S09.E02: The Carpenters Strike Back

[Zanne]

2 hours ago, Wings said:

I have the episode on pause and looking at Ty's room again.  The pillows are not the culprit I thought initially, it is the rug.  He has too many colored tiles in it.  The owners could buy more light gray tiles to replace some of the green ones.    

I was thinking about how to rearrange those rug tiles, too! It's the randomness that blows it. They might be able to cluster the colored tiles in the middle and edge them with grey so they have two separate sections, one the play area with the orange in the middle and one the adult seating area with the yellow in the center. It would ease the assault on the eyes to group the colors into larger sections. I could live with as is, for a while, but I'd be playing with rug tile placement when it started to bother me.

[irisheyes]

I didn’t love Carter’s room, but I thought it was OK.  The homeowner loved it, so there’s that. (What IS a mom cave, anyway?)  In Ty’s room, I’d probably get new curtains and get switch out a couple of pillows for solid ones, but everything else was great.  I think it’s because both Carter and Ty have worked on shows where the goal was to please the homeowner, not just show how edgy of a designer you are.  (Hildi)

Edited April 15, 2018 by irisheyes
Punctuation is key

[Wings]

18 minutes ago, Zanne said:

I was thinking about how to rearrange those rug tiles, too! It's the randomness that blows it. They might be able to cluster the colored tiles in the middle and edge them with grey so they have two separate sections, one the play area with the orange in the middle and one the adult seating area with the yellow in the center. It would ease the assault on the eyes to group the colors into larger sections. I could live with as is, for a while, but I'd be playing with rug tile placement when it started to bother me.

Yes, I did the same thing in my mind and rearranged them to be in color blocks. 

[chitowngirl]

The nice part about the randomness of the tiles is that if you have to replace one, you don’t have to match the new one exactly with the old one. 

When they did the Lowe’s visit and the carpenter was talking to Ty and Ty asked if they had everything, I told my husband it would be a hoot if he said ,”No, I have to go to Home Depot!”.

Edited April 15, 2018 by chitowngirl

[fountain]

I really liked the randomness of the floor tile placement.  I find what I have the most design challenge with in my own home is making things more random and less patterned/matched.  I tend to be a matching, linear person so I miss out on some of organicness that a good designer can create.  I felt that how well the randomness looked was a sign Ty is pretty good at this.

Edited April 15, 2018 by fountain

[Wings]

13 minutes ago, fountain said:

I really liked the randomness of the floor tile placement.  I find what I have the most design challenge with in my own home is making things more random and less patterned/matched.  I tend to be a matching, linear person so I miss out on some of organicness that a good designer can create.  I felt that how well the randomness looked was a sign Ty is pretty good at this.

There can be too much random and Ty went over the tipping point.  :>

[alexa]

55 minutes ago, fountain said:

I really liked the randomness of the floor tile placement.  I find what I have the most design challenge with in my own home is making things more random and less patterned/matched.  I tend to be a matching, linear person so I miss out on some of organicness that a good designer can create.  I felt that how well the randomness looked was a sign Ty is pretty good at this.

I agree. There is something about what he did with the floor and the wall that I really liked. And also as others have said he created a great base for easy changes by the homeowners. I was really impressed with his room. 

[CraftyHazel]

Joanie is the real deal

She is a contractor and had her own series for home projects.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Marmiarmo

[catrice2]

I can't say that either room wowed me, but Carter's room was super dull and the random flower things on the wall was a little creepy to me.   T'y's room was at least interesting.  I liked the design of the room, I was not crazy about the color scheme, but it wasn't terrible.  I feel like the designs are 10 years dated, and with $1,000 extra dollars I have so far been disappointed with what has been produced. I still would rather have Alex than Paige. 

[txhorns79]

Quote

(What IS a mom cave, anyway?

A continuation of a dumb idea that adult men and women need their own specifically gendered spaces within a shared home.  Essentially, instead of her just having a room to escape to, she has to give it a cutesy name and make it seem like it is for girls only.   

I thought Carter's room was fairly boring, though I did like the ombre wall.  The wall hangings, however, were not well placed and didn't look good.  

