HGTV and Me (Enter to Win)

-


Its January, and every year at this time HGTV, Home and Garden Television, gives away a fabulous home built over the previous year and featuring the latest and greatest styles and products the industry has to offer. These homes tend to be located in idyllic vacation spots and get more elaborate every year. In fact, this year’s home package is valued at 2.3 million dollars.

I’ve been a fan of HGTV from the start, which was in 1994. Yikes! The 90s were a boom time for real estate, new construction, and home remodelling. Mortgage interest rates plummeted, so many people bought homes or got loans to remodel current homes. These people craved information and advice on building, decorating, even buying and selling. HGTV built a network entirely devoted to these matters, and I was hooked.

Looking back, I’m charmed by their humble beginning. And I still recall all those amazing, beautiful homes. Their website, in fact, still has details and photos on every home they’ve built, and today I looked up a few of my favorites. During my virtual stroll down Memory Lane, I discovered that as times have changed, many of these designs have lost their luster. Being so current then has caused them to seem dated now. My reactions have gone from “Ooh!” to “hmmm.”

I’ve always been fascinated how the more current a design is, the quicker it becomes dated. The more elaborate a design scheme, the more polarizing. I have personally struggled with this, and consider myself a design curmudgeon as a result of past mistakes. To me there’s nothing worse than making a huge blunder when everyone knows I’m the designer. Better safe than sorry, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no minimalist. Seems like no matter how much I purge, I tend to have enough stuff to fill 2 homes. Currently my walls are choking with artwork, and I have tons more in storage. The stuff isn’t the problem, though, design-wise. Decor items can come and go in a neutral envelope. Things like flooring, fixtures, cabinets and built-ins need to be timeless, because they’ll be there for the long haul, good or bad.

I’ve always lived and worked in a more modest price range. I have a reductionist point of view, and sometimes I’m just plain cheap. I prefer showpiece to Show House, so often these Dream Homes leave me cold. The excitement and challenge in art and design comes from the limiting factors. What is the least I can do to solve a problem, while still creating a pleasing result? Show Houses are not about limits.

I’m in the process of purchasing a very modest home in a somewhat idyllic location and leaving the lovely little apartment I spent the last year decorating, if we can resolve a last minute issue with the title transfer. Before moving, I’ll probably neutralize my apartment a bit, because while lovely, it’s a bit specific to my style. I’ve tended to move a lot in my life, so this time of de-personalizing the place I’m leaving, taking stock of what will transfer to the new place, and what direction I’ll take on the next one has me looking to decorating media for inspiration. I don’t have the luxury of elaborate gestures, but I’m open to fresh ideas.

Which takes me back to HGTV. As a resource, they’re up to the minute. It’s not just TV anymore. Which is good because I no longer have cable. I used to devote blocks of time to watching various shows that I trusted to guide me. Now I’m typing and clicking, and HGTV has a great website and huge corporate affiliations to bring me the best of the best up-to-the-moment products and techniques. All of which is very inspiring.

The current HGTV Dream Home, sorry to say, is not to my taste. I could probably write a lengthy critique of what went wrong. But they go all out. I’m definitely trending to the more modest. I'll enter the sweepstakes anyway. But having enjoyed their work all these years, I'm already a winner.

https://www.hgtv.com/design/hgtv-dream-home

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roads and Rage

-
Image
So I decided, out of sheer boredom, to go to an event tonight happening in a nearby church basement. Funny thing is, every route out of my neighborhood, emphasis on “hood,” is under construction. You can enter, but it is nearly impossible to leave. We're on lockdown I guess. But I know a circuitous zigzag of roads that got me there, to the event, despite the urgings of orange signs telling me to turn back. On the way home, I decided to take the official detour route. The route that funnels all westbound traffic from several closed arteries down one 4 lane main road. The speed limit is 30, so anything above coasting puts one at risk, but I’m in no particular hurry. I’m not, but apparently a blond Mullett-headed ape in a muddy monster truck had some place to be, and urgently. Perhaps he had just left one of the many nearby strip clubs and was in a rush to give the ol’ lady what the girls had made for him. So on this particular road there is an intersection which seems custom ma...
Read more

My Take On The Double-Take

-
Image
Lately I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting looks in public, and not necessarily the good kind. As I move through public spaces, I tend to keep my head up and make eye contact with others I pass by. It has always been important to me to hold me head up rather than shrink, hide or demure. Jordan Peterson even has a rule about this. Act as if I’m somebody who matters is roughly what he says. One of the challenges in this approach is that one can sense whether they (pc pronoun use) are being generally approved of- accepted or rejected on appearance. I’m a very visually oriented person, so I’m keen on the give and take of these visual signals. In my head, it’s, “ How do I look? How am I doing? How am I being received?” This informal polling data will guide my future fashion choices. So as the season has turned chilly, I’ve been searching for my Winter Look. The clothes, coats, pants I will be wearing this season. Part of this season’s styling for me is the wig and hat. Hats are warm, ...
Read more

I'm Creating Again

-
Image
I’m thinking I should probably say something. It’s been awhile since I posted a blog. I moved in February, and didn’t even have internet access for a couple weeks. I’m just now unpacking to the point that I can actually find anything. How did I accumulate so much stuff? And why is it that my house, which is one room plus a basement larger than my apartment, doesn’t seem to hold everything I brought from there to here? So, yup, I bought a house in a very inexpensive neighborhood in Akron, Ohio. I've been a homeowner since I was 20, so its nice to have a place I can work on and really make my own. I did some remodelling in my apartment, but having only stayed a year, I didn’t exactly reap the benefits. Plus, I felt the landlord was kinda shitty and ungrateful that I put a new kitchen and new floor in his shabby apartment. But maybe I’m imagining it. Built in 1946, my basic 2 bedroom workers cottage sits on a corner hilltop lot overlooking a wooded valley. Not much has changed s...
Read more