Classic Trading Spaces: 2001-2008 Seasons Discussion

[fountain]

4 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Re: Doug's Route 66 Car room / Kia's military living room. The idea of Doug's room was cool for a five year old but that boy is not going to be five forever and that room was completely dwarfed by the two car halves and the red half didn't even get the toy box. Where was that boy supposed to play with all of his toys? In a few years he'll be getting homework in school, where is he supposed to do that? It's going to be so hard to take that car out of the room when he inevitably outgrows it.

There's not much to say about the Kia room. The wife was disappointed even though she tried to put on a good face and if it was me, the parachute on the wall would bother me more than the camo cushions and border on the wall. And Kia was so obnoxious to Ty and Paige when Ty said he couldn't build her the wall.

I would think they would just redo the kids room in the future.  I have an almost 9 year old and she still wants stickers on her wall and doesn’t have homework yet.  Of all of Doug’s rooms I thought it was pretty good and one I would keep.

All of Kia’s rooms sucked.  Even on my original viewing I was shocked with the borders as they were out of style back then.

ETA It will be interesting to see what colours Laurie chooses now.  Back in the old TS days the colours always matched her personal look but it worked as those colour palets were in style then.  I had copper accent walls and an olive green bathroom back in my old Condo around 2004.

I loved the little girls room with the flowers. It was so polished I loved it, usually TS rooms are a little sloppy looking.  I am pretty uptight about my house so I was okay with that.

Edited April 14, 2018 by fountain

[Mabinogia]

35 minutes ago, Wings said:

Hildi's dinning black room was grim but there have been worse.  They were going to trash the furniture anyway.  Expensive to hire painters given how many coats are needed to change it though. Nothing compares to Doug's white room.  Those men spent countless hours stripping white paint off off to expose the wood.  And the fireplace as well.  They have to do that all over again.  

I wonder what Doug would have done had it not been a "black and white" episode. Because it was pretty shitty to undo all the work the homeowners had done, but he was doing a "white" room so he kind of had to. Whose idea was the stupid black and white theme? I didn't actually see that ep. Was it predetermined? Did Doug and Hildi get together at the beginning of the ep and decide to do it? My money is on production deciding to do it now because they knew the woodwork would have to be painted over and they were hoping the homeowners would flip out. 

[Wings]

6 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I wonder what Doug would have done had it not been a "black and white" episode. Because it was pretty shitty to undo all the work the homeowners had done, but he was doing a "white" room so he kind of had to. Whose idea was the stupid black and white theme? I didn't actually see that ep. Was it predetermined? Did Doug and Hildi get together at the beginning of the ep and decide to do it? My money is on production deciding to do it now because they knew the woodwork would have to be painted over and they were hoping the homeowners would flip out. 

They did get together way before the start because they come with the supplies, but I read somewhere is was the producers idea.  

[Bastet]

He said he'd always wanted to do an all-white room, but that it happened then, to be paired with an all-black room, pretty much had to have come from the producers.

[irisheyes]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

This doesn't quite sound like what you're looking for, but they just re-ran a season three episode that took place in London, with Andy Kane (from Changing Rooms) as the carpenter and Hildi and Gen as the designers.

I just watched it!  It’s one of Hildi’s designs that I actually like.  It was cute for little girls, and if they didn’t like the walls, they could just paint.  She didn’t do anything that was completely impossible to fix.

[Wings]

20 hours ago, jcbrown said:

One of the things that bugs about Original Flavor TS is that they always make crap "art" for the rooms. Maybe it's just because I have a small  collection  of actual art but don't come into my house and replace actual art with hotel-room quality crap to "match" the room.

 

A room without wall art appears very bare.  They do what they can to quickly bang out something out to fill the space.   They don't replace good art they make "art" where non existed.   Some of the things they do are pretty good and can stay in place until they buy their own crappy art from Home Goods to match their furniture. :>

4 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Re: Doug's Route 66 Car room / Kia's military living room. The idea of Doug's room was cool for a five year old but that boy is not going to be five forever and that room was completely dwarfed by the two car halves and the red half didn't even get the toy box. Where was that boy supposed to play with all of his toys? In a few years he'll be getting homework in school, where is he supposed to do that? It's going to be so hard to take that car out of the room when he inevitably outgrows it.

When he outgrows it and then they will remove the car the same way it came in.  <shrug> I have a hunch they removed the red car half soon after and never made it into a toy box due to the space.  

