This Snohomish store has the goods from HGTV’s ‘Unsellable House’

SNOHOMISH — Take home a piece of the HGTV action.

Or maybe a T-shirt.

Items seen on “Unsellable Houses” go from a $5 dish to a $4,000 sectional sofa at Lamb & Co., where you can stroll through 4,000 square feet of curated home accessories right in Snohomish.

The store is an offshoot of the HGTV show starring 41-year-old twin sisters Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis.

“The goal was to offer the whole package,” Lyndsay said.

On “Unsellable Houses,” now in its third season, the twins tool around Snohomish County in VW vans named “Ginger” and “Penelope” to film sites. The hammer-slinging, coffee-slugging, high-fiving real estate agents use their moxie to revitalize problematic homes to sell at top price.

The mantra on the show: “Win-win, twin-win!”

Here’s how to tell them apart: Leslie, sensible and thrifty, has blonde hair parted in the middle. Lyndsay, creative and older-by-three-minutes, has brown hair, bangs and glasses.

“She still spends all the money and I still save all the money,” Leslie said.

They roll as one, finishing each other’s sentences. The back-and-forth banter is part of the sister act on the series and off the set.

“People say, ‘Oh, my gosh, you are just like you are on the show,’” Lyndsay said. “They are surprised we are just as goofy, just as laid-back, just as silly and casual.”

Goofy maybe, but they are also savvy businesswomen: Fan demand for decor featured on “Unsellable Houses” prompted the sisters to open a store.

“We have people ask us all day long where things are from,” Leslie said.

They made Lamb & Co. a brand for home sales and home goods. Their warehouse in Everett stocks inventory for the store, online sales and staging. The twins plan to open a design center.

Five years ago, they were just two sisters rocking to Taylor Swift songs while chauffeuring home-buying clients around in a VW van. Their YouTube car karaoke videos caught the attention of High Noon Entertainment, producer of “Fixer Upper” and “Cake Boss.”

“Unsellable Houses” was born. A first season of half-hour shows led to a second with hour-long episodes and the third current season.

They were recruited to participate in two other HGTV shows airing this year: “Rock the Block,” a renovation competition with four HGTV show teams in Charleston, South Carolina, and an episode of “Home Town Kickstart,” in Winslow, Arizona.

“Unsellable Houses” is local, with scenes from county attractions and personal glimpses of life in Snohomish. Watch them caffeine up at Looking Glass Coffee, located between their Lamb & Co. store at 801 First St. and Lamb & Co. real estate office at 610 First St.

Their day job is still selling homes.

Seeing them saunter down First Street, you wouldn’t know they are HGTV famous. They don’t dress fancy, they dress Pacific Northwest: Torn denim, sweaters, sock hats, boots. They use vernacular words such as “youse” and “cool beans” on TV and in real life.

To locals, they are “the girls.” Even at 41.

“Leslie and I have always been Snohomish girls,” Lyndsay said. “We moved here in sixth grade. This is where we want to be. When we’re at home we’re just moms and doing business every day and it doesn’t feel like much has changed.”

Both married their Snohomish High sweethearts, who appear on the show along with their sons. So does their mom, who works at the store a day or two a week.

Call her “Nana.” Everyone does.

The twins often drop by Lamb & Co. Say hi if you see them. It’s OK if you can’t remember who’s who.

(Their empire is called Lamb & Co. not because Lyndsay is three minutes older but because she was in real estate first.)

The plot of “Unsellable Houses” is that they invest their own money into renovating the home to get the maximum price, then split the excess profit from the sale with the seller, who is part of the show. Homes this season range from $550,000 to $1 million.

The market shifted big-time since the launch of the show in 2020.

“People say all the time, ‘There’s nothing unsellable out there.’ That’s right, but you’re going to sell it for less than the maximum potential,” Lyndsay said.

That’s where the “Win-win, twin-win” comes in.

Viewers see them transform a plain room into chic and functional. New floors, new paint. Pillows, throws, vases. Clutter looks classy under their watch.

The store is staged, sister-style.

“They don’t want it to feel like a normal store. They want it to feel like you came into somebody’s home,” store manager Wendy Liddycoat said. “That’s why we have little vignettes everywhere: ‘Hey, you can put this together in your house.’”

Social media brings people in.

“We have people from all over the world follow the girls,” Liddycoat said. “A gal from South Africa came in and was so excited to be here.”

Popular items are metal framed wall shelves, $70 to $150, Swedish tote bags, $30, sister image T-shirts, $25, and Lamb & Co. candles, $25.

The front of a retro VW bus juts from a wall. It’s from the junkyard, not from “Ginger.”

It’s for selfies, not for sale.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Washington North Coast Magazine

This article was featured in the spring issue of Washington North Coast Magazine, a supplement of The Daily Herald. Explore Snohomish and Island counties with each quarterly magazine. Each issue is $3.99. Subscribe to receive all four editions for $14 per year. Call 425-339-3200 or go to www.washingtonnorthcoast.com for more information.