apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What is up with the neon lime green paint color? They used it in the first challenge, and twice in this episode. To quote Laura from Project Runway, "That is some serious ugly."

its gotta be a joke, its a joke right?

I loved Jennifer's walls, but the rest, blech! And Michael was seriously crying for his Mom at the end. Pitiful.

I have not been watching the show this season but happened upon the final 20 minutes last night. Wow. That was some SERIOUS ugly.
I actually laughed out loud when he said that he wanted his mom. (Sorry to all those sensitive types out there, but come ON.)

All the rooms seemed pretty lame. Maybe the sleep deprivation kicked into high gear?

Needless to say, I will not be watching whoever wins this year on their own show. This episode ruined that for me.

I love how Tracee's gondala bed is broken in the photos, priceless. Yet she made it to the next round. Granted, Michael got the boot (thank God) but I hate these characters that squeak by week by week. It is as though the judges do not take into account their entire body of work, which, as much as I hate him, I have to say that Michael's work on the show has been superior to Tracee's.

Another thing I dont understand are the ever tightening cost and time deadlines. It is becoming more of a game show than an actual competition to showcase design talent. I mean come on, Michaels and $500? Pretty soon it will get to the point where they will have to design a room with one eye covered and hopping on one leg.

Give them some cash.

Give them some time.

One, or the other, or both.

Learn from the mistakes of last seasons finale. A luxury hotel suite with $2000 and 2 days worth of work? Get real people. Unless they wise up, this show will continue its downward spiral into gameshow tacky instead of a venue to discover greatness.

Never thought I'd say this, but right now Top Design is looking pretty good.

*shudders*

This show is horrible. I can't believe it's for real. I really can't.

Couldn't agree more with tallguylehigh.

This show is an insult to well-thought-out design (with a budget to match).

If they didn't pander to their sponsors (Michaels - a store that sells crap), they could allow their contestants to flex some design muscle.

And what's with the no context room? No one, I repeat, no one ever has to design a box in middle of a warehouse; a totally pointless challenge.

Finally, why isn't it obvious to everyone that Tracee is an abomination? She designed the ugliest room I have ever seen. Ever. I've seen homeless cardboard shelters look better.

After the way Michael kept approaching Tracee to praise her design, only to turn around and immediately put it down, I was very happy to see him get the boot. Did he really think that if he made it to the end that viewers would actually vote for someone who acted like that? I'm really having a hard time imaginiing myself wanting to watch a show that any of these contestants would host.

Unfortunately most of the HGTV/TLC/Discovery Channel/whatever design shows all about doing a room or home fast and on the cheap. They're hardly going to shell out the money to have multiple rooms done well on a competition show.

But seriously, Tracee is still there? Seriously? Was the boring cartoon hooker boudoir room really better than the terrible non-Spanish room? I say no.

I cheered loudly last night when arrogant, catty Michael got the heave-ho! Although Trish got off so easily for a room that didn't show a molecule of ethnicity (?) either!!!

Would really like to see Mikey V (whose room was wrongly dissed) get more air time. His room might have been "fast food" but at least he portrayed some Asian-ness, which was, after all, the assignment!

All of these designs are quite awful. I agree with tallguy completely. It definitely has more of a gameshow vibe than a show looking to find true design talent. It's only a matter of time before they air an episode where they decorate a homeless guy's cardboard box home. It is bordering on the ridiculous!

Guerilla,

Tracey *is* awful that's why they're keeping her. She's the Omarosa of this round and creates the drama of "everyone loves to hate her"!!!

They were all so horrible. I've been to Italy, and how that hot pink mess with a broken gondola bed made it through is a mystery. I feel like none of the designers managed to channel the country aspect of the challenge. I liked Mikey V's room, but it was certainly much more "generic Asian design" than "Thailand", and how Michael could mention Barcelona when explaining his room is beyond me!

Last year this was one of my favorite challenges; this year, I feel like none of these people deserve to be here. I hope things improve rapidly or I'll need to find an alternative Sunday night show...

