Trading Spaces 2/22 BACK TO BACK EPISODES!!

Cafe Society
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8p: Well, Hildy scared me when she started smearing chocolate pudding on the wall. My kids immediately thought the children would lick the walls, I was concerned about bugs.

Still, it was not the Hildeous room I’ve seen in the past. The walls were too dark for me, but the glass fountain was nice, although I would have liked it in a more prominent position and with more water coming down. I loved the coffee table/cushy seat. She had to get in her obligatory dig about the non-neccesity of children. The HO said something about the sharp corners on the built-up arm on the sofa, and dear Hildy made her normal snippy remark about kids.

Genevieve does nice kitchens. I wasn’t sure about the winey color, but the light green accents seemed nice. It didn’t look like they replaced all the cabinet doors with plex-glass insets. I saw a few during the reveal that were still intact. The ironed-on photos on the seat covers were sweet, and finally…a decent pot-rack!

I thought the practical jokes were contrived. Surely, if they were going to rip up the granite tile with a jackhammer, the noise would have been farther away than the back yard, and Paige running up to Amy Wynn with a piece of the piano rack while the HO was there…surely, they’d be more careful about that.

9p: Frank did no country kitsch! A very nice, subtle bedroom. I liked the headboard, and the canopy was a nice touch. But why oh why didn’t they invite him to the party? He would have been a hoot!

Vern…ah, Vern. He improved the fireplace hugely, by balancing out the angle and covering it in slate. He ran out of time, and they were not able to install the bi-fold doors, but as always, his room was a luxurious piece of art.

It was nice to see stream-lined episodes where Kia doesn’t self-destruct by trying to do too much with too little. Hildy seemed a little tired and subdued. AIUI, she lives in France and they film all of her episodes at once, so maybe this was filmed on the tail-end of her visit.

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i didn’t see the 8pm show.

the 9pm was good. the slate was great, the votive holder on the fireplace was very nice.

frank did well with the headboard thing. the dresser/tv enclosure worked very well.

while you were out had a fantastic garage make over. i’m baffled a bit on why they use the garage as a play room and not for the vehicles…

beautiful job through.

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I haven’t been able to get into While You Were Out. The pace is slower, and the “How Well Do You Know Your Partner” questions are annoying.

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I like watching WYWO every once in a while to see how incompetent the hunky carpenter can be. “Yeah, I said I’d have that column done in two hours but you know, I had to eat lunch. Oh, and I mis-measured that soffit.”

I liked the slate on the fireplace and the votive holder too in the second show. There wasn’t any controversy–which means the shows were no fun at all.

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My thoughts on the rooms:

Hildi’s living room: I wasn’t wild about the dark, dark brown paint (is she channeling Doug??), but I had to give her credit for not actually ruining anything outright. I actually didn’t care for the fake window with the water running down it, and it would have been the first thing I removed. I also didn’t see the necessity for the boxed in arms on the sofa…if you want someplace to set your drink, get an end table. The sofa could have been just as nice if they’d just covered the arms with the same fabric as the back/cushions. Another thing is that when they use that cheap wood and then stain it, it looks…well…cheap. I really liked the upholstered ottoman, though. Overall, though, not terrible, especially considering what horrors Hildi could have wreaked.

Genevieve’s kitchen: I loved the oak table, well worth the money she must have spent. I liked the sage cheesecloth curtains, and the colors she picked (that maroon is similar to the color I used in my living room, so I guess I would!). I’d have pitched a fit that she cut the middle out of what appeared to be solid oak high quality cabinets to replace them with plexiglass. I have some bad cabinets in my own kitchen (the people that lived there before me had drunken rage problems and some of them have been obviously punched out and replaced with cheaper wood), and I’ve been considering replacing the cheap panels with either cute gingham or plexiglass…but IMO, that’s something you do to fix a bad situation. Ruining expensive quality cabinets is a bad thing. But, I digress…everything looked pretty good, and the HO’s seemed happy.

Frank’s bedroom: The thing that leapt out at me is that Frank and Vern both used almost all of their budgeted money, yet Vern’s room (as always) looked so much richer and more elegant than anything anyone else does. What did Frank spend his money on?? I liked the idea of the faux headboard using the tall moldings, but there was absolutely no excuse for not using a ruler and level to put them up. When they showed the finished project, they were obviously mis-spaced and they’d eyeballed whether they were straight up and down rather than using a simple tool. Vern would have had it planned down to the millimeter. Also, I wasn’t wild about just bunching up the fabric and stapling it to the ceiling. Frank should have planned on affixing some sort of anchors to attach the fabric to, IMO. The colors were nice, though, and the room looked good for the reveal…I’m just wondering if it’s going to hold up to real life use after the cameras have gone.

