photo: hgtv
Homes of the Brave
Original Air Date: Aug. 16, 2009
Patricia Morris Buckley —Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
How quickly time passes on Design Star. Only five designers left after this challenge and my second favorite is gone.
This week, contestants designed the living room/dining room/office space of two military families who live on base. They had 22 hours and $10,000 to accomplish the task. One team succeeded with flying colors, despite major personality issues, and the other bombed.
First, the six remaining designers opened paint cans to see which team they’d be on. Dan, Antonio and Lonni ended up together. (Remember last week when the judges said if Antonio and Dan were on the same team, they’d be unstoppable?) Nathan, Jason and Torie made up the other team.
Dan, Antonio and Lonni got off to a rocky start right away. Their client wanted neutral earth tones and Antonio and Dan chose two cold blues. Lonni begged for a bit of tan, but Antonio declared that he’d rather be booted off the show than go beige. But he said he’d buy some at the store and then said he “forgot.” Later, he admitted he did it on purpose. Not a good team player, not at all.
Dan tried to keep the peace, but rightfully voted that Lonni go shopping for furnishings. Instead Antonio built a cool desk and great entertainment center that gave the client an excellent solution to a space problem.
As the couple has two autistic sons who receive therapy in the living room, I loved that Dan created a great table unit for them with wall storage (I have an autistic son who had in-home therapy, so I was so happy to see this was not overlooked or made impractical). Lonni’s dressings added much warmth to the room.
On the other team, Nathan wanted to build an entertainment center he said would take two hours. It took well over 15 and he had to have help, which meant the other two had to stop what they were doing. In the end, what he built wasn’t family friendly, plus he never assembled the desk, leaving an entire function out of the room.
Torie continued to impress as she painted a chevron pattern on one wall that mirrored the rank of the man of the house. Jason struggled with furnishings, especially by adding two many wall decorations for a modern look. Plus, his curtains didn’t work.
Antonio, Dan and Lonni impressed the judges as well as the client. Antonio apologized to Dan and Lonni, which helped me like him a touch more. They were all sent to the green room right away and Torie followed a second later. (And Lonnie, please remember that Antonio kept you on the show by helping finish your white room challenge.)
So it came down to Jason and Nathan, and as Nathan had been in the bottom two twice now, it was an easy call. Bye Nathan — I’ll never forget your milk-dripped black walls and orange chandelier on the white room challenge.
I still think Jason and Lonni are the still weakest links on the show. Antonio could self-implode if he continues to be so stubborn. So could it come down to Dan and Torie in the end? As long as Dan is the last designer standing, I’ll be happy!
Who is your favorite now? Do you think the right person left or did someone else deserve the boot? Give us your Two Cents…
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