'Backyard Envy': Manscapers juggle between same-sex couple's garden renovation and $1M event installation
Melissa "Mel" Brasier, James DeSantis and Garrett Magee of New York's landscaping company, Manscapers, were seen juggling two jobs on tonight's (August 25) episode of 'Backyard Envy'. One was a garden renovation for same-sex couple Jay and Vic and the other was a large scale job for St Germain, a liqueur company, for their mid-summer event.
The budget for the St Germain's event was a whopping million dollars and this was the biggest budget that the Manscapers ever worked with. They were really excited to get the gig and come on board as creative directors for it, however, there were a couple of scares and a lot of roadblocks that they faced while working on the project.
The initial design pitch was something that the clients weren't happy with and since it was a huge event, they wanted the installation to match the scale. They wanted the Manscapers to think bigger and higher and during the brainstorming session, they took that feedback quite literally and decided to elevate their installation, suspend it mid-air and have floral decorations hang from the bottom of it.
This idea was immediately approved by St Germain and the team set to work. During the same week, they were working on same-sex couple Jay and Vic's garden renovation. The couple was initially working with another landscaping company that ghosted them suddenly and according to Jay, it was a case of discrimination against a gay couple with children.
Now their garden was huge but disjointed and the couple wanted a unified flow to it along with family spaces. Theirs was a mid-century modern style house and they wanted the same look for the garden as well.
Working on both spaces at the same time, both very different in terms of scale, budget and requirements, was challenging for the team. There was a huge scare that they faced while putting together the installation for the St Germain's party. Garrett had highly miscalculated the number of moss mats they would require. He'd completely missed out on the details that mounted surfaces require more material than flats and with just a couple of hours away from the event, the team was freaking out.
However, their supplier came through with the rest of what was needed and it was a highly successful event with a lot of praise going around for the installation and the company that made it possible. As for Jay and Vic's garden, the team executed it just the way they had promised. There was a huge contrast in the before-after situation in the couple's garden and they, along with their children were equally amazed by the renovation.
'Backyard Envy' airs on Tuesdays at 10 pm ET on Bravo.