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Two rooms isn't enough to judge, but so far Kia looks like she may challenge Frank for the top slot on my "Do Not Touch My Room" list -

Oh she was on the HIldi list for sure!.  Terrible rooms.  

4 hours ago, LexieLily said:

And Kia was so obnoxious to Ty and Paige when Ty said he couldn't build her the wall.

Yes, she was always the entitled one.  

7 hours ago, meowmommy said:

A lot has been said about how styles have changed since Y2K, but for me, the biggest thing that dates these rooms is the television!  Almost none of the entertainment centers built on this show could hold any of the flatscreen/widescreen TVs everyone has now.

There are many things that date this show and the first on my list are dark colored wall paint, red being on the top of the list.  The over use of brown and stripes, lots of stripes.  

54 minutes ago, fountain said:

ETA It will be interesting to see what colours Laurie chooses now.  Back in the old TS days the colours always matched her personal look but it worked as those colour palets were in style then.  I had copper accent walls and an olive green bathroom back in my old Condo around 2004.

I wonder about that too.  Smart money says she will use the same colors.  Just watch. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Wings

[chick binewski]

1 hour ago, Wings said:

A room without wall art appears very bare.  They do what they can to quickly bang out something out to fill the space.   They don't replace good art they make "art" where non existed.   Some of the things they do are pretty good and can stay in place until they buy their own crappy art from Home Goods to match their furniture. :>

1

I remember one episode when Vern actually designed the room around one couple's prized art piece. It was just a still life fruit bowl (a nicely executed one), but I think I had forgotten how important it was to Vern to incorporate something the HO's wanted.

Hildi's black dining room annoyed on so many levels because there were a few edits that would have made it a very striking room: go black & white and ditch the neon yellow and leave the ceiling white. Keep the moulding like the HO's wanted. Something, anything but the final reveal. And leave paint off that table, which looked like a terrific thrift store find.  

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Wings said:

A room without wall art appears very bare.  They do what they can to quickly bang out something out to fill the space.   They don't replace good art they make "art" where non existed.   Some of the things they do are pretty good and can stay in place until they buy their own crappy art from Home Goods to match their furniture. :>

I actually like when they make "art"...most of the time. I mean some of it is crap (bicycle tire marks on a white tarp Hildi!) but it's more personal than buying some random painting from Home Goods. And it's a cool little memento of being on the show. Like, if you keep nothing else from the room, you can keep a little piece of art. 

[Wings]

On 4/14/2018 at 6:10 PM, Mabinogia said:

I actually like when they make "art"...most of the time. I mean some of it is crap (bicycle tire marks on a white tarp Hildi!) but it's more personal than buying some random painting from Home Goods. And it's a cool little memento of being on the show. Like, if you keep nothing else from the room, you can keep a little piece of art. 

I agree.  Some of it is good and way above Home Goods, for sure.  There are more interesting pieces than bad.  I think some of the HOs don't appreciate the art they make much of the time. 

Edited April 21, 2018 by Wings

[Mountainair]

Even the "white room" guys kept the sculpture Doug put on the wall. They hated the room but liked the art enough to keep it. 

[absolutelyido]

About Doug's white room, yes it was ridiculous given that he even painted the inside of the fireplace, the fire wood and the live plants white. But I don't think the homeowners should have chosen that room to be re-done if they didn't want their newly stripped woodwork re-painted. Painting woodwork white isn't exactly out of the norm, so they took a big risk that it might be painted rather than stained as they had wanted. 

[Mabinogia]

Exactly! If I had a room where there was a feature I did not want touched, woodwork, flooring, fireplace, whatever, I would just pick another room because you can say until you are blue in the face that they can't touch that!, there is no guarantee they won't touch it, and my cynical self thinks that if you get certain designers there is a better chance they will do exactly what you said you didn't want.

I don't mind the homeowners being disappointed. It's impossible not to have some hope as to what they will do in your room and if it is nothing like you had hoped, and you've been working for two days straight with little sleep, it would be easy to break down in tears over something that can be fixed. However, there are some homeowners, OMG. It's a building, they didn't scalp your children, they painted your room brown. Take it down about 20 notches there lady. Yes, you know who you are! hahaha

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, absolutelyido said:

About Doug's white room, yes it was ridiculous given that he even painted the inside of the fireplace, the fire wood and the live plants white. But I don't think the homeowners should have chosen that room to be re-done if they didn't want their newly stripped woodwork re-painted.

