By Carole Hawkins, Staff Writer
John and Whitney Spinks might have made a better impression in the first round of “Flipping the Block” if it weren’t for the long loud creak of the door drowning out the conversation as the judge entered the remodeled master bedroom.
“Literally, coming in the room. … This is bad,” John Spinks would later reflect.
The Jacksonville couple still has several more episodes, though, to get it together and hopefully win $50,000 on “Flipping the Block.”
The HGTV series follows four teams that renovate units in a run-down condo complex, reselling them eight weeks later at auction. The team that makes the highest profit wins.
John and Whitney Spinks, a young married couple who dream of running their own interior design company, said as reality TV goes, “Flipping the Block” got it close to real.
The couple knew they had been selected three months before filming, but didn’t know enough about the series to prepare.
“We didn’t even know what show we were going to be on,” John Spinks said. “All we knew was it would be couples doing renovations.”
When the producers brought the teams to the Southern California condo complex, it was so grungy John Spinks fell to the floor laughing.
The two quickly put on their game face, though, and give their Jacksonville hometown viewers plenty to root for.
First, they appear to be underdogs. Members from two other teams run their own construction-design businesses.
Compare that to Whitney Spinks, a financial analyst with a talent for design who blogs about their DIY projects, and John Spinks, a Navy veteran with a year’s experience in commercial project management and a few years in residential construction.
When “Flipping the Block” host John Temple previews the couple’s design and says, “Have you ever sold a house before?” hearts drop with Whitney as she has to admit, no.
In the couple’s favor, though, is a winsome sense of synergy, as they deal with bugs, a leaking sink and a hole in the wall that gives a neighboring team a view into their bathroom. That’s a problem, since the teams are required to live in the condos as they renovate.
John Spinks solves it by stuffing a piece of cardboard in the hole. “That’s good. That’s done. We’re almost there,” he says to Whitney.
Even more impressive, the couple’s design instincts are bold and trendy.
Who would think to paint a herringbone pattern on the wall to echo the chevron diagonals in the room’s throw rug and curtains?
Even the judge would deem their style “fresh” and said the sliding barn door on the closet set them apart from their competitors, though he dinged them for not installing the floor stop to keep it from swinging.
In the end, it was the unfinished details that lost the Spinks the $5,000 bonus for the round.
With eight episodes in total and four still left to air, though, the couple can hardly be counted out. Look for the drama to heighten, the couple said.
“In the beginning, we were all still learning the game and everyone was pretty open,” John Spinks said. “As we get our systems down, we become more secretive. Everybody gets better and hones their skills. Also, the money starts to get tight.”
Who ends up winning? They won’t say. But either way, the experience has been positive.
After taping, the couple came back to Jacksonville and launched their residential interior design company, 27 South Design Group.
Their niche will be edgy, modern and affordable designs that appeal to a younger market wanting a transitional look.
“This show was a jumping point,” Johns Spinks said. “It gave us the confidence that we were good enough and could do it.”
“Flipping the Block” appears at 9 p.m. Sundays on HGTV.
Find John and Whitney Spinks at 27southdesign.com.