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March 7, 2007: A Little DIY
Hey Design groupies, I'm on vacation this week (sunny California), so I'm leaving the blogging to you. Since I often find myself agreeing (and laughing along) with your comments and assessments (e.g., Kelly Wearstler's crimped hair, etc), I'm looking forward to hearing/reading your thoughts. I'll be back for the March 14 episode.
For further inspiration, click here to find the show's website, which has oodles of videos, blogs, polls and other Design-DIY goodies.
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Mar 6, 2007 10:45 PM
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MIA
Since our lovely Aimee Deeken is out hopefully, enjoying sunny California, I’d like to place a few comments.
That darn Todd Oldham cracks me up. He always sounds like an infomercial trying to sell me that cool blender that can even chop up a brick in a matter of seconds. (Side note: For those who watch Beauty and the Geek, he also reminds me of Drew, the Trekker.)
After Carisa won last week’s challenge, she received first dibs on choosing carpenters. Nothing too special to mention except that Michael couldn’t even remember his carpenter’s name. It’s Cary in case you forgot again, Michael. I’m actually starting to like Michael more as I think he is progressing and maturing with each passing week.
Now, onto the challenge. Dun-dun-dun! Let’s meet the all-American Bell family which served as this week’s client. The proud owner of a GMC (a what?), a GMC, (a what, again? I seem to not be able to remember the obscene amount of product placement.) and a 1927 garage that probably has items buried in there from that same time. Mom, Dad, kids, and the dog (which was almost bigger than the boy) want a playroom, an office, a U-Haul storage room, a coliseum, and a dog bed. Oh, yeah, and keep everything that’s already in the garage. Well, I want a pony. Can we fit that in there, too? They also wanted every color in the gay pride flag, however, I don’t think pale-ish yellow is on there.
The interior designers scrambled to make a 3D model to represent their approach to the project. (By the way, I hate that clock in the work room… it’s evil. It takes too much time just to try and figure out what time it reads.) Andrea was chosen as team leader for the storage options and attention given to the stage. Goil, as usual, spoke giddily about his idea. Michael’s design was more the complete picture in that he included a color palette of red, blue, and even a “pale-ish yellow”. This would later prove to be ironic in the actual challenge. Then there’s Ryan. Ryan, who completely offended the client, but had the rest of America agreeing by just basically saying “I think you should get rid of some stuff” was a quick turnoff. I also found out a new way to pronounce niche (neesh- did not know that).
So the job was divided into different parts. Michael and Eric- fabrics and the theatre. Carisa- home office. Ryan-art designer. Goil- drawer, helper, and perhaps, even social support? Or in his own words “Like a Mini Andrea. Hahahahaha. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha. Ha.” Indeed that made me laugh. And then poor, poor Matt- simply, the maid. Who frustrated with Michael on how to tightly store a pool, laughed at Michael’s analogy of “It’s like trying to put Carisa in stretch pants.” I even gave a little chuckle when I heard Carisa utter the Tim Gunn of Project Runway catch phrase “Make it work.”
So with this newfound shed, it became the office and the object of Carisa’s affection. So much that she thought she would stay out of the way of the hard physical labor and just paint her little heart away. I found it extremely amusing when I saw her walk out with many paint stains covering her clothes. Did she run into the wet wall to make it look like she actually worked?
Tim Gunn, I mean Todd Oldham, popped in on a job that he would never do in real life and gave them advice. Of course, they didn’t have enough time and the project was incomplete. There were a couple things missing including, Ryan’s creative art project, Carisa, and, oh, yeah the GMC!
Onto the White Room. I do not like the judges, all except Jonathan Adler. He’s so overly perky compared to Kellee Wearstler’s monotonous voice and Margaret Russell looks like she just ate a lemon. The guest judge was Mark Rios. And that’s all I remembered about him except he illustrated that something can be organized, but is it composed? Sure, why not. Then the judges befuddled the contestants even more by telling them the judging criteria was how well they worked as a team, but then criticized them for being a team. I felt bad that Michael was slammed for the color choice even though he originally pitched the happy primary colors and was opposed to the grape theme.
Ryan tried to take the many feet out of his mouth by apologizing, but got right back in there with some comment about socio-economics and that he would never take a job like that. Because he’s an artist. Where’s the art, the judges wondered? I wanted Carisa to go because she seems rather lazy and have never really liked her attitude. However, since she won last week's challenge, it seemed very unlikely that she would go. Ultimately, it was Ryan’s lack of graphics and his disrespect towards interior designers that got him the cheerful boot of “See you later, decorator!”
If anybody caught the preview for next week’s episode, I can’t wait. Goil desperately states “I feel like Jan Brady! And I don’t want to feel like Jan Brady!” Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! I guess we’ll just have to tune in next week.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured, what the heck!
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Mar 8, 2007 1:02 AM
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That was a good long post, though. Kudos. One thing I truly liked about it is your ability to show sarcasm. That's not an easy thing to do with the written word versus orally.
