Watching Trading Spaces and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has Mrs. HeyHomie and I commit to hiring a professional interior designer if we ever have a real house (instead of a mobile home) and ever have the money to pay a designer.
Have professional interior designers seen an increase in business since the popularity of these shows?
Since the message of a lot of those shows seems to be “It’s not hard, you can do this, don’t be afraid to try” wouldn’t it almost seem counter-productive to increasing business for the pro’s?
Huh. I thought the message of Trading Spaces was “Don’t let a professional interior designer near your house!”
Unless it’s Vern. 
Especially if he’s wearing shorts.
I think the actual point of trading spaces is “Don’t let your friends decorate your house with a professional designer”.
If you’ve seen Changing Rooms, a couple of designers on that show also do “Home Invaders” and they actually do stuff that makes the owners happy, because… they work with the owners of the house, and not their neighbors.
Don’t know if the reality shows are the cause, but the job market of IDs keeps getting better while unemployment keeps getting worse.
In 1999
Employment 29,690
Mean hourly wage $18.44
Mean annual wage $38,360
In 2000
Employment 30,680
Mean hourly wage $19.55
Mean annual wage $40,670
In 2001
Employment 39,340
Mean hourly wage $20.71
Mean annual wage $43,080
And, from the American Society of Interior Designs, an article on reality interior decoration shows which basically says, “hire the professional” for the job to be done right, which may or may not be biased considering the source. Although, their point that some of the construction on these shows are non-functional and unsafe does seem to true in some instances I’ve seen.
We need a few tree icons at the Straight Dope to help bring the outside in.