Bargain Mansions - General Discussion

[sheetmoss]

HGTV Tues 8pm CT

For home restoration expert Tamara Day, there's no such thing as a home that's too big! This Kansas City native and mother of four specializes in restoring the neglected large homes that others are too scared to take on. She brings these big beauties back to life so that new families can move in and love them again.

 

Not enjoying  the finished decor as much this season of shows

     Re Shirtwaist house

            I thought putting the fridge in the pantry was such a miss.

[CruiseDiva]

8 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

Not enjoying  the finished decor as much this season of shows

     Re Shirtwaist house

            I thought putting the fridge in the pantry was such a miss.

The tile with brass/metal accents was a bit too much. Maybe it would have been okay in one area, but it was gaudy to use so much of it in different patterns and in multiple rooms.

The fridge in the pantry was a huge miss. At first I thought it was a second fridge until she said she put it there to save room in the kitchen.

I really don't like the "wet room" thing she did in the master bath. Water will get around the sides and back of that tub and be impossible to clean. Can you say mildew? Plus...no shower doors?!?

Edited to add: I really like Tamara and her dad. They do an awesome job on those big old houses, but the finishes in this one didn't appeal to me. I like color, but that bright pink pantry and dark green bathroom ceiling were over the top. I guess she knows her market and what sells at that high price point.

Edited May 6, 2020 by CruiseDiva

[CrazyInAlabama]

I tried to like this show, but I can't get beyond the decorating.   One episode last night, they put purple flocked wall paper on a room ceiling.    I dislike wall paper anyway, but on a ceiling?   And the very modern light fixtures simply don't match the house, in my opinion. 

[RoxiP]

She way overdesigned this house, in my opinion.  (Let's not even start talking about that black paint on the outside of the house.)  Nobody wants to walk into their pantry to get stuff out of the frig - why didn't she just expand the kitchen into some of that space?  I think that house is going to be a hard sell.  She kept saying that she was designing it for a younger family but to me it looked very old.

[skipnjump]

I've seen an episode and I like that she is fixing up old houses, but I'm not a fan of her design and making everything all modern and open floor plan.  It also looks like she is over-improving the house for the area. 

[CountryGirl]

I've caught a few episodes  here and there and while I appreciate her love for old houses, her decor choices leave a lot to be desired. 

You can update homes without ruining their character.

A pink and purple pantry with a refrigerator that one will have to traipse back and forth from the kitchen how many times to utilize?

The royal blue mudroom?

All that gold was straight out of the 70s. 

This 1906 foursquare deserved so much better. 

Also, she seems to have the same design schtick - loud colors, a bunch of propped up abstract paintings, and way too much furniture/accessories. Even Joanna eased off the shiplap once in a while. 

[hilaryvm]

When they showed the bathroom with the green wallpaper on the ceiling, and the tile with gold everywhere (or maybe multiple tiles?) I physically recoiled.  I mean, this is worse than the stuff the Flip or Flop Vegas lady would come up with.

It's strange because she has a love for old houses and details, like keeping original wood and such, but then she'll also throw in super modern tile and wallpaper that just doesn't fit in with the older stuff at all.

[Dawn]

12 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

The tile with brass/metal accents was a bit too much. Maybe it would have been okay in one area, but it was gaudy to use so much of it in different patterns and in multiple rooms.

The fridge in the pantry was a huge miss. At first I thought it was a second fridge until she said she put it there to save room in the kitchen.

I really don't like the "wet room" thing she did in the master bath. Water will get around the sides and back of that tub and be impossible to clean. Can you say mildew? Plus...no shower doors?!?

I completely agree. She finds gorgeous houses and I'm glad she keeps a lot of the original stuff, but her designs this season are so over the top, and this house was the worst. I hated that tile in the kitchen. Maybe a small portion would have been nice, but it was so overwhelming and busy. And multiple highly stylized tile floor to ceiling in the bathrooms is not exactly my cup of tea.

I also thought that was a second fridge in the pantry, and was absolutely floored when she made clear it was the only fridge. It wasn't even convenient to the kitchen, and was in a tight little space!! Can you imagine trying to load groceries into that thing, or trying to open it a million times a day with a cup of coffee or bowl of cereal in your hand to add milk? Unbelievable. 

She has been all in on the open bathrooms and showers this season. I like to think the shower/tub wet room could work if done right, but this one was so tight in the space. There's no way the mildew wouldn't be quickly out of control!

