Good Bones - General Discussion

[3 is enough]

3 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Yet they didn't buy. Again. I'm beginning to think the walkers-through are just people Mina knows (doesn't she always know them?) and are just being shown the houses for the TV show.

It's very possible that the majority of prospective buyers just don't want to be filmed.  I know I wouldn't.

[Andyourlittledog2]

It only takes me 30 minutes to watch Good Bones because I FF through all the demo 'antics' 'boys will be boys' crap and most of Karen's tacky projects. 

After long watching this show I have decided that Mina is simply the kind of person that cannot put herself in the place of the buyer while 'designing' her homes. She has a checklist of things buyers like and she crams as many of them into a house as possible with no thought to how the people who buy the house will actually live.  So you get extra bedrooms and little public living space. You get downstairs Juliet balconies that open into ALLEYS and fussy tilework with lots of grout or hard to maintain marble everywhere. If I bought that house the first thing I'd do was contract to close that balcony to the alley up. I'd never feel safe with that there, nevermind the eau de alley wafting into the dining room if you ever opened the doors.

And yes, the couple from San Diego was weirdly impressed with everything.  I wish the cameras spent more time during the reveals showing the actual home and less on closeups of the staging doodads. See this vase! Look at that throw pillow! Gaze your eyes upon the glorious lamp! It takes a quick eye and use of the pause button to get any real idea of the actual house itself. The other week I had to rewind and pause five times to try to understand the dining room. Once it was the kitchen I had to rewind multiple times to see as fully as I was able. I did get to see long loving shots of the bowl of fruit and the drawer pulls, but the entire kitchen, never.

I don't know if I can keep watching this show.

[dleighg]

38 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

So you get extra bedrooms

but didn't she remove a bedroom to make an extra special MBedroom + closet + bath?

Not that I think that's necessarily wrong, but man-- 2 BR vs 3 BR is a BFD

[Andyourlittledog2]

In this weeks design she did all right with the bedrooms. But over the years I have seen her more often turn a two bedroom into a three with a huge master and use public space to cannibalize for it. You'd wind up with bedrooms for a family of five and only two seats at the kitchen counter for dining, no dining table at all, and a teeny tiny living room with room for a regular sofa and maybe a chair. It was totally out of proportion.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Andyourlittledog2

[tljgator]

1 hour ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

See this vase! Look at that throw pillow! Gaze your eyes upon the glorious lamp!

I notice on most of the HGTV shows these days we see the logo'ed boxes and online ordering for all the frou-frou-fery (guess what, HGTV? I've never watched the mediocre and/or overdone staging on any of these shows and wondered if Wayfair had just what I need). This week, Good Bones just had to make sure we saw the Gorilla Glue up close about 20 times during Karen's project making (it was a good lead-in to the Gorilla Glue commercial that followed).

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I wish the cameras spent more time during the reveals showing the actual home and less on closeups of the staging doodads.

Yeah, that gets old really quick. I am not at all interested in the crap they set around. I want to see the rooms in total.

[3 is enough]

4 hours ago, dleighg said:

but didn't she remove a bedroom to make an extra special MBedroom + closet + bath?

Not that I think that's necessarily wrong, but man-- 2 BR vs 3 BR is a BFD

People want nice masters with ensuite bathrooms with all the bells and whistles.  And they don't want to share the bathroom with guests/kids.  

These homes are on the smaller side- I think it was 1200 sq ft?  I believe the target market is single people, young couples with no kids, or empty nesters, so having only two bedrooms is not necessarily a deal breaker.

Edited July 2, 2020 by 3 is enough

[MsTree]

Believe it or not, there are some of us who don't care about Instagram, Twitter, etc...and appreciate learning about Mina's journey on the show.

 

[RoxiP]

I actually was impressed by Karen's bed - that took a LOT of work (especially with a kitten "helping."  Although of course the furniture doesn't stay with the house so I don't understand the point (personally I would have kept the original porch rails because they were really cool with the design on them).  

[CruiseDiva]

They spent so much time on the faux judge's paneling on the stair wall in the dining area and it looked good. Then... they covered it up with a side table full of crap and you couldn't even see it. It was a nice feature and they totally hid it. The Juliette balcony was dumb. Without screens, who would want to invite bugs inside even if they wanted to open the doors for a view of... nothing?

