Movin' Up with Doug on TLC

Anyone catch tonite's episode with the Goth couple.

I was surprised that the female goth was so upset about some of the comments from miss country kitchen. I mean, here you are embracing a lifestyle and you are upset about her comments that the paintings are not appropiate for kids. Hey its an adult bedroom and I am sure people have said worse things to your face, although it is funny to see the wife try to tone down the color cause hubby's choices are a tad too much.

Why didn't they show the older couple's new condo? They did in the first episode but not the second.

Like Doug said, I like that the Goth couple took a style and went all the way with it. I am sure Doug liked the zebra wall as he has done it on Trading Spaces.

What was interesting was what the country kitchen couple was able to do on a limited budget especially since they had to have the roof replaced. I did like the armoire/ bookself piece as it did fill/ anchor the space with those vaulted ceilings they really needed it. What was also amazing and nice of Doug was to show the Country kitchen couple how to improve the look of the kitchen with paint and new hardware. Who knew he had a heart!!!

Another set of couples from New York City. Wow, how in the world can people afford to live there much less buy houses and afford any kind of renovation. A house in Brooklyn cost $920,000. sometimes the show gives square footage but not always and it is frustrating trying to figure out what you are buying.
Another couple moved further out into the burgs but still paid $720,000.

I liked what the couple who had the twins did with their house especially the back yard. They ripped out all the old concrete and a tree, the stump was still there. Took out the spiral stairway and put in a striaght one. Put in a new cedar fence with a nice lattice top and put in a nice hardscape patio under the deck and pathway to the new patio by the back of the house. It looked nice.

Sometimes I wish the couples wouldn't be such assholes about anothers style, but I guess that is the juicy part of the show. The one couple put in black slate or soapstone counters in a white kitchen and it really set it off. Very big impact for little renovation. New tile backsplashes in soft gray and very lite powder blue paint and the kitchen looks great. I am not a big fan of falling apart splintery flea market finds but hey there you go. This couple wants a cottagy feel but I think they just missing it.

The one thing that really bothered me about the house in the burgs is that the previous owner and the new owners did what a lot of folks do in a large living room and that is push all the furniture back against the walls and there is this huge area rug and no converstion spaces. You have to shout at folks across the room. they are using the middle of the room as the main walkway and it doesn't look good. Move the sofa either in front of the fireplace or 90 degrees from it and create a cozy space with the sofa, chaise and a small coffee table and another seating arrangement with the chairs and table by the front window or in the corner the sofa was orignally in. The least Doug could have done was give some helpful advice in this case.

All in all I think I must be the only person watching this show, but I like it and how it does well, if nothing else is shows a gentler, kinder Doug.

In noticed the furniture placement thing as well. I guess some people don't understand that pushing all the furniture up against the walls in a good sized room doesn't make it feel bigger, just awkward. While I'm not into the distressed painted furniture thing myself, I can appreciate it and thought that they had some nice pieces. I can also relate to their appreciation of light colors, but with the size rooms they now have, they could have used a little bit stronger colors, the hall and the living/dining rooms were so pale that the architectural features were washed out.

The show does seem to try to play up the drama of people not letting go of their former homes.

It was interesting that both couples changed the already remodeled kitchens. I have long advised friends about how much to update a kitchen before resale. While updated kitchens do sell houses, it doesn't pay to do too much. If you aren't going to live in a house more than 10 years, then you probably shouldn't install your "dream" kitchen, because your "dream" probably isn't the new owners, and will be the first thing they change.

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Originally Posted by libra1022

I guess I like this show cause I wonder sometimes how things are in places that I used to live and it sort of cures my curiousity by watching other people go through it. I'd rather see it done more in a long haul type situation though rather than them having just a few months and a big budget (but I know tvland needs a quicker turn around time so they have to do it this way). To me it would be more interesting to be able to wait out a year or so and really get a feel for what the new owners have done to your former home.

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We recently moved into a new(to us) home. The people who lived here before go to our new church and have mututal friends. The day after we got the keys and were moving some items in, the Williams(old owners) came by to drop something off and see if they could pick something up that they had left. They brought us a paint roller so we could paint the spot that they had forgotten to paint behind their giant organ. They also brought special lightbulbs that went to a particular fixture that are hard to find. They are such a nice family. Since then they have come over several times to get stuff from the attic that they had forgotten or the garage. I really do not mind as most of the stuff I have no interest in and did not know was there. Each time they come we have the house more together than the last time they saw it. Mr. Wms and his son came to my son's birthday party in Jan and we got a chance to talk. I asked him what it was like to be in this house after the ownership had changed over. He said it was odd because all the walls were in the same place but someone elses stuff was there. Overall he was pleased with what we had done with the place. Later he was in the kitchen talking to a friend of ours name Mark. Mr Wms., having finished his soda and birthday cake, leaned over and drop his plate and cup on the floor at the end of the counter. Mark looked shocked and so did Mr. Wms. Mark said, "you know you are going to have to clean that up". Mr Wms said,"Yes. That is where we kept the trash bin." then he cleaned it up and threw it away where we keep the trash.

