here you go. post away.

Oh, goody. Thanks, Rachel.

I agree with Digsy that Frank is the best, personality wise. And after watching some recent episodes of Trading Spaces, it is highly evident that he is capable of much more than his typical designs which consist of farm animals and wooden likenesses of the homeowners. The last room I saw of his was very modern and minimalistic. I was very impressed.

Aside from Frank, I usually like Vern's and Genevieve's designs. Doug's are usually okay. I cannot stand Laurie or the new people. Hildi (or however you spell her old maid-sounding name) has good designs sometimes, but I don't like her.

I really like Tye, probably because I think he might remind me of Jim Carrey. Aimee Win (or however you spell her weird name) is okay, I guess, just kind of boring.

Paige is not cool. . . at all.

I watch the show when it's on, but there are much better design shows in my opinion...such as the original Changing Rooms and HGTV's Design on a Dime and Style's Area.

Whatever happened to the first host? Why did she leave? I liked her better than Paige and, with some style assistance from Wayne Scot Lukas and Stacy London, she could have been just as styling as Paige. Actually, I still don't understand why the show really needs a host.

Hilde reminds me of my high school Spanish teacher. She's very cold and sarcastic and exudes an "you know I'm better than you" 'tude. I like it.

Frank is hilarious in all of his gay ambiguity (he is married, actually). Plus, he wears red chucks, so that is always a plus. But I never like how he always incorporates chickens or country crap or children's hair into his designs.

Genevive (or however you spell her ridiculous Medieval name) is my favorite of the women. She usually does some neat retro looking stuff, plus she likes sorta-okay music.

Doug is my favorite designer because his rooms are very interesting. I enjoyed the movie theater room he did. The fact that he did an episode wearing leather pants makes him my favorite. Plus I like the diva-tude that he tosses around. It makes for nice conflict and, therefore, nice television.

Verne is okay. All of his rooms are way too adult for me. They all involve sheer fabrics, the colors gold and red, and lots and lots of candles. I think he might be my mom's favorite.

The rest of them all sorta bleed together...

Yeah, I didn't like the old host either. But, she was probably better than Paige. I also agree that a host in unnecessary.

(Edited by Sexy Sadie at 11:38 pm on May. 21, 2003)

I've wondered the host thing as well but I never knew who was there first.

I found out, to my suprise, that Frank was married last week. I was quite shocked. He is very funny.

Has anyone else noticed that the designers wear the same thing both days? Why is that?

I forgot to mention my hatred of Edward, the new guy. He possesses the dreaded "Flying Squirrel" haircut that was popular in 1996 and worn by TV's Brad of "Home Improvement" for a couple episodes (you know, when it was his turn to have a problem). The haircut can be described as shaven around the bottom of the head, but the top is kept at near shoulder-length. When the longer hair on top is placed in a pony-tail, wackiness ensues. It's odd that designers often look like they are fashion inept (this also applies strongly to "What Not To Wear"'s Wayne Scot Lukas).

Yes, that hairdo makes me cringe.

And the original host (whatever her name was) recently participated on Joe Millionaire.

And, I have also noticed, Rachel, how the designers wear the same clothes on the second day. I find that fishy.

I read that it is to preserve continuity when the shows are edited later on. There is also an unseen carpenter as well as an unseen seamstress that aide in the show's production.

It's all smoke and mirrors. He's gay.

Would you call it an upside down mullet?

I have no idea what it looks like, but that seems like a good name from the description.

Craziest hair I've ever seen: Spring Break last year, a beach in Tampa Bay Florida.. a man completley bald except for a small circle in the back of his head of hair that had hair to his bootwa in a braid. It was very Pocahontas-esque.

What a faggot. I hated Brad for a long time after that incident.

Ohh.. I got chills reading that one. It just sounded so.. creepy.

Sure he isn't Jewish?

Perhaps Hare Krishna? Did he give you a flower?

By the way, this topic is completely irrelevant, you should all die.

oh good God.