Did anyone see the one from a few weeks ago? She turned the full 3rd floor into a (mostly beautiful) master suite (staircase in the middle, lots of nooks around the sides like this one but a lot bigger). She basically turned one of the 4 sides of the room into the bathroom, and put a huge shower/bath wet room in the back of it -- but no doors separating it from the rest of the bedroom, and no doors or walls of any kind on the shower!! All I could think of was freezing to death with all the drafts, or how awful it would be to have all that moisture from the shower permeating the rest of the master bedroom. She brought her family to the final reveal, and her little daughter said something like: "Isn't there supposed to be a door?" Smarter than her mom, apparently.

I just feel like she's become enamored with "fancy" or "daring" stuff this year. I hated all the lights, and all the fuss -- it distracted away from all of the beautiful woodwork and other original parts of the house. Hopefully she'll realize this isn't the best strategy and calm down. I do like her, and her dad, in general.

[sheetmoss]

2 hours ago, Dawn said:

 

I also thought that was a second fridge in the pantry, and was absolutely floored when she made clear it was the only fridge. It wasn't even convenient to the kitchen, and was in a tight little space!! Can you imagine trying to load groceries into that thing, or trying to open it a million times a day with a cup of coffee or bowl of cereal in your hand to add milk? Unbelievable. 

 

 

 

Add to the fridge nightmare,  there wasn't any 'landing' spot  nearby  for staging things going into &  out of the refrigerator.

I don't why she didn't at least incorporate refrigerated drawers near the stove to hold things like butter, milk, eggs, etc for convenience.

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by sheetmoss

[Grrarrggh]

15 hours ago, Dawn said:

Did anyone see the one from a few weeks ago? She turned the full 3rd floor into a (mostly beautiful) master suite (staircase in the middle, lots of nooks around the sides like this one but a lot bigger). She basically turned one of the 4 sides of the room into the bathroom, and put a huge shower/bath wet room in the back of it -- but no doors separating it from the rest of the bedroom, and no doors or walls of any kind on the shower!! All I could think of was freezing to death with all the drafts, or how awful it would be to have all that moisture from the shower permeating the rest of the master bedroom. She brought her family to the final reveal, and her little daughter said something like: "Isn't there supposed to be a door?" Smarter than her mom, apparently.

I couldn't believe that!! It's open concept run amuck. I have to close my shower door or pull the curtain tight to keep out little breezes even with a closed bathroom door. I would never buy a house with one of those open wet rooms and especially not one without a bathroom door. I don't even know what an owner could do to that space to make it private. And how much it would cost. 

[ECM1231]

I fell asleep towards the end and missed the reveal of the shirtwaist house but I saw enough to say I disliked everything she did. That backsplash with gold accents was hideous, that bold pantry color, the kooky wallpaper! Hated that she painted the shingles black. Hated that she carried those gold tile accents to the wet bar and who doesn't have a refrigerator in the kitchen?  For some reason it bothered me that she painted the pantry side of that gorgeous stained swinging door.  I wonder what her relationship is with her dad? It doesn't seem to be a partnership.  Is he like Jonathon Scott and only does a little bit of work for the cameras or is he actually doing  a large portion of the construction? If so, Tamara is very lucky.  The house, itself, was gorgeous, with all that chunky millwork but her design left a lot to be desired.

 

19 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

I don't why she didn't at least incorporate refrigerated drawers near the stove to hold things like butter, milk, eggs, etc for convenience.

 

That would have been an excellent idea.  I have toyed with the idea of eliminating a refrigerator completely for refrigerated drawers if I ever do a complete kitchen renovation. 

[Jack Sampson]

On 5/6/2020 at 7:34 AM, CruiseDiva said:

I guess she knows her market and what sells at that high price point.

Doubtful.  She just took the house off the market when it didn't sell at $499k.  I try to hunt down these houses to see if they actually sell, and at what price. 

The fridge in the pantry - unless she had a huge exhaust fan they didn't show, there's not even enough circulation for the thing to cool correctly.  And imagine a kid pushing open that solid, heavy door to get something to drink.

The wet bathrooms - an odd choice, even for a more progressive city. 

The kitchen - between the tile and the open shelving, everything looked cluttered. 

Speaking of clutter, was there a closet on the first floor?

