In 2024, David and Stephen St. Russell, better known as the “Renovation Husbands,” made their TV debut on HGTV’s “Battle on the Mountain.” Come June, they will make a move toward the bookshelf with the release of their first book, “Good Character: Design with Intention to Reveal Your Home’s Personality.”
After winning “Battle on the Mountain,” the St. Russells got right back to renovating their homes in Boston and Maine, but they also began writing.
“An editor reached out to us and asked if we were to write a book, what would it be about. After a lot of thought about our experience with the Dorchester Victorian house, more specifically, and our new adventure with the Maine cabin, we kind of settled on this idea that we talk about a lot, which is the idea of character,” said Stephen.
“What does character mean to us? What does character mean to old homes, to new homes? What are the design parameters that define character?”
He continued: “We pitched this idea to DK [Penguin Random House], and they greenlit it. For the past two years, we’ve been working on it.”
The book invites readers to join the St. Russells on a room-by-room journey. In some 250 pages, the husband-husband team breaks down the process behind their design decisions and explains how each contributes to building character in their homes.
“One of the things I thought about while writing this was my mom,” David said in an interview with The Reporter. “She goes into a room, and there’s this expectation that when designing a room, you’re painting it, you’re buying furniture, you’re trying to do all of this to work at once. And it’s not really a thing that most people can do. You can’t just go in and furnish the entire room.”
He added, “A theme through this is really taking the time to understand the space or lived-in experience and then translating that into what works for you. Thinking less about trying to replicate what you saw in a magazine and taking the time to listen to your house, and then in the end, having something that you love, that you’ve created. That’s probably the most important point that we’re trying to drive.”
The coffee table book doubles as a homeowner’s guide, providing the husbands’ blueprint for making the most of your existing space, removing the illusion of complexity from home renovation, and empowering you to transform your home into something unique.
The men break down the power of architectural millwork, bold color choices, and mixing vintage and modern furniture, but in a digestible way.
“It came down to just describing things the way we would to a friend who is painting a room for the first time or designing a room for the first time,” Stephen said about the tone of the book.
“I think there’s this expectation when you write a book that it needs to be really descriptive and you’re the subject matter experts, so you need to be really authoritative. But in the end, what we do on Instagram and what we do online is trying to make design not so pretentious and really approachable.”
They continue that personable approach by sharing more about themselves, not just their projects.
“We took the time to kind of tell our origin story,” said David. “A lot of the questions we get around how to renovate or how to do things or where we got our skills are addressed there more thoughtfully than in a place like Instagram.”
Added Stephen, “So much of our relationship with people online is that. It’s digital. So, it’s cool to have a physical interaction with someone that they can hold in their hands, it’s a nice connection to make with our audience.”
The men said the response to the upcoming book so far has been great, especially here in Dorchester. This summer they hope to hold a book release event somewhere in the neighborhood.
“People are really excited. It’s been really cool to watch it go out, and I’m excited and nervous for people to get all the copies that they’ve ordered,” said David. “We’ve been renovating now, for 10 years, basically. As soon as a room finishes, we’re probably already working on the next one. Now, we are going to take some time to just enjoy the spaces we’ve created.”
