Rock The Block - General Discussion

[Rhetorica]

I love Allison. But I'm a Chicago girl ... Good luck to each woman.

[SimoneS]

I can't believe that Jasmine won. I hated that stone on the house and I roll my eyes she puts seating area at the front of a house. I would never let her near my house without close supervision. However, she did add a half bath which adds value. I would have preferred it if Mina had won because of those porcelain slabs in the bathroom. I personally prefer Alison's high end style though. Good luck to the person who is happy living in Leanne's house. I was surprised that she was wearing black, she must have known that she lost so she was in mourning.

In any case, it is difficult to know who improved the house the most without over improving without knowing the value of the other houses in the neighborhood.

Edited November 12, 2019 by SimoneS

[CrazyInAlabama]

What an interesting quote from Alison "I'll try not to be a sore loser" (or something like that).  That ship has sailed.   

Congratulations to Jasmine, but also to second place Mina.    Alison, and Leanne's wouldn't be on my list to even look at.   I would only tour Leanne's if I wanted what looked like a storage unit, or Alison if I wanted over the top glitzy.   

Edited November 12, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[ByaNose]

Final Appraisal Values:

Jasmine $1,020,000

Mina       $1,005,000

Alison       $995,000

Leanne.    $980,000

I just assumed Mina would win it all since she didn’t win a round. It was pretty suspenseful. Also, Kennon Earl really rocks a suite. I’d like to see more of him. He seems so classy. I’m soooooo over the Property Brothers.

Edited November 12, 2019 by ByaNose

[MZ. ATTITUDE]

I was team Mina! Its hard 2 believe tht she lost by tht little. 😕

[disconnected]

I didn't like LeAnne's boring all white exterior.

I'm glad the judges didn't like Alison's cheap laminate flooring for a house with a base price of $750,000.

I liked the curb appeal of Mina's house but I think that was due to her mom's influence. I did love the floors in her house.

Jasmine adding a bedroom and a full bath was really smart and did add value which the judges were looking for. I'm okay with her winning.

[IvyCeltress]

Interested so the house's initial value was 750,000 and they were given 175,000 so that total is 925,000, therefore LeAnn only added 65,000. Wow.   It will interesting to see what all the houses actually go for. I also wish they would have discussed on camera about some of the difficulty of maintaining some of the wow items as well as some of the shoddy workman.

I am disappointed for Mina. I think she added value but gave buyers a lot of flexibilty to integrate their own stuff. I was surprised though on how uneven the extra help.  Karen is her partner while the others were more unskilled-semi skilled labor.

[LittleIggy]

Putting a charred built-in cabinet in a SoCal home seems a bit insensitive. 🤨

Can’t believe Leanne did nothing to those bedrooms and baths. No wonder her house appraised lowest.

[LittleIggy]

I’m glad that guy mentioned the $7000 toilet. That was such a waste of money which could have gone to quality flooring.

[disconnected]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Putting a charred built-in cabinet in a SoCal home seems a bit insensitive. 🤨

Can’t believe Leanne did nothing to those bedrooms and baths. No wonder her house appraised lowest.

I agree. Alison also did that in one of her Windy City rehabs. I didn't like it because she said you can smell the charring for months afterwards. Who wants the smell of burnt furniture in their home? Just paint it black already!

[kirklandia]

5 hours ago, Rhetorica said:

...Good luck to each woman.

I cringed every time one of them referred to "the other girls".  Which was way too often.

[quirkygal]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Putting a charred built-in cabinet in a SoCal home seems a bit insensitive. 🤨

Can’t believe Leanne did nothing to those bedrooms and baths. No wonder her house appraised lowest.

I totally agree. At least slap a coat of paint on the walls or let house stager set up a basic standard bedroom.  It just looked odd. Maybe she decided to hang with her friend that she never sees instead of finishing the house? 

Anyway she probably knew she wasn't going to win because her aesthetic is so buyer dependent.

