TV Tuesday: Home's Not Just For the Holidays

[yourlibrarian]

Have you ever watched decorating or real estate shows? Do you ever get ideas for decorating your own home from TV shows (whether or not they are specifically about decorating?)

Comments

[dine]

over many years, I've watched a few home renovation/makeover shows, though it's not a genre I really go looking for. waaay back in the day, the ur show This Old House was interesting, and got me at least vaguely intrigued in the genre, though not an addict. shows I've watched and enjoyed include Trading Spaces, Extreme Makeover and especially Holmes on Homes - I adore his delivery and commonsense approach. as a lifelong apartment dweller, I've not really had the freedom to do as I please in my living spaces, nor the budget, so I can't say they've ever inspired me much personally.

I've never really paid too much attention to house hunting shows, though ~8 years ago stayed with my sister for a while and she loved them, so I've seen some.

[ecto_one_spengler]

Personally I ain't too interested in such a thing as house hunting shows, for reason of never having the money and my suspense of disbelief never really getting achieved.

But, sometimes I wish I had money for little things I see in other TV shows, mostly trinkets for a future porch or plants.

[dine]

a lot of what they do/show doesn't really suit my taste, which I guess is lucky? but every so often I'd see artwork, or a cool bit of furniture and wish I could have that. but

[shadowkat]

I identify with you on this. Life-long apartment dweller - the decorating tips don't really apply. I've not heard of Holmes on Homes - that sounds interesting. I've seen Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover, and back in the day This Old House. I liked Trading Spaces - the old version the best.

The house hunting shows - I've not bothered with either.

[dine]

the original Holmes on Homes aired ages ago, but I think there may be some iteration airing currently - or possibly it's streaming somewhere. Mike Holmes is such a great guy, and since it's a Canadian show, we see stuff that's a bit different from the cookie cutter houses in lots of American neighborhoods

[shadowkat]

You almost have to go to urban and rural areas in the US, not to get the cookie cutter houses. Mainly because most housing developments in the US have one set of architects putting together a boilerplate set of housing designs. They also have strict zoning, building codes - and use big firms. But there are a lot of unique houses across the country (mostly in rural and urban areas, not small towns or suburban) - you just don't see them on these reality shows on television. Television does not provide a good representation of the United States at all. The country is a lot bigger than television represents it as being for one thing.

If you get outside of "suburban" US, and towards more rural or urban areas, the building codes are less design restrictive. New York's architectural design codes aren't restrictive at all - you can design whatever you want as long as it meets the safety codes. You should see my brother's house in upstate NY, it's not cookie cutter. Has two wooden spiral staircases, no bathroom on the second floor, and the Master bedroom is below the living room, also it's built into the side of a hill.

[queer_scribbling]

We've seen various house hunting and renovation shows over the years, all the way back to Trading Spaces (and seeing unimpressed reveals) in the early 2000s. It's usually filler or can tide us over until the top of the hour for a show we're waiting on, especially when House Hunters and variations (like House Hunters International) are only half an hour. Seeing new locations or styles we'd never specifically go for ourselves isn't half bad, but sometimes the formula gets a little tiring (if couple, see house for one, the other, and then a compromise; it's definitely tiring if someone acts like they have no idea about this formula and complains the whole time about one house isn't their style/budget/location/etc.).

Shows relating to repairing or restoring older homes can be interesting (along the lines of This Old House or Farmhouse Fixer), but more recently, we've liked catching My Lottery Dream Home. Despite some of the initial advertising feeling a little obnoxiously bougie, it's a nice break from the House Hunters style disagreements in location/style/budget. The people looking for a home have usually set an upper limit on their budget that's actually possible in the location they want to look in, and they're usually presented less stressfully. It seems like such a small thing, but the host asking 'What would you like to see in the next house?' (and following the suggestion) feels like the house hunters aren't being pitted against the real estate team.

It's not an outright competition, usually. Someone will have an aside to the camera about how the real estate agent isn't listening to them, and the real estate agent will have an aside to the camera that they're not a miracle worker and the person or couple will need to increase their budget to get their want list. As much as I'm usually not fond of the competitive back and forth between the renovator and real estate agent for Love It Or List It, I do like that in that show the real estate agent gives the couple a relative reality check on what they can afford.

(Separately, especially in this show, we wish the premise included an upfront rough estimate for different room renos, so some couples don't hand over the equivalent of $100 and ask for $10,000 in renovation. The exception that we remember was a couple that had already looked into the cost of adding in a wheelchair ramp to their front yard, so they actually gave a more realistic reno budget. Most of the shows we've caught haven't really featured disabled people or people looking to renovate with personal accommodations in mind, but I'm not sure that the network level PTB would go for that.)

[yourlibrarian]

Most of the shows we've caught haven't really featured disabled people or people looking to renovate with personal accommodations in mind, but I'm not sure that the network level PTB would go for that.

A shame since so much of it is needed and it would be a good challenge to have some thought put into how a house can be made more livable.

[executrix]

I never got to finish Gok Fills Your House for Free because it dropped off Roku before I could finish, but I think they had episodes about accessible design. So did Nate and Jeremiah.