Her designs try (and often fail) to be so on trend that they'll all look dated in a few years.

[Kenzie]

After reading all the comments I just had to watch this episode. The negative comments were deserved - cluttered, busy, odd tile choices and way over-staged for the size of every room.
 

But my biggest shock was that narrow, garish pantry. Not only was the fridge in the pantry but it was at the far end, sideways and without room to open the doors without backing into the closet behind. And as someone mentioned not even a counter to rest a jug of milk or bag of groceries on.

That kitchen would have been an absolute deal-killer for me.

[pasdetrois]

She's just barely retaining the old-house flavor, really just the materials that aren't too expensive to restore, like the staircases. What little period detail remains is overshadowed by her design. So she's claiming to save old houses, which to me means restoring period details, when in reality she's gutting the interiors. Essentially she's keeping the exterior. Good Bones does the same thing, and to a lesser degree Home Town, It's marketing fluff.

Most of these shows are endlessly self-promoting and thinly disguised advertisements for the host's business. Tamara constantly self-promotes and production keeps encouraging boring sound bites.

I don't think her houses are mansions. They are large old homes that used to exist on every Main Street in America. I do love them and am glad to see them standing and occupied by homeowners.

Edited May 11, 2020 by pasdetrois

[Kenzie]

On 5/6/2020 at 1:54 PM, CountryGirl said:

 

All that gold was straight out of the 70s. 

Too bad Zsa Zsa Gabor is gone, she would have loved all that over-the-top faux glam, dahling. :)

[lgprimes]

Watched this for the first time tonight.

 Maybe the last?

I REALLY don’t  like her decorating choices. From the comments here looks like I’m not alone.

[Jack Sampson]

Do people really need a giant pantry?  One that's so big she sacrificed the dining room to make it? 

 

[suebee12]

I actually liked the house "before" better with the exception of the huge stars on the floor...I did like like the wood she chose.(and I would have wanted the mouse nest gone!!)

I thought the black and white exterior was cold looking and then plopping the green door on was strange. I don't think I could have lived with those bright yellow cabinets especially with the wallpaper which had no yellow in it.

I really liked this show last year but this year, not so much. Too many bright colors and wild wallpaper and not enough of the original. I still like individual rooms.

[RoxiP]

Although the mud room with its yellow cabinets and chaotic wallpaper was not my taste, it was the pink cabinets in the pantry that made me shake my head.  Nothing is coordinated - she had bright yellow cabinets in one room, pink cabinets in another room, and green in the kitchen.  Then she uses three colors of tile in the bathroom floor - what if a homeowner doesn't like one of the colors - are they supposed to redo the whole thing?

I truly think she's kind of lost her way and is trying to make memorable rooms instead of ones that buyers will be drawn to.  Her taste is just too specific for the larger pool of homeowners.  I think higher end buyers are drawn more to amenities instead of over the top decorating.

I think statistics show that dining rooms really do not get used that much anymore so I can see why she doesn't utilize them as much - but I agree that totally getting rid of one seems a little excessive.  Why have a large storage area in the mud room and another large storage area in the pantry?  Doesn't that just encourage more clutter (I sure know I don't need to be encouraged to clutter...LOL!).

[CruiseDiva]

3 hours ago, suebee12 said:

I actually liked the house "before" better with the exception of the huge stars on the floor...I did like like the wood she chose.(and I would have wanted the mouse nest gone!!)

Does a big fancy "mud room" really sell a house? I'd never heard of that space until it became a thing on HGTV shows and Tamara always makes a big deal about them. My house, which has defined rooms laid out exactly like the "before" house, has a door leading outside from the laundry room. I guess if I hung hooks on the wall it could be considered a "mud space". 🙄

[Jack Sampson]

Does it make sense to do the reno in stages?  Seems like you might uncover something in stage 2 that would force you to rethink stage 1.  Or you might damage already finished work.  Or even that it might be cheaper to do all the demo at once.

The family room looked big before she overstuffed it with furniture, tables, etc. 

The house isn't even listed.  She bought it in September, did 4 months of reno, obviously staged it and took pictures, but hasn't listed it for sale.  Must not be any interest out there.

[MaKaM]

19 hours ago, Jack Sampson said:

Does it make sense to do the reno in stages?  Seems like you might uncover something in stage 2 that would force you to rethink stage 1.  Or you might damage already finished work.  Or even that it might be cheaper to do all the demo at once.

