Peanutbuttercup

Just watching him on tv is making me even more of a lesbian than I already am, which I didn't even know was possible.

I liked the Florida couple last night, and was absolutely drooling over the house they chose. I can't say I was thrilled with what I saw of the decorating choices they were making at the end of the show, but I don't have to live (or even visit) there, so whatever. Because I am eternally nosy, I looked the husband up and was impressed -- NYU medical school and residency at Harvard.

I enjoyed the London episode with the Victorian row house last night. Here's a list of things that as far as I could tell, did NOT make an appearance: Demand for an "open concept" kitchen in order to obsessively watch his child or for ease of talking to guests while "entertaining" Pot/can lights (I'm averse to these things as I don't want anything I need a ladder to change a light bulb for) or Edison lights Tiny glass tile backsplash Farmhouse sink Separate laundry room Ensuite master bath Insistence that daughter have separate playroom Hysterical fixation on stainless steel appliances and either granite or quartz countertops Subway tile Now some of these things may have appeared and I just wasn't watching closely enough. But overall, I liked that the homeowner deviated from the standard script and seemed more concerned about making sure the house was structurally sound than with the latest bling-y finishes.

They are both mechanical engineers, and they mentioned that Australia, and specifically the city they moved to, had a need for mechanical engineers. So, not so terribly crazy a move IMO.

I actually agree on the Stockholm couple, at least on the female half. I thought she was average at best, basically trying to be a Jessie J (not my favorite) knock-off. But I didn't feel sorry for the man -- I thought the whole relationship gave me a creepy Svengali type vibe. And yes, agree with the other poster who said she is too old to break into the pop scene.

I liked the couple from last night, in Nancy, France. They didn't do too much whining about wanting an American style home and appliances in France, and had reasonable expectations. And the American wife (sorry, that's rude, I'm just terrible with names) seemed like she was making an effort to learn French and be part of the local community rather than just surround her self with English-speaking ex-pats. If the prices discussed were real, I need to contemplate moving to Nancy (for retirement or whatever). They seemed incredibly reasonable for what you get in what looked like a charming European city.

ugh Princess Shrieky from last night! The beautiful dogs were my favorite part of the family. They can come mess up my floors any time.

I'm super-suspicious of all real estate/flipping type shows, and this one is no exception. I kind of think that the homeowners are neither buying nor selling . . . they are upgrading their homes in exchange for being on tv and are not moving anytime in the near future. (1) the show is overly focused on what the homeowners like for their current "selling" home. Who cares what they like? If they were really selling, that would be completely irrelevant. and (2) we never see them inside the home they "bought." At the end, when they have supposedly moved into the new house, we just see them playing catch in the front yard or hanging out by the pool in back. Never inside. So my conclusion is that if the cameras went inside, we would see that the furniture and decor is exactly the same as when they toured the house -- these are just random houses for sale that have been staged, but the show homeowners have no connection to it. So, that is my completely suspicious breakdown of what is really going on with this show.

I've been watching Flipping Virgins and find it enjoyable. This week's show, at least, also seemed to be not terribly accurate in the wrap up -- they showed Egypt conveying full-price offer after a week on the market, lots of profit, everyone happy . . . but they also mentioned the address of the house earlier in the show, so I looked it up on Zillow. Seems like the house was on the market for almost 4 months and there was a price reduction before it was sold. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/97-Mortimer-St-SE-Atlanta-GA-30317/14467613_zpid/

I really liked the couple from last night. Level-headed, hard-working, and they seemed genuinely nice. I mean, they must be super-likeable people IRL, given how many friends and co-workers volunteered to come over and landscape their front yard! I might consider doing that for my very best friend, otherwise probably not. I also liked, for the most part, the outcome of their reno. I very much appreciated that it wasn't the typical: let's blow out all the walls, paint everything white, install white cabinets and white subway tile and a farm sink and Edison lights type of makeover. They respected the character and age of the house, and I thought it looked great at the end. I would not have chosen that particular way to do an island or the cheap-looking, garish plastic stools for the kitchen. I'm actually usually a fan of garish plastic, but it looked out of place given the rest of the design.

I imagine he must be a tv or movie writer of some sort? She had a lovely voice, though I confess I'm not partial to acoustic folkie coffeehouse singers warbling along with their ukuleles. I don't recognize her from anything pop-culture related, but that's not to say I necessarily would! She was gorgeous, though I thought her haircut at the final reveal was tragic. I usually like shorter hair but hers was much better long. Anyway, agree completely with the comments above about the painted floor. I probably would have gone with the yellow/chartreuse-y color scheme for the kitchen but that's just me. I knew they would stick with Beachwood Canyon (and not just because you can pick out the house in the previews). I'm familiar with that area, and most people, once they get in, aren't going to leave to go live in La Crescenta or even Highland Park if they can possibly afford to stay.

Oh my gosh, Carol from Salisbury NC last night is a professional baker and apparently no one has told her that it's impossible to successfully prepare food using white appliances. How embarrassing for her! Surely her career will be ruined when her colleagues see her kitchen is lacking stainless steel appliances but she's acting as though she is happy and loves her kitchen.