To me, it wasn't a re-do.  It was a gimmick.  There was no design involved whatsoever.  Everything was done for the shock value.  It's one thing to have expectations disappointed; it's another to have your home deliberately ruined, without redeeming qualities, just to entertain the masses.

I'm rewatching some of Frank's work and I take back just about every nice thing I ever said about him.  Where Vern will replace a floor, Frank will paint shitty-ass designs on concrete.  He spends so much time and effort and money on hideous kountry kouture that he never has anything left for real design.  I like country decorating, but it has to be good design, first and foremost.

[emma1420]

53 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

To me, it wasn't a re-do.  It was a gimmick.  There was no design involved whatsoever.  Everything was done for the shock value.  It's one thing to have expectations disappointed; it's another to have your home deliberately ruined, without redeeming qualities, just to entertain the masses.

I'm rewatching some of Frank's work and I take back just about every nice thing I ever said about him.  Where Vern will replace a floor, Frank will paint shitty-ass designs on concrete.  He spends so much time and effort and money on hideous kountry kouture that he never has anything left for real design.  I like country decorating, but it has to be good design, first and foremost.

I liked Frank as a person, but I always hated his design.  The faux painting over everything was horrendous.  If I had to pick I’d take Hildi or Doug designing my room over Frank.  At least with them I’ve got a 50/50 chance I’d like it.  With Frank there would be 100% chance I’d hate it.  However, his design sense was popular in the 90s so I understand why many homeowners, especially the older ones, liked his taste.  I’m interested to see if his design sense has evolved.  

[Zanne]

They really should do some kind of follow up special where they go back to families where the designer really blew it on the design. I'm not talking Crying Pam and Brown Jessie. They were just ridiculous. I was thinking about the military family that got Kia's camouflage room, for example, that absolutely broke my heart because it was the exact opposite of what they asked for. The should find some of these families from old shows and offer to let them pick their designer and allow them to design a room together that they want with a slightly higher budget and more time as a big "We're Sorry We Screwed Up Your House and Crushed Your Soul With Bad Design". It could be a Christmas special or something - The Trading Spaces Apology Tour. 

[LexieLily]

2 hours ago, Zanne said:

They really should do some kind of follow up special where they go back to families where the designer really blew it on the design. I'm not talking Crying Pam and Brown Jessie. They were just ridiculous. I was thinking about the military family that got Kia's camouflage room, for example, that absolutely broke my heart because it was the exact opposite of what they asked for. The should find some of these families from old shows and offer to let them pick their designer and allow them to design a room together that they want with a slightly higher budget and more time as a big "We're Sorry We Screwed Up Your House and Crushed Your Soul With Bad Design". It could be a Christmas special or something - The Trading Spaces Apology Tour. 

But if the Trading Spaces Apology Tour can't be all Hildi or Doug rooms who else is there?

[Zanne]

1 hour ago, LexieLily said:

But if the Trading Spaces Apology Tour can't be all Hildi or Doug rooms who else is there?

Kia. Her rooms were generally terrible.

[Wings]

17 hours ago, Zanne said:

They really should do some kind of follow up special where they go back to families where the designer really blew it on the design. I'm not talking Crying Pam and Brown Jessie. They were just ridiculous. I was thinking about the military family that got Kia's camouflage room, for example, that absolutely broke my heart because it was the exact opposite of what they asked for. The should find some of these families from old shows and offer to let them pick their designer and allow them to design a room together that they want with a slightly higher budget and more time as a big "We're Sorry We Screwed Up Your House and Crushed Your Soul With Bad Design". It could be a Christmas special or something - The Trading Spaces Apology Tour. 

I love rhis idea but it would only work in this new season going forward.  It's been too many years to go back.  I doubt there are many who would want to do this again.  The rooms in question have been long ago been changed.

I want to see a season finale on who kept the design, who tweaked it and who redid the room entirely. 

14 hours ago, LexieLily said:

But if the Trading Spaces Apology Tour can't be all Hildi or Doug rooms who else is there?

They have all done rooms the homeowners hated.  Some more than others, of course.  

[joanne3482]

I've been watching a lot of the old ones lately (I've got the DVR filling up).  I really love it when the homeowners love their rooms. I know there's something to be said for "good television,"  but it makes me so much happier to see them cry tears of joy.  There was one I watched that must have been after fire place lady where both homes were pretty much exactly the same with the exact same fireplace.  I know one designer was Doug and I believe (but could be wrong) the other was Genevieve. They both redid the fireplace ( Doug making snarky comments while doing so) in incredibly different looks and both homeowners were so excited about their own rooms the wives cried. I really loved that because I want to see happy people not trainwrecks. 

