Top Design 3/28- It’s an Elemental Extravaganza!

[SueEllenMishke]

Last week we said goodbye to Michael and his crime-scene dining room, and now we’re thankfully down to four designers. Goil thinks this means that they can now do weird things, and I think they’ve been doing weird things all along.

It’s Earth Wind and Fire time! Oh, and Water too!
The designers meet with Todd in the lobby of the Viceroy Hotel, designed by Judge Kelly Wreastler, and Matt is so excited to be there. He has pictures of the Viceroy at home as examples of a design that he loves, and now it’s like he’s meeting a celebrity… hotel.

Today’s Guest Judge is Linda O’Keefe, the director of design architecture of Metropolitan Home Magazine. And today’s challenge? The designers will be designing a high end hotel suite focused on today’s travelers’ needs. Linda stresses the importance of the design, because travelers have so many choices, and will go someplace else if they don’t like the design. Goil hasn’t ever designed a hotel room, but he’s stayed in plenty of them so he feels pretty confident.

The designers each pick a card with a theme- Andrea gets Earth, Carisa chooses Air and Matt gets Water. Finally, Goil picks Fire, and immediately thinks of disco. I don’t see the correlation here, but it should be interesting to see what he comes up with. They each have $30,000 to shop at Pac Design, $3,000 for linens and $1,550 for materials and lumber. They have three days to accomplish this feat.

I want to live in the world where $30,000 is a tiny amount of money.
The designers get to sketchin’ and soon discover that they all have the exact same layout. Goil and Carisa concede to change theirs, but not without some grumbling on Goil’s part.
Next, it’s shopping time, and once again we see that $30,000 is not a lot of money in the Pacific Design world. Not at all. $3,000 does seem to be a decent amount for linens though, and it looks like all the designers get out of McGary & Co. well within their linen budgets.

Back in the studio, the designers meet with (and scare) their carpenters. The designers seem to have a lot of big, grandiose ideas that it will be up to the carpenters to execute. Hopefully for Carisa’s sake, she and Carl have come to an understanding and he will actually listen to her this week.

Carl… we’re watching you!
Day 2 of the challenge, and it’s time to start the manual labor. And time for Carisa to start arguing with Carl. Goil has adjusted his plan a little bit to focus on the fire of life, rather than the fire of destruction and death. Um, yes. It is probably best not to design a high end hotel suite around death. He explains his new plan to Sarah, and she nods indulgently while I’m sure she’s trying to figure out how much more work this is going to make for her.

Andrea’s having a bit of trouble with the Earth theme, Matt admits he’s a floor snob and always has to do something different, and Goil seems kind of lost. He really doesn’t know what he wants to do, and defers to carpenter Sarah on making design decisions.

Ew… blood makes me queasy.
It’s the final day, and Goil seems a little… stressed. He flits around his room telling Sarah all the things he still needs built, and she finally tells him it seems like he’s trying to put a lot in that room- maybe too much. Carisa is calmly painting her walls while she plans vengeance against Carl, Matt expresses that he really wants to win the challenge, (duh, Matt- I’m sure everyone really wants to win the challenge), and Andrea is having some painting issues. Specifically- she selected ugly paint and her walls don’t look so hot.

Todd does his walk-through, and everything is going just peachy for the designers until Matt’s carpenter Ed injures himself on a wicked looking saw. I’m not sure exactly what he did because they only show the blade and wood with blood all over the place, but I’m really, really hoping he didn’t lose a finger or something. Ed is immediately taken away, and Matt is concerned for him, and feels horribly guilty. He tells us that if he goes home because his carpenter got his finger cut off… well then, he goes home. That’s that.

A disaster is averted when Todd gathers the group together to tell them that Ed cut his finger badly, (but did not cut it off, which I am relieved to hear), and has been released and is back on-site to work. He and Matt have a joyful reunion, and get right to work.

Who cares about housekeeping?
Todd gives the 15 minute warning, and it looks like Goil’s room is nowhere near being finished. Not at all! Everyone works right up until the very last moment, and then it’s off to the White Room for our designers.

Todd talks a bit about the challenge, and then announces the winner will be featured as a rising star in the next issue of Metropolitan Home. He introduces the Judges, and I am pleased to see that Kelly is not wearing a ridiculous outfit tonight. Sure, it’s kind of silly, but not nearly as bad as usual.

The Judges take their walkthrough, and Andrea whines again about how she would have designed a much better room if she had chosen Air or Water, but won’t allow herself to think about the possibility that she might be going home.

The Judges start their critique with Carisa, and Jonathan announces that she was back this week. They liked the screens and fabric wall, but Kelly thinks housekeeping would hate her. Carisa aggress, but doesn’t care. Goil’s room is next, and Jonathan thinks he was too focused on the back wall, and didn’t put enough thought into the furnishings. Guest Judge Linda thinks Goil was a little too literal with the Fire theme, and Margaret agrees although she does compliment him for his effort.

Jonathan asks Andrea if her room was gloomy. She states that she chose the blue paint to brighten it up, and then tells Kelly she was scared to use green paint. It’s interesting that Kelly asks Andrea why she didn’t think to use green paint, when the Judges just chastised Goil for being too literal in his room. I guess it’s okay to go for the obvious when designing around Earth, but not Fire.

The Judges loved Matt’s room, calling it luxurious and stating it’s the type of room you’d like to stay in for hours. They loved the accessories, rug, wall color and… well, everything about it. The White Room basically turns into a “We Heart Matt” party, and I think Matt is pretty safe tonight.

Again with the questions, Jonathan?
Jonathan puts Carisa on the spot and asks her who she thinks stands between her and the title of Top Design. Didn’t we play this game last week? I wonder if anyone will take the Michael way out and refuse to answer. Carisa picks Matt, because he’s competitive, but not in an awful, mean way. Andrea picks Matt for his quiet confidence, Matt knows that no one stands between him and the title of Top Design, and Goil thinks everyone stands in his way, and he must kill them one at a time. That seems a little excessive, Goil- maybe you should just try to design some decent rooms instead. Then he chooses Andrea as his biggest competition, and repeats that he needs to kill her too.

The designers are dismissed, and the Judges chat about the rooms. It’s agreed that they liked Carisa’s and Matt’s rooms, but did not care for Goil’s and Andrea’s. The designers are brought back into the White Room to face the music.

Matt has the top design, and will be featured in Metropolitan Home’s next issue, and the Judges will be having a slumber party in his room. Yay! Carisa can stay, and does not get any feedback about her room, which means Andrea and Goil are on the chopping block.

Andrea: your room was too theoretical, and not functional. Goil- you spent too much time on your walls, which is just unforgivable and you’re going home.

Tune in next week, which is not the Finale, but is close enough to taste, and see the designers turn on each other!

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[Yardgnome]

Great recap, SEM!