I really liked Ty's geometric wall.  I didn't love the floor tiles, but thought he did a decent job overall.       

Edited April 16, 2018 by txhorns79

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, Wings said:

3 hours ago, fountain said:

I really liked the randomness of the floor tile placement.  I find what I have the most design challenge with in my own home is making things more random and less patterned/matched.  I tend to be a matching, linear person so I miss out on some of organicness that a good designer can create.  I felt that how well the randomness looked was a sign Ty is pretty good at this.

 

There can be too much random and Ty went over the tipping point.  :>

I think if he had done either the floor OR the wall it would have been a home run. Both was too much for me. My eyes didn't know where to go. I really liked the rug tiles and I loved the wall design but together they gave me agita. 

[txhorns79]

And what was up with the women going through Brett's trailer?  It was a strange moment that went nowhere. 

[Wings]

I remain baffled that they both had 2k and I could not see the extra money in Carters tiny room.  Joanie (?) built his furniture so he bought wood and he the lame wall thingies?  What am I missing?   Paint in a 10 x 12 room was minimal compared to Ty's massive room.   

'''

[Kerri Okie]

4 hours ago, fountain said:

I really liked the randomness of the floor tile placement.  I find what I have the most design challenge with in my own home is making things more random and less patterned/matched.  I tend to be a matching, linear person so I miss out on some of organicness that a good designer can create.  I felt that how well the randomness looked was a sign Ty is pretty good at this.

I liked the randomness, too. It went with the random aspect of the wall colors.  If it were my room, I might consider cutting those pops-of-color floor tiles in half on the diagonal to make triangles to match the pattern on the wall. Then again, that might have been a bit much.  That wall was gorgeous though. 

Re: the laminate floor, we had "wood" laminate in our last house. It looked good from a distance, but close up it looked cheap, especially as it aged.  Not sure if that's why the HO hated it, but having lived it, I can understand. 

Didn't care much for Carter's room.  It was all right--nothing that I couldn't live with if I had to--but other than the ombre wall, I agree, he didn't do much in there.  The whole "mom cave" idea is weird to me anyway, unless it was designed to be a craft room or sewing room or something where she had to store lots of pieces and parts.  If it was just a place to go to read a book or play Candy Crush, I don't get the idea of needing a whole other closed off room to do it in. 

[Zanne]

37 minutes ago, Kerri Okie said:

If it was just a place to go to read a book or play Candy Crush, I don't get the idea of needing a whole other closed off room to do it in. 

I usually would agree with you, but there are times I see the beauty in having a place to get away. I'm a teacher and there are days when going to the bathroom seems like a vacation because I know students and parents can't reach me there. It's a little haven of calm in a hectic day.

[Kerri Okie]

1 minute ago, Zanne said:

I usually would agree with you, but there are times I see the beauty in having a place to get away. I'm a teacher and there are days when going to the bathroom seems like a vacation because I know students and parents can't reach me there. It's a little haven of calm in a hectic day.

I'm a teacher too, so I totally get what you're saying, especially about hiding out in the bathroom. ;)  Maybe it's different for me because my kids are grown, still at home, but grown, and don't need mom all the time, so I don't need that special room to escape to, and when I do, I just go to the bedroom and close the door. But she wanted it, and her hubby had two rooms of his own for goodness sake, so I'm glad she got what she wanted.

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, Kerri Okie said:

I'm a teacher too, so I totally get what you're saying, especially about hiding out in the bathroom. ;)  Maybe it's different for me because my kids are grown, still at home, but grown, and don't need mom all the time, so I don't need that special room to escape to, and when I do, I just go to the bedroom and close the door. But she wanted it, and her hubby had two rooms of his own for goodness sake, so I'm glad she got what she wanted.

I think maybe they are one of those really smart home owners who wanted the experience of doing the show but didn't want to ruin an important room in the house. They had an extra room that wasn't really being used for much so they figured, hey, he's got his rooms so I'll make a mommy room. If they royally screw it up, at least it's not a room we will be using all the time. If they don't screw it up then it's a total bonus room! And I do think she had mentioned wanting to spent time with/play with her daughter in there? So I figured that's why it had those weird little round things on the floor.