Vern’s living room: Gorgeous. Perfectly planned, every penny squeezed for maximum effect. Amazing job with the slate on the fireplace (including fixing the weird slant in the wall). Great work from Amy Wynn on the entertainment center to hide that behemoth of a TV. Great investment on the new slipcover on the sofa and matching fabric for the chair. Vern has yet to disappoint. Awesome job, he’s what this show is all about, IMO…taking $1000 and making a room downright fabulous.

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They sell that round iron votive holder at Pottery Barn. $100. I love it, but I don’t have a slate fireplace to hang it on.
I loved Vern’s room, and love, love, love how he did the slate, but wasn’t crazy about the little glass vases on the wall.
I hated Frank’s room. I didn’t like that headboard at all; I didnt like how it went up on the ends and down in the middle. I know he was trying to do something with those ridicously high sconces, but I just didn’t like it. I’m not fond of those bedrooms with the cathedral ceilings. I liked the one from 2 (?) weeks ago where they put up the crown molding to try and make the high ceiling disappear.
I also didn’t like how he STAPLED the fabric into the ceiling. That was stupid, IMO. What are they supposed to do when it gets dirty? Why didn’t he put it up with hooks or something?
And he took out an armoire. How can you just remove a whole storage piece?

One the first one…I thought the living room paint was a little dark, but I loved the wall fountain thing. I agree, ivylass, it should have been more prominent.
Those glasses on the wall looked like a dusting nightmare. Ugh, I’d hate to have wine glasses out like that.

I thought Genevieve was going to do the kitchen green when she pulled out the artichoke. The family portrait slipcovers were cute. I’d have killed her for cutting up my kitchen cabinets and putting in plexiglass, though.
Real glass with dividers=okay; plexiglass=cheesy.

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I like WYWO, too. I just love watching Andrew screw something up, which happens EVERY time.
I’m seriously thinking of applying to be on it. I have a room in desparate need of a make-over, and I just need to think of a way to get my husband out of here for a weekend.

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I have nothing to add except that I have a crush on Genevieve.

Even my wife noticed - she turned to me and said “you have a crush on her. Every time she comes on you start beaming.”

Fortunately, my wife just thinks that’s cute.

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I forgot to mention this…the pre-show antics for the 9pm episode had the staff goofing off at SeaWorld. The shots with Amy Wynn and the seal mimicking each other were the cutest things I’ve ever seen. :smiley:

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Overall, a good set of rooms in those eps, but the one thing that drove me nuts was the dresser inside the cabinet in the bedroom. Because when I need a clean pair of underwear, what I want to do is open two cupboard doors wide open and then open a drawer and then close it all again. I mean, you just know those stupid cabinet doors are going to end up being left open 99% of the time, just because it’ll be so inconvenient to keep opening and closing them.

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Loved Vern’s room, but then, I love everything he does. He makes everything look so classy. Gen’s kitchen didn’t do a thing for me. Perhaps I’m blind, but it didn’t look like she did anything except cut really nice wood cabinets (I would kill if she did that to mine) and paint the room with a bright pink that did not match the artichoke. Liked the concept of Hildi’s room, but the brown was too brown, not warm like the pudding! Plus she “borrowed” the idea of the water feature from Graham Wynne on “Changing Rooms”, even down to the leak. I did like that she said you don’t have to buy all new furniture–use what you have, that’s what the show is about. Sounds like she’s finally coming down to the level of real people! When Frank was putting up the headboard and the female HO was saying “more to the left” I wondered “why the heck don’t they use a level?” Overall, I found Frank’s room a little boring. But it was refreshing not to be appalled and not to have see and hear Ty!

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I didn’t watch all of the 8:00 episode because I’d seen it before, but if I remember right both rooms turned out pretty nice. I would’ve used a lighter brown in Hildi’s room and I would’ve skipped the dorky seat covers in Gen’s room. I wouldn’t have used the fountain because I just hate indoor fountains. Wouldn’t it make you want to pee all the time? Plus I bet that glass would get all scaley and gross like a shower door over time (if they had hard water – or is there something in the pump that filters it?) Gen’s Fimo/Sculpey magnets were also a no-go for me.

