Longtime HGTV star David Bromstad is known for his quirky style and spunky, upbeat personality — but the 52-year-old star of “My Lottery Dream Home” says that’s only one part of who he is and where he’s been.
In “My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending,” a one-hour special that premieres on December 19, 2025, Bromstad will reveal just how hard the last four years have been as he was renovating his dream home.
David Bromstad Says ‘Everything Was in Chaos’ in Preview
In a promo video for the special posted on December 18, Bromstad said, “A lot of pain, trauma, beauty — all of it went into this house.”
HGTV documented his home search in a 2021 specialBromstad was thrilled to purchase the Tudor home in Winter Park, Florida, and already had visions for its transformation. But a “massive storm” later destroyed the house, according to People, forcing him to start over.
On December 18, the outlet released an exclusive preview of the show in which Bromstad told producers, “My house is completely [expletive] and not in a fun way.”
“With all of the drama, the house, the stress, insurance claims, bleeding money — I just had to keep busy,” he continued. “My vision for the house was no longer clear. Everything was in chaos.”
Bromstad admitted he felt like his “mind was going crazy,” explaining, “I was starting to spiral. I got into some unhealthy behaviors and it’s really easy to go there when you’re under distress.”
Substance Use Was an ‘Easy Escape’ During Difficult Times, David Bromstad Says
Bromstad was in such a dark place, he said in his show’s preview, that he began some “unhealthy behaviors” including “substance use,” which he called “a real easy escape to take yourself out of a stressful situation. I knew I was in trouble.”
The beloved designer took a year off from renovations to focus on his own wellness, including a trip to Norway for his 50th birthday in August 2023. In a candid Instagram post on his journey, which included completing the famous Reinebringen hike, a steep 2,000 uphill trek that brought him to tears.
“This wasn’t just a climb for me, this was something so much more,” he wrote, noting, “I’ve been thru a lot the last few years, which I will share when I’m ready, and this was incredibly symbolic for me.”
On December 17, Bromstad told the Daily Mail, “When things were the most difficult and challenging financially, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically, I knew that I never wanted to part from this incredible property. It was because of this property and the will to want to create in it … the house saved my life.”
“As an artist and a creator having the outlet of designing,” Bromstad continued, “my house was the one thing that was keeping me going. This isn’t the first time art has saved my life.”
David Bromstad is Thrilled With How His House & Life Turned Out, But Can’t Be ‘Shiny’ All the Time
Fortunately, Bromstad’s trials seem to be behind him and he’s thrilled to finally be sharing the result of his renovations with fans.
“It’s chic, it’s quirky, it’s me,” he said in his December 18 promo, in which he also said “168 chandeliers (are) going in my house!”
Ahead of his special’s premiere, Bromstad acknowledged to TV Insider that his special will be a major departure, since fans are so used to only seeing him over-the-top happy.
“I only allowed people to see the bright and shiny parts of me because that was all I was willing to accept from myself,” he told the outlet. “So, to tell my honest and unapologetically unique story has been something I’ve been looking forward to, but I didn’t want to rush it, and I wanted it to be at the right time.”
Now that he’s come out the other side of some difficult years including “substance abuse,” Bromstad told TV Insider, “I think it’s important for people to understand that I’m human, that I struggle, that I am innately a bright and shiny person. And that version of myself came from past childhood traumas, and that version of myself saved me back then.”
“It got me the job on HGTV,” he continued. “It has propelled so many unique and beautiful versions of myself, until it started to destroy me. Because it’s unsustainable for someone to be that authentically happy. You can’t have the bright and shining times without the darkness. I don’t push away the darkness. I bring it in because I know the darkness only makes my bright and shiny parts shine that much bigger.”
“My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending” premieres on December 19 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
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