All Episodes Talk: French Country in Texas?

[Gothish520]

On 4/30/2018 at 3:08 PM, CruiseDiva said:

I remember thinking that if they'd painted the wood porch it wouldn't have looked so much like it was just stuck on to the front of the house. I hate it when they leave bare looking wood on the houses they fix up. It looks like they ran out of money so they just stopped working.

Yes, agree 100%! Paint that crap, lol. I love my front porch, so I'm fine with that, but the bare wood sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Gothish520]

On 4/30/2018 at 12:49 PM, CruiseDiva said:

It seems that JoJo seldom does window treatments. Gotta have all that natural light, ya know!

I live in the deep south and we have to have blinds, shades, or curtains that close to keep the sun out, especially on west facing windows in the summer. The sun not only heats up the house interior, it fades fabric furniture, carpeting, and even wood floors. The solution to a dark room is to turn on a lamp. Don't get me started on privacy...we have a neighbor who's a one man "neighborhood watch" with binoculars.

I admit, I'm not a huge fan of most window treatments. I love natural light, and I open up the windows and doors as much as New England weather will allow. But I certainly agree that one needs to be able to shut out the world and have privacy on occasion, so some type of window covering is necessary. Our house came with custom vertical blinds on all the windows - they are very old and some are falling apart, but once they all go, I don't know what we will do for the windows. 

[3 is enough]

So I am watching a rerun while having my lunch.  It is a couple relocating from SoCal to Waco.  The house they ended up picking was called the "Hot Sauce House", because there was a border of hot sauce bottles on the wall over the kitchen cabinets.  Joanna said they would remove the border, and a pop-up quoted the price for removal at $1500!

WTF?  On what planet does it cost $1500 to remove a wallpaper border?

Edited June 7, 2018 by 3 is enough

[Oldernowiser]

If the border was glued to unsealed drywall, it could end up causing major damage to the drywall to remove it.

Cheaper to prime it and paint over it, assuming it was still in good shape.

[SunnyBeBe]

I've watched quite a bit of their show, but, I'm still not all that crazy over the designs.  However, I did really like the one Joanna did for her sister.  I think that must be my favorite. 

[aguabella]

On 6/7/2018 at 12:32 PM, 3 is enough said:

So I am watching a rerun while having my lunch.  It is a couple relocating from SoCal to Waco.  The house they ended up picking was called the "Hot Sauce House", because there was a border of hot sauce bottles on the wall over the kitchen cabinets.  Joanna said they would remove the border, and a pop-up quoted the price for removal at $1500!

WTF?  On what planet does it cost $1500 to remove a wallpaper border?

 

On 6/8/2018 at 1:57 PM, Oldernowiser said:

If the border was glued to unsealed drywall, it could end up causing major damage to the drywall to remove it.

Cheaper to prime it and paint over it, assuming it was still in good shape.

Remembering the discussion about this border when it initially aired ...  I believe over the years it came out that those $$$ figures are rough estimates, divvied up between the rooms.  So, if the wallpaper sub quoted $6K and they were working on 4 rooms, including the kitchen, they'd allocate $1,500 to the kitchen.  Not real numbers, obviously, but the answer was along those lines.

In real life, those wallpaper borders pull right off - at least in my experience.

[GaT]

I was watching the latest "Behind The Design" show & I started to wonder about how much does Joanna actually design things. Every show she works with someone who picks out tiles & floors & cabinets etc, & then shows them to Joanna for approval. It really feels like they're deciding on the design & Joanna just says if it's OK or not. She's not doing the actual design.

[annzeepark914]

Do they ever install a front door that doesn't have a window in it? I know I'd feel very insecure knowing someone I don't want to open the door to can so easily gain entry just by smashing the glass.  The only doors I've seen that don't look so vulnerable are when they keep the original doors.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Around here people install the almost all glass on the back, and if you have a privacy fence, they just walk in the back, smash the door, or take a slider off the hinges, and they're in and everything you own is gone within an hour.   Then they come back in about a month when you've replaced everything.    I think most of the glass front doors are tempered, so they're harder to break.   And at least around here, burglars prefer unlocked doors (yes, people do that a lot), or back doors with the fence or landscaping to hide what they're up to.  

 

There are some episodes I never re-watch.   The Knox (called Newlyweds look for their first home, the house that was hit by the drunk driver) one, that house was remodeled for nightly rentals, and was in a bad location before Chip and Jo ever saw it.   And realtors aren't allowed to tell you the neighborhood sucks, (to avoid the bad old days when black buyers were told all kinds of stuff to keep them out of white neighborhoods).   The house is across from a convenience store, that also sells bait, so I bet it's open very long hours, and the rest of that block is a BBQ place, that I think also produces a lot of BBQ for resale, so I'm sure you get smoked out all of the time.    The houses on either side of that one looked very rough, and I wouldn't even have looked at it if I was in the market for a house.     It amazed me that the homeowners claimed Magnolia sold them a bad home (I'm assuming that's the realtor they use), because I could see from TV it was in bad shape, and not a very nice neighborhood.     