The family room looked big before she overstuffed it with furniture, tables, etc. 

The house isn't even listed.  She bought it in September, did 4 months of reno, obviously staged it and took pictures, but hasn't listed it for sale.  Must not be any interest out there.

I think the "stages" is only for TV. They carefully shoot the show to not show the other finished areas. It is like when they did the Brady house. There is no way they are doing demo on the second floor when the first floor is done and staged. They just film her coming up the stairs, pretending stage 1 is done and stage 2 hasn't started when they are going on simultaneously. You would also never save roofwork until the last moment like several episodes have pretended.

 

ETA: I think she also records her budget estimate talking parts after the reno is over because she is either always right on or just a hair over. Even when she has to replace the sewer system for the entire city, her overall budget overages aren't that much. She might go over on a "stage" but the final numbers are always within the ballpark of what she was estimating. And while you can cheap out on some things to save a few bucks, there are only so many favors you can call in for cheap materials or free labor or whatever.

Edited May 14, 2020 by MaKaM

[Dawn]

On 5/13/2020 at 6:17 PM, MaKaM said:

I think the "stages" is only for TV. They carefully shoot the show to not show the other finished areas. It is like when they did the Brady house.

Yes. If I'm remembering correctly, they used to play the two parts as separate episodes (and still could easily enough), so that's why they pretend it's two separate projects. 

This one was better than some of the others, but I agree that her style choices this season are just ... not good. I liked the office in theory, but the wall was too dark (there wasn't much natural light in there). I liked the hall bathroom, but not the random blue tiles in the new little bathroom. 

For the mudroom, I liked the yellow cabinets and wallpaper more than I thought I would (at least for a few minutes), but what really bothered me was how she didn't make it a proper laundry room. The washer and dryer were just sitting there. There was a utility sink, but having a cabinet over it really limits the functionality. And while there was a huge wall of cabinets, there was no flat surface for folding laundry, no racks for hanging things, etc. If part was mudroom storage and the rest of it was a nicely laid out and functional laundry room, that would have been a much better use of the space, IMO.

And I'm not really a fan of banquette's in general, but I thought that one looked horribly uncomfortable, with the sloped back. How in the world could you sit there comfortably, with back support, and be able to eat and talk to others? Leaning back on the bench would have you staring at the ceiling.  

[NYGirl]

Watching tonight for the first time.  I like the premise...not crazy about her design choices  She took a house with 3 bedrooms on the second floor and made a master bedroom, a master bath and an office.  Then she put the kids in the attic.  What if the buyer has a boy and a girl?  They sleep in the same room?  The master bath was gigantic!!

She also put a banquette in the living room...with a table. Wha???

Anyway she talks way too much.  I can't stand her voice.  She talks throughout the whole show and then describes what she did to people after she's done.  Take a breath..please.

[Dawn]

50 minutes ago, NYGirl said:

Anyway she talks way too much.  I can't stand her voice.  She talks throughout the whole show and then describes what she did to people after she's done.

Yes, I agree that she should talk less -- or find a way to make it more "natural". The running monologue and one-sided conversations get annoying. 

I liked the house tonight more than some of the other recent ones. I didn't love the black walls, but I'll take that over the super-busy things she's done recently. I loved that she left the wood wall in the living room -- it really was gorgeous. I liked the kitchen well enough (though I think that stone back splash would be awful to try to keep clean), and while the beams and big wooden chandeliers in the family room were maybe a bit much for the room, they weren't terrible.

BUT: I literally screeched out loud when I saw what she did to the entryway and main stairway. The ugly wallpaper! Taking out the nice wooden banister and putting ugly carpet on the stairs!! To me, that took it straight back into the 70s, which is supposedly what she was trying to get away from. I'm sure it could have used some cleaning up and updating, but that entrance to me would have been a terrible first impression on walking into the house. 

Also, the master bedroom and bathroom were pretty hideous, though more cosmetic issues. I hated the wallpaper and the curtains, and even more how they looked together. She got rid of the beautiful wood and glass door to the deck and apparently the wood trim around the windows. It looked very dated and weirdly fussy to me. 

Though she didn't show it, I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she put laundry somewhere in that redone basement (since it looked like the new bedroom went where the old laundry room might have been).