[3 is enough]

I could be wrong, but I think Karen’s crafts stay with the house. Especially if she repurposes something they found in the house like the headboard from the porch railing.

[3 is enough]

I am not a fan of the lingering shots of succulent terrariums either.  But all the HGTV shows do it.  Gotta keep the sponsors happy I guess.

Personally I think the staging should be more bare bones- furniture, and maybe a few wall hangings, and a tv, which is always conveniently ignored on tv design shows, but always present in model homes.  I have grown to hate dust catching tchotchkes, but when I was younger I certainly had my share of them.

[CrazyInAlabama]

If I ever moved to Indy and bought a house like the remodel this week, the first thing that would go is the porch rail remade into a headboard, and footboard.     

I've seen a few of the remodeled homes in their actual sales photos, and the extra furniture, and all of the throws, and other stuff is gone.   The rooms look much better, and more like a home, than a sales showroom for household wares. 

I can't believe they used peel and stick 'wallpaper' in that half bath.    It would have looked better to just leave that wall with the paint.     

Edited July 2, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

56 minutes ago, 3 is enough said:

I am not a fan of the lingering shots of succulent terrariums either.  But all the HGTV shows do it.  Gotta keep the sponsors happy I guess.

Personally I think the staging should be more bare bones- furniture, and maybe a few wall hangings, and a tv, which is always conveniently ignored on tv design shows, but always present in model homes.  I have grown to hate dust catching tchotchkes, but when I was younger I certainly had my share of them.

All of the shows overdo the staging, IMO. You can’t see what the rooms are like for all the clutter.

[Kohola3]

1 minute ago, LittleIggy said:

All of the shows overdo the staging, IMO. You can’t see what the rooms are like for all the clutter.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's like a magician and a shiny coin, you are so focused on the coin that you don't see what's really going on. I wonder what they are trying to hide by diverting your attention away from the actual room.

[skipnjump]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

All of the shows overdo the staging, IMO. You can’t see what the rooms are like for all the clutter.

But yet, all of the home sales shows say to keep the house bare of clutter. ...

 

[3 is enough]

5 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I wonder what they are trying to hide by diverting your attention away from the actual room.

I don't think they are necessarily trying to hide anything. I think they just have a deal with the sponsors to have lingering camera shots on the decorative items. Not everyone can afford to redo a kitchen or bath, or buy a new sofa, but that geometric brass ball is doable...

At least that is my guess.  On Home Town they feature the items sold in their store very prominently...

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's remodel in the historic district for friends is scary.       The homeowners are lucky that removing that living room wall didn't bring the house down.  I'm guessing that the entire plumbing, and electrical will have to be redone too.   Tell me that the big mirror that just broke, wasn't just for the plot line?   

[buttersister]

On 6/27/2020 at 11:47 PM, LittleIggy said:

I don’t really care about their fertility issues. Not why I watch.

Right. It's HGTV, not HGFITV.

[Suzysite]

1 hour ago, buttersister said:

I don’t really care about their fertility issues. Not why I watch.

I might be alone, but I'm kind of interested in it.  

[Grrarrggh]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Tonight's remodel in the historic district for friends is scary.       The homeowners are lucky that removing that living room wall didn't bring the house down.  I'm guessing that the entire plumbing, and electrical will have to be redone too.   Tell me that the big mirror that just broke, wasn't just for the plot line?   

I would NEVER get people like the Good Bones crew in to renovate a historic house. They always ruin them. 

[LittleIggy]

I was so pissed when that 💩 for brains smashed the mirror. Somebody could have used it. I generally liked what they did to the house. Liked the green kitchen cabinet color. Loved the cat steps Karen created. My cats would love that. Oh, of course I loved the painting of the cat wearing a frock cat that there was a glimpse of in the entry area. Got sick of Mina gushing over how cool her friends were. Did she seriously think Mel’s hair was all real? Looked like a weave to me. I hate those bovine nose rings even the small ones. The dogs were cute. The cat was adorbs. Thank you, Karen, for saying you cared about him. Mina: 🖕🏻For what you said about the cat. Jack is adorable.

[MsTree]

4 hours ago, Suzysite said:

I might be alone, but I'm kind of interested in it.  

You're not alone...

[CrazyInAlabama]

I didn't like the historic house at all   My guess is the cat will take the bottom bed, and the dogs will be homeless.   The two dogs were too big to fit in the dog area anyway.      I didn't like the stair metal rails, I thought it looked like a jail cell.    The open shelves were OK, but I did like the cabinets after the remodel, except the color.     I didn't need to hear 50 times how cool being a hair dresser, and bar owner is.   I didn't like the living room before, but after was OK.     

