Trading Spaces 2/8/03

Cafe Society
#1

Since there was some interest expressed in the “Where’s Edward?” thread on starting a discussion on this week’s eps and since no one else has started one, I will.

Although I may not be the best person to start it off, since I had difficulty following the last 45 minutes of the new one, as I was totally caught up thinking about Ty’s baby nuggets.

I will say, though, that I’ve seen the ep with the French tester bed about four times now and every time I see it I hate the tester just a little bit more.

#2

That tester looks like ass, and the color the bed was painted was pitiful. If you’re going to piss off all the “never paint wood” people you should at least do it for a good reason.

As for the new episode:

Liked Gen’s room for the most part. Don’t know why she chose the weird grey for the inside of the cabinets though. She couldn’t think of a color that went better with vanilla and green chalkboard? I thought the tin ceiling was “meh” but that’s just because I think that’s a lame look and probably wouldn’t like it anywhere. The false table top is an idea that’s been used several times and usually looks pretty good.

Doug’s room was…odd. I think if he’d have used a different color for the blue area it would’ve worked better. I liked the false window (which he also did in the Las Vegas episode, I think) and the toile (although isn’t toile so “last year” already?) I was really surprised when the homeowners really liked the room after they said they didn’t want their furniture painted or anything blue. Can you blame the guy for not listening to what people want when they obviously don’t know in the first place? I also liked how he said he got a great deal on the light fixture – because he took it from their dining room. HA!

#3

I hated the fact that Doug painted nice bedroom furniture. And I really hate the fact he took their dining room fixture when he had over a hundred bucks left over in his budget! If he had just taken it from the room, maybe I wouldn’t be so peeved, but he painted the damn thing as well! You don’t take a chandelier from another room and paint it! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG

#4

I was surprised that a) the homeowners had just bought it and b) he talked about how the dining room fixture was so perfect, and it turned out to be so hideous and old looking. That thing screamed 1972 and don’t think it belonged ANYWHERE.

#5

To be fair, the one woman said that although she didn’t want her furniture painted, she’d be okay if it was painted.
But I still can’t believe he painted that beautiful cherry furniture!
And did she say she didn’t like blue? I must have missed that. I liked the bedroom, but I like blue.
I thought it was pretty, but yeah, stealing the light fixture from the other room is kind of like cheating.
And I don’t know if I like the fake window. I get how it balances out the look with the other window, but I would always know it was fake. It would bother me.

I really liked the kitchen, but not the Meat Art. I’d be taking those down the next day. I thought they were ugly.
Were they going to help them finish up the ceiling, or just let the homeowners do it? It looked like it needed trim work to “finish” the edge or something.

#6

One question: I know if there’s something in the room they don’t want to be messed with, they’re supposed to take it out before the taping starts.
But what about when they take stuff from another room? They do that sometimes. I’m thinking about Doug taking that dining room light fixture. Can he do that, especially since he painted it, without asking permisssion?

#7

What were the episodes titled? (town/street) so I can look them up? I’ve gotten behind on my Trading Spaces :frowning:

#8

I thought the Meat Art was hilarious! And since Genevieve kept saying “we” need to finish the ceiling, I took that to mean that the TS people, or at least she and the homeowners, intended to finish it.

I think that the designers are either getting lazy or showing a lack of creativity by repeating so many concepts from the first two seasons. C’mon, people, show us something new!

#9

The original pictures in the book that she showed them were cute, but the ones they made weren’t as good. I thought they were kind of blurry and off-center.
Too bad they couldn’t just cut out the ones from that book and frame them.

#10

Thanks, Otto. It was raining at our house all weekend and I didn’t want to hop on the computer.

I thought Doug’s blue room looked splotchy. I can’t believe he painted that beautiful cherry furniture and then “distressed” it. To me, distressed is another word for “needs touch-up painting.”

I hated Gen’s kitchen. I hated the silver in yellow cabinets, the meat puppets were disgusting, and the tin ceiling made it look cave-like. I’m also not a big fan of allowing children to chalk on the wall…gives them ideas for the rest of the house.