I haven't been watching this show (because last season was terrible) but caught the end last night - what a joke! I think it is sad and I truly wonder how these people plan to have jobs in the design industry, let alone their own show.

To all the Tracey haters (myself included), keep in mind that, like all reality shows, the producers of the show have the final say in who stays and goes. Even though she's been in the bottom three the last three challenges, she's definitely the "villain" this season, so they'll most likely try to keep her around as long as possible. Who's going to provide all the drama when she's booted?

It's too much drama and not enough design. I'm still mad they painted that wood table!!!

Personally I find it a little comical that Clive has said over and over that this season they are "raising the bar." Yet for the past two weeks all of the contestants have been verbally "smacked" by the judges for being disappointing and not delivering.

Oh, and an FYI- if you have to keep saying you are "raising the bar" over and over again that mean's you aren't- accolades like that come without being mentioned outright, it is something the viewers realize through watching, not by being told over, and over, and over...

Amen, Lizzy - that painted wood table haunts me still...

I noticed last night that there were numerous comments about what looked good on tv or in a picture.

While I understand this is important, especially because of the final "prize", I can't understand how this helps create a genuinely interesting and comfortable space. Shows like "Color Correction" seem so ugly on the television I can only imagine how much worse it is in reality.

Designstar is clearly produced under the assumption that the majority of viewers doesn't care about design. Why else would we see more of the contestants racing through a 'crafts' store with their shopping carts than e.g. of the critique of their actual design? I liked season 1, but last year was a disaster (or would let Kim Myles redo your living room???) and this year doesn't look much better. It's a pity - this could be great, if they had some confidence that their viewers are not complete morons.

the gross misuse of the word "ethnic" frustrates me no end. there is no such thing as non-ethnic people. everyone, everywhere has a culture, both national and racial if not religious. everyone is ethnic.

jennifer's design incorporated some ethnicity, i'm just not sure which one.

from Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: 1eth·nic
Pronunciation: \ˈeth-nik\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin ethnicus, from Greek ethnikos national, gentile, from ethnos nation, people; akin to Greek ēthos custom — more at sib
Date: 15th century
1: heathen
2 a: of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background b: being a member of a specified ethnic group c: of, relating to, or characteristic of ethnics

Going by previous seasons, this show doesn't test the contestants on their on-camera technique until the last episode. Unlike The Next Food Network Star, where they critique them every episode.

That can't be a good way to pick someone who is going to host a show.

If there is indeed a higher order, please identify yourself by making this season the last Design Star...ever!

I'm totally disappointed. There really is no stand-out talent this year. The first year finale was truly a contest of talent. Last year was at least interesting. (Todd was insanely creative, if completely impractical.) Unfortunately, Kim snuck through because she didn't do anything wrong, not because she did things amazingly right.

But I can design better than any of these clowns. Any 4 star or better room on rate my space has more vision than this group.

Part of it isn't their fault; the time frames are insane. Even with 2 people and 3 days those parlors were huge and needed longer to do right.

But keep in mind that David set himself apart first season with the blank room challenge and $500 at a PET STORE. I thought $500 at Michael's was MUCH easier.

All I know is that I would have rather they booted Tracee - she's sucked 3 weeks straight, while Michael had a bad week. His cattyness would have made for a different type of drama as he started backstabbing his friends. Keeping a bad designer on for drama when you have a drama queen with more talent (although not a lot) in the wings is just a bad decision.

Do you think they keep talking about raising the bar so we don't notice how far it has fallen? None of these people deserve a show.

So, what's the deal here?

They had one of four destinations:
Italy
Spain
Thailand
Mexico

And they had endless LoveSacs part to choose from? In whatever color they wanted (that is offered, that is)?

And they had $500 at Michael's for accessories? Did that include the wall paint? Or was the wall paint separately priced and not part of the budget? Because I'm pretty sure they didn't use those little 2 oz containers of craft paint on the walls.

Anyone else up for a "I'm pretty sure I could represent those countries better in the blank room" thing?