I can't believe the historic district approved the front and back additions, or the colors they painted the outside of the house.   I thought the outside colors were garish, and awful and wonder what colors the historic district would have said no to?     The gray outside paint would have been great to redo, and use a nice trim color that wasn't garish.   

I hated the kitchen cabinet color, it made the room look smaller.   Did they even do anything to preserve the butcher block counter tops in the kitchen?   They looked like raw wood.   My guess is that when the maintenance on the butcher block gets to be a pain, they'll switch to quartz or some other stone.    From other episodes, switching to quartz wouldn't have been very expensive, and then the kitchen would be done for years.    The dining room table looked nice, except for the metal insert.   

I can't believe the budget went from $75k, to well over $100k.  

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[RoxiP]

I thought the stairs looked like jail cells also.  Way too much of a good thing IMO.  But it's not my house!

[3 is enough]

Not my favourite renovation.  I did like the dining room table.

[justdoit10]

On 7/1/2020 at 8:34 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

In this weeks design she did all right with the bedrooms. But over the years I have seen her more often turn a two bedroom into a three with a huge master and use public space to cannibalize for it. You'd wind up with bedrooms for a family of five and only two seats at the kitchen counter for dining, no dining table at all, and a teeny tiny living room with room for a regular sofa and maybe a chair. It was totally out of proportion.

They are not thought out well.  And I would just remove Karen's junky projects.  The reason you don't see them  in other homes is they are dumb and tacky.

1 hour ago, RoxiP said:

I thought the stairs looked like jail cells also.  Way too much of a good thing IMO.  But it's not my house!

It looked like you were entering a cage.

[justdoit10]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I didn't like the historic house at all   My guess is the cat will take the bottom bed, and the dogs will be homeless.   The two dogs were too big to fit in the dog area anyway.      I didn't like the stair metal rails, I thought it looked awful.   It looked a lot like a jail cell.     The open shelves were OK, but I did like the cabinets after the remodel, except the color.     I didn't need to hear 50 times how cool being a hair dresser, and bar owner is.   I didn't like the living room before, but after was OK.      I can't believe the historic district approved the front and back additions, or the colors they painted the outside of the house.   I thought the outside colors were garish, and awful and wonder what colors the historic district would have said no to?      I hated the kitchen cabinet color, it made the room look smaller.   Did they even do anything to preserve the butcher block counter tops in the kitchen?   They looked like raw wood. 

I liked the original gray color of the house and they could have just freshened it and added an accent color.  I didn't like the color they picked at all.  In general I don't care for what I consider  crayon colors for cabinets and walls in a house.  I prefer neutral colors that can be accented by decor.  I also don't like houses where the front rooms are a dining room and a kitchen.  The first room I want to see is to be a living room space. 

Edited July 8, 2020 by justdoit10

[MartyQui]

I thought the kitchen in the historic house was so small!  And those stupid cat stairs with the brackets exposed are the first thing you see when you come in the house...didn’t like those either.  Not my favorite.

[bilgistic]

The kitchen was cute for the most part, but the industrial green cabinet color was atrocious.

I didn't hate the idea of the stair bars in theory, but they needed to keep the bars just in the center where the stairs "turned". Having them on both sides was way too much. Also, I didn't like that the end bar on one panel butted up against the end bar on another. There needed to be an equidistant space for the design.

Tad breaking the mirror really pissed me off, too. Mirror glass that big is expensive. That could've been hung back up and reframed or otherwise reused.

It irritates me how they destroy kitchen cabinets, too. Habitat ReStore will take gently removed cabinets for resale.

Edited July 8, 2020 by bilgistic

[Cherpumple]

6 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Tad breaking the mirror really pissed me off, too. Mirror glass that big is expensive. That could've been hung back up and reframed or otherwise reused.

Not only that, but with one idiotic kick he scattered hundreds of glass shards around a yard that is home to two dogs (and possibly an outdoor cat). And no matter what Mina said, there's no way that he was conscientious enough to pick up every single shard afterwards, thus creating a very dangerous spot for the animals. What an ass! 

