Trading In Trading Spaces - When the Facelift Flops, The Homeowners Take Action

Washington Post ^ | 5/29/03 | Annie Groer

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The instant she opened her eyes -- after two grueling days and nights of giving her neighbors' kitchen a facelift -- Ruth Nelson was stunned by her own tarted-up Alexandria living and dining rooms. "I love it," she blurted as TV cameras recorded the moment.

Trouble was, she didn't.

A wall, once eggshell, was painted four-alarm scarlet. Two print sofas were obscured under hastily made off-white slipcovers with exposed seams stitched in black and red. A poster-size photo of her teenage son, Chris, showed only his chin; another just part of the family cat. Also baffling were 24 fluttering gold and silver paper squares pinned like insect specimens to said red wall.

Designer Genevieve Gorder, a regular on "Trading Spaces," the wildly popular TV decorating show, called the look edgy on the episode that aired in November 2000.

[Hatteras]

"...my favorite job was the sky blue ceiling with puffy sponge clouds I did,..."

I've been experimenting with murals. I painted a large 3' x 5' tropical beach scene on a wall in my son's room and cased it in with window molding and added a window ledge. I just kind of winged it but it turned out real nice. My 12 year old daughter has a more "mod" 70s style bed set so we copied the flower patterns to her wall in various purples, blues and greens with fat waves of colors underneath in a complete circle around the room. If we ever sell the house we'll have to do the Relocation Beige thing again but, oh well, it's what she wanted...

I've had the wife's friends asking me to come over and do some things in their homes. I want to play a bit more before I start tearing up other people's homes, though. I've got a great idea for my home office and I'll probably go overboard when I do the master bath which I'm getting ready to renovate.

TIP O' THE DAY: I always make a point to stop by the return shelf at the local Home Depot or Lowe's. You can find some pretty interesting colors and they are cheap.

[Spunky]

"There is a pretty sizeable contingent of people who simply MUST have a breeze blowing on them at all times to be comfortable. And I'm one of them. I sleep with a box fan running

I was at Costco the other day and saw a newly designed fan. It was a tall cylinder, about 3ft. tall and 3-4 inches around, that oscillated back and forth.

I thought this would be real nice to have. Designer look and takes up very little room.

[LiteKeeper]

BUMP!

[LanPB01]

"I'm just looking forward to "The Spike Network"."

I can't wait for Spike, either. Between "Stripperella" and new episodes of "Ren & Stimpy", I believe my life might now be complete. As the ad says: "Lifetime? What about my Lifetime?"

[Hatteras]

"Edward Walker
I'm told he's not actually Gay, but..."

Psst, I think Doug is the pee-pee toucher.

[A. Patriot]

Was that the episode when she decorated a beautiful bathroom with 6,000 plastic flowers? I was horrified! Plus, the owners did not have the reaction I did. Weird. That particular episode was waaaay over the top!

I saw that one too. They also cut out the center panels of the cabinet doors and replaced them with red translucent plastic with lights behind them.

That couple should never have been on the show. Their house was brand new and expensive. They needed some decorating, not a make-over. It WAS horrible.

I think they were acting typically polite being Southerners. I also remember that they were friends of the show's hostess.

[mommybain]

used to like Laurie but she can only use one color and that's yellow. Well, actually every episode she claims it's not yellow but buttercream, butter, cream, gold, amber, pumpkin, melon, daisy, sunburst, lemon, citrus, etc. And tries to impress the peons that she's an artist by explaining 47 times that the room was inspired by x,y,z's art and that she's going to replicate one of their paintings as the focal point - enough already.

You took the words right outta my mouth.

[Lil'freeper]

..... Maybe it's a Woman Thing,

Definately. She's the type a group of women would be cooly polite to when she was in the room, but the instant she leaves they'd share that knowing look and hiss under their breath ..."witch".

Dear Theresa- enough with the 'visiting princess' routine, stop sneering at other people's homes and stop complaining about the heat. Loose the nasal whine and the college-girl wardrobe and the 90210 attitude. Oh, and like you know? The whole vocabulary thing? Like, you gotta get one? Like, no one is impressed? Like, do you really think you're still 16? Omigoodness! You're like 30 and stuff! Ohmygaaaaawsh.

[CARDINALRULES]

Ping.

---

[Let's Roll]

Genevieve did a grasscloth wall - Hildi did a straw wall. Even typing this I gotta laugh.

[martin_fierro]

LOL!!

Geez -- Men and Women really DO come from different planets. <|:)~ I thought she was witty as hell.

[Let's Roll]

My bad - I just remembered the moss wall that Genevieve did.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

"Relocation Beige", very clever! You do make it sound awful. I am thinking about darkening the walls and if I do, I'll try your advice to bring back the light with accessories.
I want to feel calm and peaceful at home which does not appear to be the goal on "Trading Spaces"!

[martin_fierro]

I'm still waiting for Laurie to do a (gold and green) room inspired by THIS artist:

[pbear8]

A good friend is a close connection of the 'other' HO in the "hay" episode. They had to put the hay up and tried to mention the small children and maybe this wasn't a really good idea.

Well, they spent the next day with the HO's taking the hay down. There was some compensation because the hay was both a health and fire hazard.

[Incorrigible]

Perfect for "remodelling" all Mid 1980s to early 90's construction, or anything else with T-111 siding.

Arrrgh!  You got that right.  I just moved into a house built in 1986 with T-111 siding with the knowledge that it will be covered in vinyl or something within three years!

What were people thinking with this stuff?  Plus casement windows!  Gotta get custom double-hungs when we redo the exterior.  Hate to rip out perfectly fine double paned windows but the interior screens cause bugs to be captured on the inside of the window when it's closed.

On second thought, bring that bulldozer over!

[Hatteras]

I spent more than a few years building houses and that was the "off-the-record" term used by the sales agents. I always got a little bounce in my step when I saw a P.O. for colored carpet or counter tops. Unless the home was a designated entry into the annual Parade of Homes, it was usually eggshell walls with white trim and beige carpet. Blechhh....

[Incorrigible]

[honeygrl]

"My thoughts too. People are crazy for letting someone else into their homes to rearrange things as they see fit. Even though it's usually your friends doing the work, the nutball designers always tyranize the neighbors into doing things their own (avant garde, modernistic) way. "

But if you watch the show enough to want to be on it then you know how it works and shouldn't complain when they won't change the way the show always works and how the designers always work just for you. And if there is something in the room you don't want touched, then don't have them do that room or remove it from the room. You only have to watch a few episodes to know how it goes.

[Incorrigible]

I find Curb Appeal and Designers Challenge on HGTV are much more realistic about the costs and time that goes into a remodeling.  Much of what I've seen on these shows was well done also.  The owners actually get to dictate their wishes and sometimes their tastes tends towards Hildi!