laredhead

Izabella and Downtheshore, I think there was discussion about both of the episodes you just saw a few pages back when they originally aired. I may be getting confused on the India episode, but I think someone researched it and found out the woman was already back in the U.S.

There are many types of engineers, and not all are handy with tools. My neighbor is a civil engineer and some of the things he has rigged up are pretty funny. Good at math, but not necessarily home repair. He gets teased a lot and he replies that he did not get a degree in construction.

DownTheShore and Chessiegal, how on earth do y'all cook and prepare food in a kitchen with Corian counters? Don't you know that HGTV tells us we must have granite? I agree about the marble counters. One glass of grape juice, fruit punch or red wine is going to stain it. Renters aren't going to take care of that counter like the owner would.

The young engineer buying his first house in Detroit seemed very nice and level headed about his budget and what he wanted in his first house. He needs to ditch the girlfriend now. Wow, she was a piece of work with her comments about what she wanted and she certainly wasn't subtle about her desire to move in. He kept making remarks to her that she should realize meant he was not ready to commit to that yet. I think my favorite one was when she complained about one bathroom not having enough counter space for her stuff when she came over and he told her she could take it back home with her when she left. Personally, I would have left her out of the house hunting process. Izabella, I agree with you about the family room furniture placement. Instead of buying such a long sofa, he should have invested in a small sectional or a shorter sofa and chair. I'm glad he was able to keep the dining room table since that meant so much to him.

Saw a new episode last night about a couple who wanted a larger house with a pool. The woman was a "collector", but I would call her a hoarder. Their house was beyond a mess with clutter everywhere. I'm sure that the larger house they eventually bought looks exactly like the old one by now and filled with even more clutter. I would love to know how much was tossed or donated before they moved, of if they stuffed everything in a storage unit and then put it all in the new house. The woman didn't seem to be too bothered by the fact that the mess was a result of her buying stuff she did not need. In fact, she was admiring a beautifully organized walk in closet in the house they would buy and said it would not look like that once she had it. I think the phrase "wretched excess" kept running through my mind as I watched the episode.

ByaNose, as far as I can tell from the pictures we have seen, the units are side by side and they are located next to each other. As I commented in an earlier post, that certainly would have made the production of this series a lot easier on the crew. BTW, I read that Nicole Curtis had a baby boy in May if anyone is curious or interested.

I thought it was funny that the mother in the Beaver, PA episode brought along her daughter to help her choose the best house, and the daughter was pushing her to buy the newer house with no yard which wasn't practical for the large dog they had. Then the daughter ends up living in the detached apartment of the older house that the mother chose. I don't think the mother needed the daughter's advice, and with the daughter being 22, she probably isn't going to be living there much longer anyway.

I have stayed in many Gulf Shores beach houses over the years, and have often wondered how much sand had been ground into the carpets of houses that had carpet. Seeing them tear out the stair carpet last night was revealing. Never put carpet in a beach house, even on the second floor where you think not much sand will be deposited. Carpet probably makes the stairs less noisy, but it's not very practical. I would never put wood flooring in either, because sand is abrasive and no matter how good the finish is on the wood floor, it it going to scratch - think "sand paper". These are rental houses and aren't going to be maintained like an owner would living there full time. Tile is the best for upkeep - IMHO. Some of the pictures on the HGTV site show what appears to be electrical wiring taped around the edge of the ceiling in a couple of the houses. Has anyone else seen this know what that is?

Interesting choices on last night's episode of HH Renovation, but I knew they would take the least expensive because all of the houses needed some work and this one gave them the largest budget to use. I understand his desire to rid the house of some of the Tudor style architectural features, but I agreed with her when she told him to remember they did not buy a modern looking house and it was never going to look like that even with the removal of some of the Tudor details. I think the beams looked better after being clad in more simple trim, and that fireplace/barbecue pit in the den was definitely a tear out. The couple wasn't annoying and no one had a meltdown, so it made for a fairly pleasant hour of viewing.

