After Covid put a stop to the event for two years, a popular home expo attracted about 200 people last week, including winners from the reality TV show The Block, Jimmy and Tam Wilkins.
The late-October event gave Logan residents the chance to chat with home design stylists and experts, see the newest in interior design, create style mood-boards and get tips on renovating their homes.
Jimmy and Tam Wilkins won The Block in 2020 after their Brighton home sold for $4 million, walking out with $966,000 profit and $100,000 in prize money.
The couple, who compered the event, offered attendees their home design tips and tricks – something they thought they’d never do.
Jimmy said The Block changed their lives and sent them on a whirlwind of fun.
“At the time we were working for the man and decided to use our house deposit to finance our own businesses which didn’t work out,” he said.
“We were big fans of the show and watched it religiously, we applied for the show for the experience and to try something new, but also for the financial reasons in hope to get back on track.”
“Little did we know, it would send us on a whirlwind of fun and change our lives completely.”
Before the show, Jimmy was a plumber and Tam was a bar manager. Now Jimmy runs his own plumbing business and hosts TV show Open Homes Australia, while Tam runs her own homewares store called Velzy Lane in Pomona on the Sunshine Coast.
Just like the rest of the building industry, The Block had its own Covid dramas in 2020. Jimmy said at one point he thought his Block journey was over.
“We got shut down for six weeks during Covid,” he said.
“It’s a 12-week shoot so we got sent home halfway through and the producers said we probably weren’t going to be coming back.
“We thought our Block journey was over and it was really hard because we had already built a lot of the rooms and put so much hard work in.”
Jimmy said when the show did resume filming, things were a lot different.
“The materials we needed were no longer available or would be very delayed, so we had to order everything for the whole house in three days, everything from the curtains to the silicon and gyp-rock, to be able to get it all in time for the show,” he said.
“We weren’t allowed to visit the shops in person either, so Tam had to do everything via Skype or online, so we really didn’t know what we were getting.
“The stress, the sleepless nights and the split decisions were hard, but it worked out.”
Jimmy said looking back a couple years ago to now, “it’s surreal to think that we are hosting events like Brighton’s Home Expo.”
“We can’t believe we are here, offering people advice, tips and tricks,” he said.
“It’s great to be able to see what the newest trends and styles are out there and to be helping others along the way is great.”
