In with the Old

It's a shame to watch something that's outlined as being sensitive to old houses and their history, yet the show is filled with trendy, wanna be influencers who destroy so many perfectly good original features of all of these places. Original beadboard, tile, plumbing fixtures, windows and more is all destined for the landfill so these hipsters can get the latest Chinese made trend they've seen on Instagram and purchased at HHome Depot. Painful to watch as you realize that most of these girls are eyeing a potential hosting gig with Magnilia Network who produced the show. You see them creating look and learn projects for no other reason than to play TV host. No husbands, partners, or other experts/consultants seem to be willing yo say anything to slow these girls down from their own, personal old house destruction. This is original fabric that cannot be returned. The hippest, greenest way to restore a house is to KEEP as many original fixtures, finishes, etc as possible.

This is so bad. Where other shows use the process and opinions of the homeowners to voiceover pictures and views of the home, this show focuses only on them. Every single episode quickly scans the finished room, never stopping the camera not even once!!! You never get the full picture of the room from a fixed viewpoint, but they do focus on the homeowners, usually incessantly talking nonstop as if their opinions are so much more important than what they've made.

Even when you google the show, you can't see very many pictures of the finished product. Is it to hide the show so you'll watch it? Well I watched 2 entire hours of non stop droning about feelings and opinions to see a few 10 second pans of the finished home, zooming in on so many little ridiculous details that you never get to see what the homeowner sees everyday. Has to be the worst renovation show ever.

I have watched much of the series and enjoyed it, but when I hit the Maine episode, I was appalled by the relentlessly self-congratulatory city couple. "Look at me! Look at my stuff! I'm a genius! This laundry room paint makes me look luminous!" Please.

The space was lovely, but so over-filled with matching posey pots and "merchandising,"...These are sort of people who move to the "country" and collectively drive up real estate prices and demand urban services and goods.

I embrace the preservation and renovation of old buildings, unfortunately it sometimes falls to moneyed jerks. Perhaps choose renovators with a good deal more personal appeal.

The first episode was a real missed opportunity in what they shared about the adobe bricks. That is a technique created by indigenous people and the expert they had teaching them about it made it seem like it only came from the pioneers. I'd have loved to see some history there and not just a white-washed version. There is a whole lot of rich history in the US and I'd love to see more than just a narrow perspective of wealthy white influencers, we already get so much of that perspective all of the time. No shade to the designer, just thought this was a missed opportunity and wanted to voice this somewhere.

This will hurt the soul of those who love history and and classic architecture and design. The Pinterest idiots make a big deal about saving original features like natural wood and stone but then completely ruin it by painting it. They remove practical, functional upper kitchen cabinets to put up.. nothing? Bathrooms and kitchens look like they were done in an afternoon with stuff found in the clearance section of Lowe's. Pedestal sinks with no storage. To each his own but why destroy beautiful natural materials and classic architecture and style when you really want your place to look and feel like a 19 year old's first apartment?