[Mittengirl]

On 11/10/2019 at 11:11 AM, pasdetrois said:

In the forum for LeeAnne's own show, I speculated that she and her brother are stoned all of the time

They do have that stoner look, don’t they?  I figured I was the only one who saw it.

[Sarnia]

Seriously, what did Leanne do for  weeks except painting all walls white, creating a dysfunctional kitchen and a ridiculously large master bathroom? There isn't a single flooring in the house, it's all concrete. It looks so cold. Jasmine and Mina worked hard and it showed, I would have been fine with either winning. I was a bit sad for Mina who didn't win anything at all. I think I liked her house best but Jasmine was smart with the added bedroom/bathroom.

[pasdetrois]

I was reminded of how hot CA can be. Those teams really suffered as they worked in the heat.

Three of them were there to win. LeeAnne was there to promote her brand. She knew she wouldn't win and chose not to waste her money and time on the rooms she didn't touch. I bet there were whispers behind the scenes.

I like looking at her designs but could never live with them 24/7. (Nor afford them)

Agree that the missing piece of data was neighborhood comps. One can over-improve a home beyond the neighborhood's market. If Jasmine and Mina developed million-dollar improvements, does it matter of no one wants to pay that price in that neighborhood?

Having said that, I do think the small swimming pool, outdoor fireplaces and nicer floors were good ideas for that market.

[CruiseDiva]

It's interesting to see how close the appraisals are. I had to laugh when the judges commented that Alison's "wine room" was just staging that added no value to the house and that Jasmine's front yard "seating" also added nothing in terms of value.

I was pulling for either Jasmine or Mina so was happy with the outcome.

[SimoneS]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I’m glad that guy mentioned the $7000 toilet. That was such a waste of money which could have gone to quality flooring.

I don't what Alison was thinking there. Buyers would much prefer quality hardwood floors than a ridiculously expensive toilet and cheap laminate flooring. She should have known better. 

2 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

Three of them were there to win. LeeAnne was there to promote her brand. She knew she wouldn't win and chose not to waste her money and time on the rooms she didn't touch. I bet there were whispers behind the scenes.

This hadn't occurred to me, but you are probably right. The other competitors, judges, and HGTV were probably not pleased. I noticed Drew's reaction to the rooms that Leanne didn't redesign was "uh."

Thinking about it Jasmine turned her house into a four bedroom, three bath with a half bath house. That would improve the value of most homes regardless of the neighborhood. However, it surely would have brought the house up to to highest value in the neighborhood or might even been over improving the house. It is possible that no one would be willing to buy any of the houses in that neighborhood for over a million dollars.

Edited November 12, 2019 by SimoneS

[3 is enough]

The torched wood wall unit- why?  The smell of burnt wood lingering for months would be awful.  Alison said she liked the blistered effect, but I have to wonder if the char rubs off over time, and little chunks of wood start falling off.

I am happy with Jasmine winning- I still preferred Mina's house, but they were very close.  Plus, Jasmine's name is best suited for a street name.

Leanne's designs are very artsy and stunning, but not comfortable and homey.  Definitely not for a family home.  She is so laid back- it seems that nothing stresses her out.  Leaving all those rooms totally untouched was an odd choice- at the very least she should have staged them with some furniture.

[SusanwatchingTV]

Poor Mina. She's my favorite of the ladies and I'm sad that she didn't win anything...although when I think about it she's wonderful because she takes houses that look like total dumps and makes them livable.  I don't always love her choices, but she works wonders and doesn't really worry as much about the profit as the benefit to the neighborhood and her beloved Indy. I think she was just too out of her element.

I pretty much agree with all the comments.  I think Jasmine's choices did add the most value, so I agree with her winning the whole thing.  I felt like Alison V just went too far toward Chicago for a California neighborhood, and I absolutely hated the faux brass front door.  I get that LeAnne's house is more "art" than practical, but a buyer that wants that type of aesthetic is not going to pick a tract house in a traditional neighborhood.  I just don't think it works.

