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SPRINGVILLE — Where some see trash, Andy Meredith and his wife Candis see hidden treasure.
"My grandma sold her house when I was 11 and I vowed that one day I would buy it back," Candis Meredith said. "So when I turned 20, I knocked on the door and said 'Would you sell me that house?'"
That became her first restoration. When she married Andy Meredith, he was only able to help her on nights and weekends.
"I did the same thing from the time I was 21," Andy Meredith said. "Technology sales. It was boring."
His wife told him it was time to renovate his life.
"One day she just said, 'We're going to need you to quit your job and focus on the houses.'"
He never looked back. Now, flipping homes pays the bills.
"Total, 16," said Candis Meredith, speaking of their current tally. "They're not all finished; some of them are in progress."
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Over the last decade, the city has worked to revitalize neighborhoods by renovating about 120 foreclosed homes, according to Ward Ogden, community development manager for Ogden City.They started taking photos of their work and sharing them online.
"We've been doing primarily Instagram for a couple of years," said Andy Meredith. "We started out just showing our family the process of restoring our own home. We made our social media public, because we didn't care if people saw. We want to raise awareness of these old houses."
Their online following isn't huge, but it certainly managed to attract the right kind of attention.
"We get this call," Candis Meredith said. "(They said) 'This is Maria from HGTV,' and we're like, 'Oh, sure, you're from HGTV."
"Twenty minutes later, we got a call from the president of the production company, which was unheard of," said Andy Meredith.
"Oh, she really is from HGTV," said Candis Meredith. "We better take this seriously."
[A photo posted by Andy and Candis Meredith (@oldhomelove)](https://instagram.com/p/4mkGToIhNs/) on
"A process that usually takes several months happened over a few weeks," said Andy Meredith. "We had a film crew out here, following us around for a day and out of that, we didn't have to do a pilot episode. We actually got a green light for a series right away."
HGTV wanted to show the renovation of a home from start to finish, beginning from when the couple first set foot inside.
"We didn't realize how intense production would be," Candis Meredith said. "It was obviously a huge adventure and the house turned out so nice. We did the whole house in five weeks, which is way faster than we normally do. We had to hire a lot of help. They spend thousands of dollars a day just to film and so it matters that we're moving right along."
People want to see couples doing this that really do it — so reality TV that's more real. I think they just liked us. They thought that they could put us in front of America and that America would like it.
–Andy Meredith
The first season of their show "Old Home Love" is already shot and set to air next month. But why them? What makes the couple so special?
"They've been looking for a show in Utah for a long time," Andy Meredith said. "They like the Rocky Mountain West. The scenery's beautiful, obviously. They filmed a lot of beautiful background shots in the mountains and around town."
But Andy Meredith said it wasn't just the location that attracted HGTV — it was his family.
"The fact that we have a big family with seven kids was appealing," he said. "People want to see couples doing this that really do it — so reality TV that's more real. I think they just liked us. They thought that they could put us in front of America and that America would like it."
The show won't just focus on the restoration but on the couple and their family. Candis Meredith was pregnant for part of the shooting, and the crew was there for the birth of their daughter. Regardless of the reasons, Andy and Candis Meredith are just grateful for the chance to help spread the word about what they do.
"Just for people to understand that old homes are really cool," said Candis Meredith. "That they're worth saving, and that nothing can't be fixed, and nothing should be tossed out like that."
"Old Home Love" is set to premiere Oct. 7 on HGTV. You can learn more about the Merediths by visiting their website, oldhomelove.com.
[A photo posted by Andy and Candis Meredith (@oldhomelove)](https://instagram.com/p/40h0FrIhGm/) on
