Design Public

Dear Bravotv.com,

Will you please include home tours for The Real Housewives of N.Y.C.?  I just did not see enough.  Creepy codependent couple Alex and banana hammock wearing Simon’s townhouse in Brooklyn is obviously in need of a major renovation, Bethanny obviously spends all her money on clothes and still has a twenty-something decorated apartment, Jill’s pad has just about  O.D.’d on Zarin fabrics and Luann appears to have the dream Manhattan townhouse.   Ramona’s condo is dressed the way she dresses, that’s all I’ll say about that.  But I want to see more!  While you’re at it, please include their Hamptons homes.

Regarding the housewives, I admit it, and a lot of my culturally uppity friends AND their significant others who usually only admit to listening to NPR and watching PBS admit it; we are totally addicted to the guilty pleasure of The Real Housewives of N.Y.C. and O.C.  I’ve never seen such tacky social-climbing, talking about money, or cosmetic surgery addiction in my life.  It’s delicious.  How funny is it that they all think being the fourth wife of a Count is a big deal?  Ladies, get a grip, it’s the social equivalent of  being a distant Kennedy cousin who hasn’t committed a felony.

Anyway Bravo, please give us a tour of the homes.  Preferably with each woman giving it for maximum entertainment.

Sincerely,

A Reality TV Junkie

photos from bravotv.com

I had the pleasure of e-interviewing (does the O.E.D. contain a new word that describes interviewing someone online yet? E-verviewing?) Kim Myles, the winner of last season’s show Design Star and the host of her own new TV show, Myles of Style. The show premiered recently and I’d like to thank Kim for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer a few Hatch questions. I always enjoyed Kim’s energy, attitude, creativity and personality during Design Star; she was clearly a natural television host from the beginning. I also think it’s really cool and refreshing that her background is in hair design. Here goes…

Hi Kim and thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. We’re excited to see your ideas on your new HGTV show, “Myles of Style!”

I was a big fan of the show, and thought it improved immeasurably from Season 1. One of my favorite moments of yours was the Dollar Store challenge, where you fashioned a textured ginkgo leaf wallpaper design out of paper plates. What was your favorite moment or design move that you made from the show?

I’m so glad that you liked those ginkgos, because that was honestly my hands-down favorite personal moment of design on the show. It was the first challenge where we could work solo, and it was my opportunity to do what I love: think texturally, and unexpectedly. Plus I LOVE wallpaper…..so it was my ‘perfect storm’, design-wise.

I understand you are very creative at getting the most out of a small budget. What’s your favorite type of shopping - flea market, dollar store, fancy home boutique, Big Box Store, hardware store, online shopping, tag/stoop/garage/yard sales, other?

I love the hunt, so I’m a fan of craigslist, flea markets, 1stdibs, etc. There’s something so gratifying about having a goal, searching it out, and sometimes being surprised along the way by how the goal morphs depending on what you see out there.

Here at Hatch, we have a slightly snarky drinking game that goes along with the TV. For instance, we drink whenever someone says “brings the outdoors in,” “zen,” or “it really makes it pop!” Also, I say “amazing” WAY too often in my writing. Do you have a phrase or a word you use a lot that I should add to the game? It’s all in good fun!

Good God, you will be dead drunk after watching “Myles of Style”!! ‘Pop’ comes up way too often for me, but I’ve yet to find the word that imparts that sense of fun, fresh, eye-opening effects better than that. ‘Clean Lines…’ is another sure bet. (Start pouring, now!)

SIDE NOTE: “Clean Lines” is DEFINITELY a new addition to our Drinking Games! I can’t believe I never thought of that one! O.K., back to the questions…

It seems you are able to get inspiration from just about anywhere. Is there a favorite unexpected inspirational object/place/precedent of yours you’d like to share with us?

I love hotel lobbies. I can’t check them out in LA with the same ease as I did in NYC, but I find them endlessly inspiring. They tend to have sedate color stories, foiled by design treatments ‘writ large’ across the space. It’s all about showiness, and grandeur, and I can’t get enough!

Finally, I scoped out your hunky carpenter, Anthony Gilardi online. Did you get to pick him?

(You know it!) Anthony is not only hunky and adorable, he also packs some crazy skills: He’s a craftsman, old school style, and he can execute any wild design idea I can come up with. (He can also break dance, fyi……)

A true Renaissance man, from the band saw to the electric boogaloo! My kind of guy! Kim, thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions. I’m looking forward to the first season of the show!

all images from HGTV.com

Hi Guys! Well, high winds, power outages, the helicopters circling my house all morning - it’s all going crazy in Atlanta this week! I’m happy to be back online and able to tell you a few bits of news around the blogs this week as I catch up.  Media breaks can be good I suppose, but yours truly usually needs to be forced by a natural disaster or something.

