WESTON — A couple recently showed off their renovated home and Weston in general with the season three premiere of “In With the Old,” a home renovation show on Magnolia Network.
On Jan. 11, the network aired its season three premiere, featuring the Philpott family’s home renovation, called “Little Weston Cabin.” The show also streams on Discovery+ and HBO Max.
“We’re happy to put our little town of Weston, Connecticut, on the map so everyone knows it’s a beautiful place to live,” Megan Philpott said.
Megan Philpott grew up in Westport, but moved to Colorado where she lived until she was 25. After coming back to Connecticut and finding a job, she met Brian Philpott, a California native. The couple got married after about five years, settling in their Weston home about 13 years ago. Now, the Philpotts have two daughters, Kate, 11 and Hannah, 8.
Getting on TV all started in 2021. His family and friends were interviewing for other HGTV-style shows when they were asked if they knew of anyone renovating a historic home and his brother told them about the Philpotts’ plans to renovate their log cabin home, Brian Philpott said.
The producers called them, they interviewed and secured a spot on the show, he said. Filming began in May 2021 and wrapped up in September 2022.
Brian Philpott is a construction manager for the O’Dell Group in Westport that specializes in residential construction. Unlike other shows, the Philpotts did the renovations on their own for “In With the Old,” though the O’Dell Group also helped them.
“It’s not the type of show where they come and do it for you,” Brian Philpott said.
Too add to the Westport connection, Megan Philpott’s childhood best friend, Sarah Howell, was the architect for the renovated house.
The house is still under renovation, the couple said, but they have done much so far. It started off as a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 750-square-foot home, and has transformed to have three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms at 1,800 square feet.
It was originally built in the 1970s and sits on the remaining part of an original property from the 1600s, which was sold off section by section to create their neighborhood.
Brian Philpott said the last descendent from the original family, Charlie Squire, requested a log cabin be built there, which he lived in for about 20 years until his death.
“The Squire name and the family and the town were connected,” Brian Philpott said.
A lot of the house’s features use reclaimed items, such as the wood burning stove, the trim, furniture and the countertops made out of an old staircase.
They even added a front porch to fit the aesthetics of a log cabin, and repainted it to be nearly black instead of a muted brown.
Brian Philpott said one of the best parts about this show was that members from the Weston and Westport community came together to work on the house.
Megan Philpott said once the production crew showed up to the film, it was overwhelming, but fun.
“It was definitely very awkward, at the beginning, as far as feeling comfortable when the camera was in your face,” said Megan Philpott.
Also other home renovation shows, this one unlike doesn’t have a host and is more documentary-style. She said the producers would prompt them with a question and they would respond on their own.
Megan Philpott said they did not know what the episode was going to look like before it aired, as they didn’t get a preview of it beforehand.
“Watching it, I think they did an excellent job,” she said. “It really came out beautifully.”
