Decorating Princess

When Vern Yip left Trading Spaces there was a lot talk about this new design show he was going to have. It didn’t happen for years. He eventually ended up as a judge on Design Star. We saw Ty Pennington also of Trading Spaces fame skyrocket to stardom with his own show Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Last night Vern’s new show Deserving Design premiered. The show is about giving good design to people who… well, deserve it. Think of it as the poor man’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. There are a few problems with Vern’s show.

• He’s not a host. He can try to be, but he just isn’t. He’s a great decorator. He can plan a space like no one’s business, but he’s just too low energy to be a host.
  
• The great part about Trading Spaces is that we got to see things we could replicate at home. This meant that Vern had to be creative & show us projects that were affordable. Deserving design lacks that.
  
• The show didn’t make me cry. I thought it would because it’s called Deserving Design, but it really didn’t touch my heart.
  
• Vern’s style seemed to be missing. The rooms weren’t classic “Vern”. They even seemed cluttered. Maybe he was just decorating to fit the couple’s tastes but overall it looked like walking into Pier 1.

I’ll give Deserving Design another chance, but only because I want to watch TV & cry. Don’t let me down this time.

Technorati : decorating, hgtv, trading+spaces, vern+yip

Well, it’s finally time to vote on who will be HGTV’s next design star. It isn’t even this hard for me to choose when I’m voting for a President. I guess it’s a different story when I like both of the candidates.

The only sour note on tonight’s episode was when they brought back the previous contestants. I thought that we had gotten rid of Rob for good. I felt bad that Kim had to work with him. Then he switched to Todd’s team on the next day & I felt bad for Todd. Rob was pretty low key though. Kim handled it with extreme grace, I think she should win just for that.

The challenge was to design a hotel suite in Hawaii. Todd’s room was inventive as usual, but it looked more like a four year olds room than a penthouse suite. Kim’s room looked both elegant, unique, & functional. However, she was going to leave this awful gray carpet in the room, I think just because she doesn’t have the carpentry skills. Todd & Kim both have amazing TV personalities, but I don’t know what kind of design knowledge either of them could impart to the average TV viewer. I already know how to shop, I don’t need any help with that. Who did I vote for? I’ll never tell.

Technorati : design+star, hgtv, kim+myles, todd+davis

On Sunday, the designers were challenged to create a room for a deserving family, for $10,000. The rooms came out all very similar & uninspired I thought. At least when they had to shop at the dollar store, they were forced to be creative.

I thought that Todd seemed very stressed out or tired this episode. In the end Will Smith ended up being sent home. That wasn’t the amazing part. The amazing part was Will’s gratitude when he was voted off. He was more gracious than most winners. He expressed how blessed he was to have met the family that he worked with, & that he stayed in this competition just so he could meet them & that he’d be a better designer & person because of that. It was such a refreshing change from Rob. Who knew that a reality show could have such a class act?

Technorati : decorating, design+star, hgtv, tv

I’ve been waiting to type that title ever since this season of “Design Star” started. The good news first, Rob got eliminated. The challenge was to redecorate Wayne Newton’s house, well his guest house. I had just seen Wayne Newton’s house on MTV cribs. Lots of gold, lots & lots & lots of gold. It wasn’t my taste, so I thought that it was smart that the designers were put in the guest house where they couldn’t hurt anything.

The designers also had to present their rooms on camera. Rob actually did a very good job. However, knowing what I know about him, I could never watch a show that he hosted. He just seemed so fake. Kim also did an excellent hosting job. I still want Todd to win. However, I don’t know how anything that he does will be applicable to the home audience. His ideas are just so out there. They work because he has tons of skills in every area. However, the average homeowner doesn’t have all of those skills. I could see him hosting a show kind of like “Monster House”. Time will tell.

Technorati : decorating, design star, hgtv, home