When we met up with Bargain Block’s Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas in New York City to talk about all things creative, they radiated a quiet but bright energy — the same energy we see in their designs.

Take, for example, their Season 3 Rock the Block home, full of earthy textures, warm shades and natural shapes. During the renovation, both the stakes and their budget were high, so the project is a true testament to what they’re capable of. The final design is (to their likeness) down-to-earth, punctuated with the smart, deliberate marks of thoughtful, high style: a locally-sourced comedy-mask-turned-pot-filler mounted over the stove, a wall covering that doubles as a one-of-a-kind art installation you can gaze at before going to sleep and an intricately curved velvet couch we wish we could sit down on.

In fact, being with the couple in person is much like walking into a well-decorated home. Keith and Evan are approachable, warm and easy to be around — but you can sense, as Married to Real Estate’s Egypt Sherrod put it, they’re “a quiet storm.” If you’ve watched them in action, you know Evan’s the construction guru, while Keith masters all the design work. The differences in their strengths, we’ve deduced, are actually the building blocks of their unsurprising success, and in an effort to understand exactly how their genius works, we got down to the design basics.

Watch This Duo Get Down to Design