Brian McCourt is a trusted contractor, design expert and real estate flipper. Co-host of HGTV Canada’s Backyard Builds, Brian can also be seen as part of the all-star casts of Home To Win and the new series Family Home Overhaul.
A fifth-generation builder, Brian is one of seven siblings – four of which work in real estate and renovation. It is safe to say that it runs in the family! From a young age, Brian felt drawn to real estate. He would watch his parents renovate small-town Victorian homes while refinishing furniture and scoping out flea markets in their free time. By the age of 19, Brian flipped his first property, and at 25 he had nine successful flips under his belt. Today, he boasts 15 years of hands-on renovation and design experience, functioning as a rare designer-contractor blend. In 2010 he opened the eponymous Brian McCourt Designs to help homeowners transform their houses into inspiring, custom homes.
Brian is passionate about sustainable building practices and he brings the audience along as he learns new, environmentally responsible ways of renovating. Whether it’s incorporating greener products, reducing waste and consumption or transforming scrap into design worthy features.
Sarah Keenleyside is a designer recognized for creating unique and creative environments tailored to the individuality of her clients, running her own successful interior design firm for the last decade. Recently she has focused her attention on her growing family and a variety of successful HGTV Canada series, as co-host of Backyard Builds and as a design expert on Home To Win and the new series Family Home Overhaul.
Sarah’s signature approach to interiors and exteriors is a result of a multi-disciplinary background in art and design. Beginning with an early interest in fine art, she went on to apply those theories to the designed interior while studying Environmental Design at OCADU. Her varied work experience includes residential and commercial interiors as well as experimenting in graphic and industrial design.
Sarah pulls inspiration from various cultures, design styles, and Canadian materials defining what she sees as the “new” Northern voice. She has lived and travelled extensively abroad which has also influenced her eclectic sensibility and fueled her desire to design in a style that is uniquely Canadian.