HGTV Design Star: School Bus Makeovers

There are only four designers remaining: Anne, Brooks, Jeribai, and Tiffany.  The contestants are waiting in the room after last week's decision when David Bromstad reveals their camera challenge:  The four of them will represent HGTV on "The Talk" performing a segment with a couple of hosts teaching the hosts and viewers an unconventional design tip. 

Final Four

The next day the contestants discover that they will design a stripped down school bus of their own, in any way that they'd like.  Jeribai " why are we running?" as the contestants run to their school buses.  They need to create something unconventional, inspiring, and they shouldn't play it safe.  The most unconvential space that Tiffany has ever done is a store window.

Tiffany wants to have a Mad Hatter tea party from Alice in Wonderland.  She's going to make the space emerald green.

Anne used to design luxury motor coaches, so she feels like she's got this.  She is going to create a living space and a bedroom space.

Brooks is excited to not hold back.  He's talking about a space ship, a lounge, Brooks' brain.

Jeribai wants to create a boxer's lounge, with a training area in the back and a resting area in the front.  They take off the wheel wells, which makes it more spacious.

Tiffany leaves to find furniture for the dining room.  She finds a hodgepodge of chairs which you can tell that her idea is starting to come to fruition.

Jeribai went to Lumber Liquadtors for a bamboo floor so the bus feels taller and wider.

Anne is looking for furniture but spent the whole day looking but couldnt' find anything.  It was a huge time waster.

Tiffany's carpenter is frustrated because his paint sprayer wasn't working so he had to hand paint the bus.

HGTV Design Star: Sorority Vs. Fraternity

Five remaining designers must make over main rooms in sorority and frat houses.  The designers are at Occidental College in Los Angeles.  They are serenaded by a drumline, cheerleaders, and a cat mascot.  I was hoping that Bromstad would pop out of the mascot costume, but he didn't. :(

Occidental College

The girls, Tiffany and Anne, will take on the sorority house.  While Brooks, Jeribai, and Boris will take on the fraternity house.  I'm not going to attempt their names since Greek houses are douchey.

The girls head over the sorority and they see a room with two old couches, everything is hand me down.  They use this space as a place for get togethers and alumni come by to visit.  They want red and white since that is their colors.  Their fireplace is awful, which Tiffany wants.  They want their ensigna on somewhere in the design.

The boys see this room that is a rec room, study room, and dining area.  A "Gentlemen's Lounge" is Boris' term.  They want Royal Purple and Old Gold, DOUCHE!  They want the crest involved as well.

The girls are looking at gray and red for the walls, using their Post-It notes, but Anne wants to use a different red color that is sophisticated and she owns it.  Lumber Liquidators is also thrown in, product placement, wow!  I want to go to Lumber Liquadtors for all of my needs.

The boys begin designing, Boris is going to do drapes, shocker!, and Boris wants Jeribai to refinish the table.  Jeribai doesn't want to be the handyman this time around, and focus on design.  I think that Jeribai has a better chance of being the HGTV star if he can show us guys how to do these handyman things at home.  That's an opinion obviously.  "Boris, use your German man strength!" quote of the day by Jeribai.

Anne starts taking over the fire place, then Tiffany is like, "hold up!" and she takes it back.  She has a good idea and Anne allows for her to take control.

Brooks and Jeribai go to a pool table shop and they pick out a new table that will have the Antique Gold felt with the insignia on it, pretty sweet idea.

Tiffany and the carpenter, a man of a lady, start destroying that fireplace.  When they break through this ugly thing, they realize there is a fireplace underneath, but that carpenter broke some of the brick!  Look, you don't' let a woman do a man's job!  Cliche', but it might be true here. Ackward fist bump between Tiffany and carpenter lady. haha, so great.  The carpenter is going to need to re-brick that fire place.

The girls are going to put the crest on some wallpaper, not sure where they're going with it, but believe in Anne!

The boys are looking for some new tables, but they can't find a good one.  Boris is talking Jeribai into refinishing the existing table, but guess what, Jeribai does it.

Carpenter is working on the fireplace, and she is doing work!

Day 2
Jeribai starts working on the table.  He puts something on it, then sands it down, and then stains it.

Tiffany thinks the red in the room looks like a dull orange, and it does look like that with the room empty.  The fireplace is completed, at least the brick part.

VOLVO COMES: BROMSTAD HAS ARRIVED!

Bromstad is talking with the boys.  Bromstad advises that you bring in some table lamps and other lamps so the boys won't need to use the florescent lighting anymore. 