[Dobian]

I liked both rooms.  I thought Carter's won the night though Ty's had a higher degree of difficulty with the larger space.  To me, Ty's room looked a little bit too much like a Gymboree store, but it did look nice.  I would have done random shapes on the accent wall above the shelving and left a solid coloring behind the shelving so the shelving would pop, it made it too busy with the pattern behind the shelving.  Other than that he did a great job.  Carter's room looked like something Laurie would have done.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Dobian

[lovinbob]

One thing I didn't love was Carter's bud vases. They looked very randomly arranged. Also, does anyone really want to worry about wilting flowers on your wall? I would end up putting in artificial flowers just to save myself the extra housekeeping, but that takes away from the special-ness.

Also, I liked the ombre, but the addition of dreamcatchers was a little over-the-top southwestern. 

[AnnieHeights]

Ty's room is not my taste at all but he did a good job....I would have gone with solid curtains and pillows as well as was mentioned in an above post.  Too many patterns going on, needed more subtleness. 

Carter's room.....I really loved the ombre wall......it was a focal point on its own without all the random flower distractions and dreamcatchers - ugh. The light fixture alone would have sufficed, maybe a plain piece of artwork above the bed, like something architectural.  I also was not a fan of the distressed wood/doors.  I have an aversion to things made to look old when they are not, you are not fooling anyone. I didn't mind the green but the desk did look really small.            

[Wings]

Carter needs a haircut.  I like his hair on the long side but he has too many hunks forming flip outs reminiscent of Paige in the early days.  

[penbrat]

I loved Ty's room but I love gray so there you go.  I would have painted over the bright shapes with either navy or a softer blue and maybe changed out the curtains and the brighter pieces on the floor tile but that would be it.   Ty gave them a good canvas that can be tweaked into a room that fits their taste.   Carter's room was a bit boring but livable.    I liked the  wall (not the color but the idea of it.   He just went overboard (to me) with the accessories and some of them looked so random.  But either room was leaps and bounds over what Hildi would have done.

[Wings]

3 minutes ago, penbrat said:

I loved Ty's room but I love gray so there you go.  I would have painted over the bright shapes with either navy or a softer blue and maybe changed out the curtains and the brighter pieces on the floor tile but that would be it.   Ty gave them a good canvas that can be tweaked into a room that fits their taste.   Carter's room was a bit boring but livable.    I liked the  wall (not the color but the idea of it.   He just went overboard (to me) with the accessories and some of them looked so random.  But either room was leaps and bounds over what Hildi would have done.

I loved the curtains most!  LOVED them.   White curtains with a scant print on them is perfect for most white or gray rooms.  It makes a huge difference in the ambience.   And when the curtains were at the side of the window you got the perfect hit of color.  Plain curtains or god forbid drapes don't do much for a room.  

[joanne3482]

17 hours ago, Wings said:

I remain baffled that they both had 2k and I could not see the extra money in Carters tiny room.  Joanie (?) built his furniture so he bought wood and he the lame wall thingies?  What am I missing?   Paint in a 10 x 12 room was minimal compared to Ty's massive room.   

'''

I noticed in some of the later season reruns, they used to outline what the money was spent on... I wish they would do that again. It was helpful to understand the room. 

[HurricaneVal]

17 hours ago, Wings said:

I remain baffled that they both had 2k and I could not see the extra money in Carters tiny room. 

I...didn't like Carter's room.  I'm not a fan of pink, but I will say that ombre wall--in a different color--could be quite lovely.  But...that was kind of it.  What else did he spend the money and time on?  His room was tiny and self-contained compared with Ty's ginormous family room/game room/TV room that opened to the kitchen/dining area so had to blend in.  I don't think Carter wanted to be a designer either.  I don't think it is a secret ambition of his, I think he likes being the handsome carpenter.  But Ty wanted to be a designer, to highlight his other very successful gig, so the producers had to do a "Carpenters as Designers!" theme episode, and poor Carter got roped in.  Amy Wynn probably just flat out said "nope" so Carter was stuck.

I did like Ty's room, and I've liked the rooms he's done on Extreme Makeover too.  For such a hyperactive git, he actually has quite an eye for serene design.

