Does anyone ever cry at the end of Trading Spaces?

[burythehatchet]

Like when they both start crying cuz they love their new room so much?

Where can I seek assistance?

[Raven]

1. Oh dear dear dear!

You need help immediately! I usually cry when the butcher some poor couples' place! Actually, I love that show...it's a cute idea, but I've heard that they can really make a mess and then leave. :-)

[burythehatchet]

2. You mean its not always a happy ending?

I'm shocked

[Skittles]

3. I don't know where you can get assistance

but please DO try to get it

[unblock]

4. it's great when dan akyroyd and eddie murphy

really stick it to those old rich bastards! making them poor while making themselves rich, and betting $1 on it to boot!

brings tears to my eyes everytime. i just love the futures markets!

[nuxvomica]

5. Ha, that's what I thought too

We're just not watching enough cable. :-)

[Ediacara]

6. I cry when I watch Changing Rooms

and the long haired leather pants-wearing designer is on.

"Oh you have such beautiful hardwood floors, let's paint 'em black!"

[Bridget Burke]

8. How dare you speak ill of Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen!

He's one of the best designers on the show--although he's becoming the host, now that Carol Smillie has left. His work can be quite flamboyant but he tones it down when the situation demands. He's also conversant with period styles.

Generally, Changing Rooms is far superior to Trading Spaces. Hildi or Doug on a bad day have definitely produced rooms work crying over. Straw glued to the walls, anyone?

[Ediacara]

11. The thing is

When he doesn't like the owners, he creates a masterpiece of trash. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him use paint on an oak floor, it makes me want to cry!

And I do agree with you, Changing Rooms is a lot better than Trading Spaces.

[Wolfman 11]

7. I cry when I see it listed in the TV guide.

just awful.

[Xithras]

9. I cried when my wife submitted our house without telling me

My wife and one of her friends (who lives just around the corner from us) thought that it would be a GREAT idea to submit our homes to the show, and sent in photos. They received a response back about a month later saying that they were interested in using us and that they wanted to send a scout out, which is when she finally told me about it. I put my foot down...absofreekinglutely NOT!

So you can imagine how suprised I was when I found out that she had the scout visit our homes two weeks later.

The upside was that they didn't like our family room (the room she submitted)...it has funny dimensions. The bad news was that they wanted our master bedroom instead. Again, I vetoed the idea.

I like Trading Spaces. It's an entertaining show that occasionally even stumbles across a good design, but I only like about one out of every five of their rooms so there is NO way I'd let them loose in my house. Her friends husband is even more emphatic about it than I am...they had ALREADY spent tens of thousands of dollars to have their home professionally decorated and wasn't too keen to have one of his rooms destroyed for a TV show. Still, my wife keeps bugging me about it :grr:

Addendum: If anyone is interested in getting on, it's apparently pretty easy. The scout said that it's hard to find two attractive homes with above-average sized rooms within a block of each other, where the owners are willing to not only give up design control, but to take off days of work (the show doesn't film on weekends or holidays, so you're taking two days off work if you want to be on the show). You also get no input into who your designers are.

[annagull]

13. OMG, Xithras---your post has cracked me up!

My hubby and I watch the show sometimes and just laugh--some of the crap they come up with is just awful (the "gothic puppet theater tv cabinet" comes to mind). I can just imagine the horror of finding out they wanted to come to your house! Glad you were able to stop it, sorry your wife isn't too happy but maybe she'll come to her senses soon. :-)

[starroute]

10. I watched some of that when I had the flu a month ago

I watched a whole bunch of makeover shows, actually -- but the one that got me the most emotional was Clearing Clutter (or whatever the exact name is.) That's where they bully people into selling all their useless junk and then apply the profits to a room makeover.

There was more than one person for whom the whole experience seemed like a religious transformation. After suffering in bondage to the weight of their material possessions, they had suddenly been liberated, and you could see the light of a whole new world dawning in their eyes. It was kind of inspiring, in a weird sort of way.

[CO Liberal]

12. Only When Hilde Designes One Of The Rooms

And covers the walls with straw, feathers, cardboard, or other bizarre materials.

