When did you first realize that you would shoot the “Trading Spaces” crew if you saw them coming up your driveway?
I thought Hildi’s straw walls was deliberately over the top. Then she did the bathroom with the flowers stapled on.
I am beginning to think the show is deliberately trying to be outrageous to attract ratings. Remember when viewers could vote their favorite episode and the winner was Doug walking out because he couldn’t paint the fireplace, and then the wife broke down and cried at the results? I think the producers took a look at the vote and saw it as a a message that viewers want lurid, messy, reality-TV type reactions.
Haven’t been watching lately, but I’d definately shoot Hildi before letting her into my house. And Ty for being annoying. I can’t blame that poor lady for crying, either; that room looked awful…
Naz, I thought the lady was crazy. I’m not a big fan of all of Doug’s rooms, but that one looked great. Much better than it did when he got there! And even if she didn’t like it - it was a bit of an overreaction to start sobbing, to say the least.
I read at the TLC boards that the woman in question found out that the night before her mother was taken to the hospital, but they wouldn’t let her leave the house to go see her, and then she asked the fireplace not be touched and I think the combination of the two was more than she could handle.
That being said, i would not let Doug within 20 feet of my house.
No, the absolute low point of the show was when Hildy decorated a living room with a gigantic four-foot wide mosaic of… herself! Yes, really; a great big picture of herself.
Of course, you can’t expect greatness out of a thousand bucks. Every room is done pretty much the same way - cheaply. And how do you redecorate a room cheaply?
Yeah, that mosaic of Hildi made me scream at my TV screen. I think Hildi (and often Doug) just sees the rooms more as artistic canvases than anything else. The fact that these homeowners have to live with the results never crosses her mind. So she feels free to just try whatever kooky idea pops into her head, like straw walls or dividing a room into purple and grey “quadrants.”
I’m always happy when the homeowners are calm and polite, even if the room obviously isn’t too pleasing to them. I mean, hey, you signed up for this show. You know there’s a chance of getting a room you hate. If there’s a chance you’ll be extremely upset, then don’t go on the show.
That said, I wish the designers would be ballsy enough to stick around for the reveal.
The straw on the walls-wasn’t it actually hay? And it would get mildewy?
I saw one room that Hildi did that I liked. I do like Laurie and that older guy-Jim? He once did a children’s playroom that was sooo cute. He painted little footprints on the steps.
I couldn’t believe it when the people whose house Hildi was doing the straw for asked “What if our 2-year-old pulls it down?” and Hildi answered “Tell them not to.”
I would feel uncomfortable if I found out Hildi was in my state, let alone house.
They should have asked “What if 2 years from now our 4 year old discovers matches, as many do, and sets the whole FUCKING room ablaze now that you’ve COVERED the walls with highly flammable material!?”
The premise of the show is decorating on the cheap. Very cheap.
I assume that, if the people like what’s been done, they can replace the cheap (straw) with more expensive but similarly looking fabric or wood carving or something.
The one I thought was a hoot was the kid’s room that they did up with an actual car (or two cars).
I find the British version much better, in terms of the designers and outcomes, but it’s a shorter (half hour) format.
This is a little off topic, but I’ve gotta ask. Why, if the show takes place over two days, does everybody - teams, designers, carpenters and host -show up the morning of day 2 in the same clothes? I understand the whole makeover on the cheap thing, but is there a reason these people do not pack a change of clothes? Does it really add to the budget or the time allotted to complete the project to change your shirt?
CK Dexter Haven, you beat me to the punch!
I was going to say that “Changing Rooms” beats the hell out of “Trading Spaces”. CR is overall much more good natured and fun loving, with designers that really do try to come up with something interesting and still please the homeowner. There’s much more of a balance, and alot less of “I’m the designer, what I say goes!” kind of stuff.
The TS rooms are getting worse and worse, the “workmanship”, (and I use the phrase loosely) is also getting pretty pathetic, and the overall gerrymandering of things is escalating.
The only one who really does a nice job is Vern. I also want to say that I want to shop where Vern shops. Does he have connections or what?
He buys a sofa for like 20 bucks, and fabric, which is usually pretty nice, for almost pennies a yard. He has a good eye for lines, and for the most part he doesn’t half-ass throw it together.
CK Dexter Haven, you beat me to the punch!
I was going to say that “Changing Rooms” beats the hell out of “Trading Spaces”. CR is overall much more good natured and fun loving, with designers that really do try to come up with something interesting and still please the homeowner. There’s much more of a balance, and alot less of “I’m the designer, what I say goes!” kind of stuff.
The TS rooms are getting worse and worse, the “workmanship”, (and I use the phrase loosely) is also getting pretty pathetic, and the overall gerrymandering of things is escalating.
The only one who really does a nice job is Vern. I also want to say that I want to shop where Vern shops. Does he have connections or what?
He buys a sofa for like 20 bucks, and fabric, which is usually pretty nice, for almost pennies a yard. He has a good eye for lines, and for the most part he doesn’t half-ass throw it together.
It actually talks about this on the TS website: they do it for continuity. When they put the show together they splice pieces of it out of order to make for a better show, so they need to have everybody wearing the same clothes throughout so it will work out seamlessly. That’s the reason for the smocks, too.
The episode where the designer (I think it was Hilde) painted a couch, then set it outside to dry. Needless to say, it rained overnight, so they had to go over-budget and replace the couch.
The rumor is that it didn’t actually rain, but that the paint just worked on the couch so badly that they made up a story to get it replaced.
Never heard that one confirmed.
But really, they did look absolutley horrible, as white couches with silver stripes that you can still see through the hot pink you just sprayed over it often do. Not that that stopped Hildi from painting that poor lady’s beloved chair in her god awful rooom a few weeks ago.