 

[RoxiP]

Oh, that ugly wallpaper in the entry was unfathomable...and I wasn't a fan of the black (although the dining room wall was better than I thought it would be when she first started talking about it).  I agree also that the master bedroom was horrible - and what she calls "attractive to the young buyers" looks dated to me - and I'm old!  Plus I think she put carpet upstairs in lieu of wood floors - what is up with that?  She talked about how much she liked the deck and I don't think they even showed it in the final walk-through.  

She is not really good at speaking - her language skills are awkward (and I realize that this sentence was also awkward but there is something about when she is talking about her designs that makes me think she isn't very well educated).  

[madpsych78]

She should have switched the stone backsplash in the kitchen with the black tile in the family room. 

And yes, that hallway wallpaper in the foyer was atrocious.

One thing that I DO like about her (compared to Alison Victoria especially!) is that she does try to get in there and actually work on the projects. Although I feel like her homes this season are not as grand as they were on previous seasons.

[MsJamieDornan]

Is there any info about the houses she has actually sold ? Does she get her asking price ?

[sheetmoss]

Really disliked in last episode that she removed the kitchen eating area  space

[irisheyes]

Why does she always turn a bedroom into a closet?  

[Dawn]

1 hour ago, irisheyes said:

Why does she always turn a bedroom into a closet?  

As someone who has a closet that was originally a (small) bedroom (the previous owner did it -- I get all of the decadence with none of the guilt!), I can't fault her for that, not if there are enough other bedrooms. It's amazing. (Especially in old houses, like mine, where the original closets are quite small.) I don't know if I could ever go back to a regular closet. And I'm not exactly a walking fashion plate; I just don't like doing laundry and love having all of my clothes  accessible all year round, particularly since going from e.g. 60 degrees to 90 in 3 days is a regular thing where I live. 

Her renos continue to be a real mixed bag for me. The busy wallpapers, dramatic paint and light fixtures, and other oddities mix with some nice features. I once again hated what she did with the main stairs/entryway; painting the wall, treads, risers, trim, etc. that dark blue made the stairs feel like a big black hole and lost all of the detail and beauty of the stairs. If the trim and risers had been left white (maybe?), I think it would have been much better. The den was way too dark again -- navy walls, trim, and ceiling is excessive. Laundry room wallpaper was super loud, and why have open shelves instead of proper cabinets? The coral front door and especially porch ceiling was too much, and why those silly little swings on the porch instead of a proper porch swing?? Who would want to sit on there for more than a few minutes??

I liked the color of the kitchen cabinets, and the kitchen overall. The countertop would not have been my first choice (a little busy for my taste), but I did like it with that soft blue on the cabinets. I've been thinking about painting my "closet" a similar color (it currently is covered in that cheap ugly wood paneling that was big in the 1970s for covering crumbling plaster & wallpaper; previous owners nicely painted out all of it elsewhere in the house, but apparently did not want to try painting around the closet system installed on over 60% of the walls). 

I think fixing the top floor bathroom to make it more usable was a good idea in principle, but though they only showed quick glimpses of it, I think the dormer they added to make the bathroom work looked terrible! At least add a fake window to it to make it look like it belongs, and isn't just a random box sticking out of the roofline.

A garage is always a good thing, but did the house have a yard after that was done? Was the front/side yard usable? I wasn't paying close attention at that part.

 

 

[RoxiP]

I agree about the dark blue paint in the entryway and stairs, and in the den - I once moved into a house where the previous homeowner had done a bedroom in "101 Dalmations" (I kid you not) and for years I had nightmares about painting over those black spots - it took many, many coats of Kilz.  Who would want to live in that black (well navy) hole of a den and I pity them if they decided to change it out?  I did like the fireplace renovation though.

I actually thought the countertop went surprisingly well with the kitchen cabinets - the heavy veining seemed to coordinate well with the blue.  

I also thought the dormer had a false window in it but I might be wrong.  I've seen her do that before - she either paints the glass white or blue to hide the fact that there really isn't a window there.  I did love that tile she put in the 3rd floor bathroom - that might have been my favorite thing in the house.

I didn't mind the coral door but I thought painting the ceiling coral was a mistake.  In the south we usually paint the ceilings of our porches blue because it supposedly discourages bugs.  I did love the 5 ceiling fans though.  The swings were just stupid.  Did she test them to check if children were going to bang into the porch rail if they (which they undoubtedly will) try to swing on them?  Just put a darned porch swing on the thing and call it good!