(Edited by Sexy Sadie at 12:04 am on May. 22, 2003)

Yes?

ha haven't heard that one before, Richard.

someones read "behind the scenes" too. i read it cover to cover in one night.

i hate frank. he is the most annoying man on the planet and he wears weird baggy capri jean things and sweats like the pigs that he paints on peoples walls. i felt so bad for the sorority sisters whose house he did with the weird colors and gold stars, etc. his attempts at minimalism and modernity are worth noting for effort, but i cant say i could live in any of his rooms.

i also highly dislike doug. his hair makes me nauseous and his feigned enthusiasm for his mediocre designs is even more repulsive. i should also point out the notorious episode where he made the woman cry her eyes out with her mic on in the other room where the audience could hear. and that room wasnt even one of his worst! i thought that the movie theater idea was cool, but i didnt like the end, and it hardly seemed like a practical living room for a family with young children.

i usually like gens stuff, but sometimes it goes too far. i especially did not like her scrabble basement. i really liked her cuban inspired room in the apartment for that chris wilde episode.

hildi definitely takes ideas too far, but i appreciate her effort. i remember an episode where i didnt love the room [they drew grass with crayons on the walls] but she designed the most amazing bed for the people that i almost cried.

i like most of lauries rooms, basically because she spares no cost when it comes to quality. she gets really nice main pieces, like fabric, and then works around it with good colors and strategic room planning. her rooms are kind of what i want my house to be like when im older, but only if i have an old house with dark wood floors and leaded glass windows.

who am i forgetting? oh yeah, verne. hes alright. hes an architect, thats why his stuff is so minimal and geometric. i usually really dont like his drapes that match the stripes on the walls. i think it makes the room look really stuffy. he did a great kitchen once [i think he called it something like "oasis within the desert" or something corny like that] with light blue walls and white cabinets and a light wood floor. i thought it looked really clean and nice, how a kitchen should. sometimes he makes stuff a little too feminine to try and appease the women, that usually turns out ugly.

i dont like any of those new people. nor do i like that other designer that did like, 2 rooms in the very beginning with the weird clothes and the christmas light lamp.

paige is the most annoying woman in the world. alex was the coolest and i want to be her best friend. ty was cute in the beginning but now his jokes are getting tired. amy-winn is a dyke and i hate her shirts that say shit like "woman at work." hahaha.

"while you were out" is alright but i usually dont like the rooms. i like "surprise by design" most of the time. "design on a dime" is pretty practical. "changing rooms" is really weird.

am i forgetting anything?

Thank you for saying what I have been thinking the entire time.

I was joking, don't hyperventilate.

I dunno, he's just a jolly dude. I guess his Santa-esque demeanor appeals to the five year old inside of me.

Or maybe it's his other over-riding quality...

His belly?

No worry. I got my inhailer just in time.

No...

Doug is my favorite. He never fails to entertain me when his episodes are on. I agree with Digsy about the leather pants. That was hott. And other than that, he always manages to dictate all the work to the two guests and does none or very little himself. I just think that's very funny.

Verne is my second favorite. His rooms are usually pretty tasteful. My sister works with Verne's best friend at an architecture firm in Atlanta and said that she has actually seen pictures of their vacation to Florida and that Verne was shirtless. For some reason, I was jealous.

Was it Derek Sivers? He's the only person I have ever seen with thai haircut. I couldn't find a good picture of the back of his head, but you can kind of tell in these:


http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:von3...eatm99panel.jpg

http://www.justplainfolks.org/Mentors/pics/derek.jpg

I usually like Verne's rooms, and mostly like Laurie & Gen's stuff.

Hilde is horrendous! Did you see when she actually glued hay to the walls in some poor person's living room? They had kids who would come pick it off and eat it! Another time, she used chocolate brown felt to line all the walls in another house where the people had like 3 cats. Can you imagine tape-rolling your walls every day? I don't know if they had claws or not, but there's another potential problem with the cats using the fabric on the walls as a scratching post.

Kia (one of the new designers) is also appalling. She came and spoke at a Comcast customer appreciation thing last year, and got pissed when she was asked if they ever got their design ideas from Changing Rooms. You'd think she'd be fond of the show since they ripped it off from BBC and gave her a job.

Anyway, she turned some couple's room into an Egyptian Oasis recently with a big gold eye symbol on the wall, and put palms on their fan blades. She actually put the fan in (they usually take them out) and the woman had purposely removed it because she hated it in the first place. She tried to make a giant pyrimid fountain and stick that in there too. Fortunately it leaked and they had to scrap it. She said she used to be a set designer on Broadway. Unfortunately, set design for plays doesn't translate into an attractive living space. She also confirmed that they wear the same clothes for continuity, and because sometimes when they edit the show for airing they have to cut parts from one day and insert them into the other day. That way you can't tell what they inserted.

Flying Squirrel haircut man did some awful polka dot primary color & silver thing to some actresses media room. Barf! He creeps me out!

I like Changing Rooms much better - Laurence is hilarious!

Wow, that's not very PC. Lesbians are people, too. It's not cool to make assumptions about people based on sexual preference, you know.

being a dyke myself, i take offense to that comment.

it was a joke. thats why i laughed after i said it. and i didnt make any assumptions about her character based on it. shit i dont even think shes a dyke! she flirts with doug way too much to even back that up with anything. funny, haha.

