We met at work

Karen McAloon was the host/designer of an HGTV series and Mikel Hubbard was her producer. We did multiple TV series together and then Karen took some time off to raise her kid in San Francisco while Mikel went to LA to explore his inexplicable passion for reality television. During that time, we remained friends and still really enjoyed working together, even if it wasn’t on a TV show, so we decided to buy a house together and fix it up. That became our first Airbnb in Lake Tahoe which was a huge success. Two years later, we remodeled a house in Joshua Tree to Airbnb, again exceeding all expectations and helping us realize that we make a great team even when the cameras aren’t rolling.

Not long after, Karen’s kid grew up and Mikel grew out of reality TV. In 2017, Karen’s interior design business in San Francisco was taking off, and she couldn’t do it alone any longer so we decided to go into business together full time. Soon after, Mikel started flipping properties in the desert and ultimately, designing the houses that we wanted to live in became our greatest success. We shifted our focus to creating killer homes for the creative class in the high desert outside of Los Angeles. Joshua Tree is a burgeoning market for bohemia and artists all over the world and we’re excited to be a part of shaping it.

 
 
jetkatDT9A3701.jpg

Karen McAloon

Karen has been designing Interiors for more than 25 years, beginning with her own homes and then moving into private clients through word of mouth and referrals. Serving as host and designer on 100+ episodes of HGTV’s Design Remix (where she would redo a home with $50 and the things you already have) and Find Your Style (where she would help people design their own higher end dream spaces) led to her continuing partnership with Mikel. Karen’s true loves are travel, four star hotels and her son Jack. Luckily, there’s a lot of overlap in designing gorgeous spaces that can also withstand the brute force of children and vacationing groups. A die hard advocate of form following function, there is no genre she won’t embrace because if there’s anything Karen loves more than interiors, it’s a challenge. Often, you can’t tell that it was Karen who designed a home. That’s because every space she does is perfect and completely unique. Her speciality is also her greatest gift: giving people what they always wanted without them even having to ask.

 
 

Mikel Hubbard


Mikel is a former television producer and development executive, having worked on HGTV shows including Curb Appeal, remodeling series New Spaces and producing Karen on Design Remix and Find Your Style. This was followed by a seven year stint in reality television developing series for cable networks such as Discovery, Vh1 and Tru TV. His time in reality TV was fueled by his fascination with things that are broken, weird, ridiculous and fancy and the homes he gravitates to are no different. Mikel has a keen eye for finding properties that are undeniably interesting and works with Karen to rescue them. His expertise in combining great projects with the right talent has dovetailed perfectly with his experience in the home space, making him unstoppable at turning real estate ideas into reality. In addition, his sensible Midwestern beginnings and formative California beliefs that people who say yes have more fun, strike the perfect balance between risk and reward, which has allowed x8 to take big swings that pay off every time.

jetkatDT9A3706.jpg
 
 
Jasmine Sotheby's photo.jpeg

Jasmine Farrow

Licensed Realtor and Real Estate Consultant

Jasmine is with Sotheby’s International Realty in Los Angeles and helps with our Southern California projects in real estate investment.  Originally from the Bay Area, Jasmine has a 15 year history with us, working with both Mikel and Karen in their HGTV days and beyond.   

She has always had a passion for design and real estate, spending 20 years as a lifestyle television producer and casting director on shows such as Karen and Mikel’s HGTV series Find Your Style, as well as Hidden Potential, Curb Appeal, Buy This Restaurant, Real Estate Intervention, Sleep on It and Color Splash.  It’s her love of all things history, architecture and design that has given her a discerning eye for property whether you are buying or selling. But her secret weapon to closing deals? Being the nicest person you’ll ever meet.