My main comment was that it was past time for Ryan to go. He's kind of a contradiction. On one hand, he thinks being an artiste is better than an interior decorator, but on the other hand he gives off an insecure quality as though he deep down doesn't feel he's good enough to be on the show. You know? Either way, ta ta.
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Mar 8, 2007 1:51 AM
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Ding dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead!!! I'm referring, of course, to Ryan. Obviously his views on design are severely limited if he thinks interior design is all about vases and making things look pretty. Good riddance, Ryan!! I wish that the producers would lay off the group projects for awhile simply because it stifles everyone's individuality. Yes, design is about teamwork. But give each designer their own team (carpenter, painter, seamstress, whatever) and have them lash out teamwork that way. Personally, this whole project was kind of flop because it seemed like eveyone's focus was on getting all that junk out of the garage. It seems like they'd been stockin up at yard sales for weeks anticipating this cleanup!! My faves thus far are Carissa, despite her bristly attitude; Erik, because he seems to quietly produce things that are great; and Matt, even though he should be a little more aggressive. Andrea & Michael are just a bit weird, and Goil is cuh-razy, although I do like him and makes me laugh every episode, usually around the time when he becomes a bit unglued. I can't wait for the "Jan Brady" breakdown next week!! Although I am definitely not looking forward to another group challenge...
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Mar 8, 2007 10:13 AM
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First of all, it was about time for Ryan to go. If he had been elliminated instead of when Elizabeth and Felicia were let go, it would be a different game. In his defense, there was way too much stuff in the garage and at least half of it should have been thrown away.
I thought the challenge was not the most challenging. Everyone was on top of each other. Each designer didn't have a lot to contribute either once the design was selected. Maybe it was a like a quick challenge, to see what they could do in a little amount of time. Unless I missed something, Goil only constructed the dog bed, Michael only picked out the purple cutains...
So, did the Bells get the new GMC SUV just for participating in the challenge?
I've warmed up to the judges, but definitely not to Adler's big, fat, 70's-looking ties! Yuck!
I like the six that are left. Michael should probably be the next to go, but you never know how things will play out. I still crack up when the cut to Erik's eyebrow-raising! 
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Mar 8, 2007 11:01 AM
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If I were an interior designer, I would like Ryan to refuse to accept the job of the Bell. This family, from the father to the mother, to the children, and to their pet, had absolutely no taste except they are rich (look at how big their house was). However, the way they lived with all those junks in their garage, I agree 100% with Ryan that they should make some "sacrifice" and get rid of some or all or the junks!!
By the way, I don't think Andrea had any leadership skill, she should be the one who got the booted but because of the stupid immunity, she got to stay.
I am pretty sick of the team challenge, I want to see individual taste!
We talked about how boring the judges coud be in Top Chef. When those judges compared to the 3 judges in Top Design, the judges in Top Chef looked like Godsend!
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Mar 8, 2007 12:29 PM
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Agreed, that first post was excellent. Thanks for taking the time to give us such a good synopsis.
My take on the whole challenge is that it was ridiculous and boring. Who cares if six people can shove a ton of worthless stuff into cheap plastic boxes from The Container Store in x amount of time? It would have been interesting to see what the designers came up with to turn a big garage into a home office/theater stage/storage space/kennel and still have room for a car--we could ALL relate to that. But of course they couldn't produce anything creative or attractive when they had to spend all their time sorting "squirrel-urine" clothes and moldy old plastic swimming pools.
A personal note to the Bells: you desperately need an introduction to Flylady. She could help you. Start with "if you don't love it, if it doesn't make you smile, get rid of it." Work on: "You can't organize clutter" and "15 minutes a day."
www.flylady.net
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Mar 8, 2007 1:16 PM
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I found it interesting that Mrs. Bell needed an office by the garage. Did you catch that big house - you mean to tell me there was NO room for an office inside!! I doubt that even if she liked the office, she would ever use it.
Strange show. I had to agree with Ryan. The show reeked of conspicuous consumption. From the huge house to the huge car. Yuck!
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Mar 8, 2007 3:49 PM
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I don't even know if the Bells are totally to blame. I'm sure the show found a family that would be willing to do this ridiculous exercise in "decorating". Maybe I live in the wrong place in the US (and having lived in 3 different states), but I've never in my entire life seen a 2-car garage that would be used for all those purposes. This was very stupid. But the family did look put out when told by Ryan that they'd have to get rid of that junk, so the garage and junk WAS probably theirs. I just don't believe the ideas were theirs.
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Mar 8, 2007 4:41 PM
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Good post, mytwocents! I really enjoyed it!
I agree, candall, that this was a ridiculous task. But it sort of goes with the territory on some of these shows. And illinoisfan, I thought the same thing about the office! Wha? No room for an office in that huge house? But pinkie, you may be right in that the show designed the task and not the family.
So glad Ryan is gone. His superiority was really getting on my nerves! But I must admit that he was saying exactly what everyone was thinking when he told the Bells to get rid of the junk!
Curious that they didn't pick a winner on this task, and they didn't even say why. I guess you could say that Andrea is the winner, but even when designs are chosen on Project Runway by a guest, they still have a winner and loser.
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Mar 8, 2007 9:32 PM
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