Ahh maybe! It was a while ago but it looks just like him. I overheard him talking about making weighted playing cards so that they dont blow away. Who is he anyway?

Gotcha. My bad. I'll shut up now.

i love me some trading spaces.

frank is definitely my favorite personality-wise as well. he's just so cute, jolly, and adorable. he seems so nice to everyone. i have a feeling that if i ever saw him in person, i couldn't stop myself from just giving him a big hug. good thing i didn't go to the southern women's show.

doug is my second favorite personlity-wise, for the exact opposite reasons than frank. he's so mean and fun to watch.

vern is my favorite design-wise. i'm a sucker for that red and camel color scheme. there has only been maybe on or two rooms of his that i haven't liked.

gen is my second favorite for design. i hate hilde. laurie seems sweet and i like her rooms maybe 50% of the time. the new people i don't care enough to watch. i'm indifferent about the carpenters.

oh yeah, and i hate paige. she needs to be ran over. i liked alex.

(Edited by HaveSomeSoma at 10:28 am on May. 22, 2003)

And Carligula wins another argument! Carligula 2. stopforme 0

(Edited by Keith at 12:48 pm on May. 22, 2003)

So, since many of you love Frank so much, did you go to the Southern Women's Show in Nashville this past weekend? Unfortunately, it was a show of home and garden crap, and not of hot women.

I hate when couples cry or whatever when they hate thier room. No matter what it ALWAYS looks better then it did before so shut up and be grateful.

I love Verne & his little blue prints for everything. He never offends me, which is a lot to say for that show. I think Genevieve is a skanky Hollywood whore- on that Andy Dick episode, she spent the whole time laughing at his not-funny jokes and sucking his Dick, in a metaphorical way. On another celebrity one, she used a photo of her naked body, fake boobs and all, as decoration for the room. I don't hate Paige, maybe just because her boobs are probably not fake, and she has good biceps.

Finally I can participate in a TV discussion! It's one of the few shows I've seen more than a handful of times. I tried While You Were Out once & it was too dumb & contrived.

He's the owner of CDBaby.com - an online CD store for independent artists. I think he has his hair like that so folks remember him. I guess it works because I did!

I don't think they are fake - the rest of her body build seems to match up with the size of them and they are not pushed up to her chin. I can usually spot fake ones a mile away, but I could be wrong...

what about "what not to wear"? my big sis is terrified we're going to put her on that show.

verne is the coolest. best thing he ever did: put these red mirrored squares on the ceiling & hung a candle chandelier (sp?) from it. i think it was some sort of feng shui (sp?) thing, but whatever it was, it's BADASS. if i was on trading spaces & learned that frank was to be doing my house, i'd back out.

oh i think we've mentioned a few times how "what not to wear" is the shit. it's an extreme source of entertainment. you get to see a makeover, you get to make fun of stupid hosts, you get to watch someone spend a lot of money, you get to feel bad for the victim when the hosts make them cry, you get to laugh at the victim when the hosts make them cry. how could it get any better?

and i even had digsy make me a wayne lukas scot avatar a long time ago. i can't rememebr ever using it. maybe it's about time to bust that out.

dude. that is not cool.

Really? That's the only reason I ever watch this show.. I think its hilarious when they really mess the room up and the people get all mad about it..
It amuses me.

I wish they'd just do ugly, horrible decorations all the time so I could watch the reactions.

I have to agree. I'm getting to the point where I schedule my Saturdays around catching the episodes. They are just that hilarious. But newsflash: Wayne went to Janet Jackson's hair stylist and got his *HAIR DID*!! The greatest thing about the show was Wayne's ridiculous Fabio-hair!

Here Wayne was before...

And here he is after with his new stylin' do...and Justin Timberlake!!!

Why did he cut his hair?! The way he tossed around his lusciuos locks was one of the best parts of the show. I honestly do not understand how those two obnoxious and unfashionable people got that job. But, I do love the show.

Oh, I'm really sorry Stalker. Slang is a bitch. My apologies for offending you.

ironically, this should offend me more than richarddawson's use of the word "faggott". however, it does not. if she plays with tools and is a carpenter and all that jazz, she's probably a dyke.



