Four years after transforming the June Motel in Prince Edward County into a boutique experience, the motel’s cofounders are parlaying their renovation story into a makeover series on Netflix.
Motel Makeover will debut on August 25 and follow April Brown and Sarah Sklash as they renovate a second property in Sauble Beach on Lake Huron.
The long-time friends quit their full-time jobs and took over the dingy Sportsman motel in Picton in 2016 and turned it into a wine country destination a year later. The idea was born out of an idea to launch a “wine camp” weekend retreat in the area, which was becoming a hot tourist destination within the province after the Drake Hotel opened the Drake Devonshire.
“Sarah says, ‘There’s this motel we could rent out for the weekend – we could fix it up and make it more suitable for our target market,’” Brown told NOW at the time. “And I just looked at her, like, ‘Or we could buy that motel.'”
The self-taught designers have since evolved the June into a lifestyle brand aimed at women and opened the Sauble Beach location last year.
Brown and Sklash worked with local, female-founded businesses and creatives to do the reno and source materials for custom bathroom tiles, terrazzo countertops, bespoke wallpapers, artisan soaps and decor items. They then launched an online store featuring many of the items in the motels, which will be restocked in time for the six-episode Motel Makeover’s streaming premiere.