Vern’s room was great as usual. That was a brilliant way to change the fireplace and I loved the homeowner’s reactions. The husband was absolutely awestruck! I think the wall of sconces was a bit of a miss, but since everything else was a hit it’s easy enough to overlook, plus it could be easily changed later. My question about the entertainment center was: When they open the bi-fold doors to watch the TV, isn’t that going to block the speakers in the adjacent cabinets?

Frank’s room - meh. Better than usual, but still sorta slapdash and either not very well thought out or executed. I thought the color was too pale, and the painting the closet doors every other color (when they weren’t even very different to begin with) was sort of a waste of time. Replace those nasty things altogether!

Vern’s rooms always look like an actual decorator came in and did it; Frank’s rooms look the way it would look if you tried to do it yourself. Know what I mean? I’m starting to think Vern cheats though. I may need to start a whole separate thread about it.

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How do you think Vern cheats?
I was wondering how he got that slate up so quickly. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to do that in just a weekend. That reminded me of a several-episode This Old House project. I was surprised it turned out so well, and wondered if it all fell off the next day.

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AIUI, there are more behind the scenes folk than you think. There’s at least two assistant carpenters that you never see, and there are sewing co-ordinators who do the more complicated sewing.

I remember reading one recap where the homeowners were actually painting the room before the key exchange. They go out, shoot the key exchange, and go back to the room to find the painting is complete. So there’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff we never get to see.

My guess is, Vern had help getting the slate up. While the HO’s were doing other projects, Vern’s helper fairies were putting up the fireplace.

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Yeah, I wondered about that. Even on WYWO, there’s two carpenters. :dubious:
I figured there was more going on behind-the-scenes than we actually saw. I wondered if some of the building projects and sewing things were started and half-finished before shooting even starting.

There’s just no way four people, two designers and one carpenter ('cause Paige doesn’t do squat except interrupt them to tell them to hurry up!) can do all that in two days.

On the TWoP site, someone said they have to be done early (like by early afternoon) on the second day to get it all arranged and cleaned up and lit and photographed, have that finishing interview between Paige and the designer, and do the reveal by a certain time, so they can release the camerapeople and others so they don’t go over union time regulations.

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I think he either lies and goes way over budget, or he lies about how much stuff cost him, or he has people give him stuff in exchange for services. On the BB on the TLC site a lot of people have broken down the cost of stuff in Vern’s rooms and even with a designer’s discount/wholesale pricing there’s no way he could’ve come in under budget.

Example: the room with the wood veneer marquetry wallpaper. It was discovered that that paper runs about $75 a yard WHOLESALE. It was a new pattern, so not on clearance, and to do the size wall he did would’ve taken nearly all of his budget alone. On top of that, this room had two new furniture pieces from the Pottery Barn outlet (a sofa and loveseat) which even at outlet prices were probably at least $500.

In Natilie Maine’s (Dixie Chick) room he’d added lighting that he claimed he “found” in her closets, then at the reveal she said “wow, those lights are really neat!” like she’d never seen them before.

There are more I can’t think of now, but on this most recent episode especially he seemed to really pour on the “boy, we were really lucky to get this” and “wow, I got an amazing deal on this.” If you say so! :rolleyes:

Make no mistake. I love Vern and his rooms are consistantly the best, but I don’t think he’s adhering to the spirit of the game. Obviously you or I couldn’t find these kind of deals, or have the influence/connections to make them happen.

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Vern is both a professional architect and a professional decorator. He may be able to buy in bulk or get discounts at preferred vendors.

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And don’t they have to turn in receipts to show how much they spent or something like that?

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They do have to turn in receipts, but if he’s getting stuff for free or very cheaply, then he’ll come in under budget. Or if he’s getting it free and claiming to “find” it, then of course he’ll come in under.
And you know, they seem to find stuff at Goodwill and the Salvation Army that looks really good. The stuff at my Goodwill and Salvation Army always looks like hideous particle-board crap from the 70s.

I saw one recently where Laurie was waaaay over budget and Paige made her roll up and return some sisal (I think) rugs for a kitchen makeover.

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I’d just like to say that I’d like to be the meat in a Genevieve/Amy Wynn sandwhich with a side of Paige chips.