apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love wild rooms but Ryan's was just gross!!!!!!!!!!!! What happened to the crushed glass walls? Did anyone else just find that dangerous?

The rooms look odd and claustrophobia -inducing without windows. I think that the cubicles should include at least an indication of a window or two.

Agreed, he's just weird. Like Jonathan pointed out, he wants to be this super defiant, "I'm better than traditional designing", type of personality. That's the only reason, I think, that they didn't eliminate him. Bravo and/or the producers like the drama.

I wonder just how far he'll go. I'm really liking the individual challenges vs. the team ones.

I can't remember who said it, but someone last week was joking that Kelly Wearstler was going to rock crimped hair on the next episode. Whoever that was, what numbers should I play this week in the lottery?

d in dc...it was in the previews. No clairvoyant skills.

"See you later, Decorator?"
He is so awkward and that line is so lame, it's like a 3 year old came up with it.
The "goodbye" line is also so bizarre - can't the writers come up with anything better?

My tivo must have missed that! I started cracking up when I saw her. Not sure what look she was going for overall, but it was...unique

Andrea's seems the most livable. I agree that this episode was the best of all of them so far. I tivo though so generally I skip ahead to the end and just look at the rooms.

Serra -
I hate to admit it, but yes I wince every time I hear that line, too.

One thing that seems kind of strange and yet appropriate about it, is that people these days tend to respect design, as opposed to decoration, in theory.

So, it seemed like high praise to refer to people as designers these days, but to call someone a decorator seems to be a little bit of an insult. So, he's saying, you're really not a designer, you're "just" a decorator.

I could live in either Andrea's or Matt's, but in the latter, he's not using the wall at all, except for that cool desk.

The double lamp is great, but mounting lights on the wall - or using floor lamps with a small footprint - would have freed up more table space. Also, Andrea incorporates more storage. Even minimalists have underwear.

Pretty damned good for garage-saling, though.

I'm finding the show a bit depressing. I'm never that wild about the week's winner, though I usually agree with the week's loser. Is that what the winner is going to be, the contestant who consistingly provides the least objectionable design?

JonathanB, I agree with you!

I thought Andrea's room was really lame. That suitcase and the shelves on the wall looked awful.

The best thing that happened to Carissa is that her cumbersome rolling desk fell apart. I would like to know where I can find a garage sale with Arco-style lamps, gorgeous danish modern chairs, I thought I even saw someone picking up some Eames shell chairs but I didn't see them turn up in a design!

Adler writes much funnier than he speaks. The "see ya later..." is much funnier when he writes about it in his blog over at bravotv.com. Another option he and Simon came up with was "You Suck. Good Luck!"

I think this episode was a big improvement over the cabana debacle. I'm happy they had to forage for goods outside of the PDC. And it's light years above design star.

Becky

I know - those garage sales were sooooo staged with major booty.

Goil is looking a little one trick pony to me. His architecture is strong. His decorating is weak.

And Ryan actually had some AWESOME IDEAS - he just needs someone to edit them. That crazy screen could be totally cool in a bar-type space. But I cannot forgive his Hawaiian shirts. I ignore the bad personality as a Bravo contrivance a la Santino, Jeffry, etc.

They love that.

I have never seen a garage sale like that in LA. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER! And I go every weekend!

Stacks of fabulous stuff never happens - where are all the broken toasters and 80's couches?

It just "happens" that two neighbors with fantastic mid century furniture live two doors away and have a garage sale with arco lamps, eames style chairs, and mint danish modern fruniture lined up, with fabu pucci style scarves. (Becky - I think Goil used the two orange eames side shell style chairs in his room)

That makes me CRAZY! Its so contrived. This show is awful. And the decorators are terrible. No one thinks realistically at all about the spaces. Thats why theres no windows, doors, or closets.

Its just sad. All of their rooms make me want to shoot myself.

Carisa's room was AWFUL. That orange sign! The color combo! It was so Target's line of dorm wares (before they got great).

I have an admission: I like Michael's room. I didn't love it, but it surprised me bc his last one was so bad. The colors didn't bother me too much, but I was shocked at how much the judges didn't like it. Maybe it was the birds and the bird painting that made me like it. Anyone else?

Shannon, I'm with. I liked Michael's room. I thought the color combo was happy without being cliche a la Carissa's colors.

And regarless of whether Ryan has a POV or not, his designs are not livable. His client felt imprisoned in his design. I would have given him the heave ho as his artistic sensibilities are too good for the rest of us and who want's to live in an art installation if the art is bad? Of course, his client didn't want to suicide...