I know Frank does a lot of country, in one rerun he did a room in purples that was just very pretty and the homeowners then cried too over how beautiful it was.  He went out of his own comfort zone because he knew that was something they would like. I think Doug was the other designer and he was trying to frighten the homeowners by telling them that Frank always puts a chicken in the room.  That's why, despite his kitsch, he'll always be one of my favorites. (Then I saw the rerun with the monkey desk and the weird "doll" TV box and that room was just bad...)

[Asp Burger]

I just watched a season 4 show that was a Doug/Hildi/Amy Wynn episode, and the annoying theme of the week was that the designers, carpenters, and homeowners could not use electricity, not even anything battery-powered. It was an all-female-homeowner episode, two pairs of women in Washington D.C. Doug's team accidentally (?) cheated on their homework by using a washing machine to clean the covers on some couch cushions. Paige's head exploded, and she penalized them by subtracting an hour from their time to complete the room.  

Gimmick aside, this episode, in my opinion, had the good side of Doug/Hildi. They were bold without being destructive or making the rooms unlivable, and the spaces were much more sophisticated and striking when they were done than when they arrived. This was the Hildi "leopard lounge" room for the two young women, with the walls a deep plum cover and then pink paintball spots. She actually took into account that one of the homeowners liked pink, and it came out better than it sounds. Amy Wynn messed up a carpentry project, though (a bed platform too low to the ground), so there was a lot of whining and pouting. Doug's living room was a very strong blue with white trim and accents; it was his more elegant side.

All of the homeowners seemed overjoyed with what they got, and the young women who received the Hildi room were actually screaming when they saw it (screaming in the "youthful excitement" way). And it was a relief, because the basic spaces the designers had to work with were architecturally nice, in buildings that appeared to have a lot of history, and I was dreading some disaster.     

Once again, though, Hildi went back to her cherished idea of "leaving something of [herself] in the room." Sexy silhouette artwork of herself and the women of her team. She had just done something similar with herself and the 7th Heaven actresses the previous season, when she redecorated the bachelor pad of the Stults brothers.  

Edited April 17, 2018 by Asp Burger

[txhorns79]

I was watching an episode yesterday from Miami in 2003.  I was pleasantly surprised with Hildi.  She designed a minimalist room, painted a pleasant light blue, with a new floor.  Rather than the jumble of furniture that was in the room before, she put in just one bench, a table and three paintings on the wall spotlighted with track lighting.  The homeowners seemed to like it, and she didn't go overboard.  I can't even begin to discuss the mess that Kia made with her room, i.e. a seashell styled bed frame and bamboo on the walls.  However, the homeowners claimed to love it. 

[Asp Burger]

I remember that episode well. Hildi's "gallery"-style living room was a little stark, but she gave the homeowners a good start. They probably had no trouble personalizing it and making it more inviting by bringing in some of their stuff (old or new).  The floor did turn out beautifully. 

The Kia room...well, it was characteristic. I'll leave it at that. Also characteristic was her mania for that seashell bed, as if it were the height of imagination.  

[Mabinogia]

8 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

This was the Hildi "leopard lounge" room for the two young women, with the walls a deep plum cover and then pink paintball spots.

Didn't she actually damage the wall with the paintballs though, I watched it recently and remember someone saying they hit the wall too hard and left pockmarks. Also, the paint was oil and it ran down the walls. I am curious what it was supposed to look like because I thought it looked terrible.

Paige's overreaction to the washing machine was hilarious. It's already hilarious how she acts like she's really in charge all "I'm going to have to take away an hour because you were a bad boy. Now go stand in the corner and think about what you've done". Coming from someone who looks like an imp it's funny to me when she tries to be tough.

[Asp Burger]

8 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Also, the paint was oil and it ran down the walls. I am curious what it was supposed to look like because I thought it looked terrible.

When they were actually shooting the paintballs, the pink was running down the walls and I thought it was going to look like a mess, but then they cut away to the Doug room, and when they returned to Hildi's later, it looked much cleaner. Like a starry sky, but with pink stars. I probably missed some explanation of how that was achieved.  

