Canberra’s Jenny Edwards tackles edutainment on renovation TV show Big Little Reno
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Small renovations with big impact is the premise of a new Australian home renovation TV show that features a slew of Canberra businesses.
Broadcasting on 9LIFE on Sunday 27 September at 4.30 pm, the pilot episode of Big Little Reno will be challenging the idea that homeowners have to choose between a home that looks great and one that performs well.
Asking whether you need a ‘big’ renovation or just a handful of carefully chosen upgrades, the show will bring together three experts, one original 1970s home and a budget under $50,000
One of the experts is scientist and founder of Light House ArchiScience Jenny Edwards.
Approached by the CSIRO and BlueTribe Media (the creatives behind the award-winning renovation TV series Renovate or Rebuild) to be a part of Big Little Reno in 2024, Jenny will be working alongside electrician Tamarah Vos and builder Matthew Menichelli to create homes that look great, are more comfortable to live in and cost less to run – all without a massive renovation.
She says that Big Little Reno is for anyone who’s ever looked around their home and thought, “We’d love to renovate, but it just feels out of reach.”
“Storytelling and entertainment can be incredibly powerful ways of engaging people, making complex ideas more accessible and inspiring positive action,” she explains.
“That’s where edutainment comes in: rather than asking people to sit down and learn about building science or energy efficiency, we wrap that information inside a great story they actually want to watch.”
Unlike other renovation TV shows, Big Little Reno isn’t about creating Instagram-worthy homes. Instead, it’s asking the viewers to think about the improvements that are going to have the biggest impact.
Aiming to inspire viewers to see the potential in their own homes and make more sustainable choices, Big Little Reno also differs in that the transformation of the homes can be measured.
“We can show the beautiful before and after that people expect from renovation television, but we can also reveal the changes you can’t see – how much more comfortable the house has become and how its energy performance has improved,” says Jenny.
“That turns the science into part of the reveal rather than part of the lesson.”
Working alongside other Canberra locals and businesses, other familiar faces on Big Little Reno will include electrician Caitlin Maggs of Hayl Electrical (alongside apprentice Poppy), builder and owner of Temperley Homes Carly Dewey, and Nordic blinds honeycomb blinds specialist Annette Braagaard.
Funded by the Reliable, Affordable, Clean, Energy (RACE) for 2030 CRC and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and the CSIRO, Jenny says that a show like Big Little Reno is needed because “if we want Australians to think differently about their homes, we need to make these ideas part of mainstream culture.”
“For years we’ve been very good at telling people they should make their homes more energy efficient. But information alone doesn’t necessarily change what people do.”
“Renovation television has helped shape what Australians aspire to in their homes. We’ve learnt to obsess over kitchens, bathrooms, benchtops and finishes. We want to use that same power to make people equally excited about insulation, comfort, electrification and energy performance.”
“The trick is not to make a television show about energy efficiency. It’s to make a great renovation show where a comfortable, healthy and efficient home is simply part of what a great renovation looks like.”
Australia is known for its incredible range of climates.
From hot Queensland to cold Canberra, the Big Little Reno team is already thinking about future seasons and aims to travel around Australia to explore the different solutions homes need. But while the show focuses on sustainability and energy efficiency, at its core, it’s about people.
“The common thread will always be the homeowners. We want people with a real problem to solve, a realistic budget and that familiar feeling of, ‘There are so many things we could do – where on earth do we start?’” explains Jenny.
“One of the things I’m most excited about with Big Little Reno is challenging the idea that homeowners have to choose between a home that looks great and one that performs well.”
Making sustainability part of the entertainment rather than the lesson, Jenny says the success of Big Little Reno is dependent on a simple goal: viewers finishing the episode feeling that improving their home is suddenly a little more achievable.
“A home that’s more comfortable in winter, cooler in summer, cheaper to run and looks fantastic isn’t a compromise. It’s simply a better home,” she says.
“If Big Little Reno can help make that idea part of mainstream Australian renovation culture, that’s a pretty exciting outcome.”
The Big Little Reno one-hour pilot episode will air on 9LIFE on Sunday 27 September at 4.30 pm. For more information, updates and sneak peeks follow @biglittlereno.tv.
