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Home for the holidays: ‘Property Brothers’ Jonathan and Drew Scott make Las Vegas their hub

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Drew (Left) and Jonathan Scott
Photo: Wade Vandervort

Are you a person who thinks it might be too early to start celebrating the holiday season? Because we don't want to hear it.

Las Vegas Weekly trimmed its Christmas tree the day before Halloween, and we won't apologize for it, especially because local residents Jonathan and Drew Scott—stars of TV's popular Property Brothers and the siblings behind home design empire Scott Living—cosigned the preseason cheer.

Jonathan even took it to the next level by showing off the blueprints for his Vegas holiday home makeover, a fully decked-out installation happening this week thanks to Ralph Jones Display: "It's too much for one person to do on his own," Jonathan says.

The brothers have always been big on Christmas, but Las Vegas has played a central part in their lives and success since Jonathan moved here from their native Canada at the end of 2008. "I think it was -40 degrees in Calgary at that time, and I was like, 'I'm out, bye snow!' And that's when we had that 50-year snowstorm in Vegas," he says.

That was before the incredible success of Property Brothers, a reality show that follows real estate expert Drew and licensed contractor Jonathan helping families find, buy and renovate houses into the homes of their dreams. The show was originally released on the W Network in Canada in 2011 before finding its way to HGTV. Now it's the center of a franchise—and the inspiration of the brothers' rapidly growing Scott Living home furnishings and décor line.

This has been a huge year for the brothers. They acquired the Property Brothers intellectual property for their own production company, launched a new TV show from right here in Las Vegas that's airing now on HGTV and began work on Dream Homes by Scott Living, a luxury home design and construction project that broke ground on its first property in Henderson over the summer.

That's a lot of stuff to celebrate, which is why we've all agreed to get going early on holiday festivities this year. Drew and Jonathan visited the Weekly offices to look back on 2019, look forward to more Vegas fun in 2020 and share some of their plans and traditions for Christmas in Las Vegas.

Let's talk about Dream Homes by Scott Living.

Jonathan: The first one is in MacDonald Highlands [in Henderson], and it's well underway and should be complete in March. It's the first official Dream Home, and it's amazing. It has a full indoor basketball court and a climbing wall, and it has a bridge that goes like a catwalk across to the main level.

Drew: We're trying to take the things we think about and others we know think about if you were just dreaming. If you put price and everything else aside, what would be the coolest things you could have in your home? That's what we want to do for Dream Homes by Scott Living, bring all those dreams to reality.

Jonathan: People ask what we dream of, and it's stuff we see in beautiful resort properties or when we're traveling. And we're thinking, how can we do that in a residential application? The Dream Homes program is quintessentially the coolest design stuff possible.

Drew: I'm a nerdy basketball guy. I wanted to be in the NBA as a kid, so the idea of being able to put a basketball court indoors would be amazing.

I'm sure you're planning to take these home designs all over the place, but Vegas seems like the perfect place to start.

Drew: Because this is home, we love the idea of starting this program here. But it's also a big thing because a lot of people think Vegas is all desert landscape, and that sort of Spanish or Mediterranean-style home is [all there is]. That's not the case. There are all different neighborhoods here, and the more contemporary feel of these Dream Homes still bring the warmth and personality that would make a great family home.

Is Las Vegas truly headquarters for your various business enterprises?

Jonathan: The headquarters for Scott Brothers Global is Nashville. That's our head office, but we formed the company here a long time ago, and some of our other business, like real estate, is here too.

Drew: Our production company headquarters is in Toronto, Scott Brothers Entertainment. We are spread out a bit, but this is a hub for us in a lot of what we do, and we want to continue to grow here. As Dream Homes grows here in Vegas, we're looking to expand across the country and North America, and we have been approached to do projects internationally. People have seen the specs of what we're doing here, they love the designs and we've been asked to do properties in Dubai, areas of Europe and Asia and Latin America. Who knows? Maybe we'll go international.

Jonathan: The challenge is, we're doing 39 projects now across five different cities. It's hard to break away. With Dream Homes, we're not in any rush. We'll see what the response is to this one, then do another and another and keep building from there.

Drew: I have a question for you: Have you seen our big poster on the side of the World Market Center Las Vegas?

I have. It's pretty big.

Jonathan: It's obnoxious.

Drew: That's for our mattresses by Scott Living. We actually came up with those mattress designs, because we're so busy and we actually needed a better night's sleep. That's [an example of] how it all comes together.

So when you're working on Dream Homes or the Scott Living home collection or shooting a TV Show, everything sort of blends into everything else?

Drew: Jonathan and I like to divide and conquer. We're not going to lead the same project. There are certain aspects of our collections that Jonathan will head and certain aspects I'll head, just like our production company has our shows and we have other shows we produce and we'll head different ones.

Jonathan: We produce Nate & Jeremiah by Design and Dave and Kortney Wilson's show [Masters of Flip]. The most time-consuming part of our schedule would be the shows we're hosting. We host 45 episodes per year. We do a lot, but we're efficiency experts in how we do it. Even when we're on set, when we have downtime we're on our phones going through projects, making notes and approving products. When Drew is touring a house, if he sees something cool or some new technology, it's like, how can we incorporate this?

Drew: We cannot do what we do without our team. I think anyone who has seen some level of success in what they do in their passion or business would be the first to admit the same. Our team makes us what we are.