DownTheShore, I wondered if the location of the house where the opera singers lived had something to to with their breakup. Always interesting to find out what has happened to the people who have appeared on the show. In the case of the Colorado family that moved to Belize, I thought giving the 16-year old some space of his own was probably a good idea. i don't remember how large the main portion of the house was, but he now has a private space that so many teenagers wish they had. I lived in a townhouse when my son was in his teens, and my bedroom was on the first floor. He had a bedroom, a den and a full bathroom on the second floor that he occupied. He still talks about it being an "awesome" setup and he's now 35. I did think it was funny that they bought a 2nd house as a weekend get away, and my thoughts were the same - get away from what? Maybe they also rent it out, but they did not indicate that. If they have visitors, you know all those people that everyone claims will visit, it would make a nice place for them to stay. He must have a nicer pension as a Denver firefighter than I received after 40 years of state service elsewhere.

The couple on last night's show with the child named Jackson live in Denver. When I heard her annoying, nasal, half-vocal fry voice say "Jackson" about the 10th time, I was ready to throw a shoe at the TV. Chessiegal, I think the original Jackson episode from a few years ago is now a classic HH show. Those 2 mothers should get together and HH would have a mega Jackson episode. I didn't like any of the houses the Denver couple looked at. The one they chose wasn't even 1100 square feet and of course, she griped about the bedrooms being small. I cannot believe they could not not find something larger, or at least with 2 full bathrooms. Maybe they were location restrained, but they never said anything about that. The bonus room in the 2nd house was very strange. I could not figure out what it might have been used for by the former owner. Would make a great giant storage room and closet.

Lesia, not warm on the northern part of the Gulf year round. We can get down to freezing and below several days in the winter. Looked like to me that they were there when a cold front had moved through because the wind was blowing from the north and the skies were clear blue. The participants have been wearing coats and jackets for many scenes, but in a couple of the outdoor scenes they were wearing shirtsleeves which indicates maybe the filming took place before or several days after the weather was so cold. I am thinking this was filmed in late February or early March when we can have what i call whiplash weather - warm, very cold and windy, and then warm again.

Anniebird, it was a picture of man, but I don't think it was the New Guy. The man on the phone did not have a beard. I would like to know the name of the song too.

Lesia, I have stayed at a beach house in Gulf Shores that was the same layout. It's a 2-story raised duplex, with one unit on each side. There are 2 of these duplex buildings and the couples are each working on one side of the duplex.Looks to me like they are side by side which probably made the production of the series a lot easier. The couples are staying off site at what looks to be a very nice, large house with a pool. I'm sure they filmed this during the late winter, early spring before the beach began to be crowded and in order for the owners of the houses to take advantage of renting out these remodeled beach houses. I prefer a stand alone house myself, because you never know who is going to be renting the other side. You may have a very quiet neighbor, or you might end up with 10 people who like to party until the wee hours of the morning and play loud music.

Heads up for all of us HH Where Are They Now lovers. Beginning this coming Monday, there will be episodes each night through Friday. I think most of them are HH International episodes. Check your TV listings to verify.

There was an episode a couple of nights ago about a couple who built their tiny house in her(?) parents' barn and then parked it on the parents' property. Although she insisted on full size appliances because she likes to cook, I would bet that they retreat to the parents' house to shower in an area larger than 3 square feet, take a tub bath, and partake of a larger living space every once in a while. To me, this is more like camping out in someone's back yard, and not really living there full time. I agree with Camom and wonder why these people don't just purchase a tow behind trailer that is probably less expensive. The couple in this episode said they were trying to spend $30,000 max, but they did all of the work with the help of the parents, and had free land on which to park it, so that's really not a fair estimate of what it would cost to have someone build it commercially and then find the land to buy or rent. I wouldn't mind downsizing from the space I have now, but I don't think tiny house living is for me, but I enjoy watching other people try it.

I thought I heard her say that her daughter lives in England and that's one reason she wanted to move to Italy. It would be closer to her daughter and her family.

