Congratulations to Kim!

I had no doubt she was going to win after the last challenge, she has the talent and the natural on-camera charm.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Todd pop up on an ensemble show somewhere on HGTV.

During the program they aired a montage of current HGTV on air personalities and I couldn't help but notice how many got their start on TLC. It's interesting to see how many people HGTV has wooed in the past few years.

My vote is for Kim, her room is truly in the vein of an upscale hotel room.
It was great to see Will and good to see Robb come back with no animosity and willing to do what it took to help Kim and Todd out.

You can vote up until Noon (EST) on Wednesday online at Hgtv.com or via your cell phone Kim: Text A to 44881/Todd: Text B to 44881.

Can't wait for the results!

And then there were two...

This week's challenge was tough, every family had it's own challenges. While Will had access to major stores and convenience of big box retailers, he had to consider the client's disease (osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease).

Kim had a clean slate with an easy theme and the best carpenter but she was in a rural area with all the stores very far apart.

Todd had the smallest room but the most people to design for and structural obstacles.

It was really hard to say who did the best, all the homeowners loved the rooms but Will's was pretty standard design, no real personality injected, Todd's was great and Kim's furniture placement was odd.

Todd's might of been my favorite, the family got exactly what they wanted; seating for twelve, storage for the kids and a dedicated movie room, but Kim had the hardest challenge and she's a natural on camera, Will just couldn't shake his camera shyness and it cost him the challenge.

The final is next week, should be good!

Good Riddance, Robb is gone.

I'll back up a little, the final four were divided into two teams and had to each do a room in Wayne Newton's guest home and at the end show the room on tv like they would their own show.

Todd and Will did a marvelous job, unique ideas, tasteful colors and wonderful decoration. I wish Wayne would let me rent that house, not only do I love atomic ranches but I loved that living room. Todd or Will will win I'm sure, two genuinely nice guys with great ideas.

Kim and Robb had to do the Kitchen a much harder project, made harder by Robb's condescending tone and bossiness. At one point he said he had more experience than Kim because he had "done 10's of thousands of dollars in kitchen renovations" that's easily one small kitchen, who was he trying to impress with that? The kitchen did come out nice, some details I wasn't in love with but Robb went home, Kim could of easily won the challenge based on her mini show tour.

Another two bite the dust. Finally a personal challenge, I imagine it's tough enough to design a room with no windows and and doors or a fourth wall but toss in the challenges of only being able to shop at a .99 cent store and you have last night's episode.

I think everyone did really well, all the room were similar with the two paint choices. Some people painted on the couch or hung the bookshelf, but only Todd did something radically different and he knew it would either put him at the top or immediately sent him home, and it worked in his favor, he won the challenge

I was disappointed in "Sparkle" Josh, I really disliked the colors he used. Will and Kim did well and while Robb was innovative with using the coffee table as an art piece I hated his two colors together.

Adriana is always very creative and very capable as a carpenter but her room lacked something, I agree with the judges when they said it wasn't cohesive.

I was sad to see Scott go, I loved his paint choices and the graphic he did, his downfall was the lack of editing.

Only 6 left! Stay tuned.

Kitchen Challenge!


Three days, $10,000.00 and Two teams.
Team one Neeraja, Sparkle Josh, Scott, Kim and Adriana. Team two Hippie Josh, Robb, Will, Christine and Todd.

On Team one Scott had some serious back problems but the team worked around it and were able to not let it hinder them, What did hinder them was their Team Captain Neeraja not measuring the counter top prior to buying the tile, a basic mistake that cost them dearly. As far as I saw Adriana kicked butt with the carpentry as she was the only carpenter on the team and Sparkle Josh did amazing work with the shopping. Neeraja and Kim left the tile work unfinished because they ran out of time and materials.

Team two finished everything but the look was not all that cohesive, it was "Tuscany" but why? they took away storage for a fountain and used all man made materials, I understand they were on a budget but put something real in there. There was much drama on that team, lots of standing around and discussing, but at least they finished.

Both families loved the kitchen, had team two's kitchen been finished I think it would of been the clear winner.

Sparkle Josh continues to surprise me, he's all feather and rhinestones but he can do a room totally opposite that and it will shine.

Neeraja got cut because of poor planning and Hippie Josh because of his leadership, it's too bad I would of like to have actually seen his "green" design.

SPOILERS AHEAD


One Down! So their very first challenge was to design their own living space. I didn't see last year's Design Star until the last few episodes so I don't know if this is how they started too.

Everyone was pretty fair and adult about who got what and who handled the money. I thought the three doing the dining pit/zen space/quarter pipe did the best job, they worked together like adults and delegated the work fairly.
The bedrooms were nice, the men's was far more put together and finished than the ladies, their's had sloppy paint graphics and didn't really mesh all together, neither did the two women designing it.
The bar area was ok, just kinda there, and no stools! It also had an very sloppy paint job which just ended in one spot, no curve or anything she just stopped painting.

The sitting area with the car door, so ugly, the only cool element was the car door, that's it, and the two were very much into blaming each other for the faults of the room.

The garage door area, the area that got Lisa Millard sent home. Her Drawing was much better than the final product, the area had no purpose or function, just a hallway. I wasn't expecting her to get sent home for it after all Neeraja Lockhart didn't even finish painting or have bar stools at a bar. I guess the judges didn't see any merit in the green tribbles on the floor and the backwards stencils.

I'm going to try to blog this season. The premiere episode last night had no real meat, it was just filler but I'm glad to see David Bromstad as a judge, not only do I like his designs but being last year's winner he's got to have a good idea of what it takes and also be understanding of the contestants. Looking forward to watching. (yes I am aware the picture is from last year's show)