 

 I dislike the houseboat episode, because I just don't see that as a long term solution for the kids, and I hate the Tiny House one.    The remodel on the tiny house was great, but it obviously was never going to be the couples home, and was always meant to rent out and later sell.   I understand the Chicken House was also a vacation rental, or nightly rental, and they never lived in it either.   

The Barndominium one was ridiculous, and those people never wanted it for anything but renting the entire place out for Baylor sports weekends, wedding, family reunions, etc., and I don't know why the original people thought anyone would believe they designed it for their family dinners, and to live in.     

I know that a lot of people don't stay in houses forever, especially in a college town like Waco, but the owners that only wanted to get publicity, and rent out on VRBO, or nightly rentals really anger me.    A lot of people applied to be on the show, and wanted a family home, and then these people just want a rental investment house.  I feel sorry for the neighbors of the whole house weekly rentals, or nightly rentals, because I'm sure a lot of people rent the entire house for football or homecoming weekends, or big family events, and have parties that can get huge.  

I still love the lady from West who stayed in her town, the lady with the young son who was going through a divorce and was starting over, and the veterinarian and her new husband.  

Edited September 1, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[BookWoman56]

On 6/15/2018 at 6:10 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I've watched quite a bit of their show, but, I'm still not all that crazy over the designs.  However, I did really like the one Joanna did for her sister.  I think that must be my favorite. 

I have never seen the episode where Joanna did the design for her sister, so maybe that one worked well. However for 50-75% of the designs I have seen, I would have chosen to leave the house in its fixer-upper state rather than live in the house after it was redesigned. She seems to take a cookie cutter approach to design, and I loathe most of her choices. Not everyone likes an open floor plan, exposed beams, overly busy floors and bathrooms, and recycled crap that had been abandoned in a basement or attic. Not to mention the cutesy stuff used in staging. 

[Kapaluakids]

Can you believe that Chip and Joanna are getting their own Discovery network?!?  I had hoped that “rustic farmhouse” style (the only style that she knows) was on its way out. 

[BckpckFullaNinjas]

14 hours ago, Kapaluakids said:

Can you believe that Chip and Joanna are getting their own Discovery network?!?  I had hoped that “rustic farmhouse” style (the only style that she knows) was on its way out. 

So it’s true! Somebody had mentioned it and I thought, “Surely not.”   Guess there will be shows focused on shiplap, rusty wall decor, Jimmy Don, Clint Harp, White subway tile, rusty silos, impossibly obedient & telegenic  children, protecting the privacy of said children, and The Gaines Way Of Life. 

Hey, if it frees up time on HGTV for more original house & garden programming, I’m all for it !!!  .... I just won’t watch it. I’m one of those freaks who is a nice person but never inclined to choose  the Magnolia magazine to thumb through while I’m in line. It’s house design Groundhog Day!  LOL

[buttersister]

My love for white subway tile was born in Paris a long time ago and not even putting it near shiplap and a big-ass clock will spoil it. Had some reruns on in the background recently. Problem was I wasn’t paying a lot of attention and couldn’t tell one episode from the other.

[chessiegal]

So, this show has been out of production for months or longer, yet HGTV keeps running day long marathons for what seems every day. Can't stand Chip - he needs a hair cut and a shower. And to add insult to injury, I'm subjected to their daily ads on Microsoft Solitaire because I refuse to pay for ad free play. Just go away Gaines.

[BckpckFullaNinjas]

5 hours ago, chessiegal said:

So, this show has been out of production for months or longer, yet HGTV keeps running day long marathons for what seems every day. Can't stand Chip - he needs a hair cut and a shower. And to add insult to injury, I'm subjected to their daily ads on Microsoft Solitaire because I refuse to pay for ad free play. Just go away Gaines.

Indeed. Would it kill them to throw some Home Town on the screen? I suppose The Algorithms tell them FU brings in more ads/viewers. 

[absolutelyido]

I watched a re-run yesterday where they remodeled a small cottage for Jimmy Don's son. The cottage didn't seem to have central heat or air. They put in a wood burning stove which I'm sure would supply enough heat for cooler winter days, but I think it would be stiflingly hot in the summer.

The cottage had an open two-story living area with a bedroom loft above. They put in 4 large plate glass windows on one wall that went all the way up the two stories. Pretty, but the windows didn't open. The cottage originally had a gambrel roof which Jimmy Don hated so they removed it and completely rebuilt the second story, eliminating all the second story windows and a door to a deck (the deck was also removed) so that the second-story loft had no windows. I can't imagine how hot it would be up there with no ventilation. Since they rebuild the roof they could have easily put in a couple of skylights that opened to let out some of the heat, but no. Also, Joanna designed a railing/headboard for the loft so instead of facing the two-story wall of windows, the bed faced the windowless loft. It was a complete design fail, IMO. I can't imagine he was able to sleep in that loft in the hot Texas summers.

[annzeepark914]

I thought that "house" for Jimmy Don's son was way too industrial, even for a young guy. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't think they were blown away by the results. J-D & son seemed a bit subdued while taking a tour.