Duggar Master Bedroom Facelift

Big families love big projects! If you follow our blog about the Bates family, stars of the reality TV show Bringing Up Bates, you've seen the Bates kids do multiple redecorating projects as surprises for their parents. They redecorated the entire first floor of their East Tennessee house, as well as Gil and Kelly's master bedroom.

Now, it's the Duggar siblings' turn to surprise their parents with a redecorating project. This one was very involved and took a week and a half. If you notice, they had to do quite a bit of actual renovating around the window to create a window seat. The Duggar brothers made the cabinets from scratch.

Before...

After...

 Duggar master bedroom

Duggar master bedroom

 Duggar master bathroom

Duggar master bathroom

Photos courtesy duggarfamily.com/Jana Duggar

Watch Jana Duggar on TV

Jana Duggar and Michael Bates

Who gives this woman to be married to this man? "Her mother and I and her 18 siblings." (Gil Bates)

Michael and Brandon's wedding episode premieres tomorrow on UP TV! (Visit our Bates Family Blog to watch the promo video.) Jana Duggar, the only bridesmaid who is not a family member, will make multiple appearances on the show, as will other members of the Duggar family. (Click here to view wedding party photos.)

Bringing Up Bates "Wedding Bliss and a First Kiss" starts tomorrow at 9pm ET/8pm CT on UP. If you can't tune in, visit our Bates Family Blog after the show for a recap.

Jana Duggar touches up Michael's makeup before the wedding ceremony

Photos courtesy of UP

Bates Return to TV in 6 Weeks

We would like to share an announcement that we recently posted to our blog about the Bates family, one of our other two blogs.

Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 children, close friends of the Duggars, are set to return to UP TV for their third season of Bringing Up Bates at 9pm ET/8pm CT on Thursday, January 7th, 2016.

UP TV strives to provide uplifting, family-friendly entertainment to viewers across the United States. (Click here to find the channel in your area.)

Season one of Bringing Up Bates is available on gMovies.com, a service similar to Netflix, and the network plans to post season two by the end of the year.

Video courtesy of UP

Bates Family Makes a Statement

Gil and Kelly Bates responded to Access Hollywood's request for a statement regarding the recent attention that the Duggars have received by the media.

"We are praying for our dear friends," said Gil and Kelly. "We respect their privacy and have no further comment at this time."

Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 children star in Bringing Up Bates, a reality TV series that airs on UP TV. The Bates and Duggar families have been close friends since their oldest children were four feet tall (see picture below).

Check Out Our New Bates Blog

We have been posting periodic updates on Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 children to this blog since 2011. With the premiere of the UP original series Bringing Up Bates at 9pm ET on New Years Day, we figured, why not create a separate site for Bates updates? So that's what we did.

It took time to set everything up, but we are excited to reveal the URL of the Bates Family Blog to our readers: www.batesfamilyblog.com. 

We will continue to post Duggar updates and episode recaps to the Duggar Family Blog as usual, so be sure to follow both blogs. (In case you haven't heard, the new season of 19 Kids and Counting premieres February 17th on TLC!)

Photo: Courtesy of UP

"Bringing Up Bates"...9 Days!

We are counting down the days until Bringing Up Bates premiers on UP TV. Bringing Up Bates will follow the lives of Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 children, long-time friends of the Duggars who live in eastern Tennessee. The series premieres at 9pm ET on January 1st, 2015, on UP TV. For a sneak peek of the upcoming series, check out these videos:

Bringing Up Bates: A Fun Family Full of Love

Bringing Up Bates: Meet the Bates

Bringing Up Bates: Christmas Greetings

Bates on The 700 Club

Gil and Kelly Bates joined Terry Meeuwsen on The 700 Club this week to discuss their growing family and upcoming reality TV series. Gil and Kelly, parents of 19 children, have one grandchild with another on the way. Their reality series, "Bringing Up Bates," premiers January 1st on UP TV.

"Bringing Up Bates" Preview Videos

One family of 19 children is simply not enough for reality TV. Tennessee natives and long-time friends of the Duggars, Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 kids are looking forward to sharing their lives with viewers on the upcoming series Bringing Up Bates, which premieres on UP TV on January 1st, 2015.

To our loyal American readers: Click here to find out if you get UP on your TV.
What about our lovely international readers or those who live in the U.S. but cannot tune in live? We are in the process of figuring out an alternative way for you to watch Bringing Up Bates.

Watch these sneak-peek videos to see what's in store for the Bates family in their new reality TV series:

Bringing Up Bates: Thanksgiving Thoughts

Bringing Up Bates: 12 Days of Christmas

Another Bates Grandchild

Three weeks after welcoming their first grandchild, Gil and Kelly Bates are thrilled to announce that another baby is on the way. Alyssa and John Webster are expecting!

Alyssa, the sixth oldest of the 19 Bates children, married John Webster on May 24, 2014, and is looking forward to the birth of her first child in April 2015.

Alyssa and John Webster

Want to hear more from the Bates family? Tune in to Bringing Up Bates, a reality TV series that premieres on UP TV on New Year's Day. Click here for details.

Bates Family to Return to Reality TV

The Bates family has two big announcements to make. (Just to clear things up right now, they are not expecting their 20th child...yet.)

1. Zach, the oldest of Gil and Kelly Bates' 19 children, and his wife, Whitney, welcomed the first Bates grandchild into the world yesterday.

 Zach and Whitney Bates with son Bradley Gilvin Bates

2. Do you remember TLC's United Bates of America, which aired in 2012? Gil and Kelly Bates and their 19 children are set to star in another reality TV series. Bringing Up Bates premieres on UP TV on New Year's Day. Watch a video preview below:

In case you are unfamiliar with the Bates family, here's a family photo:

Birth order: Zach (& wife Whitney), Michaella (& boyfriend Brandon), Erin (& husband Chad), Lawson, Nathan, Alyssa (& husband John), Tori, Trace, Carlin, Josie, Katie, Jackson, Warden, Isaiah, Addallee, Ellie, Callie, Judson, Jeb

Click here to learn more about the Bates family.


Photos: Bates family