We are currently undergoing a pretty significant renovation of our new home. We are impressed with the number of choices to be made - big and small. Just this morning we discussed with the contractor that the plans did not have the light switches located in the correct place. While we haven’t obsessed over any one detail, the location of switches and outlets, hardware choices and finishes does matter to us. If we have the choice between 2 - or 100 - options, if we are paying for and will be living with it, we’d prefer the one that we like better.
So I’m always a little amazed when I see shows on HGTV like “Love it or List it”, where the owners give a budget and then basically let the designers do what the designers prefer, before a big reveal.
Is it just that TV does not show the decision-making process, for the drama of the show-ending reveal? Or do a whole lotta folk not really care about details such as the colors their walls are painted, or the flooring that is installed?
I realize the title refers to TV shows, but I posted it here because I was interested in posters’ thoughts about their own homes.
Kristin Klingshirn of syndicated radio show “The Bert Show” had her home on “Elbow Room”. She was pretty unhappy with the results. One of her main requests going into was that they leave the exposed brick fireplace alone - and what do they do? Cover it up with drywall. She was pretty upset.
It could be that the TV shows do not allow people to make more than one or two requests. Otherwise, the time spent on each house will take considerably longer and that eats into a TV show’s budget immensely. I don’t know how much the shows pay each home owner for the use of the premises, process, and their likeness (maybe the whole redo bill?), but I’d imagine that’s the tradeoff. The homeowner basically gets a discounted house makeover but the downside is they don’t get to choose much about it.
What would you rather have - a $45,000 house redo out of pocket, exactly the way you want it, or a free house redo, maybe not your style but at least new?
On most of the shows I watch, it seems the owners at least pretend to set a budget with the impression they are paying it.
Of course, if my experience bidding out work is any guide, the amount of work done always greatly exceeds whatever budget they describe. Unless they are really using cheapo materials. But I suspect the shows subsidize the tradesmen, and toss in a lot of materials and furnishings that are not covered by the homeowners’ budgets. So I guess if I were getting a $100k redo for $50k, I might be less picky. But with this work I’m well aware of how incredibly expensive quality labor and materials are, so I really want it done the way I want it the first time.
The guys just finished about a week of demo in our house. I kidded them, “On TV this would be done in the time it took us to go out to dinner!”
Well I’d say that’s your answer. You picked a better and more personal renovation with more out of your own pocket, but I’d imagine the people on these shows simply see “$50,000 discount and my face on TV?! Do whatever you want! Sign me up!”
Unfortunately HGTV has switched much of their programming to reality show instead of documentary style. This Old House, The New Yankee workshop and many others were basically documentaries. They simply filmed the tradesmen at work, included a host and some interviews.
HGTV has pretty much ruined its programming. Shows like Property Brothers feature wanna be actors posing as a contractor and real estate salesmen. Check out their bios on their personal website.
Love It or List It is another reality show drama. Theres a standard formula every episode. David always shows three houses. The first two aren’t satisfactory and the third is perfect. Hillary always runs into some unexpected problem that wrecks her budget. I’m so sorry but I just can’t do your new bathroom after all. But watch closely and you’ll notice they never start demolition on a room they won’t actually fix. Hillary may have promised to do the bath, kitchen, and basement for 40k but they never ripped the drywall out of that bathroom. Even before Hillary finds the leak in the basement and has the budget wrecked.
Theres a few real home reno shows on HGTV but they are rare. Holmes on Homes, Holmes Inspection and Holmes Makes It Right still follow the traditional format. Sweat Equity with Amy Mathews is good. Rescue My Renovation with John Desilvia.
I used to watch those shows with my flatmate, and she would always get upset that they were putting up the curtains when the walls were still wet with paint. Every time!
I wouldn’t let them near my house. I don’t think I ever liked anything I saw! I’ll do it myself, and I can do it on the cheap anyway. I made my own coffee table, bookcase and big Welsh dresser and DIYed the kitchen together, and it looks exactly the way I want it to look.
