After almost a year of anticipation, HGTV Canada’s “Trading Up”, filmed in Yarmouth Nova Scotia, is premiering next week.
The show follows Yarmouth born designer and construction mogul Mandy Rennehan, who teams up with three apprentices to restore three properties in the area.
“Its kind of like ‘wow it’s finally here’,” says Rennehan. “When you’re representing your home town there’s a little bit of jitters.”
The show was announced in mid 2021 and filmed in Yarmouth last July with Rennehan picking the three apprentices by hand.
Mandy Rennehan with the three apprentices. From left: Melissa, Mandy, Dan and Jaymin. c/o Mandy Rennehan Facebook.
“They were all completely different in every way known to human kind,” she said of the apprentices. “Seeing them actually bond together as a team was one of the most beautiful things I could have ever hoped for.”
Rennehan, the founder and CEO of Freshco retail maintenance, discussed how her every day work compares to the work done on “Trading Up”.
“It’s very similar because it’s very authentic and organic about the fact that construction, especially on complex projects, is never easy,” says Rennehan. “Whether it’s at my company Freshco or whether its on TV, you always run into those issues.”
She discussed the properties they focused on restoring.
“It was important for me to take, really what I would say gems or would have been gems in their time, and restore and renovate them back to what their glory was, plus some of the modernization of today.”
Rennehan is eager to see how the show resonates with viewers and says the door is open for a season two.
“We’re so excited to show, not just Yarmouth, but Canada and the rest of the world, just how a lot of the designs that we did on these periodshomes can inspire everybody who’s looking to do any type of project in the next little while.”
Trading Up premieres Thursday May 12 on HGTV Canada.
Hear more with Mandy Rennehan this Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on Y95’s The Weekender.