[LittleIggy]

Guess I’m the only one who liked the green kitchen cabinets. I love dark green. Loved the steps for the cat, too. Jackson Galaxy would approve. 
I hate it on any reno show when cabinets that could be donated to H for H or some other charity are demolished. 

[dleighg]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I didn't hate the idea of the stair bars in theory, but they needed to keep the bars just in the center where the stairs "turned". Having them on both sides was way too much. Also, I didn't like that the end bar on one panel butted up against the end bar on another. There needed to be an equidistant space for the design.

Totally agree. The double bar looked wrong, and having it on both sides gave an unpleasant "vibration" to me. Just way too much.

[3 is enough]

When the cabinets were installed they were dark brown, so I was really surprised that they ended up green.  Usually cabinets that are going to be painted are lighter in colour. 

Breaking stuff and sloppy demos seems to be the "gimmick" on this show. What mischief will Tad and the crew get into this week? The mirror was unnecessary, but I wonder if it sustained a crack or chip during removal and could not be reused?  Still no reason to smash it to bits though.

 

 

[tinderbox]

I think the jail cell stairway was absolutely horrendous.  So were those uglya$$ cat stairs.  What were they thinking?   Not convinced the couple loved either of those design decisions.

I would never ever hand over $100,000+ to anyone to design my home in order to be surprised in the end.  Ridiculous!

Edited July 9, 2020 by tinderbox
Added thought

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is that the remodels they do for clients, that those people do have input, and it's just not shown on screen.     At least I hope the majority of the features they put into the house are approved by the homeowners.  

Karen looks different to me this season too, I wonder if she lost weight?   The face often shows weight loss first.    

Edited July 11, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[3 is enough]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

My guess is that the remodels they do for clients, that those people do have input, and it's just not shown on screen.     At least I hope the majority of the features they put into the house are approved by the homeowners.  

I certainly hope so.  No way would I give someone 6 figures to renovate my house and have no input.  It's entirely possible that the couple approved all the choices (or at least the big ones), but just didn't go back to the house until all the work was done.

Home decorating shows, like the rest of reality tv, are not "real".

[Grrarrggh]

1 hour ago, 3 is enough said:

I certainly hope so.  No way would I give someone 6 figures to renovate my house and have no input.  It's entirely possible that the couple approved all the choices (or at least the big ones), but just didn't go back to the house until all the work was done.

Home decorating shows, like the rest of reality tv, are not "real".

That makes me even more worried over people's complete lack of taste and originality lol. 

[pasdetrois]

Quote

I think the jail cell stairway was absolutely horrendous.

All I could think about was Elvis in "Jail House Rock."

Has Karen had a face lift? If so it's a good one because she just looks refreshed, not stretched.

Karen sometimes wears the most scrumptious colors: cornflower blue, aqua, peach.

Tad's scripted shenanigans dumb down the show.

Edited July 10, 2020 by pasdetrois

[3 is enough]

37 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

Has Karen had a face lift? If so it's a good one because she just looks refreshed, not stretched

That's funny, because I did find she looks different, but to me she looks older. Also more makeup than she used to wear.  Eye of the beholder and all, I guess.  🤷‍♀️

[CrazyInAlabama]

I bet the mirror had issues, and was going to be trashed anyway, so they broke it.    I'm hoping they really cleaned it up thoroughly.    

I was surprised at some of the remodels, then I looked at an online real estate site.   The most expensive houses in Fountain Square are hideous modern boxes, right next to cute, older bungalows.    Why would anyone want a flat roof in a heavy snow and rain area?     Bates-Hendricks is putting up some fancy modern new builds too, right next to vintage remodels.  

They're having a marathon today, and the older one where they put marble counter tops, and back splash, then Karen made PVC gutter herb garden for the back of the kitchen sink.     If I lived there that indoor garden would be gone so fast.   If I have garden lettuce and herbs, I don't want it growing in chemicals, and sitting on marble counters. 

I've never liked craft projects, and I still don't.    I wonder how many of the craft projects are still around when someone buys the house?   

I wonder if larger pieces will fit up the jail cell stairs?    I'm guessing a big box spring or a big dresser isn't going to make it without a lot of work.  

On Vacation House Rules (HGTV) they had an open staircase, and used wood slats that looked like the jail cell bars.  However, on that show they were painted white, and looked so much nicer than the black metal.  The vacation house also had a straight flight of stairs, and didn't have a 180 degree turn like the Good Bones house did.  