[CruiseDiva]

Tamara's choice of mixed metal finishes, garish light fixtures, wallpaper, colors, and staging have really gotten out of hand. That den/study was dreary and wallpaper in the laundry room was very impractical for a room that be humid with a washer and dryer. Far more appealing would be to paint everything in neutrals and give the buyer a credit for repainting and wallpapering if they want it. 

While I would love a closet that size, I wouldn't want all those banks of shelves and very little hanging space for long garments (dresses, bathrobes). She made a point of saying there were nine hanging spaces, but all except one had double rods for hanging short garments (shirts, slacks). Don't people use dressers in their bedrooms any more?

The porch ceiling and little swings were a huge fail in my opinion.

Edited May 27, 2020 by CruiseDiva
Spelling matters.

[RoxiP]

Because I have drawers in my closet (not fancy but the former owners combined two closets into one and it does have a bank of drawers) I do not have a dresser in my bedroom.  Of course that is also because I don't have a mansion sized bedroom!  

[buttersister]

Did she have a better designer to help last season? Because those homes looked so much better finished than recent ones. And more like mansions than large houses, as mentioned. Many HGTV shows stay level over the seasons (easy when everything is white and grey with farmhouse sinks); but this one has tanked. 

The idea of a bargain mansion must have seemed like a cool angle, at some point. Doesn’t make it sustainable, though. Ask David about house “hunting” for multi-millionaires vs. finding homes in the $250–300k range, as in many HH episodes.

[CruiseDiva]

23 minutes ago, buttersister said:

Did she have a better designer to help last season? Because those homes looked so much better finished than recent ones. And more like mansions than large houses, as mentioned. Many HGTV shows stay level over the seasons (easy when everything is white and grey with farmhouse sinks); but this one has tanked. 

I really liked this show when it first aired. It's becoming a cliche.

[RoxiP]

Maybe she's just gotten a big head with her success?  Maybe she just has questionable taste and last year had better guidance?  Maybe I should quit watching but I'm still fascinated and enjoy critiquing her designs (and I truly would like it if one of these houses I end up liking everything or at least most everything and so far that's not happening this season!).  I love the houses themselves - that house last night had really good bones (to use the title for another show).

[buttersister]

I am amused by the show ending with her pricing/wishful thinking instead of here's what I got for the place. At least, on this season's eps that's what I've seen. Tarak and Christina used to do that--whenever they hadn't sold a place!

Edited May 27, 2020 by buttersister

[MaKaM]

So while the wallpaper she chose this time (and last time) wasn't my taste, I do appreciate that she isn't making gray and white boxes. Modern wallpaper should just peel off if don't you like it. I was thinking about putting crazy wallpaper like she did in the laundry room into my pantry closet. big palm leaves and flamingos and then paint the shelves pink. Because it is the pantry (or laundry room for her) who cares? But then, I have an orange and cream dining room, a green living room, and a yellow hallway.

I liked the light blue cabinets more than I thought I would and the busy granite actually looked good. The gold fixtures and whatnot, I assume she is getting at discount from the lighting store on stuff that didn't sell and she tries to pimp it out as top-of-the-line.

The way she says "all" is the thing that gets me. "ohhhwlllll" or something. Seems like her husband is replacing her dad in the show now. And with her new store, guess they have to work the coworker (co-owner? designer?) in more now. Either way, I'd rather watch this with the ugly wallpaper than more Property Brothers gray boxes so I am still in it.

[CruiseDiva]

48 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

...I'd rather watch this with the ugly wallpaper than more Property Brothers gray boxes so I am still in it.

I don't get the appeal of the Property Brothers and hate the way they are being shoved onto our TV screens all the time. If I never hear them say someone DESERVES a perfect home (designed and provided by them, naturally), it'll be too soon. 

I'd really like to see something new and fresh on HGTV. Even a lot of Tamara's over the top decor choices are interesting compared to the Property Brothers' sterile grey and white interiors that all look the same.

[Toothbrush]

The pink pantry door looked like an outside door to me; it even locked from the outside. It's inevitable that at some point one sibling will lock another one in there. Or do I just have bad kids? 🤔 And I wouldn't want to have to trek up to the 3rd floor kids' suite to make sure teeth are brushed, baths taken, kids are asleep/awake when they need to be, and it doesn't look like a hurricane blew through.  

