Niki L. is doing a series of guest posts for us recapping Sunday night episodes of HGTV's Design Star. Let us know what you think of each episode by commenting below:
The fourth episode of HGTV’s Design Star brought some
snark and a double-elimination so we’ll dive right in.
The remaining eight designers are split into two teams of four with no one wanting to be on Tashica’s team. There are no team leaders. Each team is given $10,000 and 20 hours over three days to transform a family’s garage into extra living space.
Team 1 (see top photo) is Dan, Nathan, Lonni and Tashica. Their family wants a recreation room/entertainment center with Spanish style to match their home.
Some important notes immediately. Dan lays out a large amount of construction work, including building a bar, platform and television center. And the family specifically notes that the 40-year old metal garage door doesn’t close all the way and doesn’t lock. Hint hint – they want a new garage door!
The team originally decides on a new garage door but after shopping for lumber Lonni and Dan want to nix it to save a little money. What are they thinking? The door doesn’t even shut and lock!
Team 2 (bottom photo) is Antonio, Jason, Torie and Jany. Their family wants a quiet space with room to write and exercise. And the wife wants a Hamptons feel.
They wisely decide to buy a new garage door that even has two rows of windows for added light into the garage.
There are various montages showing Tashica having trouble learning how to drill and expressing design ideas after another team member has already brought it up. The anvils are falling.
When the rooms are finished here is what you get:
Team 1 has the most frantic final two hours I have ever
seen. Not exactly sure what they did with the first 18 hours. The room ends up being very cluttered with a
raised platform bar area and then a sunken living room. Bright yellow walls with
lots of reds. And a quick mural of a flower on the wall. Rustic.
The man of the house gives the interior an A but because they didn’t replace the garage door drops the overall grade to a C. Ouch.
Team 2 is polished and bright and airy. They applied wainscoting to the walls and used two shades of sea-foam green. The furniture is mostly white. They didn’t have time to put an elliptical machine together so the box goes in the corner with a bow.
The family loves the room – even remarking it looks like a furniture store. Uh oh.
Quick note from the writer: why did both teams basically do a new living room? I assumed the garage space would be more for recreation, with a card table and TV and bar. But both are just living rooms.
At judging, Team 2 is congratulated for delivering a finished room that accomplished the husband’s function with the wife’s atmosphere.
Then Candice Olson says it is “unbelievably predictable” and looks like they transferred a furniture vignette from a story into the garage.
Jany tries to throw Torie under the bus, saying Torie’s style is not Hampton’s style and that their shopping suffered because of it. Torie rightly defends herself, saying Jany never mentioned these concerns while shopping.
The judges loved the floor solution – painted it white to brighten up the room – and added a great rug.
Team 1 gets dinged for not putting in a new garage door and Vern Yip also notes that by adding a platform they decreased the ceiling height in an already short space.
Both Vern and Candice don’t like the mural.
The most favorable comment was Genevieve Gorder saying she loves how warm the room feels.
The judges then take a fair amount of time ripping on Tashica. She notes all the tasks she helped with but the judges are annoyed that she contributed nothing to the overall design.
Then – while Tashica is trying to salvage herself – the judges confer right there and decide to dismiss her. The first designer ever eliminated before the judges deliberate.
P.S. I was not a fan of Tashica’s but did feel this was a bit harsh.
At the elimination, Dan and Antonio are safe because they continue to be the anchors on their team and can design and execute. (I love Dan but he bit off more than he could chew and the platform in his garage was just weird.)
Lonni, Jason and Torie are safe.
That leaves Jany and Nathan.
Jany is out for following a design textbook too closely and not taking any risks.
Next week the teams tackle naval base housing.