[meep.meep]

On 4/15/2018 at 11:59 AM, TOL said:

 

Loved the hombre wall.  

Is that because a guy designed it?

I thought both rooms were nice.  I thought it was hilarious that Carter got  to do the "maid's bedroom" aka the smallest room in the house, while Ty ended up with the world's largest family room. 

[ams1001]

6 hours ago, penbrat said:

I loved Ty's room but I love gray so there you go.  I would have painted over the bright shapes with either navy or a softer blue and maybe changed out the curtains and the brighter pieces on the floor tile but that would be it.   Ty gave them a good canvas that can be tweaked into a room that fits their taste.   Carter's room was a bit boring but livable.    I liked the  wall (not the color but the idea of it.   He just went overboard (to me) with the accessories and some of them looked so random.  But either room was leaps and bounds over what Hildi would have done.

The more I read of criticisms here, the more I wonder if I liked them so much because we had Hildi's overly bright and busy mess last week to compare. 

 

5 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

I noticed in some of the later season reruns, they used to outline what the money was spent on... I wish they would do that again. It was helpful to understand the room. 

That would be cool. I forgot they did that.

Edited April 17, 2018 by ams1001

[Jsage]

I really didn't appreciate all the fire jokes throughout the episode. I don't know when and where this was filmed, but what we saw was definitely big enough to destroy homes or trees and wildlife. I'm not saying they needed to act somber the whole episode, but less fire jokes and more expressions of concern for those affected would have been nice.

[pinguina]

I think this was filmed last year sometime - If it was in California, as I believe it was, then this was filmed about 4 to 6 months ago.   The fires hit really hard and they would jump a freeway and spread.  It was east of where I live and really close to where my brother lives (Fontana).  The fires play havoc with freeway travel, health issues (due to smoke), and danger for the houses in their path.  I didn't appreciate how lightly they seemed to take it.

[Kerri Okie]

1 hour ago, pinguina said:

I think this was filmed last year sometime - If it was in California, as I believe it was, then this was filmed about 4 to 6 months ago.   The fires hit really hard and they would jump a freeway and spread.  It was east of where I live and really close to where my brother lives (Fontana).  The fires play havoc with freeway travel, health issues (due to smoke), and danger for the houses in their path.  I didn't appreciate how lightly they seemed to take it.

The homes were in Yorba Linda, and according to TLC's site, Paige and the Trading Spaces trucks were in Southern California on or around September 20 to begin filming for the season.  The Canyon Fire in the Anaheim Hills started September 25, so the timing and location are both right; that was probably the fire they saw.  If so, about 2600 acres were burned, 600 homes were evacuated, and one was damaged.  There was a second fire, Canyon Fire 2, that started in October and was caused by embers from the first Canyon Fire.  In that one 7500 acres burned and 25 homes were lost.  

I was in LA in early December when a state of emergency was called because of wildfires, and watching that part of the show was very uncomfortable.  In their defense, I'm sure that when the comments were made they had no idea what the outcome would be, but by the time the show was being edited they certainly knew the impact of the fires.  They should have edited out the comments, or at the very least added a little update about the fires and expressed their condolences to the communities and to the families that had lost their homes.  

[Asp Burger]

I didn't care for either room. Ty's was like some lesser Genevieve in her whimsical/distracted mode. Carter's was like something an older female relative of Laurie's might have come up with.  

Really, Ty made his television debut nearly 20 years ago? That sounded high, but it's depressingly accurate.  The first episode of the old show was in October 2000.  

[AZChristian]

19 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I did like Ty's room, and I've liked the rooms he's done on Extreme Makeover too.  For such a hyperactive git, he actually has quite an eye for serene design.

About the last term I would use to describe Ty's room was "serene design."  I might have kept the painted wall, but those carpet tiles and hexagonal-print pillows would not have lasted through the day if that was my house.  Too much (IMO).

