It’s been three years since they competed on The Block, but Rachel and Ryan Carr are finally back on our screens – and ready to show Australia what they can really do on the tools!
This time around, though, they’re calling the shots as the stars of their very own Channel Nine series, Holiday Home Makeover.
The show follows the Sydney-based couple, both 39, as they renovate their family holiday home on New South Wales’ stunning South Coast.
It’s been a labour of love getting the series to air, with Rachel and Ryan first mentioning their dream of having their own TV show back in 2023.
But they didn’t make things easy for themselves, setting a strict and challenging deadline of just 14 weeks to complete the entire renovation!
“The holiday house is an hour-and-a-half away from Sydney, so we had to cram it, as we needed to get it done as quickly as possible,” Rachel tells New Idea.
“It just wasn’t going to be sustainable to travel that distance any longer.”
We’ve been invited to the couple’s Sydney home on a sunny morning to get the inside scoop on Holiday Home Makeover.
With their three children – Everleigh, six, Mila, four, and Tommy, two – off playing, Ryan and Rachel are all too happy to gush over their latest ‘baby’.
“It was quite stressful because it was the time constraint, the budget we had, and we also felt we needed to show Australia what we can really do, because we don’t feel like we really got that edit in The Block,” Ryan shares.
The pair joined the 2022 season at the last minute, after another team quit. They profited $169,000 at the auction.
This time around, Ryan and Rachel, who run their own design and renovation company, The R&R Design Co., wanted everything to be perfect and exactly what they envisioned – a hybrid between “almost a house and a hotel”.
“We were pushing the limits of our design further than anything that we’ve ever done,” Rachel says.
“Knowing that it was going to be seen by everyone, we just hoped it was all going to work the way it was in our head.”
Despite juggling the renovation, their business, and family life, Rachel says she and Ryan were determined to shield their kids from the impact of the show as much as possible.
“Ryan would leave at the crack of dawn to get down to the house, so I’d take the kids to school and then he would leave and come home to pick the kids up, and I’d go down,” she explains.
“We tried to always have a parent there for them and have meals together, and we were at every sporting event.
“For us, we were exhausted, but the kids … I don’t think they noticed,” she adds.
When it comes to their individual working style, the pair considers themselves two opposites. However, they say that hasn’t hindered them in any way.
“I’m very impulsive and very quick to decide things. And once I’ve made my decision, I’m full steam ahead. Whereas Ryan is much more logical,” Rachel says, as he nods.
But they want other couples to know they, too, can succeed as a team by “staying in their lanes”.
“When you are working together, living together, parenting together, you need to also give each other the space to have your own independent life outside of each other as well. Which we don’t really get that time, so we’re trying to buy it from somewhere,” says Rachel. Ryan jumps in with a chuckle: “If we can buy the time, we’d pay for it!”
Rachel quickly adds, “he means the time we’ll get through the babysitters ,we’ll get to come watch the kids!”
When it is date night for the two of them (something they admit they need to do more of), they’ve made it a rule not to talk about work.
And these two certainly have a lot of work ahead of them!
With their holiday home makeover now complete, Ryan and Rachel have teased their next project – their family home in Sydney!
They are under strict instructions not to give much away, but can confirm they’re building their dream house – one Rachel has had an image of since she was a girl – and it’s being filmed.
“I’ve been around so many people that have built their dream home or renovated their family home, and the look on their face when they move in and they’re so happy with it … I want that one day,” Ryan says.
“Obviously we just did it with our holiday home, but now we get to do it with our primary home with our kids.
“It’s going to feel pretty special.”