[Nordly Beaumont]

Hildi wanted the 'splat' look of the paintball but the paint ran down the walls and lost it's color as it did. Only the site of impact kept the color. They had to clean up where it ran down the baseboards, I don't remember if they had to wipe the walls as well, I would think so.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Almost none of the entertainment centers built on this show could hold any of the flatscreen/widescreen TVs everyone has now.

I watched an episode from New York from 2004, and Amy Wynn built an entertainment center for the roommates.  While it fit their old-style television, there was no way it could be used for a flat screen, so the entertainment center was going to be made useless in just a year or two.  I also thought that these women were likely renting, and wondered why they would agree to make changes to the apartment that could come back to bite them when it was time to move out.  Further, the girls working with Doug were very flirty with him.  It was disconcerting, particularly when they all ran off to get their nails done, leaving poor Amy to finish her entertainment center without help.       

[meowmommy]

On 4/17/2018 at 9:49 AM, Mabinogia said:

Paige's overreaction to the washing machine was hilarious. It's already hilarious how she acts like she's really in charge all "I'm going to have to take away an hour because you were a bad boy. Now go stand in the corner and think about what you've done". Coming from someone who looks like an imp it's funny to me when she tries to be tough.

I saw that one.  She's not the producer, so it's not her call.  Someone behind the scenes presumably instructed her as to what the "penalty" would be.  Not to mention, taking an hour away from the offenders only hurts the other team whose room they're working on.

[Bastet]

I just got in on the reveal portion of an episode where Hildi and Vern each did rooms totally not to their tastes (or mine) because they knew what the homeowners wanted.  Paige asked, "What show am I on?" and that's how I felt looking at Vern and Hildi in those finished rooms (Vern said, "I feel like I'm sitting in another designer's room").

Now there's an episode that opens with a segment in which Paige surprises one of the homeowners at work to notify him he'd been selected for the show (the neighbors already knew) -- is that something they did for a while?  The opening titles aren't anything I recognize, either, so this must be after I quit watching with any regularity.  Oh, and there's also a segment where the neighbors working on the rooms show the designers ideas they have -- colors, fabrics, layouts, etc.  Very different!

[Gam2]

I’ve been watching the marathon today also. The one I just cringed at was Hildi’s kitchen redo in bright orange, black and purple. I thought for sure that the homeowners would scream and cry when they saw that truly awful kitchen but they actually like it or so they said. That room was just hideous. Who could come down for coffee every morning and see that?!

[txhorns79]

I watched the one where Doug took a converted garage family room, and made it into a quasi-movie theater.  The neighbor doing the room mentioned a number of times that she thought it was a bad idea because it took a multi-use room and made it single use.  Doug mostly ignored her or was somewhat hostile, and I don't think we got comments from the homeowners at the reveal beyond the husband looking surprised and wife saying she thought the room was interesting.  That was one where I very much wanted more, because if I was the homeowner, I would have been very annoyed.    

[Wings]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I just got in on the reveal portion of an episode where Hildi and Vern each did rooms totally not to their tastes (or mine) because they knew what the homeowners wanted.  Paige asked, "What show am I on?" and that's how I felt looking at Vern and Hildi in those finished rooms (Vern said, "I feel like I'm sitting in another designer's room").

Now there's an episode that opens with a segment in which Paige surprises one of the homeowners at work to notify him he'd been selected for the show (the neighbors already knew) -- is that something they did for a while?  The opening titles aren't anything I recognize, either, so this must be after I quit watching with any regularity.  Oh, and there's also a segment where the neighbors working on the rooms show the designers ideas they have -- colors, fabrics, layouts, etc.  Very different!

Just finished that now.  Surprising to see Hildi do that.  Her stripes on the floor were not good nor were Vern's box coffee tables but the HOs loved their rooms.  Nice to see for a change!  

[LennieBriscoe]

Speaking of TV cabinets:

Notice,  if you will,  how none, zero, are ever made with holes in the back for the cables. 

Just saw Doug's "Prison of Love" episode. OMG. The wife took it better than well,  though!

[mwell345]

On 4/15/2018 at 12:45 PM, meowmommy said:

To me, it wasn't a re-do.  It was a gimmick.  There was no design involved whatsoever.  Everything was done for the shock value.  It's one thing to have expectations disappointed; it's another to have your home deliberately ruined, without redeeming qualities, just to entertain the masses.