With regard to the Nashville couple, I don't think either one of them wanted a fixer and did not want to spend $$ having someone else make the changes that might need to be made to either of the other 2 houses they were shown. They did not seem to be hung up on having granite counter tops, and other than her comment that she did not like the granite color in one house, I don't think I heard that mentioned again. I liked the large split level house too, and thought it offered a lot of square footage for the price, but it may have been located somewhere that was not convenient. They don't always give the distance from work when they are describing the houses. I agree with y'all about the quibbling about the top end of the budget. Unless it's a really hot real estate market, buyers rarely ever pay the listing price of a house. I did chuckle when he asked how big a kitchen you needed to order in Chinese food.

Ohwell, the intro said he was a successful business executive and he and his wife had been in a band in the U.S. for several years as a side gig.

Between her vocal fry and semi-valley girl voice, I was seriously tempted to mute the episode. I wish women would stop talking like that. Even the announcer for the Beach Flip episode HGTV is advertising is annoying with her perky, childlike voice. I liked the boyfriend. Nice to date someone who is handy and since she seems to like putting her touch on everything she will appreciate him more. Her choice was tiny and he said so several times. The screened porch was nice and I thought it was interesting that it was 2 stories high, but I didn't see a balcony from either bedroom on the 2nd floor.

Tara1665, I think this couple and their episode were discussed a while back. Was she the one shown homeschooling her children and teaching them Italian in the last scene?

Washington, D.C. episode with Alisha last night. Oh dear, oh dear, another I want space, I want/need big closets, I want high end finishes, I want an open floor plan, I want dark hardwood floor, I need a double sink because I'm from the south, I want/need. . . I can't remember all of it, HH. She was pleasant and not annoying for the most part, but I loved her friend and the realtor, especially the friend who was trying to bring some common sens to the house search. First of all, she limited the search to a particular area and type of house and she's looking at old row houses that are 100 years old if not more. Open floor plans, dark hardwood floors and large closets were not the norm then, and unless the house has been remodeled recently it isn't going to have those features. In the end I think she made the right decision with her choice since she was so picky about all the things she wanted and thought she needed in a house. I predict she will go over budget on the renovation; however, because I don't think she has the will power to stop adding things to her wish list. I hope they revisit this one on a future Where Are They Now episode. The closing scene with her and her friend was really funny. I would like to hang out with the friend.

I agree NYGirl, no over the top drama and the usual unexpected things one finds when redoing an old house. Looked like that plumbing had not been touched since the house was built, so those issues were not a huge surprise. The kitchen was a little short on space, but the removal of the wall and a little reconfiguring gave them a bit more counter space which was badly needed. I wasn't sure about staining the original floors to coordinate with the new kitchen floor, but it came out looking OK. I would have gone with a different type floor in the kitchen, but that is my taste and they ended up with what they liked and the overall effect was nice. I loved the fireplace. They were also space challenged in the upstairs bath, but the finished product looked nice. How on earth is that man going to walk around in the basement? Wasn't that the house where he had to tilt his head in most places in the basement? They were a cute couple.

Biakbiak, I thought some of the same things when I saw the layout of this house. With a little thought, houses with good floor plans can be built on small lots. Too often the builders are trying to squeeze every penny out of each house and don't want to hire an architect or good design draftsman. Even the realtor agreed about that bright, shiny metal clad post in the middle of the room. Cheaper to put up a support post than a support beam, which should be a clue that maybe other corners were cut in that house as well. Property values in East Nashville certainly have improved over the last few years and I guess the builder is trying to attract a younger buyer who likes the industrial look as opposed to a bungalow. I'm glad they chose a house with a large backyard for their two German Shepherds.

Parts of the Jersey Shore house were old. The realtor said it had been rehabbed from the roof down, but the roof structure was old/original. When she said that, the woman sort of shrugged and said ok. They probably couldn't afford to be next to the ocean, but after super storm Sandy who would want to be right on the ocean where your house might be destroyed? The house was very small, but probably just fine for weekend getaways with not too many friends. 600 square feet would limit the number of guests for sure.