More than anyone, Jamie Durie knows the dangers of chasing a real estate dream. As the host of several home-makeover shows, including House Rules, The Block and Backyard Blitz, he’s seen budgets blow out, teams crack under pressure and how dreams can turn into nightmares.
But all the hard lessons of the past went out the window when Jamie and his fiancée Ameka Jane found an old fishing shack that was “the worst house on the best street” and saw their chance to build something special.
They decided this wasn’t just going to be a beautiful home, but their way of making a better future for their family… and maybe the world.
“I’ve lived in Avalon [on Sydney’s northern beaches] for 23 years now – it’s been home to me for a very long time,” Jamie, 54, tells TV WEEK.
“I love the area, I love the people and – when I was lucky enough to get this little block of dirt – I wanted to make it our forever home, but also shape it into the greenest build we could.
“I think having two young children at the point where we started motivated me to leave the greenest legacy I possibly can for my family. So that’s what Ameka and I set out to do.”
g shows the transformation of a “shabby old asbestos house filled with mould and covered with weeds” into a six-bedroom, multi-level architectural beauty that not only looks stunning, but fits Jamie’s eco-friendly plans.
Seven 125-metre bores were drilled for geo-thermal heating, 42 solar panels ensure the home can run off-grid, timber was sourced from eco-friendly farms, the carpets included reclaimed fishing-net fibres – and even the paint was non-volatile for a reduced environmental impact.
It’s exactly what Jamie wanted for himself and Ameka Jane, the singer-songwriter he reportedly met in Los Angeles in 2021 and quickly fell in love with, and their family, which includes US-based Taylor, his adult daughter from a previous relationship, three-year-old daughter Beau, who he and Ameka welcomed into the world in 2021, and 18-month-old son Nash, who arrived midway through filming the series.
“We’ve been filming this show for three years now and, while we were growing the home, we’ve being growing the family as well,” Jamie says. “Not only will you meet the family through the build, you’ll also see the birth of our baby boy!”
Bringing his partner and children into the story of a family home is to be expected. Jamie is known for his extended family of friends gathered from as far back as when he was a dancer with the male entertainment troupe Manpower, through 56 renovation shows over three decades, and a career that had him hopping between Australia and the United States for decades.
Jamie says he and his old Backyard Blitz mates Scott Cam and Nigel Ruck still catch up regularly – Nigel is even a major part of Growing Home – and he’s still in contact with one of his most famous friends, Oprah Winfrey, who signed him to a five-year contract as her show’s gardening guru in 2008. But Australia will always be home.
“You might not have always seen what I’ve been up to in the past few years, but this is it!” Jamie says. “It’s been kind of under wraps for the last three or four years, so it’s really exciting to see it all come to fruition now.”
Of course, there were setbacks along the way – this is a home-renovation show, after all. There were neighbourhood disputes over tree removals, the arrival of a family of endangered birds meant his crane had to remain on site way longer than expected, and there were the usual budget issues (“We’re probably 60 per cent over budget now,” Jamie admits), but in the end, he says, it was well worth it.
And it’s a journey he wants other Australians to take.
“The reason I started Growing Home is because this is my passion,” Jamie says. “And it’s my dream that after we complete this project, we’ll find other young couples building their dream home and we’ll follow their journey, too.
“I don’t care whether it’s a couple in Byron Bay [in northern NSW] building a rammed-earth house or somebody in the back streets of Brisbane building a solar home. I’d love to follow others building their green dreams and have this series be something that carries on for years to come.”
That “green dream” is what inspired the series and kept the Duries going.
“We’ve learned a lot on this journey,” Jamie says. “And want to share some of those lessons so everyone gets a bit of an insight into how the decisions they make when they build their home can make the future a little greener for their children – because that’s what this is about.”
Growing Home With Jamie Durie starts Friday, October 25 at 8.30pm on Channel Seven
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