My sense was that episode was pre-planned, that Hildi would do a black room and Doug would do a white room.  I forget exactly, but it was something Paige said at the beginning of the episode that made me think that. Plus, too  big a coincidence that one would do black and one would do white.

[chitowngirl]

And I also noticed that Hildi was wearing all white while doing the black room and Doug was wearing black while doing the white room. At the reveal, Hildi was wearing black and Doug was wearing white.

[Mabinogia]

10 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

And I also noticed that Hildi was wearing all white while doing the black room and Doug was wearing black while doing the white room. At the reveal, Hildi was wearing black and Doug was wearing white.

And I bet they all thought they were sooooooo clever. *rolls eyes*

I hated the gimmicky episodes like that one. Just design a nice, functional room that the homeowners want. This show should go the Great British Bake Off route. Nice people, doing beautiful work while having a nice time and respecting each other. Let the drama come from the rain preventing paint from drying in time, or running out of fabric or wood because you didn't have enough money. I have always preferred the episodes where the homeowners loved their rooms and the ones working on the room were so proud of what they did. That is enjoyable to me. Not tantrums and bully designers forcing their own "visions" on people. 

[Dobian]

I just watched the season 2 episode with Doug's movie theater family room.  Good god that was awful.  The concept was clever but, really?  Those pipe metal chairs would only last a few months before looking like crap.  What was amusing though is that in this episode from 2002 the focal point was their CRT television which was suspended from the ceiling and looked fairly ridiculous.  Today a room like that would work with a 70 inch flat screen on the wall and surround sound.  Then it really would be like a home theater.

[txhorns79]

Quote

I just watched the season 2 episode with Doug's movie theater family room.  Good god that was awful.  The concept was clever but, really?  Those pipe metal chairs would only last a few months before looking like crap.  What was amusing though is that in this episode from 2002 the focal point was their CRT television which was suspended from the ceiling and looked fairly ridiculous.  Today a room like that would work with a 70 inch flat screen on the wall and surround sound.  Then it really would be like a home theater.

I thought the concept of the movie theater was interesting, but was totally wrong and impractical given the family's needs.  And that doesn't even get into the fact that the tv, which is going to be the focal point of the "movie theater" wasn't particularly large. 

[penbrat]

I don't remember Paige annoying me so much when this show use to be on.  But as I watch the reruns she just grates on me most of the time.

[mwell345]

Watching an old episode now and Hildi’s Team just told her the homeowners would like their kitchen to be French Country.  Yeah ,right - like that’s going to happen.  

Oh oh good grief - she’s sticking hideous wine label stickers all over the walls.

Edited April 24, 2018 by mwell345

[Captain Asshat]

On 4/22/2018 at 3:06 AM, LennieBriscoe said:

Speaking of TV cabinets:

Notice,  if you will,  how none, zero, are ever made with holes in the back for the cables. 

Just saw Doug's "Prison of Love" episode. OMG. The wife took it better than well,  though!

I was going to comment about this episode. What in the name of every major and minor diety was Doug on when he came up with this? Seriously, he was manic about everything, and just so overly committed to the idea that this was a good idea for a bedroom...that should illicit intimacy...and LOOOOOOVE. No. Just? No. Did he do coke, watch an episode of "Oz," and then do more coke while he "designed?"*

 

*I am, in no way, seriously implying he had a coke problem. He was just so manic and all over the place when he was putting forth his idea, it reminded me of someone on something to that effect. For all I know, he ate a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans.

[pinguina]

I was flipping channels today and came across an episode with Laurie and some guy named Rick. 

Oh, My Goodness!  What that guy did to the dining room of one of the couples!! He painted it almost a darker shade of tiffany blue, green that looked like a color of marbles (I mean the kind kids play/ed with), and a golden (?) orange.  Plus wrote on the wall - It was awful!  I felt so bad for the couple who would be getting this as well as the couple who had to work on it. It was right up there (to me) with Kia's rooms and Hildi's rooms.  After the reveal, the couple who did the room told the owners that they would be there to help her change it to however she wanted it.   The wife was pretty gracious, she told them that she didn't blame them but accepted their offer to help.

Laurie's room (a family room I think) looked nice  :-)

[meowmommy]

9 minutes ago, pinguina said:

I was flipping channels today and came across an episode with Laurie and some guy named Rick. 

I must have bailed on TS by then because I can't remember a designer named Rick.  Maybe if I watch the episode, I'll remember.  