First, I stumbled onto The Complete Organizing Solutions Blog via Tanna, who emailed me to ask if she could use a picture of my pursery. Hey, to anyone who would like to post any of my mediocre-at-best photography from flickr, you can always be my guest! Thanks Tanna. This is a great blog for organization inspiration. Check it out!

Next, I was thrilled to see another favorite blogger, Victoria, a.k.a sfgirlbybay, featured in the March issue of Sunset magazine. It’s funny, Victoria switches up her apartment styling so often that I almost (more…)

Hey All! I am SO sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been in a holiday craze so deep I can barely put a thought together. I’m sure a lot of you are the same way and don’t have time to waste sitting around reading blogs anyway!

However, I wanted to let you know that Top Design will be back on Bravo soon and that they are currently accepting applications. The show is getting a complete makeover by a new production team so it should be fun to see the results. Personally, I don’t have the guts - I know I’d get tired and either a) Accidently drill a screw through my thumb with an electric drill b) Have an emotional lack of sleep/annoyance at other contestants meltdown where I scream, cry, say something I’d regret and laugh like a crazy person all at about the same time or c) Lose an eye. However, if you are braver than I, or perhaps made a New Year’s resolution to finally get your 15 minutes of fame, go for it and apply right here.

Hmmm, I’m not so sure about this year on Project Runway. The contestants seem way too aware that they are on TV and thus are all fake nice to each other, except for Christian, who is clearly trying to stand out by being bitchy.  It’s been done to death already Christian, give it up!  The rest of you, I don’t believe for a second that you are that nice.  It’s a competition for the love of God!

I did enjoy last night’s episode; the challenge was to create outfits for women who had recently lost a significant amount of weight.  The twist was that they were wearing their favorite outfits that went with their former heavier bodies, and the contestants had to use those to make the new clothes.  There were too many loopholes though, as they were allowed to spend $10 on extras.

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU PRESS THE MORE BUTTON… (more…)

My favorite organization guru John Trosko gave me a head’s up about The Los Angeles Organizing Awards, which will take place on February 1, 2008, presented by the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO-LA). This is the biggest awards show to hit L.A. since The Schmemmys (sorry, I was up late watching Kathy Griffin last night and I couldn’t help myself). Here are a few examples of the 15 categories up for glory:

• Best Home Organizing Product
• Best Office Organizing Product
• Most Helpful Organizing Technology
• Best National Organizing Show

(more…)

Yesterday I mentioned one of my favorite  30 Rock episodes. It’s called “Greenzo” and it was part of NBC’s annoying green themed week.  You can watch it at nbc.com, complete with annoying Best Buy commercials that you can’t fast forward through.  It’s totally worth it.  Al Gore, David Schwimmer, Kenneth’s party and aftermath, Tina Fey dressed up as Harry Potter, 30 Rock poking fun at GE hypocrisy, and the funniest line involving Colonial Williamsburg make this the best episode yet.

photo swiped from nbc.com

HOORAY! A favorite show is finally returning tonight, and as I understand it, reality TV writers are not in the guild, so striking won’t delay it once it gets rolling. Project Runway premieres at 10 p.m. on Bravo. I can’t wait to get my Tim Gunn fix. I am so crazy about him that I download his podcasts immediately after the show and giggle when I listen to them.

There are some fun things on the PR website to tide you over until the show begins. Check out the rejects here. Play a memory matching game here. Check out bios here. OK, now it’s only 8 hours and counting until the show airs on the east coast!

Photo of Tim and Kayne from bravotv.com

I realize I am not a TV blog, but did anyone catch “Dirty Sexy Money” on ABC last night? For a network show, it was really good! Peter Krause - Yum! Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh- WOW! This show centers around a crazy ridiculously wealthy family with five absurd grown children who all have issues - for example, Patrick Darling, the Attorney General who is running for Senator, has a transvestite hooker mistress. Peter Krause plays a do-gooder charity lawyer who is getting sucked into becoming the family lawyer, a lot like Sandra Bullock in “Two Weeks Notice.” This show had a bit of Bret Eaton Ellis attitude, a few pinches of “Dynasty” and a dash of the humor of “Arrested Development.” I loved it, which means like all other no-laughtrack sitcoms and non-reality shows no network TV, it will probably be cancelled in the next few weeks.

Has anyone found any other good new shows this season? When the hell does “Project Runway” start up again?

Did any of you vote for the winner of Design Star? It was kind of tough. Both contestants would probably make good hosts, though I find Kim a little more natural, and I like that she does not use all that cowabunga dude surfer speak that Todd uses.

As for the designs, while Todd has fared better cumulatively, Kim absolutely blew him out of the water in this island challenge. If I were a hotel guest, I would much prefer staying in Kim’s suite over Todd’s. It seemed like when Todd was completing an entire (more…)