Get to Know 'Hidden Potential' Host Jasmine Roth

Jasmine grew up in a small town – we’re talking population 1,500 – in Virginia, but after university she moved out to Orange County with her husband Brett. The couple lives and works in Huntington Beach, an oceanfront community an hour’s drive from of Los Angeles, so now she’s an O.C. girl, just like Summer and Marissa (or, if RHOC’s more your speed, Tamra, Vicki and Shannon!).

Jasmine Roth never planned on getting into home building. She went to university for entrepreneurship and started her career in corporate giving, but her love for design eventually took over. It started with small projects like reupholstering furniture and helping her friends with their renovations. Then she caught the homebuilding bug when she and her husband decided to build two homes – one to live in and one to sell – and she decided to quit her job to finish the builds. (They ended up selling the second property for a hefty profit!)

Homes in Orange County tend to look alike. Like many suburbs, the O.C. was built en masse, meaning developers were more concerned with getting heaps of homes up quickly than individual style. On Hidden Potential, Jasmine takes houses that look just like the others on their street and adds a little character, making each house into a home suited to the owner. As she said in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, “No two families are the same; why should their houses be?”

When Jasmine finished building her first two homes homes, she launched her own company, <a href="https://www.builtcustomhomes.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Built Custom Homes</a>, instead of returning to work in the corporate world. Built Custom Homes is focused on building unique and highly functional homes in her own backyard, Huntington Beach. If you love her eye for design, she also sells decor, from fixtures to furniture and rugs via <a href="https://thewarehousebyjr.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Warehouse by Jasmine Roth</a> – including items seen on Hidden Potential!

There are plenty of great home reno romantic duos, but Jasmine and her husband Brett prefer to keep their love off-screen – for the most part anyways! You may catch a glimpse of Brett here and there on Hidden Potential, but the couple mostly keeps their work lives separate. "He gets up every day and puts his suit on, and I get up every day and put my work boots on." Jasmine told <a href="https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a22663609/jasmine-roth-husband/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Country Living</a>. "I think it's cool to each be able to have our own careers and be really supportive of each other."

While they may not be a TV couple, Jasmine and Brett do have a meet-cute worthy of a rom-com. They were roommates back in their university days, but seeing other people. It was actually Jasmine’s grandmother who sniffed out the romantic potential. When she came to visit, Brett cooked dinner and Jasmine’s grandma had a feeling he’d be in their lives forever. "My grandma told me later that she leaned over to my mom and said, 'He's the one.' So my grandma's claim to fame is that she called it before we even knew," Jasmine told <a href="https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a22663609/jasmine-roth-husband/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Country Living.</a>

One of the first homes Jasmine discovered 'hidden potential' in belonged to her mother-in-law. When she bought a 1950s cottage near Jasmine and Brett in Huntington Beach, Jasmine saw a lot of potential despite the drab gray and beige colour scheme that gave the place “zero character.” “We demoed the stucco off and added lap siding, a beautiful dark gray with white trim for contrast. We added a front porch, with a light-blue ceiling like they have in the South. It gave the house a lot of architectural charm,” Jasmine told <a href="https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a21081337/hgtv-jasmine-roth-interview/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">House Beautiful</a>.

First came man caves, then Master of Flip’s Kortney introduced us to the “<a href="https://www.hgtv.ca/videos/he-said-she-shed-1188505155623/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">She Shed</a>.” Well, get ready for dog caves to become a thing! Jasmine and Brett are the proud pup parents to two adorable dogs – a bulldog named Nala and a rescue chihuahua named Tiger – and Jasmine created a <a href="https://www.countryliving.com/life/kids-pets/a22107000/dog-cave-bed/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">cute little nook for the pups</a> in their home that’s surely inspired jealousy from all their four-legged neighbours.

Jasmine and Brett have finally grown out of the home that started it all – their own home, Jasmine’s first ever design and build. They’re now building a new home from the ground up, but they’re sticking around their beloved Huntington Beach; the new home is just four blocks away from where they currently live.

When she’s not busy making her clients’ dreams come true, Jasmine puts her home building skills to use for Habitat For Humanity. The HGTV star has worked with the homebuilding organization during trips to both India and Romania.

Jasmine considers herself to be a huge nerd when it comes to books. Her most recent read was ‘Start with Y’ by Simon Sinek.