Those Home Decorating Shows

A mysterious someone from your past comes to re-decorate your bedroom. You go away for a small vacation and come back to find your spouse/lover/child/someone has revamped your entire living room. The male wants tile, the female wants carpet.

There’s a slew of angles to the home decorating shows that are all the rage now, and Grandmother has documented, amusingly she hopes, quite a few of them.


9/29/2004

Those Home Decorating Shows
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Grandmother does like to watch all the current home decorating shows, Kaitlyn Mae, and shall now list a few of the most notable and provide her opinion, no charge, for each.

Let’s begin with a rough outline of how these types of shows usually go, Kaitlyn, so you may compare these sorts of shows from Grandmother’s to those in your day. Which might well include segments on maintaining a home in Outer Space or a feature titled “Keeping the Dust Out of Your Summer House in Afghanistan”.

There is generally a room, a typical room in most cases, in a typical house. The whole purpose of these shows, Kaitlyn, is to devote, in most cases, an hour to build up to an ending known in the business as the “Reveal”.

The Reveal is the climax of the show, all building projects, frantic painting, dramatic solo camera confessions, and occasional outbursts leading to the climatic Reveal that leaves all affected breathless able to utter only the words “Oh My God”.

There are some interesting variations on the lead up to the Reveal, including one home decorating show that involves tearing the entire house and rebuilding same. More on this later.

Forthwith, a list and Grandmotherly notes:

Home and Garden TV was the first of the cable biggies to feature room makeovers as a staple, as would be logical. The HGTV makeover shows are generally ½ hour in length. The newer makeover shows, now featured prominently on The Learning Channel, The Style Network and even vaunted ABC, took on the hour length format and there’s pluses and minuses to each.

Room by Room
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This show has been on HGTV for about forever and is one of the few that does not feature any dramatic Reveal. Sherry and Matt are the hosts of the show. Sherry does all the sewing and painting while Matt does the carpentry. This is the sort of makeover show that Grandmother will watch without blinking an eye should it accidentally appear on mine TV but doesn’t go out of her way to flip the channel.

Designer’s Challenge
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This is a makeover show, still on HGTV, that Grandmother really likes. Although the concept of this sort of makeover is way out of Grandmother’s league, I do like to sit and watch the designer’s presentations and pick mine own favorite.

The concept is unique in that a couple or family is looking to makeover a room. The rooms being made over are not cheap affairs, a picture here or handsome urn over there. We’re talking complete gutting and revamping here and there is generally a stipulated budget, most over $10,000.

Three designers are invited to view the room needing revamping and then head back to their offices to come up with a design plan within the budget.

Landscaper’s Challenge is a knock-off of this show except the revamp involves outdoor spaces.

The designers come back with their proposals, using “picture” boards and fabric samples.

Designing for the Sexes
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This show has a cute slant. A decorator is summoned to help with a room makeover. The catch is that the couple desiring such a revamp have major differences in how they would like to result. The decorator is challenged with finding the compromise that will make both the male and female happy with the result.

Grandmother doesn’t particularly like this show though some of the makeovers are interesting. It’s more that Grandmother has a hard time believing any normal man cares all that much about how a room is decorated. Oh sure, a normal guy will exhibit great concern for things such as favored chairs and such, but fabric and style of floor tile? Though I suppose it’s possible, believe that Grandmother’s husband would not have a clue.

Decorating Cents
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Here’s a ½ hour decorating show that is right up Grandmother’s alley. In that, sweet Granddaughter, the room makeovers in this show are limited to an expense of $500. Although by Grandmother I wouldn’t spend even that much to makeover a room what with flea markets and such all about to find curtains and the like that would allow the room to be made over several times during the year for the same amount of money.

Design on a Dime follows the same notion except the budget is increased to $1,000, again money Grandmother wouldn’t spend for a few new towels and curtains.

Divine Design
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This show features a decorator, a pleasant enough lady, who does a room makeover not much different than many others except she has this thing about lighting. She even has a special electrician named Chico whose job it is to install pot lights, strip lights, spot lights, whatever is required. Again, not a show Grandmother seeks out but one that will have me pause during the channel surfing.

The Brini Maxwell Show
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Grandmother must mention this show which she has only chanced to come upon a few times. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s an HGTV show but I could be wrong. Brini Maxwell is a well-dressed “lady” who seems to be stuck in the 50’s. The show topics might include decorating but also include proper etiquette, home safety tips, and flower arranging.

Grandmother mentions this show because, well, BRINI MAXWELL IS A MAN!! Oh, they never tell you that but any fool can see. I think the show is meant to be tongue in cheek but Grandmother is not fooled.

Trading Spaces
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The Learning Channel next picked up the home decorating craze and came up with two spectacular ideas that has caught the imagination of America. They feature two shows, Trading Spaces and Trading Spaces-Family.

The concept here is that two neighbors agree to have each other do a revamp of a specified room. The teams wear special shirts to indicate whose house they will be decorating. They are also assigned a designer to assist with the room makeover each team is about to commit on their neighbor.

Grandmother recalls one such show that I considered just plain cruel. The “couples” were evidently homosexuals though that wasn’t admitted outright and isn’t all that important.

Except that the designers each confabbed and came up with the idea that one room would be revamped to an all black décor while the other was revamped to an all white décor.

This is no exaggeration, the all-white and all-black concept. The entirety of each room was painted either white or black, including the lamps, all knick-knacks, the walls, even the wood for the fireplace! When that couple saw their newly revamped room all painted stark white, why Kaitlyn Mae, they started crying. Those were real tears, too, because it was absolutely the ugliest thing this grandmother has ever seen. What possessed these designers to be so cruel is beyond me.

The Trading Spaces concept has captured the imagination of the American public and the show’s host, first name is Paige, is a bit of a pop icon, one time even a guest on the Jay Leno show.

Paige, ahhh, this woman is such an exhibitionist that it embarrasses me. Anytime she can be the center of attention, well she’ll take the chance.

Guess Who’s Coming to Decorate
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This room makeover show boggles Grandmother’s mind, Kaitlyn, although I have to admit it does have its intrigue.

The notion is that a secret person from someone’s past comes to the home of a former friend, lover, even spouse, and revamps a room while the owners go away. The intrigue here is that not only does the audience get to keep guessing over the final Reveal, there’s also the intrigue of the couple or individual receiving a revamp guessing who from their past is redecorating their room.

Grandmother cannot imagine anyone from her past showing up to revamp a room in her house. The whole notion seems quirky.

Monster House Makeover
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The major networks, in this case ABC, jumped onto the home makeover craze with this idea and it is, indeed, the granddaddy of them all.

A family is chosen, usually based on some human interest tragedy. In one case, the selected family had a large SUV crash into their living room. Grandmother addressed this segment in another missive, titled ‘Monster House’.

This is not a room makeover show, Kaitlyn. In this show the entire house, or most of it, is completely torn down and another one rebuilt.

The new house is furnished with wonderful furniture, marvelous technology and fine décor. Sometimes entire cars are part of the deal. Or new swimming pools or even a tennis court. In one case a house belonging to a paraplegic was given an indoor lap pool!

It’s America excess at its best but that’s just me.

There’s lots more decorating type shows currently on the cable and broadcast networks, Kaitlyn, but on this day of our Lord, it is a concept that has captured America’s imagination.

A few celebrities have emerged from the phenomena, including the aforementioned exhibitionist Paige and now we have the quirky Ty, the carpenter of Trading Spaces who moved up to be host of Trading Spaces and is now working for Sears!

In the future, Grandmother will discuss fashion shows, hang in there.