[jo]

Some years back, I did find myself watching Love It or List It Vancouver, which means, I suppose, that there is a non-Vancouver version of the show out there. Not regularly -- I think it maybe aired on Sunday mornings when there wasn't much else on at the time? Anyway, my main reaction when the couple was being shown this house and that house was just thinking about how difficult / annoying it would be to clean the various things -- like the really fancy-shmancy faucets in the bathroom, or the 20-foot (or higher) entrance ceiling with this wacky chandelier thingy hanging down that was just going to be cobweb city -- and how the hell do you change light bulbs in it when they burn out? That sort of thing. So, er... no, it didn't inspire me re: decorating ideas, which I couldn't act on anyway as we rent.

[yourlibrarian]

I have the same reaction when looking at a potential living space. X feature may be cool but maintaining it may not, and I absolutely don't want a large living space because that's a lot of work. My mom sometimes commented on layouts and features saying "You can tell a man designed this" because they don't think about workflow or cleaning.

[yourlibrarian]

Not quite what the question asked, but I have often found it entertaining when I see something in a TV scene that either I have at home or had in my childhood home (now considered a "period piece" 0.0)

As we live in a 2-1 apartment, my main concern at home is a constant battle against clutter, not remaking a space. However just this week I watched the Christmas Light Fight on Disney+ (oddly they have only the latest 3 seasons available) and in the past I saw the Halloween counterpart. It's astounding the time, money and work people put into these displays. The winner that most impressed me for S9 (which is all I've seen so far) was the woman who created a meadow in her yard, complete with animals made with 3-D printers, flowers made from melted and shaped light covers, a river of blue lights bordered by handmade rocks, etc. Unique and spectacular.

[shadowkat]

Halloween version of Christmas Light Fight? Where? I'd find that one interesting. A neighborhood that's about a thirty minute walk from my apartment, goes insane for Halloween. They go over-board. One house has three stories worth, and their entire yard. And add new things every year. This year they added Beetlejuice to the display.

Like you, living in a one bedroom apartment - my main concern is de-cluttering. My constant battle is also about reducing clutter and not remaking or decorating space - or adding more clutter to it. I watch these things - and think, that's a lot of clutter or furniture.

[yourlibrarian]

I thought I'd seen one on Disney+? But perhaps I'm misremembering. But yes, there's a ton of potential contestants for such a show.

[valoise]

I used to watch a number of renovation/decorating shows back when I was renting. Then I bought my first house, a solid older home that had a number of issues tv had convinced me would be totally doable. After a few years of tedious & difficult DIY renovation, I no could no longer stomach shows that made it look oh so easy.

[yourlibrarian]

Indeed. As I mentioned above, about all I've seen is light display shows but it's already easy to tell what gets in or left out. They do seem to make an effort to be fair in featuring smaller displays as well as larger ones, but it's pretty obvious that people with a large property have much more chance of making a complex display.

Also the cost of making and running these displays must be enormous. Some people have mentioned that they're in the events business, which no doubt helps them get materials at a lower cost. But the energy bills alone, much less materials, has to be extremely expensive. So that cuts out a lot of people who couldn't possibly afford to put on these sorts of things. While it's clear that very few of these entries are family affairs (usually just one person does most of the design and physical work) the people who have the time to do the work are also retired in some way, or else they are high school or college age.

What I also couldn't figure out is how they dealt with light failures. I counted today and with indoor, outdoor and tree lights combined we have 14 strands (plus two "net" light sets which are designed to be tossed over bushes). We haven't yet ended a Christmas period without a strand going half dead or entirely dead, and replacing individual bulbs only sometimes works to restore them. What do they do when they lose a light strand? How many do they have to replace each year?

[shadowkat]

I agree. I have a brother who is into DIY renovations on his house (I rent an apartment), and the expense, time commitment, and difficulty is enormous. Also the type of supplies involved. I work with construction and engineering/architectural design contracts - so know a lot about construction and design - and these shows aren't realistic. I can tell they've been creative with the film editing. I mean - there is no way that you can renovate a house in two days, and re-landscape their yard. Particularly when it rained that weekend. I watched one that tried to convince the audience that they were able to do that - but the audience wasn't buying it. It takes time.

[lauramcewan]

I love watching reno shows. I have a few favorites. I have learned what I like and don't like! We're renting but if we ever buy again, I have thoughts...

[yourlibrarian]

I imagine there's a list by now 🙂

[executrix]

I watched just about all the Magnolia shows and, as noted above, Nate and Jeremiah. I'm seriously thinking about doing a chair rail and dado effect. I have a coffee and tea station in the kitchen. SHOOT ME NOW.

[yourlibrarian]

Haha! Hopefully you'll have a TV worthy result.

[executrix]

Considering that I'm going to be doing the wallpapering if it even happens, yeah, that's a guaranteed no.

[shadowkat]

Yes, I've watched them - I actually loved Trading Spaces, the original. But I don't use the ideas - mainly because they are expensive and don't work in my space. There's a somewhat entertaining one on Netflix about a bunch of British amateur designers in Britain vying for a huge designing gig. I can't remember it. I may have to check out the comments to see if anyone else has seen it.