If you are one of the millions of viewers who tune in for Home Town on a regular basis, you’ll know that Ben and Erin Napier are known for the houses they design. The couple is most fond of making over homes and other buildings in their town of Laurel, Mississippi, while paying special attention to keeping the many updates they make as historically accurate as possible, and overall enjoy giving their clients a cozy, somewhat vintage vibe to live in. Part of that look, however, has always included something that’s led to a book-related question from fans, but Erin Napier has finally answered that query.
What Book-Related Question Did Home Town’s Erin Napier Answer?
Ben and Erin Napier (who always speak out against mean-spirited commenters) have, as you might imagine, a lot of help rebuilding and designing homes as the busy working parents of two young daughters. This is especially because the Napiers have worked on other shows besides Home Town, with multiple spinoffs like Home Town Kickstart, and Erin even writing books and appearing solo for TV interviews. Speaking of books, any fan of HGTV shows has likely noticed that a well-curated bookshelf just isn’t complete without…every book spine facing the back of the shelf so that we can’t read it.
Luckily, if you’ve wondered about that design choice, Erin’s recent Instagram post put the spotlight on a lovely Season 9 episode of Home Town which bucked that trend, and helped to explain why it happens. Observe:
Alright, as we can see, the first three photos of the home/school the Napiers (who are “never apart”) worked on for the Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center have very clear shots of some gorgeously full bookshelves, and every single book spine can be read (if we zoom in or have amazing eye sight, anyway). There are even a few tomes where we can, shock of all shocks, see the actual front cover. So, why this sudden change? After a fan comment, Erin explained:
- Deana Challis: And this may be the first time you haven’t turned all the books around, hiding the spines.
- Erin Napier: Somehow we got permission from the legal folks!
Ah, yes. Legal issues! Other fans noted in the comments that there are usually copyright issues when it comes to showing books in TV shows/movies, and HGTV’s former senior vice president of production and development, Betsy Ayala, confirmed that when she spoke with HGTV Insider. The legal team would have to get clearances for each and every book spine/cover shown in any series, so it’s generally just way easier to turn all those titles around and pretend that’s how people really put books on shelves.
From Napier’s excited answer, she was surprised by legal allowing her and her design team to put those books out like regular people do, so it’s a wonder why this number of visible titles wasn’t an issue. All that really matters is that now we can see exactly what kinds of books are available at this school, because who doesn’t love being at least a little bit nosy?