Her dad cracks me up looking for a body. I do wonder if she's ever found anything cool in one of her houses other than fixtures. 

This show is a lockdown discovery for us, so I'll have to look for older episodes to watch. I'm not a fan of the carry-the-whatever-theme-throughout-the-house decorating style, but Tamara's style seems so mish-mash. I'm interested to see earlier houses that may not be so busily decorated.  

[Kohola3]

On 5/29/2020 at 5:45 AM, Toothbrush said:

This show is a lockdown discovery for us, so I'll have to look for older episodes to watch.

Me, too.  I did like the blue theme in the shirtwaist because that's my favorite  but I can see people not wanting to buy because it's difficult to paint navy walls another color (as has been mentioned) and to change out brand new cabinets in the kitchen would be a shame.  That's the problem with doing anything out of the ordinary.

While the navy tile in that shower looked good all I could do was to fast forward to how that will look once the soap scum starts to build up.  

[MartyQui]

Some of the choices she makes are just weird...there was one episode where she changed the location of a powder room door so that it opened right next to the living room sofa...not much privacy there!

[justdoit10]

I have tried to watch this show but her decor and color choices are cringe worthy.  Awful.

[SuzySmith]

On 5/21/2020 at 1:47 AM, MsJamieDornan said:

Is there any info about the houses she has actually sold ? Does she get her asking price ?

I happened to meet the owner of one of "her" houses recently.  Tamara never owned it, did very little of the design and even less of the work.  Real owner had purchased it after long-time owner attempted a redo.  She was part way through with it when the contractor called her and asked if she'd be willing to work with HGTV.  For her part, she got some nice updates (wood floors for free instead of the carpet she'd budgeted for).  The episode featured a discussion between Tamara and her dad about the paint color - the one she "picked" was the one the owner had signed off on already.  FWIW, the home is a stunner now and the owner has a great story!

As for the aesthetics changing, she's changed contractors she works with several times. 

Edited July 14, 2020 by SuzySmith

[RoxiP]

My daughter and I were watching some new HGTV design show (Design at Your Door perhaps?) and my daughter commented that Tamara's house was way too fussy and cluttered.  She never watches Bargain Mansions so it cracked me up - I told her the people on Primetimer agreed!

Edited July 24, 2020 by RoxiP

[MartyQui]

There was a new episode last night...does she know what mid-century modern is?  That stairwell with the stained cheap pine was absolutely awful.

[CruiseDiva]

30 minutes ago, MartyQui said:

There was a new episode last night...does she know what mid-century modern is?  That stairwell with the stained cheap pine was absolutely awful.

Yes, it was cheap and tacky looking. I wasn't impressed by the wall of shelves held up by painted pipes and backed by tile either. Don't most people buying a high priced house have their own dining room furniture that might include a buffet or china cabinet for which they would need wall space? I also thought she screwed up the laundry room by stacking the washer and dryer so there would be her all important "mud space" and then it wasn't really anything useful. With a washer and dryer on the second floor she could have made that utility room a mud room and created a functional laundry room in the basement.

Poor dear. Her taste in light fixtures is terrible. Another thing she does that bugs me is to not use all the available space for bathroom vanities. They seldom reach all the way to a wall and that results in less countertop space and a little wedge of flooring between the vanity cabinet and the wall that has to be hard to clean. I don't know about y'all, but bathroom countertop space is very important to me.

[sheetmoss]

i used to enjoy Bargain Mansion's because  the decorating had a different vibe/style, but starting last season... it's more of wretched excess now - and this is being said by somebody who really likes layering,

It seemed the design vibe changed after Tamar opened her store.

Also in the MCM, I would have kept the wet bar and just reworked it,

[CruiseDiva]

35 minutes ago, sheetmoss said:

i used to enjoy Bargain Mansion's because  the decorating had a different vibe/style, but starting last season... it's more of wretched excess now - and this is being said by somebody who really likes layering,

It seemed the design vibe changed after Tamar opened her store.

Also in the MCM, I would have kept the wet bar and just reworked it,

Agreed. The first season was so different and I must say that I liked her work in the past more than what we are seeing now. Not sure what's changed, but she seems to be following "trends" more now than before.

I would have kept the wet bar as well. We had one in a previous house and I really missed it when we moved on. Plus, it would have been a MCM feature, more so than some of the other changes she made.