Decorating diva Debbie Travis’ brand is synonymous with home decor, and her shows have been analogous with HGTV for nearly a decade.

‘They’ve been an amazing [channel] to work and grow with,’ says Travis on the phone from her Montreal office, where she’s president of Whalley-Abbey Media.

The home renovation maven says she learned to ‘paint, renovate, host and produce’ on Debbie Travis’ Facelift, later donning the executive producer’s cap on Buy Me and spin-off series The Property Shop, which bows this year.

Travis gets a lot of mileage out of facelift jokes, as she was among the first to call a home renovation by the otherwise plasticized name.

‘I’ve had 50 facelifts, so now I look six months old,’ she laughs, referring to the 50 one-hour episodes of the show.

‘As a producer, Facelift was one of the highlights of my career because of the relationship with HGTV,’ Travis continues. ‘We had a hit on our hands right away; it was [one of] the highest-rated shows on the [station].’ Travis created Facelift especially for HGTV in 2001 after seven years of Debbie Travis’ Painted House for Women’s Television Network.

She now has a Debbie Travis product line that includes some 1,000 items available through Canadian Tire, including a brand of paint and furniture.

‘I began as a producer, and then came the paint thing, and then the furniture thing came out of the paint thing,’ she explains in her trademark ‘tell it like it is’ way.

Those success stories led to the largest commission that HGTV has ever done – the 130 x 30 Buy Me, a reality-based TV show that takes a look through the keyhole of the nation’s real estate market. It’s still in production for the specialty.

Facelift and Buy Me are on HGTV in both Canada and the U.S. and have garnered global sales. Facelift is broadcast in some 50-plus territories and Buy Me airs in 15 countries.

Travis’ second company is in Toronto and she travels frequently between Montreal and Hogtown ‘to orchestrate talent in both cities.’ The Toronto shop, RTR Media, represents her husband and partner Hans Rosenstein as well as a third partner, Kit Redmond.

Next up for the trio is a spin-off called The Property Shop (13 x 30), which Travis describes as a ‘docu-soap’ about ‘a young lady taking on the big boys, the real estate agents, and setting up her own agency. So it’s not only [about] the clients; it’s the risk factor, as a mom with young kids is trying to set out on her own.’

The Property Shop stars Tatiana Londono in her struggle to rise to the top of the Montreal real estate ladder from swanky Westmount to the Old Port to the trendy Plateau.

Travis attributes much of her own success to HGTV.

‘My relationship with them is impeccable, and it’s fun,’ she says. ‘Being behind-the-scenes can be tough when the producer and the broadcaster have different visions, but it’s a pleasure when the vision is the same.’

Travis also thinks that fun translates to the screen.

‘It has to be fun and enjoyable, and television shows actually show the ambience of that production, and the broadcaster is part of that,’ she elaborates. ‘I don’t believe in too many cooks, and when a broadcaster has enough trust in the producer, genius comes out of it.’