#11

Doug’s blue room was ** supposed ** to look splotchy. I liked it. Personally, I don’t like cherry furniture, so I thought it looked better painted. What ** was ** up with that chandelier? I know they sometimes borrow from other rooms, but ** voguevixen ** was right - UGLY!!

Didn’t like the silvery grey inside the vanilla cabinets. I thought the Meat “Art” was bizarre. I like painted tin ceilings, myself.

#12

Oh, that reminds me…they steal the chandelier from the dining room…what’s in the dining room now? Bare wires, or did they take the time to hang up the old bedroom light?

And by “splotchy,” I meant not in a good way. I thought the walls of Gen’s champagne room looked better.

#13

I absolutely loved Gen’s kitchen design.

I would have liked Doug’s bedroom design if he hadn’t felt the need to destroy that gorgeous cherry furniture to create it.

I’ve got the same question as BiblioCat in regards to stealing from elsewhere in the house. While I like the chandalier as it turned out, if it was my house, I’d be seriously pissed off that he took a brand new fixture out of another room and changed it in a significant way.

#14

They scavenge things from throughout the house all the time. Usually nothing as drastic as taking a brand-new fixture and painting it, but they’re forever taking surplus furniture or swapping out sofas and what-not.

I thought the meat “art” was repulsive and it ruined the design for me. I liked the tin ceiling (Vern did a partial one in another house that looked better because it was aged to match the period of the house) but I couldn’t really tell if there were holes cut in the tin to allow the recessed lighting fixtures to shine through.

Doug’s bedroom was a big “eh” for me. Looked like every other bedroom with nothing special about it.

#15

There’s a huge difference between taking surplus furniture or swapping sofas and taking down a light fixture and painting it. The sofas can be swapped back easily. That light fixture has been painted, even if they put it back, it’s not the same.

I know that homeowners agree that everything in the room to be redecorated is fair game for changes unless specifically marked otherwise. But the same doesn’t apply to the rest of the house, according to everything I’ve read about the Trading Spaces - Homeowner agreement.

What if I had a beloved family treasure in my bedroom that was the target room, and in accordance with instructions from the Trading Spaces people, moved it out of my room so it wouldn’t be touched, then Doug went, found it in my kitchen and decided to paint it and include it in my room? I’d have done what I was told was necessary to avoid having it damaged but they overrode their prior agreement and damaged it anyway. Unless Doug had some knowledge obtained off-air that said that fixture wasn’t a big deal, he had no way of knowing how the homeowners felt about it.

#16

Vern’s tin ceiling room was one of my all-time favorites. It’s the same one where he put up French doors to the next room, IIRC. Absolutely beautiful. And yes, they allowed for the recessed lighting fixtures in this one.

As for scavenging things from other rooms in the house, I think the most appalling one (to me, anyway) was the one where Kia “went shopping” throughout the house. She gave the friends laundry baskets and everyone just took stuff from all over the place. There was hardly anything new at all in that room – including furniture! – what a ripoff.

But the most eye-popping scavenged piece was the time that Doug went into the dresser drawers of the owners and found a fairly risqué photo of the woman and had it blown up and hung over the fire place. Oh! My! Gawd! The room was beautiful, but there’s no way in HELL I’d want a picture of me displayed like that in my freaking living room!

[slight hijack]Someone in the earlier thread asked about the little boy’s room that Vern did with the car bed. Here’s the Before & After of that one.[/hijack]

#17

Yes, they’ve been digging through a lot of drawers recently. Gen recently used the HO’s underwear to daub paint on the wall in the Champagne Room episode…I thought that was a bit much. I know they’re on a budget and everything, but jeez.

#18

OpalCat, the episode name is: California: Dusty Trail.

#19

Someone please describe this “meat art”? I love to be repulsed!

#20

Opal, it was kindof like making snowmen, only out of sausages and other sundry things that can be found in your fridge. They laid them out on the counter, took photos, had them blown up, cropped (sometimes off-kilter) and framed. Think claymation figures, like Mr. Bill or Gumby, only out of food. They were pretty funny, but in a gross kindof way.