I'm wondering if they'll do any more of this type of show.  I could see Ben and Erin going up against Chip and Jo in the battle of the shiplap. LOL

Edited November 12, 2019 by SusanwatchingTV

[LittleIggy]

The faux brass front door was ghastly, wasn’t it? I didn’t like all the gold in Alison’s kitchen either.

[3 is enough]

I just spent years getting rid of all traces of gold in my house and now it's back.  🙄

Although it is more a true brass, not the super shiny really yellow hardware of the late 90's-early 2000's.

I did not like the brass front door, the big brass hood, or the brass clad island. Neither Alison's or Leanne's houses fit into the neighborhood.

[CynicalGirl]

I think they should have had a fourth competition for the final changes made in the houses, i.e., the curb appeal, extra bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. As it stands, Mina never had a chance to compete once again for a fourth one, just for how the extra square footage impacted the overall appraisal.

But I am happy, at least there is no Allison AV like she envisioned!

[absnow54]

I'm surprised more people didn't bump the front door out to get additional sq footage. Mina and Jasmine played the final round really smart. Beds and baths are what up appraised values, and take homes into completely different ball parks. Leanne and Allison's designs were too personal. They were designing what they want, and not what buyers want. Do people without kids move into planned developments like that? I wish Mina had won, just because I hated most of Jasmine's choices (the mismatched flooring in the bathroom, the cheap closet unit, that buckling wood slab in the kitchen, and the rusty lockers in the living room) But 4 beds/3.5 bath plus pool in SoCal was definitely the most value added.

[CruiseDiva]

I just looked at the "before & after" photos on the HGTV website and the appraisals were certainly spot on in terms of the top two. Mina and Jasmine both converted the house to 4 bedrooms, 3 and 1/2 baths. That really added value, IMO. I don't remember seeing this on TV, but Jasmine used the extra 'niche' (storage) space in the garage to create an exercise room. That was the area that Mina turned into an office and Leanne used to expand the master bath/closet. Alison was the only one to ignore it. Alison also had some dumb 'decor' on the outside of back wall of the house that no one here has mentioned...a faux 'fireplace' mantel and some crap hanging above it. To me that just looked silly and out of place. Who hangs stuff on the back of their house, unless it's perhaps an interesting scrolled iron piece or something like that? In terms of 'value' it was a nothing-burger. Just staging, like Alison's wine room, as was pointed out by the appraisers.

Just wondering what y'all thought of the critical comments about not putting more custom closet organizers in the master closet. I forget which of the ladies  was criticized for that, but I really don't care for those organizers with more room devoted to drawers than hanging rods. Some open shelving is nice to have for shoes and purses, but give me more rods for hanging clothes and I'll keep folded clothing in bedroom dressers. I'm curious about what other people prefer?

[juliet73]

I didn't really care for any of the front yards/curb appeal. I don't know if they were limited due to the HOA or if they were all just meh because landscaping isn't their forte.    If I had to choose though, Mina's was the best.

I was glad to see Jasmine or Mina win - their houses were the most practical, family friendly and appealing to buyers. 

In the builder's model home, turning the half bath into a full bath is an upgrade, but Jasmine making it an en suite to the den/4th bedroom and adding the additional powder room definitely put her over the edge.  

Alison's brass on the exterior and front door looked tacky!  I'm glad the stupid toilet and cheap floors were pointed out as a con as well as the wine room and secondary rooms just being staged. I'm so happy that she didn't win or even come in 2nd place.  If Leanne would have kept the baseboards and added flooring in her house, Alison would have come in last.  AV's comment about HER knowing more about design than the other ladies was totally snide and obviously completely untrue.  I don't see the other designers going hundreds of thousands over budget and having HUGE problems in every episodes of their shows, I don't see the other designers having their work suspended by the city they work in, I don't see the other designers having their homes sit on the market because they are so overpriced and I don't see the other designers having legal issues due to shoddy workmanship.  I hope Ari took the first flight home because I'm sure Alison blamed him for EVERYTHING!!

