Creating your own perfect dream home isn’t always as easy as doing it for others.
For beloved HGTV star David Bromstad, work on his home turned into a disaster.
On his TV special and in subsequent interviews, he’s opened up about how he turned to drugs after a storm destroyed his home.
He’s since been to rehab and finished his dream home. But things were touch and go along the way.
He truly got his happy ending
During his December 2025 My Lottery Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending, the titular designer shared the darkest part of his dream home journey.
“I was starting to spiral,” he shared during the special. “I got into some unhealthy behaviors.”
Bromstad pointed out: “It’s really easy to go there when you’re under distress.”
He got more specific: “You know, using substances… It’s a real easy escape to take yourself out of a stressful situation. I knew I was in trouble.”
Fortunately, he went to rehab and was able to work on himself. And, in time, he was also able to fix the house.
Bromstad’s dream home is in Orlando. He and his residence are both strong and healthy now. But that was not always the case.
Extreme water damage, flooding, and mold devastated the work-in-progress property following a storm. He had to start the work over.
This was a major setback. It is only natural that it impacted his mental health.
“I think with the house, with where I’m at emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, everything has stopped,” he explained. “I was literally screaming out for help.”
Wisely, he sought that help. “I need to put my house on hold, and I need to check myself into some sort of program.”
‘It’s about my drug addiction’
Bromstad joined Ross Matthew for an Instagram Live on the day that the special premiered on HGTV.
“When I said this is the biggest moment of my life, it really didn’t have anything to do with the house,” he admitted.
“It had me talking about what this whole process was about,” Bromstad explained.
“And,” he continued, “that’s about my mental health and it’s about my drug addiction.”
Bromstad emphasized: “It was about moving through it, but also not hiding it, which I did the first time I got sober.”
“It was a difficult process,” Bromstad admitted during the livestream.
Highlighting the parallels between his mental state and his project, he added: “The house reflected what was really going on with me personally.”
Bromstad admitted that he “wasn’t treating himself properly.”
That is when he checked himself into a “trauma-based rehab” for a few months to “clean up my act.”
He affirmed: “That’s all I needed. I just needed someone to carve time out for me.”
He made it (and the house did, too)
Ultimately, Bromstad’s dream home project was a four-year journey.
In that time, he also had to step back and work on himself.
Sometimes, you have to get your house in order metaphorically before you can get your house in order in a more literal, tangible sense.
(The converse is also true! The state of your home both reflects and impacts your state of mind and even your mental health)
Now, he’s living in his dream home and showing it off to the world. Good for him!