# Hildi Jumps the Shark **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879 "2003-12-14T02:45:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/1 "2003-12-14T02:45:47Z")
I’m watching Trading Spaces and she’s putting cardboard on the wall…and now they are putting cardboard furniture together. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/2 "2003-12-14T03:02:05Z")
Ty is evil. I lved how they cut back and forth between the HOs putting up the cardboard with liquid nails and Ty talking to the other HO guy about how tightly liquid nails holds and how impossible it is to get liquid nails off a wall once it’s up. Ya know what would have been cool? If the HOs who _knew_ their neighbors would loathe it just said to Hildi, “look, we know them and we know they’re going to loathe it, so we’re not doing it. Go buy some paint or get the hell out.” They sort of tried to do it at the start of day 2, well after the damage was already done. I didn’t mind the cardboard furniture, I kind of liked the shape of the chairs but not so much the table. I just have this terrible vision of the mother-in-law sitting down on it and having it crumple under her. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/3 "2003-12-14T03:20:30Z")
This is the first episode I’ve seen in a while, but apparently some things never change. Hildi must sit around and think, “How can I create a room that is not only hideously impractical and visually unappealing, but at the same time make it almost impossible for the homeowners to change easily?” ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/4 "2003-12-14T05:35:28Z")
_TS: Family_ is filming in my area this week. Houseboat episodes. For a peek into her madness, I offer this quote from my local paper. > [@](#): > > The other designer, Hildi Santo-Tomas, who declined to give her age, is known for her daring papering of walls with materials such as cardboard. Still, she described her style as “simple, elegant and sophisticated.” The business graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has no formal design education. **“My design experience is an innate gift,”** said Santo-Tomas, who owns a design business in Atlanta. I don’t know that I would call it a gift, per se. More like an affliction. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/5 "2003-12-14T05:38:25Z")
Forgot the link. Silly me. _[‘Trading Spaces’ goes to sea](http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/12/Southpinellas/_Trading_Spaces__goes.shtml)_. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/6 "2003-12-14T05:42:24Z")
> [@](#): > > - quoth the lady neighbor to Hildi, concerning the cardboard, after the host sees Hildi and says, “It’s the Idea Lady!”\* > > You need to start re-thinking some of those Ideas ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/7 "2003-12-14T05:43:01Z")
> [@](#): > > “My design experience is an innate gift,” said Santo-Tomas Which illustrates the importance of keeping receipts. ---
**Author:** ![HomerIU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HomerIU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomerIU)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/8 "2003-12-14T05:52:41Z")
Jumping the Shark implies that a good thing has gone bad. NOTHING Hildi has ever done has been good. She is the most horrible and impractical “designer” that has ever existed. Why on EARTH would anyone in their right mind hire that lady after seeing how she ruins people’s houses on that show? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/9 "2003-12-14T05:58:51Z")
Didn’t she say once that she’d never use any of that in her own home? ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/10 "2003-12-14T06:00:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Didn’t she say once that she’d never use any of that in her own home? \*\* Last week she said she has plain white walls. ---
**Author:** ![CarlaH1210](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@CarlaH1210](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarlaH1210)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/11 "2003-12-14T06:16:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > **Ya know what would have been cool? If the HOs who _knew_ their neighbors would loathe it just said to Hildi, “look, we know them and we know they’re going to loathe it, so we’re not doing it. Go buy some paint or get the hell out.” They sort of tried to do it at the start of day 2, well after the damage was already done.** Just once, I’d like to see a HO say/do something like that. Absolute refusal to participate in putting cardboard on the walls might have changed Hildi’s mind, although I somehow doubt it. I would have made the stupid bitch install the cardboard herself. I wanted to slap Hildi when the HO’s were expressing their concerns about how to remove the cardboard (knowing that the HO’s were going to hate it), and Hildi showed total disregard for anything other than applying the cardboard to the walls. She basically said she didn’t care about what happens after she leaves. I guess it’s a good thing the designers (and I use that term loosely when referring to Hildi) aren’t in the room during the unveiling or Hildi would certainly have been killed by now. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Sparky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Saint\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Sparky)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/12 "2003-12-14T06:29:51Z")
I must be the only one that loves Hildi’s wacky and wonderful designs. Though I have to admit there is a number of Hildi’s stuff I didn’t like (and the most quoteable line came from a home-owner who was working with Hildi, saying she wasn’t worried about her room… since Hildi was here (with her in the other persons house)) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/13 "2003-12-14T07:05:35Z")
I thought the shark-jumping for this hideous excuse for a designer came with haygate. And silk-flower-gate. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/14 "2003-12-14T07:18:32Z")
Mustn’t forget Feathergate. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/15 "2003-12-14T07:21:14Z")
Ah, yes. Feathergate. I think my brain defensively erased that disk sector so I would never have to remember it… ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/16 "2003-12-14T07:38:11Z")
I never saw Recordgate. Anyone want to tell me about that? Please. What other things has she put on walls? Kathy ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/17 "2003-12-14T08:18:50Z")
Recordgate was not that bad. She took old LPs and put them on the wall. So the wall was pretty much covered with 12-inch diameter black dots with smaller dots of various colors on them. Looked perfectly fine and was an interesting way to cover a wall. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/18 "2003-12-14T12:35:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CarlaH1210 \* > \*\*Just once, I’d like to see a HO say/do something like that. Absolute refusal to participate in putting cardboard on the walls might have changed Hildi’s mind, although I somehow doubt it. I would have made the stupid bitch install the cardboard herself. > \*\* There was an episode like that. It was from, IIRC, the second season, and both HOs were named Angie. Hildi wanted to dye the carpeting orange with a steam cleaner, a technique she’d never tried before (you put the dye where the cleaning solution goes, and then as you “clean,” the dye is forced into the carpeting). The HO flat-out refused, saying it would look bad, and that she didn’t want to try a technique that no one had ever used before. She was very insistent, and said there was no way she’d let Hildi do it. She offered up a piece of old (or extra) carpet from her attic to test it on first. They ended up getting the other HOs out of her house, so Paige and Ty could sneak into her attic and get the peice of carpet. For some reason, they didn’t test it - I think the piece of carpet was too small, and Hildi very begrudgingly gave in and didn’t dye the carpet. It would have looked weird - Hildi had installed 12" base moulding all around the room, and painted it orange, too. The rest of the room was white. With high orange moulding and orange carpeting, it would looked like the room was sitting in a big bowl of Orange Soup. Okay, topic. It’s getting so I think Frank’s rooms (and even Kia’s rooms!) look better than this crap Hildi does. If I signed up for this show, expecting $1,000 worth of professional design work and materials, and I got cardboard glued to the wall and cheesey dime store cardboard furniture, I’d be pissed. She does this stuff purely for the shock value. There is no way she could have thought that looked good. ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/19 "2003-12-14T12:59:46Z")
I didn’t discover Trading Spaces until about 6 months ago. Did they hire Hildious for her outragious plans? Is that what she’s always been known for or has she digressed into this attention seeking behavior? Kathy ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879/20 "2003-12-14T13:11:48Z")
How did the HO’s react? **cadolphin** , in another TS thread, one poster had a good theory about Hildi’s designs. Basically, Hildi doesn’t work for the HO’s. She works for Banyan. Banyan wants ratings. What better way to get ratings for your boss than to do something controversial and outrageous? I guarantee you, if she went to a prospective HO who had hired her and presented them with a plan of supergluing cardboard to the wall, she would have been fired on the spot. No sane person is going to agree to that. I guess that’s why Vern has left ☹ Not enough angst and controversy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hildi-jumps-the-shark/218879.md?page=2)