[jmowreader]

14. I can just see the guy who invented Liquid Nails

sitting there screaming at his TV, "that's not what you use it for, you stupid shit!" every time Hildy starts gluing hubcaps to the wall.

[grasswire]

15. did you see the 500 paint cans?

Hildy glued 500 gallon-size paint cans to the ceiling of a rec room, and covered the walls with wrapping paper with giant gumballs on it. She's just mean.

[jmowreader]

24. There is LSD in her past, that much is certain

I think I'd have to leave Hildy a few little hints that Gluing Stupid Shit To My Walls is Not A Good Idea. Would a pair of boxing gloves be subtle enough?

I can see Hildy doing the rec room of a musician who has egg cartons glued to his walls already. Everyone else would be like "Hildy, you know you're not supposed to start without us!"

I saw the 500 paint cans. The problem with gluing 500 paint cans to the wall is that you'd blow your budget just on paint cans if you wanted new ones--I get $4 apiece for the empty ones. And you'd get the inevitable question, "what the hell are you planning to do with 500 empty paint cans?" because no one stocks that many empties. Come to think of it, we stock maybe twice that many full ones. When the paint truck comes every other day, you don't need to stock a huge amount of paint. (Yes, I sell over 2000 gallons of paint a week.)

[mac56]

16. God, yes! I hate Hildy!

My lovely wife loves the show, but I refuse to watch it with her if Hildy's on.

Starting to feel that way about Doug and Laurie as well.

[Loonman]

17. I'd cry if Hildy wanted to nail goofy stuff

To my wall.

[Liberal Veteran]

18. I expect Hildy to glue cow patties to the wall...

...and cover all the furniture in Gateway boxs and carpet with astroturf for her next inspiration room that will be inspired by seeing a cow shitting in a field.

[mac56]

19. One night Paige asked Hildy -

if she would want, in her own home, the "design" she had just inflicted on the home owners.

Hildy would not answer.

[CO Liberal]

21. Another Time, Hilde DID Answer

She said of course not - all her walls are white.

[mac56]

22. That also sounds like a "theme" that Kia would come up with.

nm

[burythehatchet]

23. OK I've laughed myself to tears

that imagery was way too much - and oh so accurate

[Hogarth]

20. Hildy is the worst !

Frank is all right, but he tends to be too artsy-crafty, and he sweats a whole lot. That's why I can't believe they actually spend two days filming. If you watch closely, they all show up in "the morning" of the second day wearing the same clothes they had on the day before, and Frank is still sweating.

My favorite episode involved what I thought was a pretty sharp renovation of the couple's living room fireplace. When they saw it at the end of the show, the missus started crying uncontrollably, disappointed, and had to walk off camera. The husband commented rudely that it all looked like so much firewood to him.

I much prefer Changing Rooms because they work on buildings that can be hundreds of years old, and because it's the original concept. Trading Spaces is a cheap rip-off of a British success. I'm surprised TLC hasn't duplicated Ground Force and named it something like "Yard Crew."

[jmowreader]

25. Was it Hildy that did the brown room?

I remember coming home from the store one Saturday when Lori was watching Trading Spaces. Apparently the homeowner told the show's producers they could do anything they wanted as long as they didn't paint the room brown. Well naturally, the first thing they did was run straight to my red-aproned competitor to buy brown paint.

And just as naturally, the homeowner almost kicked the designer's ass right there on camera the second she saw it.

I still say "Trading Spaces: The Day After Hildy Leaves" would be a smash success. You remember that one, the spinoff hit that gives four Home Depot associates a room Hildy destroyed, four days and unlimited access to the markdown book. The intent of TS:TDAHL is to keep the homeowner from hiring a hit man.

[mac56]

26. I don't think she almost kicked the designer's ass.

Actually, she leaped at her friend, the other homeowner, and took her down to the floor.

[CO Liberal]

27. No - That Was Laurie Smith

It was one of her worst designs, IMHO.

[mac56]

28. I hate Laurie nearly as much as I hate Hildy.

With Doug not far behind.