Who is Kristina Crestin? 'Farmhouse Fixer' star credits PBS' 'This Old House' for getting HGTV show
NEW ENGLAND: If you ever watched an episode of 'Farmhouse Fixer' you may have noticed 'New Kid on the Block' singer Jonathan Knight in his element as he travels the length and breadth of New England ready to renovate historic farmhouses into a dreamy haven. While the stunning end output towards the end of each episode may leave you tongue-tied, there's no denying that Knight couldn't have accomplished such a stunning end result just by himself.
Thanks to his co-star/ designer Kristina Crestin each of the old, rundown homes featured on the show, get a new lease of life. While Crestin's designing skills speaks for itself on almost every episode of the HGTV show, however, not much is known about this soft-spoken designer. If you ever found yourself wondering about Crestin's credentials and how she landed the coveted host role on an HGTV show, then keep reading.
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Who is Kristina Crestin?
Jonathan Knight might be a well-known celebrity, thanks to his stint on 'New Kid on the Block', but his 'Farmhouse fixer' co-star Kristina Crestin is a celebrity in her own right, as well, having been voted as the HGTV's Designer of the Year for 2019. Unlike many designers who just stumble into the designing world eventually, Crestin always had a keen eye for interior design and knew she wanted to be a designer. In an interview with Scout and Nimble, she explained, "I had a pretty direct line to get to interior design. I was always obsessed with Legos and building. When laying out houses in Legos I’d never mix colors - ever !"
Her passion for designing led her to Endicott College in Beverly, MA. "I went to Endicott College in Beverly, MA which was a lovely place, small classes, right on the ocean and a new place to me - the North Shore of Boston. I fell in love with the area. I got a great senior internship and ended up working at that firm directly after school for about 8 years. Endicott’s program is very internship focused and was really helpful in learning what interior design really was vs what you think it is," she explained.
Eventually she decided that she wanted to branch out on her own, so she resigned from her job and set up her own interior design firm based out of New England called Kristina Crestin Design. On her firm's website she explained her love for colors and creating stunning spaces. "She creates atmospheres infused with light and creativity with her signature styles; modern farmhouse, modern beach house, as well as her take on traditional," states the website. Her special love for restoring and redesigning old homes led to a brief stint on PBS's iconic show 'This Old House'.
Crestin explained how being a part of the PBS show pushed her out of her comfort zone and allowed her to explore other aveneues. "Participating in a season of This Old House was "where I got my feet wet on being both the interior designer and then being the talent that has to carve out time to do the filming as well. hat was my moment of feeling like I wanted to do more," she recounted. Her stint on the show piqued the attention of several producers, who reached out to her at various times. But unfortunately nothing panned out until 'Farmhouse Fixer' came along. " Off and on since then I've had production companies reach out and gone through the first stages of Skyping and interviewing but nothing ever panned out. I didn’t proactively take on looking for it either. I got a call one day from the production company sharing some info about the show and asking if I would want to interview. They let me know my friend Jon was hosting the show but needed a designer and would I be interested - the answer was OF COURSE!" she shared.
After that it was pretty much a cakewalk for Crestin, who landed the role of co-host on 'Farmhouse Fixer'. "I had the benefit of the host knowing my skills and making a suggestion as well as their market research around the area. My past experience at This Old House was probably helpful. Candid interviews and just being myself was my take on the process and then sitting back to see what they thought," she replied when asked about how she landed the role.
We can't wait to see Crestin return to our screeens and show off her exquistie deisgns and creativity on the upcoming seaosn 2 of 'Farmhouse Fixer' which premieres on Wednesday, August 24, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and will be available to stream on discovery+ app.