Married couple Brooke and Brice Gilliam aren’t your average home renovation team. First off, they built their Nashville-based business while simultaneously working full-time jobs—Brooke as a pharmaceutical rep and Brice as an orthodontist. Next, there’s their inspiring gender role swap: Brooke is the builder and Brice is the designer. And did we mention they’re both self-taught?
As if that wasn’t enough, their talent and reputation for creating beautiful spaces together caught the attention of none other than Chip and Joanna Gaines, and in 2021 season one of their own design show, Making Modern with Brooke and Brice, aired on the Gaines’ Magnolia Network. But unlike their bosses, the Gilliams are quick to point out they don’t flip houses— instead, they customize homes so that their owners fall in love with them all over again. It’s not just a great business model; it makes for happy-tears- inducing TV.
Brooke and Brice took a break from filming season two (set to air later this year) to share their story and talk about why homes are where their hearts are.(@brookeandbrice)
NL: When did you notice an interest in building and designing, respectively?
Brice: The easy answer is early on. However, at the time my small town didn’t have many creative outlets, so naturally I focused on sports and followed my mom’s advice about getting my education. It wasn’t until I finished my orthodontic residency program when we decided to design our house that I realized how much I was missing that creative outlet in my life.
Brooke: I’m from a rural part of Kentucky, so the nearest hardware store was a half hour away; it wasn’t like we could easily run to the store to pick up multiple things when we were doing projects, so I learned how to repurpose, restore, and reuse what I could. After some major setbacks when we were building our home in Nashville, I found myself thrust into action, and my experience from childhood came in handy. We ended up completing the job ourselves which turned out to be a huge blessing because it was the spark that grew into Deep South Modern.
NL: What made you take the leap of doing this full-time and leaving your careers?
Both: Oftentimes people are told that to be successful you need to quit your current job and jump headfirst into your passionate project. Like so many people in our situation, it was unrealistic to quit our career jobs until we started to see the growth of Deep South Modern. So, to this day, we are both juggling full-time careers (Brice, an orthodontist and Brooke, a senior biopharmaceutical territory manager) and growing a full-time construction company.
NL: How would you each describe your aesthetic?
Brice: I have a strong modern influence—classic and simple. I lean toward minimalistic.
Brooke: I’m more traditional, with comfort and functionality being features I gravitate toward. Together, we have adopted a Deep South Modern aesthetic. Modern doesn’t have to be cold and sterile. To us, it’s simply modernizing a space, creating thoughtful ways to add functionality, highlighting form and beauty. We strive to blend the traditional feel of Southern design—patterns, textures, grandeur— with modern design—straight lines, muted colors, and elegant simplicity— layered together for a warm, inviting, laid back life.
NL: What is the most rewarding thing about what you do?
Brice: As we get older, we’re more cynical and less surprisable, so that’s what I want all my designs to do: create an element of surprise—for the homeowner when they first see their space and every time they show off their space to their friends so they never lose the luster of the surprise and the joy they felt when they first saw it. I want homeowners to be surprised by the design, surprised by the functionality the space now has, surprised they could love their space so much. To love the space that has been specifically designed, customized, and built for them... that’s the strategy behind everything we do. I design it, Brooke brings it to life, and in the end, a space well lived in and loved by the homeowners is the goal we continually seek to achieve.
NL: Why Nashville?
Brooke: Brice is from Lebanon, TN, so this is home for him. Oftentimes, people move into a house, especially in a market like this, and they are super excited about it, but that excitement wears off and they are left with a lackluster, less-than functional space that they don’t love. That’s where we love to jump in; we love customization, so it just felt right.
Brice: Nashville’s an exciting place right now and growing rapidly. Because of the rapid growth the city has seen, many homeowners face issues finding the right contractor for their job. Some jobs are too small for some crews, and some crews don’t like doing things outside their “norm” box. I felt like women are underrepresented in the construction field and that the level of compassion and the skill set Brooke has would be ideal for our Nashville market, so we just went for it!
NL: What makes you most proud?
Brice: Breaking the mold, reversing stereotypes and stigmas, and simply inspiring others.
NL: What have been some of your standout experiences or favorite memories from projects?
Brice: I think some of the most memorable moments are the last-minute wall art projects Brooke completes in the eleventh hour.
Brooke: Honestly, I love meeting random people that introduce themselves and tell me they’re friends of our clients and that they are floored by our renovations. It’s a ripple effect that I hope never ends.
NL: How did you get involved with Magnolia Network?
Brooke: We had a less than awesome experience when we were building our own custom home in Nashville, and because of that, we learned to do so many things on our own—we will forever be grateful for that. Late nights, early mornings, never getting a day off. That’s what our neighbors saw. One of those neighbors introduced us to one of her friends, Sarah Kunin, a former producer for ABC. She had just moved to Nashville and came over to hang out. After a quick tour of our house, the “you need your own show” comment came out of her mouth. That was something people would say from time to time, probably because of our reversed roles in the build process, but we always blew it off because, let’s be real, who would want to see us on TV? Two weeks later, Sarah called to tell us a local production company wanted to film a sizzle of us. We had no idea what that meant. Riverside Entertainment came over and filmed a day’s worth of video they would condense to a three-minute clip to pitch to see if it resonated with any networks. After months of virtual meetings, phone calls, and back-and-forths with networks, we got a call that changed everything! Our show landed in the hands of Chip and Joanna Gaines and now we have a show called Making Modern with Brooke and Brice.
NL: How much does it change your process to document it on TV?
Brice: Since we aren’t actors or performers, it took us some time to warm up to the cameras. But honestly, very little has changed. We said from the get-go that we would only do the show if it was organic and real. The show does a good job of showing our growth as a company, but also who we are as a couple. We are very thankful Magnolia Network wanted authenticity, and, ultimately, we keep the client’s project as the number one priority, and filming comes second to that.
NL: What has been the most exciting part of the show?
Brice: The most exciting part of the show is hands down being able to inspire others.
Brooke: This platform has allowed us to share stories about failures and successes, to meet so many people who are the salt of the earth, and to encourage others to try something new; it’s very cool. All that is second to being able to get to know Chip and Joanna, of course.