(Edited by stalker on skates at 12:58 pm on May. 23, 2003)

no worries friend. its all good

i feel like i'm on "while you were out" or "trading spaces" this weekend-- exliontamer is "out of town" and i signed a lease on a new place for us this week. a friend and i are currently in the process of painting the rooms. so he'll come back to town to a new place to live! freshly painted!

i asked him (somewhat jokingly) if he'd like me to make him a cowboy-themed room, and he said he likes:
1) pirates
2) spacemen
3) alien space creatures
4) greek mythological characters
better than cowboys.
cowboys out, spacemen in.

i painted one of the rooms blue today, and it looks too much like the color of a little boy's nursery (no, i'm not having a baby). oh well. tomorrow i shall paint the bedroom "parsley"

You should stencil spacemen and alien space creatures on the walls of the blue room. That would be fun (though perhaps a bit juvenile).

juvenile shmuvenile. those are the most funn things!

Smee, are you wearing a regulation Trading Spaces button up while painting?

Must admit..I have a bit of a weakness for Gen from TS...Carol Smiley from Changing Rooms and Sussanah from What Not to Wear. Delish:)

close. my friend and i both had on light blue t-shirts while we were painting yesterday.

They just had a "War Trading Spaces" skit on Conan. Very funny. They redid each other's tents to make them "more spacious" and "more floral".

That was hilarious. I actually liked the tent they redid, oddly. It had a nice egg-chair...

On another note, my aunt sent mi familia a copy of the Trading Spaces book for some odd reason. I've been reading it a tad (because I am that bored/lame) and I have discovered that Vern is a huge X-Men fan and owns 5,000 comics. I now like him...but not his rooms.

Where have I talked about this before? I feel like Sexy Sadie and I have given our spiel about "What Not to Wear" vs. the British version, and "Trading Spaces" vs. "Changing Rooms." I think Paige is definitely annoying..does she just wear her hair as a hat?..it's so freaking sprayed. I think the Scottish woman host on Changing Rooms is far more interesting, and not at all irritating. I think Graham is hot, and the women are much prettier. But I'm biased since I'm an anglo-phile. Trading Spaces is just boring and cheesy to me..it's an hour long, as opposed to the half-hour Changing Rooms, and that means they fill that extra 30 minutes with canned conversations and contrived jokes. Everything must fall apart as soon as they build it. The most unbelievable thing I ever saw though was on While You Were Out, and they tried to convince me that they brought in a huge desk, stained it, let it dry, and put stuff on it in 10 minutes.

Sexy Sadie, you're the only other person I know that says "good God." I picked that up from Jane Austen movies and such, and people always laugh when I say it.

i've never seen trading spaces and i didn't read all of this thread

but i get told i look like/ resemble/ remind people of hildi on a daily basis.

It's too bad StephanieW isn't around... she loves this show and would gladly add to the conversation.

I'm back. And, I do love this show. Vern and Gen are my favorite designers; they hardly ever disappoint me. My least favorite is Frank. Don't get me wrong...I love his personality. But, his designs are too folky...just not my style.
Vern uses a lot of red (my favorite color), and Gen always comes up with pretty good ideas. The one idea of hers that I have not liked is the rusted faux finish. They basically make something (like a file cabinet on one of the celebrity editions) look all rusted, and it's supposed to be cool. That just isn't for me. I'm about 50-50 with the rest of the people.

That was HORRIBLE! That was the episode in which she was trying to have sex with Andy Dick at every turn. It was a perfectly ok file cabinet and they made it look like it had been dragged out of a landfill and dumped in a vat of acid.

This Saturday at 8pm they are showing the Brentwood episode. Apparently, Hildi ruins another wall. With feathers this time instead of hay. Oh, the Horror! The Horror!

I missed all of the British Invasion episodes, and without the BBC America, how am I supposed to get my Laurence fix? The original British versions of every TLC show are millions of times better. See: "Changing Rooms," "What Not To Wear," "Coupling," and I hear "The Office" is supposedly coming to the States....

You know that Laurence is taking over as the host of Changing Rooms?

I have BBC America at my house - I will tape all the shows for you - for a price!! Mwahahahahaha!

Gah, I had no idea...I haven't seen it in months and months. I love him madly, and want to drink coffee with him and talk about suits and flowers. I think he'd be a great host, and it's a great way to prevent him from decorating rooms.

What kind of price are we talkin', here?

I dunno, despite my anglophilia, I enjoy the US versions of Trading Spaces and, especially, What Not To Wear. But I have to say that What Not To Wear is suffering without Wayne Scott Lukas...man, I miss him.

I like "Trading Spaces", but I think "Changing Rooms" is better. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree about the US "What Not To Wear." Trinny and Susannah are fab in my book. So touchy-feely!

is wayne scott lukas the fabio looking guy? the show isnt the same without making fun of him. the girl is really annoying. the bbc version is much better. has anyone else noticed how often they talk about thier boobs, though?

i love the office.