Camera Challenge: Give a home improvement tip to a Fraternity Brother
Jeribai- Teaches how to install a hardwood floor, he does a pretty good job.  I feel like I could install a floor right now.
Boris- He is less creepy, but shows this kid how to paint with a brush or a roller.  Come on Boris, I knew that.
Brooks- Installing a chair rail molding, Brooks stumbles on his words and then Bromstad tears him a new one.  He said, " Do you steamroll over your students?"  Brooks looks hurt, why you gotta be so mean to my man Brooks?!

HGTV Design Star: Real People, Real Kitchens

The Challenge: Contestants must transform the kitchens and dining rooms in two neighboring home within three days, from start to finish, which involves renovating flooring, cabinet hardware, back splashes, and more.  The houses are similar in look and structure.  The teams are Anne, Brooks, and Abbey vs. Boris, Jeribai, and Tiffany.

Remaining Contestants

INTRO MUSIC MAKING ME DANCE!

I immediately think that Anne, Brooks, and Abbey have the advantage, I mean, they've shown how good they can be.  These teams have 3 days to finish, with 2 handymen to help them.


Meet With Clients
Couple with 3 Kids
The family is "transitional", Boris goes crazy again.  He's full on creep early on.  Jeribai focus' on the tile he wants to put up.


Foster Family
Sweet kids right away.  The couple explains what they like, with Anne and Brooks asking most of the questions.  They want modern with warmth, not too traditional or contemporary.   They want seating on the inside of the bar and a potential herb garden.

First Steps
Anne always thinks everything is her expertise, perhaps the show should already be hers!  Brooks wants to paint the exposed wood beams ceiling to make the room look bigger.  Brooks doesn't like the whole cream color, all over.  He's making his voice heard about the color palette.  Anne is bossy, again!  I can't see her as the HGTV Design Star because she is too bossy, even with all that talent.  Brooks is going to make a countertop that is unusual.

Boris wants get rid of the cabinet that the homeowners hate and put in a floor to ceiling wine rack.  Sounds cool, functional.  They're going to get rid of the wood paneling and Jeribai wants wallpaper with texture.  Tiffany thinks the back splash is risky, but Jeribai is going for it.

Both teams are going to town on destroying the kitchen. Isn't that the best part?

Day 2
The homeowners picked a camel color cabinet, so Boris and Jeribai select a back splash.  The kitchen floors were put in over night, it's amazing how much that does for the room already.  The team goes furniture shopping.  Anne finds a farmhouse table and looks awesome!  I could see myself eating around that table.  It has a bench that goes with it, which I love.  Brooks gets a large stainless sink with an apron front.  No idea they had so many features.  Brooks," I've never tried the tope on tope color scheme."  He hates the beige in the kitchen, I'm glad that he is voicing his opinion, but not in a negative way.

Abbey is worried she wont' have much of a choice, so she decides she's going to take control of the back splash and the countertops.  Abbey is super personal and warm, I hope she does ok.  Tiffany finds a dining room table, it has a hammered metal top.  Jeribai doesn't like it because of the finger prints that will get on it.  Jeribai is going to town on the wall, prepping it for the back splash.

HGTV Design Star: One Client, Four Apartments

The Mission: In teams of two, the contestants will design an apartment for the same young married couple with the hopes that the couple will choose their design.

The Teams: By Random Choice
Brooks and Tiffany- Interesting, they seem like they're totally different
Anne and Jeribai- I could see some tension, Anne is a control freak
Tylor and Cris- They worked together last week and don't really like each other
Abby and Boris- These two worked together too, not sure about the duo

NEW TWIST: TWO WILL GO HOME!!!


Interview Clients- Best Questions
Anne and Jeribai:  If you had to choose between clean lines or shabby sheik?

Brooks and Tiffany: What is entertaining like for you guys?
         Clients reaction was hilarious, she called them ADD, which they were.

Tylor and Cris: Do you like to watch TV in your living room?  HAHAHA

Abby and Boris: Just the interaction was great, Boris was hilarious in this episode.

First Glance at apartments
Anne and Jeribai: Their interactions seem to be creative and insightful.  They seem to be on the same page.

Brooks and Tiffany: These two seem like they're a better team than first imagined.

Abby and Boris: Boris wants to use faux molding, just stop painting near the ceiling to look like crown molding, which Abby is not thrilled about.  Sounds like a terrible idea.

Tylor and Cris:  Tylor takes over and wants a green that she isn't thrilled about.  She is thinking about herself and what she would want.  Tylor said it's not about her, but I'm thinking she needs to follow her heart.

Furniture Shopping
B&T: They are looking at some vintage chairs and a lounger.

