Curtis spoke to TooFab in regards to the new season of her HGTV collection, Rehab Addict, and what made her return to the present after a short hiatus. The unique collection ran from 2010-2018, earlier than she returned in 2021 with Rehab Addict Rescue; tonight, the OG collection is again for Season 9 following a 3-year break.

“So we by no means stopped rehabbing houses. We’re all the time rehabbing houses. And you recognize, previously 3 years I developed my manufacturing firm and we have nonetheless been filming and producing,” Curtis defined. “However it takes a very very long time to complete one in every of our homes. So three years seems like lots. Nevertheless, for us, that is about how lengthy it takes you a home, so all of it form of goes hand in hand.”

As for why she took time away, Curtis instructed PEOPLE she “had a setback in my life that simply rocked me to the core, and it was a type of moments the place I assumed, how do I get via this one?” — nevertheless, did not elaborate additional on the scenario.

When requested what retains her coming again, Curtis instructed TooFab she’s hopeful she will be able to encourage viewers to save lots of a few of these outdated houses as an alternative of leaving them within the mud.

“I imply, I may retire tomorrow, and I would be okay, however you recognize, we all the time… There is a goal for the present, and it is to showcase outdated homes. And the extra we present outdated homes on TV, the higher probability there may be that anyone will save an outdated home slightly than tear it down. That is why we’re right here,” she maintained.

Relating to her favourite initiatives to taken on, whereas Curtis encounters some fairly gnarly houses within the present’s Season 9 premiere, she nonetheless enjoys tackling the rehabs folks say “cannot be achieved.”

“I tackle the initiatives the place everybody else says it may possibly’t be achieved. I am stepping into, and that is often what we do. We do not purchase homes which have financial worth,” Curtis careworn. “We do not purchase homes due to cash. We purchase the homes that no one else needs.”

Curtis, who was chatting with TooFab from the Detroit home she rehabbed after it was taken over by squatters, opened up in regards to the 3-year course of — and the horrible smells she endured attempting to scrub the place up.

“It was horrible. It was nothing you would ever think about smelling. And, I’ve lots of mates on police drive, and we name it just like the dying odor. You may’t even air it out,” she shared. “You gotta eliminate it. You gotta do one thing. After which ultimately…ultimately, you recognize, three years later, you possibly can sit in the home and breathe.”

Whereas she almost gutted the house, Curtis did preserve a few of the unique “yummy” items that gave it its appeal, together with some subway tile within the rest room and components of the kitchen.

“I’ve my unique rest room and we have constructed this little cute historic kitchen and every thing is good the place I need it to be. It is all full of my antiques. I am a collector of antiques, and so you possibly can see, like my outdated field and every thing. And now it looks like a historic residence,” Curtis gushed.

Whereas it isn’t a line of labor Curtis needed to outline her, it is very a lot turn into what she’s identified for and what she likes to do.

“I like doing our homes and every thing and I simply all the time need folks to take the purpose that our outdated homes matter,” she instructed TooFab.

“It has been nice doing the present for 15 years, like, that is form of loopy … on the finish of the day it has been enjoyable. It is a factor I do not assume I ever needed to outline me,” she continued. “You recognize, I’ve two wonderful youngsters, and I like being a mother. If I am not at work, I am residence with my youngsters. There’s not many footage of me on-line. At any occasion. I do not go. I want to be residence with my household, and, in our free time, we save outdated homes. In order that’s actually all the time been the factor for me.”

Season 9 of Rehab Addict premieres June 24 on HGTV.