The Napier House & Welcome Baby Nell
Most people believe it’s impossible to work well with family, but the two Napier families have showed the world that working together can be a magical thing.
Lauren and Jesse Napier are newly wed sweethearts that received their dream home during season five of Home Town. They also happen to be close family to Erin and Ben Napier. Jesse is Ben’s little brother and has become like Erin’s little brother, since the couple started dating when Jesse was younger. They’ve watched him mature into the well-rounded, hardworking man that he is today, and they’ve always hoped that he would find a kind, thoughtful woman to grow alongside him. Little did Jesse know, he would meet his dream girl on the middle of the dance floor at a wedding. In true Napier fashion, Jesse did his best to sweep her off her feet, and apparently it worked. The rest was history.
Erin says, “I loved Lauren from the beginning! She’s like the kid sister I always wanted. She became part of our family so effortlessly.”
While Erin and Ben’s love story is most notable amongst Home Town lovers, Lauren and Jesse have had their own fairytale story as well. Ben isn’t the only Napier with a knack for romantic gestures. Jesse has created multiple thoughtful gifts for Lauren during their relationship, including the jewelry box that he used to propose in Southern Antiques.
The Napier couples have been intertwined in each other’s lives from the beginning. On the day of Jesse’s proposal, Erin and Ben distracted Lauren for the entire afternoon as Jesse setup the ultimate surprise. He placed her engagement ring in the hand-made jewelry box and told her to open it. She discovered a note and a ring.
Erin even designed Jesse and Lauren’s wedding stationary. Their wedding was situated on the Green House lawn in Laurel, and their happily ever after began.
“Our first home was practically a matchbox. We loved that house, because it taught us a lot about one another. We also learned how hard it is to stay mad at one another when you live three feet away from someone at all times. We just decided it's just easier to never be mad."— Lauren
“On our first Valentines Day as a married couple, he set up a full-sized table for dinner in our tiny house, because we had been eating dinner at our coffee table every night. He wanted to make it special. Then for our first anniversary, I displayed our wedding invitation and the fans from our wedding. We are really sentimental about those things.” — Lauren
While they loved their matchbox of a home, the Napiers knew that it was going to be too crowded for a growing family. They began to explore their options.
“I feel like we’ve been looking at houses since we began dating. We’ve always seen ourselves in Laurel, and we knew that we’d do the show if it ever worked out for us.” Lauren said, “We knew our house would be beautiful since Erin and Ben would have to come back to it for the rest of their lives!”
Jesse jokes, “I would advise anyone who’s never bought a house to have a TV show do it for you. Seriously though, there’s so much stuff we wouldn’t have known about. For example, the placement of plug ins. You don’t think about how many plugins you’ll need. I would’ve missed so many things, and it was comforting to know that there were professionals handling everything. We just waited for a few weeks and enjoyed the process!”
Jesse and Lauren anxiously waited eight weeks for the reveal of their new home, and nothing could have prepared them for what Erin and Ben had in store.
“We knew we wanted a dark color for the house, but I had no idea about the color of the house. I loved it so much!” — Lauren
“From the moment we walked into the house, everything just made sense. Our style is kind of mid-century/ funky 70s vibe and it was threaded throughout the entire design. That’s Erin’s best quality to me. You can tell her what you want, and she brings it to life in a way you would never have pictured it.” — Jesse
Jesse and Lauren’s house was full of surprises. Lauren said her favorite was the kitchen.
“We trusted Erin and Ben because we had talked about this forever and ever. I remember seeing Alise Mathew’s episode and seeing her dark green cabinets. I told Erin that I love that dark green, and she remembered! We told them about our shower in St. Augustine, how much we love open bookshelves, and a dark bedroom.” — Lauren
“Erin and Ben just held on to these little comments and then just exploded all of those ideas in our house. It's amazing.” — Jesse 
There couldn’t be a house reveal without a sentimental, tear-jerker, right? Jesse surprised Lauren with a beautiful hand-made crib in their baby’s room.
Just a few months later, Erin hosted a secret, virtual baby shower for Lauren on Instagram. Jesse and Lauren had no idea that hundreds of Amazon wish list items would arrive on their front porch in a few days.
Lauren says, “Jesse started getting notifications on our doorbell camera. The mailman kept coming onto our porch, and I got so mad. I thought Jesse had bought all of this stuff! I was looking at our bank statement trying to figure out where all this was coming from. I sent a video to Erin and Ben, and she told us about the baby shower, and we cried. Well, I cried, because I was so excited to open over 200 boxes. It was a very busy couple of weeks.”
They have since moved in and begun their new life in their first home. As of June 12th, Jesse and Lauren gave birth to their first child— a healthy baby girl named Nell Marie Napier.
This new family is so thankful for all the love and support that they have received during this season. Now the two Napier families are starting a new job together — raising baby girls and soon to be best friends/ cousins for life. We’re excited to see how they grow together!
