Stephen Montoya
Travis Jones
You might miss him if you blink — dashing between paint buckets, barking into a walkie, or scribbling notes in a notebook smudged with drywall dust. On almost any day, production designer/ art director Travis Jones might be orchestrating a major renovation reveal on the set of a home renovation show, checking the plumbing at a client’s house, or grabbing flowers at his family’s florist shop in Crowley. But one thing is clear wherever he is: he’s all in.
Travis is the guy you wish you’d met before you ripped up your kitchen floors on a whim. The Fort Worth native and Texas State theater alum has quietly built an empire in the world of home renovation television — 300+ episodes deep, with a resume that includes “Flip and Move,” “Rock the Block,” and the recently released “Honest Renovations” with Jessica Alba.
And it all started in a place where a few design careers were born: a dusty job site. Only instead of camera crews and co-workers, Travis was learning from his grandmother.
“She had a little general contracting business,” he remembers, “and when she babysat us, we’d tag along. Washing out paint buckets. Going on Home Depot runs. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it laid the foundation for everything I do now.”
He didn’t set out to become a production designer at first. But after a few semesters at Texas Wesleyan and a degree in theater from Texas State, he stumbled into his first real gig. “One of my dad’s friends said ‘Flip and Move’ was filming in Azle and needed help,” Travis recalls. “And then it was like all that osmosis from my childhood just came back. I realized, ‘Wait, I actually know how to do this.’”
What followed was a whirlwind of sets, builds, reveals, and all-nighters — including a particularly grueling 36-hour stretch where he worked until the paint was still drying during the big reveal. (“I had to have someone drive me home,” he laughs. “I was going to fall asleep in the car.”)
Stephen Montoya
But under the chaos is a throughline of purpose. Travis approaches each project — on screen or off — with the heart of someone who understands how a space can change a life. And that’s what keeps him grounded, even when the walls start to crumble (literally).
“There was this one flip,” he says, shaking his head. “We thought the house was just messy — turned out it was full-on hoarder level. Holes in the walls. Rats. You could see daylight through the exterior.”
Still, Travis believes every house has a story — and every story has a way out. Maybe that’s the artist in him, the part that studied scene design and starred in “Rent” at Texas Wesleyan. Or maybe it’s the small-town kid who grew up hauling lumber and arranging flowers.
When he talks about design, Travis gets fired up. Not about Pinterest-perfect backsplash ideas or trendy color palettes — but about functionality, about what a home does for the people inside it.
“The number one piece of advice I give my clients,” he says, “is to make the house function for you. Just because there’s a room called a ‘formal dining room’ on the floor plan doesn’t mean it has to be one. Make it an office, a playroom — whatever you need. Think outside the box.”
Lately, he’s been working alongside his fiancée, balancing design dreams with tight TV timelines and the occasional logistical nightmare. And when things get tense? His go-to solution: cold drinks. Iced tea. Ice cream. Something to cool tempers and soften the edges of long, dusty days.
Travis is the kind of guy who knows how to bring calm to the chaos. He knows how to wrangle crews, handle curveballs, and somehow always get the paint color right. And when the cameras roll, he knows how to make sure what we see is more than just a before-and-after shot — it’s a story of possibility.
As for what’s next? Travis isn’t slowing down. Not even close. But he still finds time to pass along what he’s learned.
“Start small,” he says. “Find people who know more than you — and let them help you.”