If I do it, I'll post a link to my Flickr page. I'll paste in stuff from Michael's and change the wall colors.

please, please, don't interview any of them this show is so bad it doesn't deserve the extra attention,

Bad TV, too little talent, too much drama aside, what's worse, the sound of the horn that indicates time's up or the sound of Clive's voice?

I'd take the horn over the voice any day!

This is by far the least creative cast. Neither of the rooms properly represented the countries assinged. Tracee is the worst designer and yet she seems to escape elimination. I liked Michael.. he was amusing... it's better to watch him than Tracee. His room wasnt bad... it just wasnt Spain and Tracee's room was a Minnie Mouse version of Italy created by a child. He was eliminated for one bad choice yet she has multiple bad choices and she is still on the show. Amazing.

sorry t break people's hearts, but I work in a home decor shop, and the pink and black look, including the hideous black chandelier, reminds me of a number of products I've seen offered by some of the companies we've dealt with in France a few years back.

However, France isn't Italy, and it's still god awful.

I'm sorry, I watched five minutes of this show and had to switch over. The quality of work SUCKS. Jeez, i have NEVER. The rooms are so 1-2-3 put together, there is no subtlety, nothing warm or inviting. I don't understand the point of this show, unless the point is to create godawful boxes with 3 colour scheme rooms and hokey tchotchkes. Ugh.... and this comes from someone who watched 'Anne Maurice Design Rivals'!!!!

I will watch ANYTHING to do with decor on TV, but I won't watch this.

Ok, no, I am looking at those pictures again and my head seriously wants to explode with the crapness.
OMFG.

David Bronstadt was the obvious talent on Season 1. Todd was great on Season 2 and another guy who got booted off for making his room look more like a store display but Kim Myles showed no particularl talent at all and her show is terrible. Granted her finale room was much nicer than Todd's. Her nuggets of design advice on her show are so obvious it's got to be a joke on the producers part. Matt is really interesting this Sesaon but like Todd they may find him too much of a carpenter and play safe with some average "Kim Myles" clone. I hope not.

Here is a thought, and call me crazy, but how about choosing actual designers to compete. Mikey V has a good eye but he is a police officer. Its Design Star not whoever star. Myself and many other designers have studied long and hard, had many internships, and dealt with more difficult projects than we care to remember. I just feel that someone with more training, and more resources (I completely agree with Tallguylehigh) could turn out better work.

I do want to say a good eye and natural talent are a blessing but some experience speaks volumes. Most design shows cater to the weekend warriors and high end design might not be what they want to see however, I would love to have a happy medium.

While this is one of the few shows I watch on TV I'm definitely disappointed with this season. Are any of these people actually working as interior designers out in the real world? I am seriously underwhelmed and don't feel like anyone is standing out as a clear talent.

I remember last year when they did the dollar store challenge there were at least some interesting rooms. This season everything has been consistently blah.

If I had to choose anyone right now to host a show it would be Jennifer. Everyone seems to be on the same level talent wise but she has such a positive personality.

OK, now let me mention Michael. Obviously he has too nasty of a personality to ever be given his own show but do you think he was serious? I was like did he just say he wanted his mom? That was hilarious. I guess he can dish it out but can't take it.

"I actually laughed out loud when he said that he wanted his mom." @hessilou: You weren't the only one. What a crying little cow he turned into at the end.

Outside of that, this is my first season watching DesignStar and I have not been too impressed. All this cattyness takes away from the creativity. Plus, alot of them are delusional. Can't wait for Project Runway to start.

Wow oh wow. The time allotments are horrible and totally unrealistic. It gives the editors material for a montage to create even more drama which is the LAST thing a show like this needs. It just needs good honest design. It's hard enough to move furniture and edit things during spring cleaning every year. It's obvious that season 3 is going to be the worst one yet. What's worse is that it forces HGTV executives to "create" a show suitable to the design and personality strengths of the winner of each season. Does the network seriously think they are going to be able to sustain 3 prime time shows from three winners of Design Star and then consider a Season 4???