I can't even say how awful the flat floor in the bathroom was, and it's not the first time they've done the shower without a sill look (there was at least one more on yesterday's rerun marathon).    The no sill shower looks like a disaster waiting to happen.    I can see someone not watching the water levels, and there goes water out the door.  

Edited July 15, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[dleighg]

I hated the stupid water fight they were having with the refrigerator hose. That's just so childish to me.

[MrPissyPuppy]

Whatever happened to people thinking breaking a mirror would equal 7 years bad luck? 

You could put on a pretty good Cell Block Tango performance with those stairs!

[CrazyInAlabama]

They just reran the episode where they did the upstairs apartment for Mina's sister, and her two little girls (Bean is one).    That was such a nice apartment, and perfect for the three girls.     It was so sad to see Stephanie, Mina's late sister in law on the crew.   (She's the one they did the tiny one bedroom for).

Tonight's new house had a fire, mostly of the damage is the back shed addition, and they're eliminating that addition.   The fact the house is also a hoarder house is another bad feature.    I hate hoarder houses, they hide so much structural, and vermin damage under the junk piles.      The huge pocket door was spectacular.  

Tad really has increased his skill level in the past couple of years.    Catching the framing issue, and the window issue was a good catch on Cory, and Tad's part.    The contractor they hired for this build was a big mistake.  

I'm surprised that Mina and Karen have never gone right through the rotten floors in one of these awful houses.  

Edited July 15, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[irisheyes]

Loved that they found (and kept!) the pocket doors. I wasn’t crazy about the huge dining table right in front of the door, but that’s an easy fix by a buyer. 
 

Pretty sure they’ll never use that contractor again. 

[LittleIggy]

Jack’s hair had a reddish tint on this episode. I guess because his hair was damp the red showed up more. I knew his hair had been redder when he was younger. Such a cutie!

That pocket door was beautiful. Reminded me of the Boise Boys finding one. I liked what they did to the house. Once again the people they showed the house to didn’t buy (those girls were so pretty).  I liked Mina’s nephew telling Tad and Cory to quit messing around. He’s more mature than they are! 😆

[RoxiP]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Jack’s hair had a reddish tint on this episode. I guess because his hair was damp the red showed up more. I knew his hair had been redder when he was younger. Such a cutie!

That pocket door was beautiful. Reminded me of the Boise Boys finding one. I liked what they did to the house. Once again the people they showed the house to didn’t buy (those girls were so pretty).  I liked Mina’s nephew telling Tad and Cory to quit messing around. He’s more mature than they are! 😆

At least this time when they showed the house they said "their first showing" instead of acting like these people were all but signed on the dotted line.  Those two little girls were so cute!

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wouldn't have touched the house last night either, if I was a buyer.  The lady with the two adorable daughters was smart to pass on it.   

When a couple of houses ago had an attic fire, they took out the burned wood, all of the insulation, and then put up about half new trusses, with the plywood roof wood new.    The older part with smoke damage, they hired someone to spray Killz on it, I believe it was almost 20 gallons, and seal the smoke smell off forever.    There was not one hint of smoke smell.   I've noticed that unless it's off camera, that the flippers on TV don't do that.   

 A transitioning or up-and-coming neighborhood wouldn't interest me at all.   Being the nicest house in a not too great neighborhood isn't a good idea, especially for a buyer with two little kids.   Since there were only two real bedrooms, than that means the girls either share an upstairs room, or one would move downstairs in the office or study, and I wouldn't be OK with that.      There is no guarantee that all of the neighboring houses will be upgraded, and the street will improve quickly, if ever.    I loved the pocket door, and thought the house was nice, but I still didn't like the full wall of marble tile in the kitchen.     I would have liked a similar look, but in ceramic or porcelain, so the color would have been more consistent. 

I don't like marble, it stains, and can have other issues,.     It would also be much cheaper to use a nice ceramic or porcelain tile, with a grout that won't stain.     

Edited July 15, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[3 is enough]

Mina loves her marble tile, that's for sure.

[MaKaM]

I'd rather have the marble on the wall than on the countertops.

Buying in a transitional neighborhood is always a gamble--it might never get better or you could end up sitting on a pile of money as your house appreciates. I mean, I think people living in San Francisco are nuts--the city is built on the rubble of the previous city which sits on top of an earthquake fault line, but if my family could go back in time and buy land in the early 1900s out there we'd be set for life. You never know.