Reality TV for decorating has arrived in your living room. From screams of joy to looks of utter horror, home decorating is the latest big trend in reality TV programming.
Apparently having a stranger decorate your house is high drama, and viewers love to peek into every minute of the change. Will they really paint that room orange? Don’t you hate those big retro dots on the wall? Are they going to use twigs to make a chandelier? Can they finish in time? Will the homeowners cry, jump up and down, or just look shocked?
This is a television genre that has it all: celebrity hosts, perky designers, hunky carpenters, impossible time limits, suspenseful countdowns, shouts of “surprise!” at the reveal, and family members telling a plethora of little white lies designed to deceive unsuspecting spouses until the transformation is complete.
- Drawing the biggest crowds this year has been
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And it really is extreme! Debuting in late 2003 on ABC, the crews have performed near-miracles for applicants who tell their family’s sad story and are selected by need, sincerity, and appeal. The first family of five was sent on their first-time-ever family vacation in the Bahamas while carpenters, landscapers, architects, decorators, painters, tilers, flooring experts and neighbors did a 4-month renovation in 7 days. Truly extreme changes included moving walls, installing hardwood floors, constructing novel furniture (the son’s bed was constructed from the truck bed of the dad’s jalopy!), installing a beautiful yard and pirate’s ship décor in the pool area and building a whole new house. Tears of joy were on everyone’s face, homeowners and workers alike, when they returned home for the unveiling. They say that it still feels new after 3 years. Just when you think they couldn't do anything more wonderful or amazing, the crew members outdo themselves with each episode, bringing in celebrities to add to the excitement.
- Best Moments: Watching the stressed-out designers bicker and argue.
- Don’t You Wonder: How they’ll clean the “grass” carpet around the perfect Barbie house in Olivia’s bedroom?
- Probably the most well known is Discovery Channel’s Trading Spaces. Neighbors, once friendly, exchange house keys in order to transform one room in the other person’s home. In just two days, designers and carpenters assist the teams as they work their magic before the cameras. When the clock runs out, it is time for the big reveal. Not all homeowners are thrilled, but they are always surprised.
- Best Moments: Outrageous moss walls and silk flower bathrooms. (How would you clean them?)
- Don’t You Wonder: How many homeowners cry then repaint the next day? How many stop speaking to their neighbors?
- What’s Next? Look for a series of books featuring Trading Spaces designers and makeovers.
- Go to work or out of town and come home to a room makeover. Sounds like a dream come true! The show While You Were Out, also on Discovery, chooses a homeowner who arranges to send his or her partner, parent, or roommate out of town for a couple of days. This gives the show’s talented designers and handypersons time to create a new look for an indoor or outdoor space. In the meantime, the absent party is surreptitiously videotaped during their getaway, providing information for a pop-quiz during the show. Prizes are awarded according to whether the at-home partner can correctly predict the answers of the absent partner. Once the getaway is over, the unsuspecting spouse returns home to find a room transformed. Will they like it? Stay tuned!
- Best Moments: Video clips of the clueless spouse off on a weekend getaway.
- Don’t You Wonder: If people are mad that their getaway was a hoax.
- Husbands are pitted against wives, roommates against one another, and girlfriends against boyfriends when they’re put through a complete organizational makeover on The Discovery Channel’s Clean Sweep. A team of designers, organizational experts, do-it-yourself gurus, and neat-freaks bring about dramatic room transformations and try to change the psychology of the clutter offenders. A yard sale of both prized possessions and a lot of junk brings in a little pocket money.
- Best Moments: Haggling over what things get tossed or sold.
- Don’t You Wonder: Why did that guy need so many surfboards?
- What do you do when newlyweds have to decide which of their personal possessions goes into the new household?
Merge on Lifetime TV helps them separate the trash from the treasure. Each spouse is allowed to “protect” a favorite item, but the rest is either merged into the new space, ground up in a wood chipper, or hauled away to charity.
- Best Moments: Feeding junk into the wood chipper and seeing the newlyweds watch a video of it.
- Don’t You Wonder: Why they destroy what looks like perfectly good furniture?
- A newer entry to this market is
House Rules which debuted on Reality World. Three teams of amateur home remodelers are pitted against one another. Only one team will win the deed to the house they’ve renovated. To determine which team works on which house, the teams must find their welcome mats, deeds and keys during a timed obstacle course at the Houston Astrodome. A series of games gives teams the opportunity to win items needed for the competition. The final episode in December announced the winner chosen by audience vote. What a Christmas present for one lucky family!
- Best Moments: Tips from the designers on doing it right.
- Don’t You Wonder: Do these people have jobs?
With the great success of reality TV shows, you should expect to see lots more. Keep an eye on TV guides and don't miss one.