“Furniture restoration saved my life,” Shelby Springfield, 27, admits with a smile. She’s as relaxed as I’ve ever seen her, dressed in a pair of jeans, a thickly knit oversized cardigan, and white Converse. She gently shoves off, rocking the porch swing she’s sharing with her fiancé and HomeMade costar, Cameron Riggs, 28. He takes over as she curls closer to him, natural as can be.

The attractive pair could easily grace the cover of a Lands’ End Christmas catalog. Riggs with his rugged charm and lumberjack appeal, Springfield and her sweet girl-next-door sensibilities. The onetime child stars have broken into the reality-TV home-renovation scene and hearts of viewers everywhere, as they quite literally fell in love on-screen and off-.

When I ask Springfield to elaborate on that, she gives a small shrug. “I was definitely in a bad place when I left L.A., nearly six years ago now. Acting and singing—it was all I’d known—but it wasn’t what I loved anymore. I felt adrift. I don’t know how much longer I could have carried on.”

Me: So how did you get from L.A. to Michigan, of all places?

The costars share a look. They do this a lot. One of those easy silent communications that makes everyone else feel like intruders. If I hadn’t been invited …

Riggs answers. “She called me. I was in Alaska, shooting a doc for National Geographic, when I got a text from Shelby.”

“He took the first flight out, even though he hates flying,” Springfield adds, her expression gooey.

“I did. Thought I was going to die, honestly. It was barely a plane,” he jokes. “But anyway, I showed up at her apartment and it wasn’t good. I could tell she needed out, but I wasn’t in the right place to help her. It wasn’t my brightest moment, but before I left, I wrote her a letter encouraging her to leave L.A. behind and save herself. I’m so glad she took it to heart.”

Me: You didn’t drive her back?

Riggs shakes his head, fidgeting with the rolled sleeve of his flannel shirt. (Yes, dear readers, he really does wear that much flannel in real life.) “No, I didn’t live here yet, and I wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t ready for us. I was still chasing sunsets.”

It’s this kind of forthright honesty and down-to-earth candor that has brought about the tidal wave of viewer loyalty showered over the duo during the last few months. Speculation ran rampant this summer while a smear campaign tried to sink the couple before their show even hit the airwaves. But, in a move becoming typical of the pair, they addressed the rumors and skeletons in their pop-star closets with a narrative of truth.

“The thing is,” Springfield says, “when you grow up on television, everyone thinks they know what you’re about, deep down. They’re invested in you the way you would be with a sibling or classmate. It can be wonderful, like when people are cheering you on. But it can also be suffocating. Every mistake I ever made in my teens and early twenties was public record.”

Riggs adds, “And it was this catch-22 for us, because we couldn’t change while living in L.A. So, we left and did our changing in private, but with privacy comes ignorance. No one knew we’d changed, and we weren’t ready to tell them.”

“Until we were,” Springfield finishes with a wide smile.

I ask if the smear campaign pushed them to tell their side.

Riggs grimaces, scratching at his signature neat beard. “Probably. We had to decide if we were going to let the show speak for itself or take control of our response. So many people were counting on the show to succeed—our families, friends, the crew, and contractors. Even our community. It felt like we owed them a fighting chance.”

Springfield and Riggs offer to show me around their workshop. “A little behind the scenes,” Springfield jokes. “I don’t allow film crews into my sanctuary.”

It’s a massive barnlike structure with state-of-the-art equipment, a decade-in-the-making treasure trove of furniture castoffs and … chickens.

Riggs laughs. “The first time she let me see the place, I was ready to bunk down with the chicks, I was so intimidated.”

And rightfully so. This is a warehouse dedicated to craftsmanship. Springfield shows off a few of the pieces she’s working on. A Victorian-era sideboard donated from a local farm that she’s restoring to its original sheen. A battered rolltop desk with a least a dozen little magical hidden cubbies.

“I don’t know if I can bear to sell this one.”