His son was interesting too. He walked right in and turned on the tv and started playing a video game. The other kids wanted to play too but there were not enough controlers for everyone and he was playing a one player game. He did not want to share so we decided that the kids should enjoy the party instead of the game. It must have been really hard to hear that he could not do just what he wanted in his house. I know it is hard for kids to understand that a place they used to live in for so long is not theirs anymore.

Overall it has been nice to have them here each time. They tell us about the neighborhood and answer questions we have about the house. They seem to appreciate the improvements/changes that we have made. Now i want to go to their new house and see what it looks like. Hehe!

I think we are going to sell our former residence to the brother of another friend of ours. It will be interesting to see what he does with it. :nod

I finally did figure out the one thing I do like about this show.

The furniture.

On Trading Spaces, one thing that always irritated me to no end was the way all the designers, with very rare exception, removed or redid any couches and chairs which were actually comfortable to most people. I'm talking about the overstuffed sofas and living/family room chairs, comfortable dining table seating, etc. I'm talking about furniture that has comfortable and/or plush seating. For some reason, those designers felt the need to make all seating padding sparse, and the back at a strict 90-degree angle to the seat, with the same for the arm-to-seat angles. And no or little padding in the back and arms or seat. Furniture with hard straight lines to it. I know some people like that style of furniture, but as a general rule they don't. When I sit in on a sofa or chair in my living room, I like the plush feel of lots of padding -- I personally prefer the over-stuffed look. I want comfort, to be able to sink into the sofa or chair and not feel like I'm sitting on a bus stop bench with arms.

In this show, we actually get to see rooms with furniture that real people actually use and enjoy, and the rooms -- no matter how badly decorated -- look so much better with real-people furniture. They're rooms where people actually live, with furniture real people actually prefer.

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Originally Posted by Chorita KaBoom

In noticed the furniture placement thing as well. I guess some people don't understand that pushing all the furniture up against the walls in a good sized room doesn't make it feel bigger, just awkward. While I'm not into the distressed painted furniture thing myself, I can appreciate it and thought that they had some nice pieces. I can also relate to their appreciation of light colors, but with the size rooms they now have, they could have used a little bit stronger colors, the hall and the living/dining rooms were so pale that the architectural features were washed out.

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One thing I noticed after watching some British shows when you have these largeand tall rooms with really nice crown molding and pilasters, a really strong wall color such as garnet, sunflower yellow, or bright blue looks amazing and can almost act as a neutral. The funiture is not matchy matchy, its just regular furniture and the strong wall color just sets it off very well.

Also, the couple that moved to the burgs from Brooklyn, that liked the calm cool colors. I can understand their color palette but these rooms really screamed slightly bolder colors. They could have gone to KMart and picked a whole bunch of Martha's paint swatches. She is more their color range. The same colors but a tad or two more saturated would have been fine. I liked the taupe/mushroom/ cafe latte in the foyer but some of the rooms were way too light.

I tried to give the show a shot, but never got past the commercials for it. Who wants to see someone go back to their old house and run down the taste of someone else. If everyone is supposed to have the same taste, why did they redo the house they moved into? It's not your house anymore, you don't have to live with the new decoration... Don't be snarky about their decorating.

I watched this for the first time tonight. The older woman who had all the old lady wall paper, the younger couple with 3 kids who liked light colors and the couple with the darker colors with the flowers.

I don't like this show. Everyone seemed to be told to be rude and snarky. I did like the one couple's style (slightly more rustic) but found everyone to be annoying.

I was amazed when we went back to our old house after a year, we sold it to a guy that was very handy. He did more to the house in a year then we did in the 9 years we had it. I loved the new kitchin, new bathroom and the new basement. The only thing I didn't like was he painted the brick on the fireplace. That looked a bit odd.

I like watching Doug's hair color change during the course of the show.

Another interesting show. I liked the couple with the 3 kids. He was so opinionated. I liked that he is obviously a great do it your selfer. He can come to my house any time, I have a few chores for him, really I have a front door that needs to be rehung. I liked what they did in the bathroom and the fireplace, but did anyone notice that the furniture placement in the living room almost matched exactly what the older lady had. Yes their taste and color scheme was 80's. Yes the bed was large for the room. That is a pet peeve when couples get furniture that is too large for the room. But why did they show the coffee table over by the window ???

The vertical blind have to go. You can get such nice shades, from Blinds To Go why bother with ugly vertical blinds. They scream the 70's.

The Couple that moved out of the apartment into the old synagogue impressed me. The wife's colour choices are much more the colours you see in today's homes. I am glad that she over rode her husbands choice of beige and tan and brown. Even the family room was a nice compromise. And I hate plaid. I really like the kitchen although it was very poorly designed having the refrigerator so far away from the work space and stove. Definitely not in the working triangle. But that is the original design from the when the building probably first went up. I really like what the wife did with the tile on the fireplace. Was that husband lazy or what??