The OP mentioned Love It or List It and I’ve seen many episodes of that show. The renovation always seems to include surprise expenses, such as a floor that is structurally unsound or that the house has knob and tube wiring. This is followed by the designer discussing what part of the renovation she will have leave out to stick to the budget. And yet the renovations always seem to involve luxuries like granite counter tops in the kitchen and expensive high-end appliances. They never seem to consider the idea of using laminate counters or lower-end appliances.
And a couple of these shows do renovation work over just two or three days. What kind of shoddy work are they doing that they can finish that quickly?
Well, some of the stuff you mention is really easy to fix. So what if they get the color wrong? I can fix that. Not that I likely will. If I knew what I wanted, I probably would have handled it myself instead of having a designer come in and design something without asking for my input. Plus, often, the whole thing is just about making something new or making something old presentable. The individual bits don’t matter all that much.
Hands down, I’d take “the way I’d want it” even if I have to pay for it myself.
I can’t imagine letting someone into my home to remake it while I’m not there, with no say in it. I guarantee the designers aren’t going to have my preferences or priorities.
Those aren’t surprises, though. I guarantee the producers, designers, and homeowners were all well aware of the “surprises” well before shooting began.
I suspect some of the high end granite countertops and the like are actually donated by the companies that make them. So they have to be featured, and must be included in the finished project, but things like fixing the flooring or wiring are labor intensive and not provided by sponsors.
Are you sure? I thought that sometimes at least, you don’t really know what’s under a floor until you tear it up. Maybe they refilmed the “surprise” shot for TV, but how can you tell if there’s water damage under a shower without pulling the floor up and looking?
I suspect there’s a lot of fudging the timeline, as well as having the homeowners present a wishlist that they know is far bigger than their budget could ever allow. “Love It or List It” seems far more “scripty” than most of the other improvement shows.
Theres a few real home reno shows on HGTV but they are rare. Holmes on Homes, Holmes Inspection and Holmes Makes It Right still follow the traditional format. Sweat Equity with Amy Mathews is good. Rescue My Renovation with John Desilvia.
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More times than I can count, I’ve seen Mike Holmes say something like “After talking to you last month, I thought you’d like these colors/cabinets/etc” or he’ll just hand off the decor entirely to Damon with a loose concept of “Give them a pantry over there, and I’d like to see a fireplace over there, and pick a nice tile and paint” and he just runs with it. Frankly, to me, Mike Holmes and Damon Bennett have better taste than half of the self-proclaimed TV designers. I’ve never seen one of their finished projects and thought “EWW! Did they pick those colors from the “oops” mis-mix pile at Home Depot?”
Regardless, if I was in a position to need Mike Holmes to fix my home, I’d let him do flocked wallpaper and orange shag carpet. I can fix ugly after they leave. I can’t fix ruined structure.
Damn. My girlfriend likes this show so I’ve seen a lot of them (or heard them from the next room), and I knew it had to be fairly scripted since Hillary finds a big problem every single episode. But I never noticed that they don’t start work on a room that doesn’t get finished. Interesting.
But this must be one of HGTV’s more popular shows, as they now have “Love It Or List It Too,” which seems to be exactly the same thing, except replacing David and Hillary with a different pair.
I like Love it or List it and Property Brothers. I’m not all that invested in the shows being real, I just like to see pretty houses and remodels. I never noticed the lack of demo in lopped off project rooms, but I have noticed that “Love It” tends to win more. My guess is that these are homeowners who want a renovation and aren’t really considering moving at all.
As for preferences, I fall in the ‘I’d rather pay for it myself and have control’ category. BUT, the tiny exception is that in terms of style and decor, there is something freeing about letting someone else make the decisions. If a redecoration/remodel were free or nearly free to me, I’d be more willing to take the chance. Someone else telling me what looks good would be less stressful.
For a quicky show (Trading Spaces or anything with a hard time-limit) I’d stay far far away.
No, according to Wikipedia, Love It Or List It Too is set in Vancouver.
And I treat these shows as renovation porn. They never have problems with shady contractors or shoddy work and even the budget-strapped homeowners can apparently afford high-end appliances and to have the house redecorated with all new furnishings and accessories even after pouring all of their savings into the remodel.