“Even though you already have two,” Riggs complains good-naturedly.

Springfield shrugs with a sheepish grin. “I like cubbies.”

And we like these two. Recently, they wrapped on filming their first season of HomeMade, which premiered in September on HLNW.

Me: So, Cameron, we’ve really gotten to watch you come into your home-renovation trade on-screen. How was that for you?

Riggs jokes, “I don’t know, you tell me. Am I pulling it off?”

Springfield rolls her eyes, smacking his broad chest. “Cameron was meant for this. Every project, every challenge we threw at him, he’s tackled with aplomb. He likes to tease that he ‘plays a contractor on TV,’ but the reality is, he legitimately does it all. He could have taken the easy way out, letting the so-called professionals do the dirty work, but he never has. Early on, he apprenticed under my dad, but after a while, it became his.”

When I ask him his favorite part of contracting, his response is quick. “Working alongside Shelby every day. Even as kids, we had the time of our lives working together. Despite all the show-business BS that comes along with being a child actor, I always had fun with Shelb. And this is infinitely better, because restoring homes is something we truly enjoy. This community is one we belong to. Plus, now I get to keep her.”

Oh, believe me I know. When you’re all done swooning, I have more.

The pair invite me into the home they share, a small farmhouse in the middle of rolling green acres of pine forests. There’s a squashy-faced cat cleaning herself on the front porch to welcome us.

“She’s mostly harmless,” Springfield assures me. “But a bit of an asshole.”

We settle down at their kitchen table (that Springfield restored, of course), and Riggs offers coffee and cookies. The pair move in a synchronized way, hosting, before sitting across from me.

Me: Tell me about the music video. How did you come to work with Lorelai Jones?

They share another look.

“Lorelai and I have been friends for years, actually,” Springfield explains. “We met by chance in Grand Rapids and hit it off immediately. When I moved here, she followed. I never planned to go back to show business, but I always knew Lorelai would return to music eventually. It’s in her bones.”

I ask about the rumors that Riggs, who developed the infamous “What They Have” music video, layered with footage of the two stars growing up, used it to propose to Springfield.

Springfield flushes. “He did. And before you ask, no, there is no video of that. It was very private and incredibly romantic.”

Me: Did you hear the complete album (Last & Never) first?

Riggs: Yeah, and we both fell in love within the first few chords. It’s phenomenal songwriting. Lorelai deserves every bit of the acclaim she’s been getting.

Me: What do you think about Jones’s infamous ex, Drake Colter?

Riggs and Springfield, at once: NO COMMENT.

Springfield repeats with a giggle, “Seriously, we can’t comment.”

Over the course of several (delicious and melty) chocolate-chip cookies, I ask some rapid-fire questions of the lovebirds.

Me: What can you tell me about your upcoming wedding?

Springfield: It will be a simple affair. Maybe in our backyard? Something very small and private and lovely.

Riggs: Soon. It will be soon. Like, yesterday soon.

Me: Shelby, do you ever think you’ll go back to singing?

Springfield: Doubtful.

Riggs: What are you talking about? You sing every day in your shop.

Springfield: Well, you sing in the shower.

Riggs: (waggles brows) How would you know?

Me: Cameron, how does it feel to work for your former costar Lyle Jessup?

Riggs: Who?

Springfield slaps his chest again.

Riggs: Fine, fine. I kid. Honestly, we wouldn’t be here without Lyle. We’ve known him as long as we’ve known each other, and he’s the one who brought us back together for this show. I’m grateful for that.

Me: So, no hard feelings?

Springfield: Ehhhh. More like a fresh start.

Me: Speaking of, what’s the word on a second season?

Springfield and Riggs exchange smiles.

Riggs: We might have a few properties picked out.

Springfield: And we signed a contract. So, it looks like we’ll be back!

And we’re betting we won’t be the only ones there to watch this sweetly real couple as they navigate their second season of renovation projects and their first year of marriage.