I liked that Mina added the secret office and dual vanity.  However, her house looks like an upgraded staged home.  On the flip side, her house will definitely be the easiest for a buyer to "put their own stamp" on.

Say what you will about Leanne, but her house does look like it belongs in a magazine.  She is the only one that moved walls, made and took extra sq footage and totally went outside the box.  When the other ladies walked in, you could tell they were shocked (in a good way) and appreciated and respected Leanne's vision. Her house will sell quickly for two reasons:  1.  It looks nothing like the other tract homes in the community and 2. the master bathroom.  Flooring, baseboards, and some desert landscaping can easily be installed (pricey, but easy) over a high end custom master bath.  As for the secondary bedrooms and bathroom, I can understand why she left them - kitchens and baths sell houses and that's where she spent all her money. However, she could have easily and inexpensively staged them so they didn't look so unfinished.  I did like that she added an extra living area, but I wouldn't be able to live in her house unless it was just me and maybe a goldfish.

I hope there is a season 2...without Alison!

[Sarnia]

30 minutes ago, CruiseDiva said:

Just wondering what y'all thought of the critical comments about not putting more custom closet organizers in the master closet. I forget which of the ladies  was criticized for that, but I really don't care for those organizers with more room devoted to drawers than hanging rods.

I think it was Jasmine and I actually didn't understand these comments either. That closet was fine. Plenty of space and indeed plenty of hanging space (but I may not be in the target market, my clothes would not fill any of those closets).

[juliet73]

34 minutes ago, CruiseDiva said:

Just wondering what y'all thought of the critical comments about not putting more custom closet organizers in the master closet. I forget which of the ladies  was criticized for that, but I really don't care for those organizers with more room devoted to drawers than hanging rods. Some open shelving is nice to have for shoes and purses, but give me more rods for hanging clothes and I'll keep folded clothing in bedroom dressers. I'm curious about what other people prefer?

I think Jasmine's was the one they criticized because it wasn't custom.  Hers and Leanne's looked very similar though - huge, but with just rods and shelves.  That's custom enough for me though. The only closet I didn't like was Mina's because everything was behind those cabinet doors.  Maybe one cabinet for jewelry, scarves and other accessories, but I like to see my clothes, shoes, etc out in the "open".  

[3 is enough]

The plus side of Mina’s closet is that there is protection from dust. 
 

I think the fancy master closet trend has stemmed from a lot of people not having dressers anymore. The bigger master bath/ closet eats into the size of the bedroom.  I have noticed a lot of masters with king sized beds, oversized nightstands, and maybe a chair or bench at the end of the bed but no dressers.  If you have drawers in the closet there is no need for dressers.

Edited November 12, 2019 by 3 is enough

[carrps]

17 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Also, Kennon Earl really rocks a suite. I’d like to see more of him. He seems so classy. I’m soooooo over the Property Brothers.

Kennon Earl was on the "Selling L.A." show that was on a few (or more) years ago, He's sharp. Property Bros? Yuck.

7 minutes ago, 3 is enough said:

The plus side of Mina’s closet is that there is protection from dust. 

The area they are in is windy. There's a TON of dust that will filter into your house, so I liked those closed cupboards, too. And since it's essentially a desert, Leanne's concrete floors will be like ice in the winter. It can get down near freezing there...something people outside CA aren't always aware of. Yeah, and snobby, trendy people are buying lofts downtown, not cookie cutter suburban houses, no matter how designed the interiors are.

Also, Leanne painted out any detail on the front of her house...except for the downspouts. Heh, that's what I'm lookin' for in curb appeal.

Alison's faux brass touches were laughably stupid. On the gables on the front of the house? Lame-o.

[pasdetrois]

I'm curious as to what type of maintenance all that exterior brass requires.