I notice that TLC seems to be rerunning seasons 2 - 5 exclusively, which means no episodes without Paige.  

[friendperidot]

Rick Rifle. I caught one of the episodes with him the other day. I had forgotten him, but when I saw him, I remembered the blue dining room. I couldn't remember much about it, I've blocked it from my memory, it seems like there was a lot of silver painted stuff in the room too. I think he only did 3 or 4 episodes. He may have been one of the ones to go to Trading Spaces Family, I don't really remember, I've kind of blocked that show from my memory too.

[Gam2]

Does anyone remember a heavily tattooed guy who did really weird designs that were so over the top that no one would want that in his/her home? Was he on this show for a few episodes or am I remembering an entirely different show? At any rate, once he disappeared, he totally disappeared which in my opinion, was a good thing.

[Asp Burger]

On 4/14/2018 at 7:04 PM, fountain said:

All of Kia’s rooms sucked.  Even on my original viewing I was shocked with the borders as they were out of style back then.

 

They were. I remember that Walmart was one of the show's sponsors back then, and there was a commercial with a woman talking about how "Walmart takes the guesswork out of decorating," in part because you can put up a "fun little border" and "everything coordinates."  It was the commercial the TWoP Trading Spaces forum posters loved to hate. And then we had Kia on the show at the same time, putting a wallpaper border in almost every room she did  "Kia Steave-Dickerson: Border Song (Holy Moses)" may even have been her thread title for a time. That was only the start of her rooms' problems, though.  

Editing to add this scorching end-of-season page from Deborah, circa 2003.  

http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/show/trading-spaces/miami-ten-court/17/

Edited April 25, 2018 by Asp Burger

[txhorns79]

I watched an episode from 2001 where Hildi and Vern made over living rooms.  Amazingly, Hildi actually considered the homeowners' opinions when designing the room, and made their fireplace look great!  Though, this being Hildi, she still nearly ruined the room by painting blue stripes on the living room's hardwood floors.  I really have no clue what she was thinking.  Even Paige pointed out that because the living room was a high traffic area, parts of the stripes will be worn away pretty quickly, making either regular touch ups or total removal necessary.  

[joanne3482]

On 4/21/2018 at 4:07 PM, Bastet said:

Now there's an episode that opens with a segment in which Paige surprises one of the homeowners at work to notify him he'd been selected for the show (the neighbors already knew) -- is that something they did for a while?  The opening titles aren't anything I recognize, either, so this must be after I quit watching with any regularity.  Oh, and there's also a segment where the neighbors working on the rooms show the designers ideas they have -- colors, fabrics, layouts, etc.  Very different!

Towards the end of the run they had "3" days.  Day 1 was picking the room (with the $2000 bonus room potential) design and incorporating the homeowners' opinions and shopping. Then Day 2 and 3 were the normal build part.  That's also when they started adding how much each was spent on each part which I always liked.  I always thought this was a bigger challenge for the designers.  When they had the chance to plan ahead they could go to their own store rooms and use things they had found for really good prices as opposed to having to shop in a strange place and most likely pay retail. 

[Wings]

Just saw one where Frank made a good living room with only one painted thing on the wall that can be painted over.  It had blue walls and a modern feel.  He had to buy some furniture and Ty built a lot.  Light blue, white and black, very nice.  I don't remember liking any room he did.  I may have but I don't remember one. 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Wings

[txhorns79]

Quote

Rick Rifle. I caught one of the episodes with him the other day. I had forgotten him, but when I saw him, I remembered the blue dining room. I couldn't remember much about it, I've blocked it from my memory, it seems like there was a lot of silver painted stuff in the room too. I think he only did 3 or 4 episodes. He may have been one of the ones to go to Trading Spaces Family, I don't really remember, I've kind of blocked that show from my memory too.

I just caught his episode with the blue dining room.  There were some interesting elements, but overall it was a loud, busy mess.  The homeowner hilariously made a comment about not being mad at her neighbors because she knew the room wasn't their fault.  She was so angry, especially when she found out that they had painted the candlesticks she had saved from her wedding.  I really thought she was going to order everyone out of her house.       

Edited April 26, 2018 by txhorns79

[meowmommy]

On 4/24/2018 at 3:48 PM, friendperidot said:

Rick Rifle. I caught one of the episodes with him the other day.

I just watched him doing a jungle theme and even though I know I had to have seen the episode back in the day, because it's with Doug's Prison of Love monstrosity, I can't remember him at all.