Taste Patrol
Ms. Place is the first person to celebrate our current interest in the Arts & Crafts movement. When I lived in the outskirts of Buffalo, I would frequent the Roycroft Galleries in East Aurora, looking for a few spectacular pieces of furniture to compliment our eclectic, refurbished 1920’s farm house.
In addition, new houses sporting Arts & Crafts features are populating our urban landscape these days, and I applaud this trend.
So my ears pricked up when I heard what this week’s challenge would be and the amount of time and money the designers had to spend. I expected a better show and got it.
Three Hula Man Bobble Award
Andrea was the clear winner. Not only would I have no problem lingering in this room, I’d probably pig out in it and chastise her for my widening waistline. How successful she was at melding Arts & Crafts with mid-20th century modern, I’ll leave to the experts.
It takes chutzpah to use white suede in a dining room, but I love her combination of rich wood detailing and slate textures, layers of cloth, shining crystal and silver, muted colors, and well placed, atmospheric lighting.
And, dahling, your snarkiness and self-confidence are starting to come through during your on-camera chats. Oh, how I love to see that spark of competition spiff up your otherwise sweet and quiet on set demeanor.
Your perfect white gloves are beginning to come off, and you are starting to outmuscle the competition. You go girl!
Two Hula Man Bobble Award
This week I salute Bravo, for bringing back Tom Coliccio, who infused vigor and charm into the guest judge’s spot and for ordering up a room I would definitely want to dine in. Bravo is also to be commended for creating an interesting, well-produced show.
Why did I give you only two bobbles? Because you’ve got to get these designers out of those bargain basement sets, Bravo! A room is not a room unless it has doors and windows and ceilings and architectural details, such as chair railings, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before, but thanks anyway for a great show. It is getting better and better.
The Bobble Won’t Wobble Award
Only one hula man goes to Matt. I’m not quite gushing over your room as some others have, though it clearly belongs to the top two choices. I asked myself, however, is this orange, brown, and black, windowless environment one in which I want to stay and linger and soak in the atmosphere over good conversation?
Not really. Yeah, I thought the leather floor tiles were kinda, sorta interesting, but I wonder how long they would last under heavy foot traffic. And the leaf placemats would be cool for a luau, but would they impress me if I spent $200 for dinner, which is what I imagine the price would be after all is said and done? Naw.
The Trash It Award
I had such a visceral reaction to Michael’s dining room, that I had a hard time reviewing the photos and deciding on what I liked least about it. Why do some decorators think that paint badly splashed across a series of canvases is preferable to a blank wall?
Those splashes of red reminded me of a cow’s blood spraying as it is being slaughtered, and I found these wall hangings extremely unappetizing in both a visual and literal sense.
You had $40,000 to play with: Why not spend 10% of your budget on real art? (Yeah, there are art students who paint fabulous original work for no sum of money at all!) Hurriedly putting something together cheapens the room and adds a resounding amateurish touch, one that added even more visual chaos to a discordant design. Sorry Michael, but it was indeed your time to go.
Disclaimer: While Ms. Place made playful references to Kelly’s hair in her other blog (click here) and on this one, she did not entirely dislike Kelly’s costumy look this week. I own a skirt very similar to the one she is wearing. Kudos to Kelly for always keeping us on the edge of our seats. Now, THAT takes talent.
By Ms. Place
Labels: Taste Patrol
posted by The Team of TDB at
7:27 AM
4 Comments:
What a fabulous bungalow! A real arts and crafts gem.
Those splashes of red reminded me of a cow’s blood spraying as it is being slaughtered
Well part of the attention to quality is thinking about where the food comes from!
You had $40,000 to play with: Why not spend 10% of your budget on real art?
This is a big problem with the show -- either because the PDC doesn't have any art or the designers don't think it is important to budget their money for art.
It's hard to imagine that the PDC has no art showrooms, but, I don't really think that the designers had access to the entire PDC either. So far, they go back to the same showrooms over and over - probably 6-10 at the most. There are over 130 showrooms in that place. It would by physically impossible to run through a place that big (and actually look at things) in one hour.
So, possibly the art places were off limits, or they couldn't get clearance from the artists to loan their work. Strange, as it would be great PR to get your work on national tv. But, who knows.
The south-side of the PDC, which is usually what we see on the show, is Melrose Blvd and it is the coolest block! It's just chock-full of amazing art galleries and lighting-fixture stores. The Beverly/Robertson area (a few blocks away) is a mecca of interior showrooms. It would have been great to see some of these local gems showcased.
I think the designers borrowed works of art for the first challenge, when they had $50,000 so I don't understand why they weren't able to get any for this challenge, when they had $40,000. Strange.
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