C&T: They found a tray and a rug for the family room.

B&A: Abby finds a bookshelf that she likes, Boris likes it too.  Boris, "I'm not feeling horny." Blam!

A&J: A barbed wire art piece, Jeribai thinks it is abrasive, so Anne will take credit for it.

Design
B & T: They laid out this cool design for the wall using painters tape.  It has inspired me to try this out in our babies room whenever I get to start painting.  Thanks Brooks and Tiffany!  True Design Star potential!

J& A: Jeribai wants to create a stripe on one side of the apartment, two create a two-toned effect.  Anne doesn't want Jeribai to do it himself because it'll take too much time.

C&T: They have their green walls, over the entire apartment, really boring.  Cris is not pleased.

Most teams have a focus wall with a bold color, which Cris and Tylor did not.

David Bromstad
The winning room will be featured in HGTV magazine.  They're looking for things that are easy for the viewer to do on their own.  The camera challenge needs to be something a renter could do that is easy to do and easy to correct upon moving out.

Camera Challenges
All of the camera challenges left something to be desired.  None of them had any mind blowing ideas or clear demonstrations on what to do.  Bromstad had Abby in tears, but in a good way.  He was playing psychologist and Abby is feeling a lot of anxiety.  She seems a little unstable, but aren't great artists like that?  Cris had a good energy, but she didn't show anything.  Tylor, "the expert", was awful. This guy is so overrated, by his own doing.  I think Anne is a natural at this camera challenge thing, but she used a focal wall as her challenge which even I know about.  Brooks had more energy this time, but almost too much, at a maniacal level.  That is Brooks though.  The winner in my opinion:  Brooks, just because he had a more original idea even if it wasn't perfect.

HGTV Design Star: Lofty Ideas

Deisgn Star Season 8 Cast (photo courtesy of HGTV.com)

The contestants in the second episode are given the task of transforming an old industrial warehouse loft into a multi-functional space for living and working in.  Each designer must creatively update a vintage item and integrate it into the space.  The contestants teamed up and each took a different section of the loft.  They all have to agree on who the loft is going to be designed for (rock/glam client) and it needs to be cohesive.  They'll have their first camera challenge of the season!

The four distinct living areas are: living, eating, sleeping, and working.

The teams are:

Brooks and Jeribai - workspace

Jessie, Boris, and Abby- Kitchen, dining, and foyer

Tylor and Cris- Living area

Tiffany and Anne- Bedroom space

• They all agree on using cooler tones since it's a warm space.
• Brooks and Jeribai are going to create a drum space.  They take off and have the crazy ideas.
• Anne starts off bossing Tiffany around, sounding like a total B!  They want the bed to be the focal point.
• Tylor doesn't want to work with Cris, he thinks he has to babysit her.  It's the oldest with the youngest designer on this one.  
• Jessie is going to work on the kitchen, Boris on the dining, and Abby on the foyer.  Jessie has bragged about how much she has worked on kitchen spaces and she's the master.
• Boris wants a large backette, a seating area against the wall.
• The camera challenge is taking a vintage item and refurbishing it for something new and then they will have 45 seconds to explain what they're doing with it.  More on this later.
• Tylor wants to take an old VW bug hood and he's going to make into a piece of wall art.
• Jessie sends Abby home to paint instead of allowing her to shop for her furniture.
• Abby is painting 4 or 5 twenty foot walls.
• Jessie is trying to find a bunch of accessories for the kitchen.
• When everyone comes home, Abby has painted most of the walls, everyone loves the colors.
• Boris and Jessie decline to help Abby with painting, leaving her to work on the walls alone, again.
• Cris is taking an old camera and making it into a floor lamp.  I wasn't sure what she would do.
• Brooks and Jeribai are playing the drums and dancing, totally carefree.
• Brooks wants to have a coffee cup with old coffee in it and used up whiskey bottles.  Jeribai talks him out of it.
• Jessie is taking old safety deposit boxes and refurbishing them into spice racks.  Actually pretty cool.
• Tiffany is taking an outdoor sign to make into a headboard.  She wants to paint it but Anne talks her out of it.  She's the "expert".  She slept on it and decided not to paint it.
• Tylor is outside banging on his hood and Cris sees it, and is not impressed.  She pretty tells him that is on him.
• Jeribai is putting corrugated metal on one wall and it looks pretty cool.
• David comes and immediately hates the paint.  Calling it juvenile.  He also makes it known that they should be appealing to the HGTV audience, because they should want to do this to their own home.
• Camera challenge time.  The best camera challenges: Anne, Abby, Cris  The worst: Brooks, Tylor, Jeribai.
• Brooks was surprising at how bad he was.  I think he'll step it up in future episodes if he survives. (He does)
• Tylor talks about his cigarette machine table, it sounds clever, but he sucks.  He really does.
• Now Abby is helping sew for Jessie, so she has yet to work on her space.
• Brooks is hanging 500 feet of rubber making it into a chandelier, and everyone is loving it.  He then hangs lightbulbs in the spaces.
• Cris hates the hood, she says it looks cheap, Tylor doesn't care because he is so arrogant.
• Tiffany hangs blue string lights throughout the headboard, I think it takes away from it, but what do I know?
• Abby lays down the curtains she has been sewing on the counter, but Jessie had painted that counter.  I feel bad for Abby, she isn't getting any help here.
• With five minutes left, Abby starts to arrange her furniture.
• TIME IS CALLED, time for judges.
• I love Genevieve.
• The judges aren't in love with the foyer.  The dining room doesn't get a lot of love either.  The kitchen was a fail, she didn't stock the shelves.
• The bedroom got some kudos for the side tables and the bedding.  The blue lights in the headboard were pointed out but otherwise they liked it.
• The space of Brooks and Jeribai had all good responses.
• They liked the living space, except for the stupid car hood.  The refurbishing of the camera was praised.
• Tylor and Cris were saved.  So, they were in the middle.
• Anne won the competition, so Tiffany was saved.  Brooks and Jeribai also were safe.  The trio was held back, but then Boris was safe.
• Taylor Swift, I mean, Jessie was kicked off.  Thank God, in my opinion, she was over confident, to the levels of cockiness, which was unfounded.