I bet LeeAnne was bugged that Mina "stole" one of her ideas, which Mina cheerfully announced.

[3 is enough]

15 minutes ago, carrps said:

The area they are in is windy. There's a TON of dust that will filter into your house, so I liked those closed cupboards, too. And since it's essentially a desert, Leanne's concrete floors will be like ice in the winter. It can get down near freezing there...something people outside CA aren't always aware of. 

I live in Las Vegas.  It can get cold in the winter, and like California, our houses are built on concrete slabs.  They are designed to stay cool in the hot summers,  but when it gets cold ( admittedly never for too long) it is really hard to warm up the house. So yes, Leanne’s floors would be very uncomfortable in winter.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I think that other places doors inside the closet would be over the top , but in the neighborhood that the homes were in, I think Mina made a good choice.   I'm sure there's a lot of dust in that area.  

Edited November 14, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[mojito]

Quote

If Jasmine and Mina developed million-dollar improvements, does it matter of no one wants to pay that price in that neighborhood?

Lots of people are celebrity stupid. They'll pay more just to say this was a home designed by an HGTV "star".

Quote

 I don't see the other designers going hundreds of thousands over budget and having HUGE problems in every episodes of their shows, I don't see the other designers having their work suspended by the city they work in, I don't see the other designers having their homes sit on the market because they are so overpriced and I don't see the other designers having legal issues due to shoddy workmanship. 

Apples and oranges, I think. The other women (I wouldn't call them all designers) don't have the same business model as AV. She buys expensive homes. The others don't. Two of them have customers who have given them budgets.

The thing about Mina's office....That room came off the garage. I didn't notice any vents. I doubt that it's even air conditioned. How often will that room be used? To make it bearable to be in, you probably have to close that cool secret door to allow air flow, if you can get any at all. Maybe it would've been a good location for a sauna. Me, I'd rather have more room in my garage for all the lawn paraphernalia, accessories, bags of lawn and garden materials; tools; ladder, etc.

[absolutelyido]

I liked all the houses much more when we got to see all the rooms together, rather than seeing each room one at a time. When they did the kitchens, I thought Jasmine's large glass-fronted cabinet with all the items displayed looked too busy, but when they showed it open to the family room it didn't bother me. I also really loved the banquette she put in the dining area, I don't think they showed that before. I actually didn't mind Leanne's kitchen when they showed it with the family room. I think Leanne's house would be great in a location like, say, Palm Springs that is known for distinctive housing styles and where someone may buy it as a vacation home rather than their primary residence.

I think the appraisals made a lot of sense. As Mina said, Jasmine having an extra-half bath and the pool is what bumped her value up over Mina's. The number of beds/baths really does drive value. Jasmine and Mina were the only two that fully recognized that.

[ByaNose]

I didn’t mind Alison’s dark wall unit & Chicago inspired design. It’s just Alison I didn’t care for. That said, the flooring did look cheap & I hated the gold front door.

Edited November 13, 2019 by ByaNose

[Madding crowd]

I mainly watched this because Alison’s carpenter Ari is my former neighbor and I knew he had his middle son helping him on the show. I generally like Alison’s style minus the gold door and $7,000 toilet but her attitude is just so awful. I guess I must like Chicago style to because I hate all white rooms. Of course I live in Chicago and we get plenty of white outside. 

[Grrarrggh]

3 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I mainly watched this because Alison’s carpenter Ari is my former neighbor and I knew he had his middle son helping him on the show. I generally like Alison’s style minus the gold door and $7,000 toilet but her attitude is just so awful. I guess I must like Chicago style to because I hate all white rooms. Of course I live in Chicago and we get plenty of white outside. 

If AV didn't do open concept I'd like some of her designs more. But for all her boasting about how expensive everything is it comes off looking quite cheap and wannabe. 

[Andyourlittledog2]

If AV had painted the built in wall unit at the end there black it would have made the statement she intended but also be fixable.  But can you actually paint over wood that's been charred black like that? I don't think it would paint easily or at all. So you live with that color or remove it entirely.

