Design Star – Recap & Review – Celebrity Homes

photo: hgtv

Design Star
Celebrity Homes

Original Air Date: 6 Sept 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley – Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

I really would have hated to judge this week’s episode of Design Star. Each of the three remaining designers did an excellent job — so much so that it came down to the tiniest of details to determine who would go on and who would get the boot.

In the eighth and next to last challenge, Dan, Antonio and Lonni were given the task of designing a room in a celebrity’s home with 30 hours, $20,000 and two carpenters each.

OK, let’s not get too starry-eyed about these celebrities. They are minor constellations to the point that even the title of Kathy Griffin’s TV show points out she’s only a “D” list celebrity. Tiffani Thiessen started out on Saved By The Bell and later did 90210, where she was part of the large cast along with Jason Priestley, the third celebrity on this challenge.

I was so looking forward to a Kathy-Antonio verbal smack down and disappointed when it didn’t happen. No, the usually caustic Kathy instead pretended to be upset that Antonio wasn’t gay. Oh whoop. But then she handed this loud-mouthed designer what he always wanted — complete control. Granted, his was the most difficult space: An office to house three full-time employees. It was a long, narrow room with terrible tile. Yuck.

Tiffani asked for an eco-friendly guest room from Lonni. Problem was, it was already a guest room with strong architectural details, so only so much could be changed. Dan took a guest room and made it into a nursery for Jason’s soon-to-be-born second child. It also had to double as a guest room.

And really, they all did a great job. Dan’s was by far the best room. He took the nautical theme and ran with it, but not in a literal way. He created the bones of boats as a large mobile hung from the ceiling and painted the walls a light blue, adding a graduating darker blue on the bottom of one wall. His color palette was soothing, the furniture perfectly chosen (including a trundle bed for a guest, or as the baby grew older) and I loved the painting of clouds he painted and hung with nautical looking twine. I could live in that room quite happily.

As for his hosting, the judges pointed out the giggling issue again, but I watched it again and he never giggled while hosting, only when being judged (when you would really be nervous).

Antonio had a beautiful wood floor laid and painted the walls a lavender-purple. He had the modern desks handcrafted and they came out OK, not all that interesting. I would have had them facing the great LA view instead of the wall. His most successful feature was a steel cut-out map of the country that could be written on. Very clever, but I would have gone for a larger map that filled the entire wall. The judges didn’t like that some of his furniture and accessories didn’t fill the space, especially the teensy-tiny rug in a meeting area.

Once again, the judges loved Antonio’s in-your-face hosting style that I think — as a viewer – would get old fast. I think they see him as filling a void in the HGTV family, which could really help him win.

Lonni’s room had some nice touches, but once again, she used a repeated pattern on a wall – her third time now. It really did work for the space, but it’s beginning to feel that her bag of tricks is rather limited. Even though she made great choices, including a new floor, textured wallpaper and different floorplan, I couldn’t really see that much difference.

But she had one major problem — she selected a large and beautiful piece of reclaimed wood for the headboard, but waited until 15 minutes before the challenge ended to install it (why would you do that with one of the most important elements?). And it didn’t get done. Time management is a real problem for her, especially when you remember her horrible white room.

The judges did love her hosting, calling her a “natural” and comparing her to a labradoodle. But in the end, her inability to finish the room and her habit of relying on the same focal wall trick put her in the bottom. It’s funny, because Antonio’s was the weakest design, but his was such a larger challenge and he has a track record of delivering. So bye-bye Lonni. In another season I could have seen her winning, as she grew as a designer each week,

I’m glad that Dan and Antonio are going on to the finale. They are two very different types, both as personalities and designers. Still, they’re the season’s strongest designers (something we’ve all suspected from the beginning — I’d go as far as saying they are the best final contestants since S1). Also, it’s great to see the series forgo a man vs. woman finale, which always gave me a tinge of doubt about the show’s validity.

Again, I would have hated to call this one as a judge. But on my couch, it seemed a simple choice. Are you happy with the final two? Do you think Lonni should have been the one to stay? If so, who did you want to go home? Give us your Two Cents…