Design & Renovation Shows on TV
I am a visual learner. Show me how to do something once, just walk me through the process and I’m set for life. I’m not so hot with written directions or step-by-step instructions, and the manual for my new car frustrates me to no end, which is why so many of the home shows appeal to me. Years and years ago, I became very familiar with Paige Davis and the design crew over at Trading Spaces. I was younger, on a tight budget, and the $1000/room makeover show had relevance to my life. I used to try and decide which designer I would want to make over my room, any room (Vern? Hildi? Doug?). But after a few years, I began to notice that trying to accomplish a full room makeover in only two days (usually less than 24 hours), with only 3 people (some not too handy) wasn’t very realistic and that quality was suffering. I may like to do things economically, but I like them to be done right and to last. I was seeing paint jobs that my teenagers could do better, and had serious concerns when cabinet doors were removed and refinished in such a short time. Having had experience with these particular tasks, there are no good shortcuts and you gotta do them right the first time. I began to fear than much of what was done wasn’t going to last too terribly long, and it was always a crapshoot on whether the design aesthetic was right for the homeowners.
About this time I found a couple of TV home shows on de-cluttering and organizing. I was in need of some of that advice and began to tune in regularly. I became familiar with basket organizers, learned to look at my “things” in a new light, and took stock of what should stay and what should go. I had to quit watching the shows about three years ago, when I had to biggest de-cluttering task of all: taking the home my grandmother had lived in for over 40 years and making Trash/Sale/Keep piles. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. Her life was stored in that house and she was a packrat extraordinaire. Visiting once or twice a week, I left with a bag of trash or donated items. I began to designate space for garage sale items. I actually had to get two dumpsters in the course of a year, along with way too many dump runs to count. It took 8 of us a month to get ready for a garage sale, sorting, tagging and pricing. The 3-day affair was painful, and not something I care to repeat. I did learn a lot from those shows, and they were helpful in disposing of my grandmother’s belongings, as well as organizing most of my own house. But I have moved on.
My current passion is the shows which pit designers against one another: HGTV’s Design Star with Trading Spaces alum Vern Yip and Bravo’s Top Design, which features Todd Oldham and Jonathan Adler. What I like about these is that the budget is considerably higher, and [most] everyone knows what they are doing, including using power tools. While the time constraints are still somewhat severe, the creativity is head and shoulders above the do-it-yourself shows. There can be some great ideas, creative use of unusual products, recycle and re-use components, and some great use of color.
Trolling around for home shows on television, I was shocked to see how many there really are. HGTV leads the pack with new and old episodes airing of over 25 different shows. DIY network has at least ten shows, TLC nine, and Bravo has inserted a few as well. When winter sets in, I’m planning to check all these out, for inspiration, particularly Kitchen Renovations on DIY and Spice Up My Kitchen on HGTV. Hopefully there will be some great ideas for my upcoming kitchen.