I'm a Southern California person my whole life and feel no need to adhere to a particular 'style' to prove it so AV's black cabinetry and patio door frames I thought were pretty cool. I'd like those. I hated the weird brass everywhere in the kitchen and on the door but otherwise wasn't offended by her kitchen. The flooring was inexplicable though. And for all Jasmine's 'California style' I think she mostly makes things weird and worse and I would never let her near designing my home.  God curse all transplants who come here and declare what is 'California'.  Drives me nuts.

The only time I have ever seen astro turf or fake grass of any kind in So Cal is in cheap old rental houses or in backyard putting greens surrounded by real grass. The fake grass really threw me. I don't know if that was just a concession the show made since it was hot and they couldn't put in real grass and be successful for the staging at the time or if it's some new deserty/climate change concession that I am not familiar with. It looks terrible to me though. But Santa Clarita is just north of LA and has lots of houses with regular grass lawns so I don't think it is deserty enough to get away with that kind of thing with buyers. I could never live in a housing tract there but then I lived in LA county near the beach my whole life so my experience, expectations, and privilege I guess are just different.  For a base price of 750,000 I'd go south in the county, not north.

[quirkygal]

Looks like the homes are hitting the market on Saturday. I wonder if they'll sell them with all the furniture and fixtures. 

https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a29109303/what-happens-to-rock-the-block-houses-hgtv/

[Sarnia]

3 hours ago, quirkygal said:

Looks like the homes are hitting the market on Saturday. I wonder if they'll sell them with all the furniture and fixtures.

Many thanks, I was wondering what was going to happen to the houses. I'd be curious to know if they sell (and if so, for what amount).

[MoreCoffeePlease]

There was a show on years ago hosted by Sarah Richardson (Canadian designer - love!), where she took a tract home in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, and took multiple episodes to design it and make it unique. I wish they would bring her back ... I wonder if she has shows on Canadian HGTV?

Glad that Jasmine won. 

Were any of the supplemental episodes any good? I have several on the DVR. Now that this is over though, I think I'll watch new episodes of Love It or List It, which come on this upcoming week.

[topanga]

4 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

Were any of the supplemental episodes any good? I have several on the DVR. Now that this is over though, I think I'll watch new episodes of Love It or List It, which come on this upcoming week.

I enjoyed them. I've never watched Leanne's or Allison's shows, so they were fun to watch. 

Leanne remodeled a warehouse for her brother and turned it into his apartment. I liked the way it turned out. And Allison really is a great designer. I didn't like all of her choices, but she certainly has great vision and creativity. 

I watch Hidden Potential, so I already knew Jasmine's style. But I watched the episodes anyway.

I wish I could have seen one of Mina's eps. I liked her home best, even though I'm still happy that Jasmine won. I guess I'll have to watch her show. "Teamwork makes the dreamwork!" I'm so glad they stopped those commercials, BTW. 

[ByaNose]

I have decided not to buy any of the houses. I’m sure everyone will be glad about that. LOL!!!! I’m sure they’ll make this into a HH episode. I had posted earlier the appraised values. I’d be curious to see what they actually will sell for.

Final Appraisal Values:

Jasmine $1,020,000

Mina       $1,005,000

Alison       $995,000

Leanne.    $980,000

Edited November 14, 2019 by ByaNose

[absolutelyido]

7 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

There was a show on years ago hosted by Sarah Richardson (Canadian designer - love!), where she took a tract home in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, and took multiple episodes to design it and make it unique. I wish they would bring her back ... I wonder if she has shows on Canadian HGTV?

Glad that Jasmine won. 

Were any of the supplemental episodes any good? I have several on the DVR. Now that this is over though, I think I'll watch new episodes of Love It or List It, which come on this upcoming week.

