‘House Hunters’ All Stars puts spotlight on Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls is having a moment when it comes to reality television shows.

Last week, a local company’s products were featured on “The Price is Right.”

Season Two of Cole and Chelsea DeBoer’s “Down Home Fab” featuring eight episodes filmed in the Sioux Falls area premiered last week on HGTV.

And it turns out, the network tapped the DeBoers and Sioux Falls for a special episode of “House Hunters” featuring a home search in the city that also ran last week.

The “All Stars” season features network personalities serving as guides for homebuyers.

In Sioux Falls, the DeBoers worked with Tim and Angie in an episode titled “Sioux Falls Fab.” The couple, who met later in life, were looking to move out of Angie’s cramped town home to a house in south Sioux Falls, with a budget of $650,000 to $700,000.

“I’m looking for more of the modern, ultra-modern, clean floor plan,” Angie said.

Tim’s wish list was for a “classical, very traditional type of home” with a ranch floor plan and theater room.

They also wanted a “catio” for their pets.

“To put them all together, it’s kind of a diamond in the rough,” Cole DeBoer said.

The DeBoers “used their real estate connections” to identify homes to show, according to the episode.

The first home was a ranch-style one in south Sioux Falls with a more traditional finish that lacked some of Angie’s wish list.

The second home was built in 1915 and located near downtown, offering a large primary suite but lacking several features the couple wanted.

The third was a modern two-story in south Sioux Falls with an unfinished basement.

Throughout the episode, footage of the city was shown, including a house hunt recap at Carpenter Bar downtown.

Angie and Tim ended up selecting the third home: the modern two-story.

“We’re really looking forward to the renovations that we’re going to make downstairs to make that media room the way I wanted it,” Tim said on the show. “I’m ready and excited for our new venture.”

“I think this house is perfect for them, especially with the things they want to add to it,” Chelsea DeBoer said.

Behind the scenes, footage needed of the chosen home allowed a local business owner to participate in a way she never imagined.

Jess Mortensen founded Simply Staging four years ago, when the former mental health counselor decided to try out her second passion: home decor.

She grew up watching “House Hunters” daily, “so it was super exciting to get a phone call from them,” she said. “It was so exciting. It was kind of like a full-circle moment of loving the show when I was little and actually getting to work for the show but also exciting for my little local business here in Sioux Falls.”

Her work can be seen throughout the chosen’s home’s main level, which features an open floor plan and modern finishes.

The primary suite included a bath with the couple’s desired double vanity and soaking tub.

For Mortensen, this was just one of several projects keeping her busy.

“We’re swamped,” she said. “We probably do two or more stagings a week. We’ve grown a lot in the last year.”

For the couple featured, “Chelsea and Cole did a spectacular job of helping us find our new home,” Angie said on the show. “We loved the whole experience.”