P.S. I think Kelly has been to the botox fountain one too many times.



meow.

i watch every week, but now i don't care about the rooms as much as the white room and room visit segments; kelly's outfits and styling, margaret's reactions, and the cringe i feel in that gap in time before jonathan utters his catchphrase.
However, i don't judge the judges; kelly and jonathan sound like decorators as they judge and try to understand the contestants, while margaret reacts like an editor focusing and speaking in black and white terms.

I wrote about this episode on my blog today too. I haaaaate to admit but I actually didn't mind Michael's room, as much as he annoys the hell out of me. Felicia's room was just awful and she deserved to go home, however, Matt was robbed. He's been my favorite and most consistent thus far I think. Carisa didn't deserve to win solely on the basis that she totally ignored her client's directive for LOTS of storage. Heck, my cat has more stuff than you could store in Carisa's room. Yet she WON the challenge? Whatever dude.
~Monica

i like carisa's room except the awkward red box in the middle of the room + the traffic sign.
where do they keep there clothes?

I agree Matt's room should have won this episode, but I did like Carisa's room looks-wise if not for practicality.

I love Goil's style. This room was not the greatest, but I love how he adds architectural elements; he thinks about the space and how to make it do what he wants it to do rather than just decorating a 12x12 box. I also love how he keeps everything so streamlined and clean. I thought splitting the levels was a good idea for that space and his edited chairs were great.

Though Felicia's room was awful, I really wish they would have sent Ryan home. At least Felicia has had a good room, Ryan thinks he's a bad ass and should be kicked off the show. This is Top Design, how is he ever going to be a designer at all if all he tries to do is create art and alienate his clients and other people in the field?

I agree that Ryan comes off kinda snobby and some of his designs aren't practical... I do like that he is outside of the box and not trying to be traditional in his design ideas. While he needs some restraint, I think his goals may be good... Oh, and in this last challenge, I think he was the only one to implement something that looked like it could store clothes, etc... I think a lot of the designers failed to think of it as a real room like everyone was saying... the challenge was to make a place where people could live: eat, sleep, work... I think that does include clothing storage , too. Where were the dressers, wardrobes, etc?
Ditto on glad to see them using second-hand stuff this time. I think imagination goes a lot further on a smaller budget sometimes.

i heart matt. he is consistently innovative (i love his glamorous kid's room -- i thought that was way better than the chuck e. cheese pirate room that won), but his great ideas integrate, rather than individually sticking out as "oooh, great idea!" among an otherwise boring room. plus his rooms actually look different from week to week, which means he has a ton of range for style. he may be unassuming (and i may not have noticed him as much as others initially), but i think he has the most all-around talent of the bunch.

i loved andrea's room. it was very rustic-industrial, if that makes any sense... she made amazing use of the space and constructed and designed a lot of great pieces. i loved the cabinets on the wall and her door-table was really nice. her room looks the most authentic and apartment-like. definitely live-able.

ryan's room had potential (i actually liked the wood cage wall, but not in that context at all -- in a living space, it was like a psychotic version of those wooden gates that people have for dogs or babies along a staircase), but overall it wasn't even nice as an art piece. it was just tacky and like wal-mart's take on "op art." terrible fabric choices, and then he took that crappy pattern to the max. ew.

michael's bird paintings ruled. i think if he had just chosen different colors (as the judges noted) the room would've been great. i really liked his use of space and the elevated area in the back -- it created a fantastic illusion of volume. if his colors had been sky blue and eggshell, i think the judge's would've loved it. (or not -- i could be totally off.)

carisa lucked out on finding some great pieces, but the execution was gross. the shelves on the wall were nice, but she used her great finds in a childish, generic way.

i liked her finds (and yeah -- what garage sale did they go to? WTF? where were the smelly t-shirts, broken drying racks, bent, faded posterboard prints, grimy answering machines, and inspirational cassette tape sets?), and the way she worked on that secretary desk, but the only real things i liked in her room were the objects. the design and her own constructions/lay-out sucked (even with the desk she was planning). being a good garage sale-r doesn't make you a good designer, especially when the garage sales have so much amazing stuff to choose from.

my gripe is that she had these mod pieces and basically made them look ikea. what especially bombs the room for me is the lime green bedding -- it ruins the color scheme. and the all white bed is just gross. if it had been another color (black, or just the wood grain) i night have been ok with it. but somehow in white it just looked '80s kid's room.

but yes, this episode was way better. they focused more on problem-solving and creating, which is way more interesting than petty character drama. let the drama and personality emerge as the natural results of being creative -- not as an obstacle or substitute.