Find Out More
Welcome to the world of Colin & Justin. As interior designers, style commentators, Hollywood celebrity interviewers and all round lifestyle gurus, our goal is simply this: to share good things with good people. So, if hot interiors, cutting edge products and stylish destinations are your thing – read on...
For those who’ve only recently discovered us, here’s a little peek into our past. And for those who’ve been with us over the last decade? Sit tight us as we recount our story...
One of us, Colin, hails from Glasgow and studied Local Government at the College of Commerce, while Justin read psychology at Glasgow University. We both enjoyed further education but realised we’d need to change professional direction to feel fully satisfied. Justin worked, for a time, in real estate while Colin toiled in local council. Each of us enjoyed a short dalliance as film and TV extras and spent weekends taking on modeling jobs via a local talent agency. Hey, anything to pay the rent, huh? It would be these frothier career diversions, however, that eventually provided fresh and eminently more appealing opportunity...
We’ve always shared a huge affection for home design and, whenever opportunity presented itself, would willingly help friends knock their homes into shape. Sure, money was short but inspiration was wildly abundant. As our experience grew, word spread and professional opportunities beckoned...
We got our first break on a Scottish TV programme called Summer Discovery some fifteen years past. Later, we screen tested for an exciting new BBC show called Trading Up, a show we went on to host for seven series – some 200 episodes in total! The premise was simple; spend £500 over a weekend and make difficult to sell homes more appealing. At the same time we became resident interior designers on Housecall, another BBC daytime show...
Shortly after this, we were invited to front what would ultimately become a BBC monolith; ‘The Million Pound Property Experiment’ which saw us buy, renovate and sell seven properties across Britain, ranging from £100,000 to £1.25 million. Together with The BBC we gifted the profits of each ‘flip’ (nearly £300K in total) to Children In Need, a major UK charity.
Following this, a two-year stint with Five saw us host four series of ‘How Not To Decorate’ as well as The Farm, a reality show which saw us presiding over a dozen celebrities in rural Wiltshire who were voted off, week by week, by telephone poll. You get the gist...
Other shows on Five included 'Twenty Ways To Make Money On Your Home', ‘Wedding Belles’, 'Makeover Madness' and 'Fashion Frock Ups'. Our most recent Five outing was 'The Estate’, a groundbreaking format where we were dispatched into a local housing scheme to help rebuild its once high levels of community pride.
Next, we worked with HGTV, a North American network, and filmed four thirteen-episode seasons of the now notorious 'Colin and Justin's Home Heist'.
After being back on British TV during our stint, three years past, on 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here' we went on to host 24 episodes of ‘The Sixty Minute Makeover’, also for ITV. The premise? Three rooms transformed in precisely one hour. Sounds crazy, perhaps, but it’s all in the choreography and of course careful pre planning!
‘Colin and Justin's Home Heist’, while initially created for North America, has now sold around the world. Which means if you're in Spain, France, Germany, Australia, America, Hungary or South Africa - not to mention a host of other destinations such as Dubai and New Zealand - there’s NO excuse to miss out as our galactic journey of decorative beautification continues apace!
Our brand new TV show – ‘Colin and Justin’s Cabin Pressure’, airs on Tuesday evenings at 10pm on the Cottage Life TV network in North America. It’s a jaunty tale that relates the ‘saving’ of a desperate wee log cabin (our own holiday home, so, erm, no pressure!) on a private lake in Muskoka, Ontario. Expect drama and high design in equal measure. Check TV listings for details.
We’re also annual Toronto Film Festival Red Carpet reporters for City TV. Past interviews include Madonna, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Hugh Jackman, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto and a galaxy of Hollywood names!
Over and above all of the foregoing, we’re also resident design experts on Cityline, Canada’s BIGGEST morning show, and regularly feature on Entertainment Tonight Canada and City TV’s Breakfast Television. As well, of course, as being pundits on UK chat shows such as Loose Women, This Morning and Jonathan Ross. Aye, it’s fair to say we’re keeping busy!
Books
Our first book, ’The Million Pound Property Experiment’ (which accompanied the UK show of the same name) was voted winner in the Lifestyle category at WH Smith's "People's Choice" Book Awards.
Our second book, ‘Colin and Justin's How Not To Decorate’, was published by Time Warner.
Our third book ‘Colin & Justin's Home Heist Style Guide’ (Penguin Canada) is available now. Penguin.ca said of the book; "HGTV's smash hit ‘Colin and Justin's Home Heist’ unleashed the outrageous wit of the sassy designers on style-deprived Canada. Now the hilarious hosts are using their expertise (and sharp tongues) to teach us how to renovate our own needy dwellings in this exciting new book”.
We are currently writing the proposal for our fourth book so watch this space!
Newspaper columns
After nearly six years as weekly columnists in The Toronto Star, we recently transferred our column to The Toronto Sun. Find us every Friday mixing design, shopping and style.
We appear weekly, as columnists, in various broadsheet newspapers across Canada – look out for us in Moncton, Red Deer, Halifax, Ottawa and Vancouver.
We write a weekly design and style column in The Huffington Post.
In British Columbia, we have a column in Niche - one of North America’s fastest growing glossy magazines.
We appear as columnists in Cottage Life Magazine.
Product line
Colin and Justin Home - available cross Canada in stores like Homesense, Winners and Marshalls and the USA in outlets such as Home Goods and TJ Maxx. In the UK you’ll find selected divisions of our line in Homesense and TK Maxx. Straddling almost every level of ‘home’ from sofas, chairs and tables, to art works, lamps, storage and bedding, the range is growing each season. Our emphasis is, and always will be - ‘Affordable everyday luxuries’. Jump in store and take a peek!
As regular guests in various North American and UK ‘live event’ home show/exhibitions, we appear in person to dispense homes and interiors advice to the gathered masses.
To quote ourselves; "We're more about ‘A life in the day of Colin and Justin’ rather than ‘A day in the life of Colin and Justin’!" Aye, there is SO much more to come…
Colin & Justin's Cabin Pressure. Go wild in the country every Tuesday, 10pm,Cottage Life TV www.colinandjustinscabinpressure.com