1:16pm

Photo from Chad Esslinger's professional Facebook page.

A Jacksonville native will appear on a Home and Garden Television program next month.

Chad Esslinger, who works as an interior, product and graphic designer, will be on HGTV’s “House Hunters Renovation” program. Esslinger grew up in Jacksonville until he moved away at the age of 15.

He says the House Hunters Renovation program he participated in took about three to four months.

“It wasn’t like a crashers-type of situation where we come in and do it overnight. It was definitely a project that took some time. I brought in a contractor and subcontractors to do some construction work. It was a great experience,” says Esslinger.

“I get to do kind of a little bit of everything; it involves construction, remodeling, moving walls, changing the floor plan, but also choosing materials and decorative things and putting in personal touches in the home. So, it was kind of a full circle project, and I can’t wait for people to see it,” he continues.

“House Hunters Renovation” is a 60-minute show that spends the first half searching for a new home, and then the second half detailing the improvements made to the selected home.

Esslinger notes the show’s producers would tell him to “save it for TV” when it came to certain, potentially dramatic parts of the project.

Esslinger had previously worked in industrial design after majoring in architecture from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While he says he enjoys product design- especially when he sees something he designed in use- he says interior design is personal.

“I work every day one-on-one with people. I get to know them; we text each other, send design ideas back and forth, and it becomes this relationship. I’ve always loved the idea that your home is kind of where you relax, and it’s your sanctuary, and it’s a place where you make memories, and I love being a part of that process of taking a house that somebody buys, if they’re not happy with something about the house, usually they hire me because they want to do something different. So, you take a house and make it their home,” Esslinger says.

The show airs on July 9th.