MY TOP 9 DESIGNS

1. Brooks

2. Anne ^

3. Cris

4. Jeribai

5. Tylor

6. Tiffany

7. Boris

8. Jessie*

9. Abby (Just because she didn't get to do anything)

MY TOP 9 DESIGNERS

1. Brooks

2. Jeribai

3. Cris

4. Abby

5. Anne^

6. Tiffany

7. Tylor

8. Jessie*

9. Boris

^-Winner *-Eliminated

Share your thoughts below. Who's your top designer at this point? To see some pictures from this week's challenge visit the HGTV Design Star blog by clicking here.

HGTV Design Star: Season 8

Episode: A Brand New Season- Original Air date 6/9/2013
There are spoilers in this, beware! 

One note before reading.  I have no expertise in design, only in what I think looks good and what I might actually like to use.  With that being said, if you're offended, please say something in comments because I love banter and it gets my rocks off.  Or at least, my heart-rate.

The Contestants:

Anne Rue from Florida, she categorized her design style as "beautiful, functional and livable eclectic." She also says she loves to incorporate color into her designs and enjoys mixing classic and coastal design styles. *all of these quotes are from the HGTV website unless I put a parentheses around it. (She looks like Connie Britton, which orange hair)

Tobin Green from Florida constantly strives to evolve and step outside his comfort zone while creating his signature vintage industrial spaces. 

Tiffany Brooks from Illinois is the owner of a residential interior design business favors contemporary spaces with an out-of-the-box twist. 

Abby Vasek from Texas has a clean, bohemian design style by adding in masculine lines. (Bubbly, might be over the top)

Tylor Devereaux from Michigan creates warm, modern rooms that are classic and simple, but loves putting his design over everything. (This guy is the guy who I totally forget about)

Boris Eckey from California has a European background that informs his luxurious yet comfortable design style. (Uh oh, early villain!)

Jessie Miller from Missouri describes her style as urban regency. (No idea what that means!)

Jeribai Tascoe from California likes to create modern, edgy spaces that feature an element of fun and his initials.

Cris Mercado from the Dominican Republic draws inspiration from her tropical surroundings to create a look she calls "bold contemporary." (One of my faves from minute I saw her)

Brooks Atwood from New York is a creative director and design professor, likes to push the envelope with his cutting-edge, modern style that he classifies as futuristic and avant-garde. (Stole top spot from Cris)

Show Commentary:

• David Bromstad is the host/mentor of this show and his challenge for the contestants had to turn an empty space into an example of their brand.  They can design their own fabric and wall paper.  They're encouraged to show the panel something inventive and something that is "you".  They had two days to make this thing happen.
• I think the coolest thing about this challenge was the creation of the wall paper.
• Brooks is freaking out early because he has never created an entire room, he usually teaches students about designing more than actually designing.
• I really love Brooks, his hair, beard, and personality have star quality written all over him.
• Tylor apparently has a lot of talent, but I can't imagine watching his show, boring!