Jonathan: Hire people smarter than you. Our philosophy is actually that we like to work with people we like to work with. We've been doing our show now for almost 11 years, and we've latched on to the people we think are special.

Is it difficult to switch gears so frequently? Because you're always working on projects that are very different.

Drew: For work stuff and the shows we do, that's not hard, because we're used to doing that. What's hard for me is to switch off and just chill. Jonathan makes fun of me all the time for being a die-hard workaholic.

Jonathan: I call it robot mode.

Drew: My wife works for our company as well, so she and I are always talking shop. For us to switch off and relax and enjoy family and friends, that's the tough part sometimes.

You spent more time this year filming here at home in Las Vegas than ever before.

Jonathan: One hundred percent true. I think it was the most time we've spent being at home. We filmed for four months for our shows, and we're actually coming back in February for another three and a half months, so that will be nice. It's nice to be able to sleep in your own bed, but beyond that, I think that was probably one of the best seasons we've ever done. The quality of the work, the stories and the families, everything was great.

Drew: It was also the first season of Property Brothers: Forever Home. The original Property Brothers is people looking to buy a house to renovate, but Forever Home has a lot more heart. These are people who have had their houses for a long time and have a lot of memories attached, or maybe they've inherited the home from their parents. For us to kick that off in Vegas was cool. We even renovated our older brother's house.

Jonathan: We also have local [general contractors] attached to every single project, so there's a warranty on all that work, even after we leave for the next city. At the end of the day, we want people to fall in love all over again with their homes and truly want to stay there.

Drew: One thing I love, again, is that a lot of people think it's just a desert here, and on Forever Home we were able to showcase some of the beautiful neighborhoods and all different architectural styles that exist here. We had a lot of viewers saying, "Wait, that's in Vegas?"

Jonathan: "There's grass in Vegas?"

Drew: It was cool to showcase that and all the different stories. One of my favorites was this couple— one of them was a man who was celebrating his 60th birthday, and he decided he wanted to become a drag queen. Frank Marino is one of his idols, and we actually got Frank to come in and kick off that episode and inspire our homeowner.

There's no shortage of personalities you can grab when you're shooting TV in Las Vegas.

Jonathan: It's always been exciting for us to shine a light on Vegas and show there's more than gambling and partying here.

Drew: That's the reason we spent so much time renovating the house here. We want this to be our hub. And I love the idea of all our family and friends coming here and spending time together.

You've moved your family holiday around in recent years, but this year is all about Christmas in Vegas, right?

Jonathan: It used to be in Vegas every year until we thought we'd mix it up. It hasn't been in Vegas for four years. This is a big one.

We appreciate your professional guidance in decorating our Las Vegas Weekly tree. I'm not sure about those mini Jonathan and mini Drew ornaments, though.

Drew: Those are selling like hotcakes.

Jonathan: But wait, which one is selling more?

Drew: There's no statistic that shows that.

Shouldn't they be sold only as a set?

Drew: Yes, that would be better for me if we did that.

Jonathan: We laugh about this all the time, because years ago we did this novelty nightshirt for women. One said "Future Mrs. Jonathan," and the other was "Future Mrs. Drew." After the first week, it was like, "Holy smokes! Jonathan, you've sold 50. Drew, you sold one." And his wife bought it.

Holiday décor ideas from the Scott family

Christmas traditions are a big deal for Drew and Jonathan Scott and their family, and it's always been that way. "We go all out, lots of decorations," Jonathan says. "We always watch It's a Wonderful Life and Elf and the old-school A Christmas Carol."

Visit Las Vegas Weekly's Instagram page and you'll see the brothers are big on singing, too, which takes the celebration to the next level. "We'll sing carols to the neighbors, and people think we're weirdos, but we love it," Drew says. "It's a nice way to put a smile on someone's face. We'll bring a little gift and sing a song."

"It's usually something fattening and delicious," Jonathan says of the gift.

Even though their parents live in Canada, and the brothers are often on the road working right up until Christmas Day, the family has always made it a point to be together for the holidays. With their updated Scott Living Christmas Collection, the guys are sharing their own festive style with fans and followers.

"The whole idea of it is to give people an option, if they want something a little more sophisticated and elegant for Christmas or something that reminds you of growing up, something a little more traditional," Drew says. "It's fun to set the mood for the holidays without it being overly expensive or difficult."

Drew likes the collection's accent chairs and area rugs, while Jonathan favors the serving plates and platters. Everything is available on QVC or at Kohl's.

"Holiday décor is sort of the same as regular home décor and furnishing, in that a lot of people have a design aesthetic that's just based on what they grew up with; a traditional style, because they haven't been introduced to something new," Drew says. "We're trying to give people a little bit of a push to something more fresh."

Small touches can make a big difference in your holiday home. "If you have leftover wrapping paper and ribbon, look around your home, and if you have picture frames and things like that, cut out some wrapping and put a little in the frame for a pop of holiday décor, or to cover up some of your uglier relatives," Jonathan jokes. "Or if you have larger art pieces on the walls, wrap the entire piece and frame and put ribbon around it. It looks like presents all over the walls."

Drew suggests using a wreath to create a table centerpiece, putting it down flat and layering different-size candles in the middle.

"When we were kids, we would save greeting cards from the year before and string them like garland across the room," Jonathan says. "When friends and family came over, they'd recognize the card given the year before was now part of the décor."

 

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of editor-at-large at Las Vegas Weekly magazine. ...

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