Sarah Richardson has a youtube channel where she posts videos she calls "Design Life". She just finished a series of episodes where she redesigned the home her family has on an island on Georgian Bay. I really enjoyed it. Tommy was also in some of the episodes. Her original remodel of the house was shown on her HGTV show but I think that was around 15 years ago. She posts new episodes about once a week, and is now posting episodes on client projects. 

[carrps]

9 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

There was a show on years ago hosted by Sarah Richardson (Canadian designer - love!), where she took a tract home in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, and took multiple episodes to design it and make it unique. I wish they would bring her back ... I wonder if she has shows on Canadian HGTV?

I think Sarah Richardson still has a show(s) on the Canadian version of HGTV (most of the shows I've seen from them I prefer to US HGTV shows), but I'm subscribed to her youtube channel, and she has 10-15 minute (sometimes slightly longer) video segments on current projects. Love it more than almost anything I watch on HGTV  these days.

[Sarnia]

21 hours ago, topanga said:

I enjoyed them. I've never watched Leanne's or Allison's shows, so they were fun to watch. 

Leanne remodeled a warehouse for her brother and turned it into his apartment.

I've seen that one as part of "Restored by the Fords" last series, so this episode at least was not created for Rock the Block. I quite liked the result of this one actually and Steve seemed really happy about it.

[MaKaM]

On 11/14/2019 at 8:53 PM, carrps said:

I think Sarah Richardson still has a show(s) on the Canadian version of HGTV (most of the shows I've seen from them I prefer to US HGTV shows), but I'm subscribed to her youtube channel, and she has 10-15 minute (sometimes slightly longer) video segments on current projects. Love it more than almost anything I watch on HGTV  these days.

Sarah is my jam. I VPNed my computer up just so I could watch her build her sustainable forever home from HGTV Canada. That one never made it to the US as far as I know.

If they do this again, Leanne is not getting an invite unless the reno space is a Manhattan apartment or something. She didn't play by the HGTV "rules" and did what she wanted and not what would sell or move product. I'd rather see a challenge where they give them all a crazy color of paint and then the designer has to incorporate it in a major way into a room. and a different color and room each time. All white is a cop-out and it is not "warm" no matter what Leanne says in her doped-up voice. From a company that sponsors a paint line and makes all sorts of theme cards with color combinations, they sure don't do very much to pimp it out.

[LittleIggy]

Yeah, I mentioned before that white isn’t “warm.” That’s just stupid. 🙄

[car54]

I watched Sarah Richardson's show on the HGTV site---it was good--her designs were beautiful, but here places end up being so expensive it takes the DIY out of it.    

https://watch.hgtv.com/tv-shows/sarah-off-the-grid/

[carrps]

15 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Yeah, I mentioned before that white isn’t “warm.” That’s just stupid. 🙄

I know, right?

4 hours ago, car54 said:

I watched Sarah Richardson's show on the HGTV site---it was good--her designs were beautiful, but here places end up being so expensive it takes the DIY out of it.    

https://watch.hgtv.com/tv-shows/sarah-off-the-grid/

Well, I, for one, am tired of DIY. I don't mind small doses, but there's no real, true design on HGTV anymore. A lot of wannabes with their amateurish projects...I just get so tired of it.

And you don't have to spend a ton of money if your design ideas and space planning are actually good. On people's recommendations, I watched that show of Jasmine's that was on after the Rock-the-Block finale, and I hated everything she did! Bad space planning, a rolling library ladder for a family with small children???, wrong chairs for a reading nook that didn't fit in the "nook", an office space with an enormous chaise longue smashed in with the impractical "desk" and uncomfortable chair, and don't get me started on that STUPID hole in the counter for slamming your espresso grounds into a drawer?????? How does that save you from having "to walk you grounds over the the trash"? Now you have to walk the container of grounds from the drawer over to the trash, and you'll have to clean grounds off the inside top of the counter inside the drawer. Dumb.

Wow. That felt good to get off my chest. 🙂 So, not impressed.