I liked the family moving to Nice from last night. It was great to see people who were fluent in French moving to France! They intrigued me so I did a little digging. I think possibly they have moved back to Illinois (for the academic year) and that they were on an extended sabbatical rather than a permanent move -- if I am right, it makes sense, because you can't really survive on income from a few academic, non-best-seller type books. So their apartment in Nice will be more of a summer place in the future. Her blog: http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/ (note the comments on the "See Us on House Hunters International" post - I had no idea those shows weren't real! You are such good actors!) His web page: http://www.ericfreeze.com/ Goodreads page for his most recent book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21945014-hemingway-on-a-bike?

Sign me up for the vacation where I stay THE HELL AWAY from an off the grid (sweltering) house in a live lava flow zone where I eat raw brown glop prepared by sickly-looking self-righteous hippies.

More entitled assholes last night in the Overland Park episode. I call them the "wheresmy" people. Where's my fireplace? Where's my kitchenette? Where's my media room? Where's my yoga room? And with a bonus of this closet space is not exactly what I had in mind while sneering at a master closet slightly smaller than my living room.

I liked the Colorado couple too. Totally shallow of me but I kept thinking what an attractive pair they are. I thought they would go for house no. 2. I liked that they were okay with having their children share bedrooms and not everyone having their own private kingdom (and bathroom). It was refreshing. I also wondered what rank the husband was, just because I'm nosy like that.

I always complain about how the houses on House Hunters/Property Brothers/other HGTV shows end up looking alike. Well, after the horror of last night, I say bring on the white shaker-style cabinets, wood-grain porcelain floor tiles, Edison lights, farm sinks, stainless steel appliances, subway tile or small glass mosaic tile backsplash, and sliding barn doors. Also, who wants to try to keep reclaimed wood planks clean in a bathroom? Can you imagine what the moisture is going to do to them, and what kind of horrifying life forms will be growing there in short order (note: I am NOT a germaphobe, I promise)?

All of these couples that want to "put their stamp on" the house end up with houses that look exactly like every other house showcased on HGTV anyway. I guess their "stamp" is shorthand for I have no individual sense of style or design. I like to do what everyone else is doing. I am a sheep.

I usually like Lucy and Daphne's work, what the hell happened to them last night? Both the platform bed and the sofa were unusable, the "whale" looked like the result of a 7th grade woodshop project, and the whole idea of integrating a cutesy themed child's bedroom with an adult work/lounge space just is terrible. I've been watching Unreal -- so my mind goes to, are the producers encouraging them to drink? Did someone swap out their mood stabilizers for probiotics?

I liked the dome house and the buyers as well. The house wasn't quite as cookie-cutter as many of the reno's end up, and the primary buyer seemed to be making sound financial and renovation decisions, not just "I'll spend whatever I want to get whatever fancy finishes are trendy right now, who cares about the budget." I mean, he did end up significantly over budget, but at least they showed him considering some options that he thought he wanted, but rejecting them when they were too expensive. Not really sure I buy Peaches as his "roommate," but it doesn't really matter anyway, as I'm not personally going to be looking to fix either one of them up on a blind date or anything.

Speaking of expats making friends, it is so odd how quickly these total strangers make such large circles of friends. I've seen episodes where at the end they have quite the crowd in the backyard or whatever raising a toast to their new place. @CherryAmes I know someone who was a HHI - in Morocco - and she said that all the people that showed up for the party in the closing scenes were people she'd never met before in her life, the producers just rounded up some local expats that they knew and brought them over. She'd also never met "her" real estate agent before taping and had been in her apartment for months before the show was taped, or that she even knew she was going to be taping it.

Chiming in with the rest of y'all, the engineer from last night was great. Seemed level-headed, practical, nice. The bits with his girlfriend saying she wanted to move in were beyond awkward! It does make me a little nervous that an engineer possibly working on a car that I or someone I love might be driving is struggling so much with basic measurements and making things fit. His (almost literal) hatchet job on the cabinetry housing the fridge did not inspire trust, and his puzzlement with the obviously too-large tv didn't help.

What a weird couple last night. The wife is obsessed with seafoam green and teal, while the husband is obsessed with everything being "masculine," having a "man cave," and spending time with "us men" (his pre-pubescent boy -- not man -- children). Of the two of them, I found him and his masculinity marginally more annoying. I did decide he's probably over-compensating for his micropenis.

I think this year they are going by consensus/average of a group of local appraisers, not actually selling the houses. Who knows, the houses may not even be for sale -- the owners could have just leased them to HGTV for several weeks, probably in the winter/early spring off season, in exchange for some nominal rent and whatever value gets added. I thought that mural/banner with the photograph and the cheesy quote was one of the most horrible, tacky things I have ever seen on any tv design show (and that's saying a lot) but the judges were just over the moon for it? What? Am I the only one with that reaction?

Another show with Tarek whining and complaining about having to meet building codes and address safety issues. It's like he wants to sell people houses that are firetraps, with pipes waiting to explode and garage doors perfectly positioned to take out someone's eye. Just as long as it has builder-grade tiles in the bathroom and laminate floors, he doesn't care about the safety of people who are actually going to live in these houses. I did have to laugh at the planted cute, chubby, slow-moving white mouse in last night's show. Sorry but anyone with a modicum of life experience recognizes that mouse as having a natural habitat in a cage in a laboratory. Hey producers: you can actually buy grey and brown mice at the pet store. Try that next time you want to try to trick viewers into thinking you filmed an actual wild rodent in a house on Flip or Flop. eta: I noticed that next week's episode is something different called "Flip or Flop Follow Up" -- if you usually dvr this show you'll probably need to set your machine to get it separately.