"Trading Spaces" is a television show where two sets of neighbors literally trade spaces for 48 hours to redecorate a room in each other's homes. To help both teams, each couple is assigned a designer and shares the services of a carpenter.
The designers, each with distinct style personalities, are rotated each week. This rotation keeps each episode and design fresh. Host Paige Davis serves as the timekeeper and constant budgetary presence.
The reality element to "Trading Spaces" comes as each team attempts to battle the clock and finish its design within the 48 hour time limit. To make things even more challenging, the teams are forced to stay within a $1,000 budget.
In last Saturday night's episode, Colleen and Michael are tired of their dull white kitchen. The couple wants to see a Mexican cafe feel but under no circumstances want "hearts and flowers painted on the wall ... nothing country, nothing fru-fru."
The other team of Stacy and Kevin want more seating in their country-inspired living room to entertain their guests who often have to sit on the floor when over. Stacy and Kevin are assigned to designer Frank Bielec, who is known for doing "theme rooms." For example, in a recent episode, Bielec designed a room that included two cartoon cutouts of Shakespearean actors in response to a couple's love of the Bard.
Colleen and Michael work with Designer Laurie Smith, who calls her designs "elegant, but ecletic." A fan of straight lines and symmetry, Smith is unquestionably my favorite designer on the show. Of course, as a guy who would never paint a room any color but white, my judgment is questionable.
Bielec wants to give Colleen and Michael exactly what they want, a Southwestern themed room. But this is not always the case. Sometimes the show assigns the most contemporary designers to redo the rooms of the most conservative people. In another episode, a couple who was absolutely in love with a Victorian bedroom had their room designed by Hilda Santo-Tómas, whose recent ideas included a hot pink couch. Luckily for them, they were given exactly what they wanted which, believe me, does not always happen.
In Smith's room, the much anticipated unveiling of the shade of paint happens to the delight of Colleen and Michael. Smith picks an "amber yellow" color to bring more warmth to the currently dull and sterile room.
Back in Bielec's room, tension builds between Frank and Stacy as Frank wants to paint a Mexican serapi on the ceiling. Stacy is concerned about the stripe of black in the middle of the serapi. Bielec responds to the challenge with his usual humorous banter, "Let us shut our eyes and let's think serapi. Put your head back and stare through your eyelids and see if you can't see the stripes in it ... This is one of those things that until it's finished is not going to be what you think it's going to be." Stacy relentingly agrees.
Meanwhile, in the carpentry area, carpenter Amy Wynn Pastor explains the media armoire she just built. "It will look uniform in terms of numbers of doors," said Pastor. "But, obviously, these doors will be smaller than these doors.
At the end of the day, both teams are assigned "homework," some home improvement work that is done by each couple while the designer has left. Often, homework means burning the midnight oil and working the entire night until the early morning.
A true "Trading Spaces" emergency results the next morning when Laurie returns. Stacy and Kevin used a whole quart of paint to paint two boards, not leaving enough to paint an ottoman. But Smith has already gone overbudget with this room and is sure to catch some flak from Davis for "stringing straw into gold." I'm not sure what the penalties are for going overbudget but they do not seem too severe.
Davis' "Time's up!" marks the end of the 48 hours each team gets to decorate their rooms. Before and after images of each room are shown and each designer is then interviewed about the experience and rationale behind the room.
In the interview, Smith confesses, "I started to have my doubts. With the whole money thing, I started to really get stressed out. Stacy and Kevin are then taken to their room and the nervous homeowners are allowed to see their redesigned room for the first time. Kevin exclaims, "Holy cow!"
"I'm blown away," responds Stacy. It is obvious that Smith's warm, comfortable yellow design has paid off.
In Bielec's interview, Bielec is extremely satisfied with his Mexican flavored room. "I have been waiting for this style forever ... I love this Mexican influence and all the wonderful textures of that culture," said Bielec.
But, always keeping things in perspective, Bielec was quick to add, "The one element that is my absolute favorite in any design I do: it has food."
Now it's Colleen and Michael's turn to see their new room. Colleen has an almost orgasmic experience yelling, "Oh man! I'm in Mexico." Her most soft-spoken husband is also very happy picking out the design elements he enjoys.
Of course this was a happy ending, but not all shows end up this well. In a recent episode, a woman was so disturbed by her new room, she actually broke down. But the couples here show that the true joy of "Trading Spaces" is the experience. Getting a room you like is just a bonus.
"Trading Spaces" is on TLC with a new episode every Saturday at 8 p.m.