Junk Gypsies debuts tonight on HGTV at 6 p.m. Eastern.
There’s a precise science to HGTV shows and it primarily involves the very real and endless excitement of makeovers. While it might not be as riveting to see before and after transformations of living rooms instead of grubby people, the process itself can still be a delight, as in the case of Junk Gypsies.
Texan sisters Amie and Jolie Sikes have carved out a name for themselves in recent years as decorators capable of overhauling spaces with “eclectic flea market finds and vintage pieces.” They’ve enlisted their handyman dad and decoupage-pro mom, as well as various friends to work out of their ranch-style compound, doing everything from homes to backstage lounges to the tabloid-ready wedding between country superstars Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton earlier this year.
For their television debut, Amie and Jolie must redo the living room and entryway to the home of Rusty and Melissa Clampit, a ranching family with several kids living down the road. There are few requests made by the couple, other than injecting color and providing ample space for their kids to play and do homework. With that, the cowboy boots-wearing sisters are off to find treasures with their Junk Gypsies company trailer in tow.
There’s something pretty magical about watching Amie and Jolie work their way through the various vintage furniture and junk shops they visit. They’re able to repurpose the most unusual of objects, including a bright blue drum that eventually becomes a wheeling storage bin for quilts and games in the Clampit home.
But the girls aren’t just interested in popping the odd object in a space and giving it a new name. They’re wondrously handy and joyfully handle saws, power drills, and everything in between in order to turn their found objects into chic design pieces. Jolie even casually pops in some earplug and shoots a slugs from her shotgun named "Duke" into leftover restaurant cans in order to poke holes for light into them and eventually turn them into lampshades.
That cross between funky flea market aesthetic and down-home Texan is right where the Sikes rest and they’re well aware of it, much to their benefit. According to them, their style is best described as “hillbilly couture or chic,” and it involves lots of “chippy, peely paint” and “fun for ya’ll.” While the show is certainly not for those who yawn at a good home makeover reveal, there’s a good bit of Texas sightseeing, too. Viewers who identify as flea market aficionados will be frantically writing down the names of every roadside shop the gals visit in order to plan a Texas road trip.
And while the sisters have veered into Tinseltown with their work in celebrity weddings and the reality show itself, they manage to come across as remarkably normal and likable. In fact, it’s the whole family’s bubbly demeanor and countrified roots that make the show such a relaxed and palatable experience to watch. Seeing the Clampit family’s eventual home makeover reveal is, of course, impressive. It even brings the young mom to tears seeing the drab space jazzed up with bright colors and one-of-a-kind pieces. It looks like these two, wild-haired Texan gals with silver jewelry dripping from every inch have probably garnered attention for good reason.