Why HGTV Star Erin Napier's 40th Birthday Wasn't As Joyful As She Hoped

HGTV's Erin Napier has never been afraid of aging, nor is her birthday typically a somber occasion. Back in 2023, for example, HGTV's Napier family went the extra mile for Erin's 38th birthday, making it a celebration to remember. Not only that, but ahead of her 40th birthday two years later, the reality star made it clear that she wasn't sweating the realities of entering middle age. "Y'all, are we out here caring about forehead wrinkles?" she wrote on her Instagram Stories in August of that year (via Today). "I'm turning 40 this month and I think... we should all decide we don't care." However, Erin's 40th birthday itself wasn't nearly as joyful as she had hoped — not due to her appearance, or anything related to it, but because between her Instagram post and her actual birthday, one of her family's most ambitious projects quite literally went up in flames.

On August 26, 2025, just four days before her 40th birthday, the Heirloom Hotel in Erin's hometown of Laurel, Mississippi caught fire. Erin and her husband and co-host Ben Napier were in the process of restoring the building for "Home Town: Inn This Together," a spinoff of their hit HGTV series. As you can probably imagine, they weren't exactly in a celebratory mood that week. In a June 2026 episode of the HGTV couple's "The Heirloom" podcast, the famously inseparable Erin and Ben Napier revealed that, to make matters worse, a family member was hospitalized around that time, while her parents were forced to say goodbye to their beloved dog too. "It was the saddest party in the world," Erin shared. "All I wanted for my birthday was to eat dip. So, we ate dip and cried."

Almost immediately after the devastating fire, the owners of the Heirloom Hotel, Joshua Nowell, Emily Nowell, Mallorie Rasberry, and Jim Rasberry, confirmed that they intended to rebuild it. "Round two. It's never easy to start over [...] but we believe this town and these people are worth every ounce of our effort," the hotel's official Instagram account posted on September 2, 2025. Since then, news on the matter has been scarce. However, just about all parties concerned offered an update in the aforementioned June 2026 episode of the Ben and Erin Napier-hosted "Heirloom" podcast.

From the sounds of things, a lot of details are still being ironed out at the time of writing. So, until they have more concrete information, the Napiers and company appear to be in full-on "Jesus, take the wheel" mode. "As far as what's next, I know that I don't know what's going to come next. I didn't know we'd be where we are now, but I'm grateful that I'm here with you guys," Joshua explained. "God has a plan that none of us know about," Erin remarked. Regardless, Mallorie reassured listeners that the Rasberrys, Nowells, and Napiers were "a lot better off than we were 10 months ago."

As far as the nuts and bolts go, one of the biggest holdups has apparently been waiting for the insurance to come through. "There is nothing but waiting now to see what happens with insurance," Erin noted on Instagram, in May 2026, in response to a fan's comment asking about the rebuilding process, per Clarion Ledger. The outlet also reported "Home Town" fans had been publicly calling on the insurance company to speed up the process.