Edited April 17, 2018 by AZChristian

[slaterain]

I loved Ty's room. I loved the accent wall and that he did it to JUST ONE WALL!!! (Hildi take note!) I am not a fan of orange and yellow but those little hits worked well. I loved the pillow fabric. I would have just kept the curtains simple and not painted them and I probably would have just done a simple carpet with out the accent colors - maybe in the rich blue from the pillow fabric. But overall I really liked it. I thought it was smart to build the long wall shelf/desk. The table could have been a little bigger but it probably fit in the budget and is easily something to swap out later. I have chairs similar to those white ones and they are actually fairly comfortable. I also really liked that he made the effort to get them a large couch that filled the space and used a thrift store find. To me - that is what this show is about! I also like the shelf system that helped divide the room from the kitchen while remaining low and open. He really made the most of his $2k and it showed. I agree with Paige in that it is one of my favorites.

Carter's room. Well I hate pink so there is that. But I really did like his ombre concept and would consider doing something like that in a small room. The problem I had with this one is that he doesn't have a design eye for scale and filling the room or the walls. I liked the idea of a day bed but he kept calling it a trundle which is when there is a second bed underneath that can be pulled out. So was it a trundle or just storage under it? It was way too high if neither!!! I am guessing a decent portion of his budget went to a mattress?!? His room definitely didn't feel like $2k was spent. This room really needed a comfy chair to go with the wayfair ottoman that was picked out. The little floor things did not work at all with the super tall bed. There was nothing in the middle. Also thought it would have balanced better if there were identical end tables on either side of the bed. The white one on the left seemed to fit better. And maybe a tall bookcase by the desk to give some height. The other problem is that he needed a larger piece of wall art/decor. He tried to fill the wall with those little flower things and it didn't work. I think he had some good ideas but he just didn't know how to balance the room out. 

I would be happy to have Ty design again but Carter should stick to the carpentry!!! 

I am excited to see all the Joanie stuff - I had no idea what happened to her after ANTM and am really impressed. Makes me want to dig up some of her youtube vids and such. 

[CaliforniaLove]

I'm Esai Morales at the end of La Bamba on my knees..."AMY WYYYYYYYN!!!!...Pastor."

[iMonrey]

I liked Ty's design, but it looked like a children's school room. A very cool looking school room, to be sure, but not something I'd want my living room/family room looking like. Did they say how old their kids were? I thought they said something about them being older now, so that room might even be a little too busy for their kids. It was clear the home owners didn't really like it and were trying to be polite. 

I agree Carter's room was pretty boring.

[Former Nun]

Carter's bed..called a trundle and looking like a daybed was NOT pretty.  If some 6th graders had designed/built it, I would have said, "Good job!"  Otherwise...nope.

[auntjess]

I only watched the beginning, and the reveal, but I thought the pink room lady wanted a "babe cave" where she could hang out with her little girl.
With what was there, she can can recline, and the little can sit on the pouf, but I bet hubby's man caves have a lot more to offer.
Where's her TV, and computer?
 

[auntjess]

On 4/16/2018 at 12:24 PM, lovinbob said:

Also, does anyone really want to worry about wilting flowers on your wall? I would end up putting in artificial flowers just to save myself the extra housekeeping, but that takes away from the special-ness.

I'd probably use some for pens, pencils, etc.

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

On 4/14/2018 at 7:15 PM, Marmiarmo said:

It was cool to see what ever became of ANTM Cycle 6's Joanie!

Thank you, Thank you - for the life of me I was like - dang she looks so familiar - I could not place her 

[Wings]

On 4/19/2018 at 10:07 PM, Former Nun said:

Carter's bed..called a trundle and looking like a daybed was NOT pretty.  If some 6th graders had designed/built it, I would have said, "Good job!"  Otherwise...nope.

That wasn't a trundle bed though he called it that.  A daybed with a drawer on the bottom containing another mattress is. 

[sarthaz]

Way late to this party, but I agree that these were two of the best rooms we've ever seen on the show. I think there's a practicality that comes from the carpenters, and because of their independent success after Trading Spaces, they didn't need to do something moronic just to get attention. I wouldn't put it past Hildi to spray dog shit on the ceiling just to get people talking about her.  I didn't love everything about the rooms myself -- the green furniture was kind of ugly and that not-trundle bed looked assembled by a child -- but the effort to do something nice was genuine and not the attention-whoring "artistic" BS we so often got from the original show.  Well done.