Message Boards

Sabrina's back for Round 2 (S2/Ep02) of High-Low. Here's a placeholder for any comments. Hey, didn't she do the ideal family room last season? (lol)

Any bets on how long before we get a Tarjait episode? Hopefully she gives Chris a few more projects.

Have a good weekend!

P.S. I'm not her biggest fan, BTW. We had so many spirited discussions last season that it was nice to separate the threads.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bballdays,

Watching it now - comments later.

Ummm...not bad - the bar was a fail (IMO) and the chairs were noticably skimpier. The HO's seemed happy tho. And, at least it wasn't a Target commercial.

Just finished watching the episode. I loved the rug in the low design better than the high rug. The pendant lights in the kids space that Chris made came out really nice for $45. I thought the bar in the low room worked but the bar in the high room was much more beautiful (it looked like a Baker Furniture piece which is pretty hard to beat). The one thing I just didn't get was the chalkboard paint on the wine glasses. I just didn't see the need for doing that, other than to show a craft project on this episode. They sell far cuter charms for wine glasses and the homeowners didn't seem too impressed with the idea either.

I don't watch her......

Finally got around to this one.

Is it cheating when 1 item (the rug) exceeds 1/3 of the high-end budget?

Overall, not bad but found myself wondering during the episode how many items had been previously purchased or selected.

quote:

Originally posted by bballdays:
Finally got around to this one.

Is it cheating when 1 item (the rug) exceeds 1/3 of the high-end budget?

Overall, not bad but found myself wondering during the episode how many items had been previously purchased or selected.

Probably several of them, BB - you just have to wonder.
Now, as to whether or not it's cheating if one item exceeds 1/3 of the highend budget, I'm not sure what you're asking? I didn't pay that much attention. Do you mean because they could substitute a much lower priced one for that particular item and come in looking good, or should they have an expensive item in there at all? I will cheerfully spend more of a client's budget for one totally smashing item even if it means I have to pare down somewhere else as long as paring down doesn't mean going tacky. I've done this in my own home when deliberating between two items, both perfectly okay in the room but one just sings - it's worth it (IMO) because if you go with the cheaper one just to save a couple hundred dollars (couple of thousand may be a different story) you'll be kicking yourself everytime you look at it.

ITA, doodles - one killer item can definitely make a room. High-quality, expensive rugs often qualify as they're frequently the foundation of a room's design. I've seen rugs valued at 75K - 80K so Sabrina's 10K isn't that big a deal, when considered in relative terms.

Cheating was probably the wrong word to use. Instead of commenting on the design, I was actually thinking about the whole reality/faux-reality game and listening to Sabrina's claim about savings of over 75% - or whatever it was. I don't care about that so hearing it repeated, ad nauseum, annoys me - only a little, however. Have to accept it and enjoy the design aspect of HGTV's faux-reality offerings.

I'm always willing to pay for quality, especially in a key item like a rug or sofa or sometimes fabric/drapery, i.e. the things that can make a huge impact in the room, IMHO. For that room, if I only had $5,500 and those chairs truly were $299 each, I probably would have either shopped around more or saved a little longer to purchase better quality. BTW, although the thrift shop was apparently in NYC, I was surprised Sabrina simply accepted that price and didn't bargain.

One reason the rug caught my eye was that one did appear to be a fairly good knock-off so it looked like an obvious set-up. In fairness to SS, it'd be tough to do these rooms from scratch w/o working backwards. Like you, I was disappointed in the wine cabinet. Thought about Baker when I saw the high-end but guessed correctly and believed it was possibly a Baker repro. Don't know for sure -

In fact, would have loved to have seen Chris attempt the wine cabinet. (He did a few pieces along those lines in S1.) Even wondered if Ikea might have a basic one (of some sort) with the storage racks that could be altered by doing the wood slat treatment on the front.

Chris' orb lights were o.k. but thought he needed either a little stain or some sort of dark paint/stain/glaze treatment to darken them up. (Not that everything must be matchy-matchy but thought they'd look better.) The ping pong/chalk storage unit was o.k. and appeared functional.

Speaking of projects, loved the way Sabrina said to dip those glasses and then the camera cut away. You'd need an appropriate glass rack, possibly from the wine cabinet, or a grunt to hold them and/or dry them with a hair dryer or something. Love the way SS left that detail out. Dry them for how long, SS?? (lol)

On balance, a fairly good episode. Would rather see this any day than Tarjait.

All of the above, IMHO.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bballdays,

I don't know why (with this show and DOD) there is so much emphasis on "building" or "repurposing" items. OK, so DOD only has about a $2500 budget but if SS had $5500 for this room, I think she didn't need to be so crafty. Yes, it may have taken more time than she wanted to spend to ferret out but it CAN be done, especially in NYC where there is such great shopping. I just finished putting together a gorgeous bedroom for a client and we splurged on the custom fabric uphostered bed, the to-die-for 7 ft. silver looped leaning mirror, and the lamps - the rest of it we shopped til we had blisters but were able to find a darling chest, mirrored nightstands, drapes, a slipper chair, bedding and some cool accessories at bargain prices. The whole room was less than $4,500 and looks like a lot more. In many cases it takes more time to "fix" a bargain "maybe" than to shop till you find what you really want. And, IMO, it's more fun.

LOL on the crafty glassware - I thought it looked like more trouble than it was worth.

I definitely know what you mean, doodles. The orb lights were o.k. but the glasses did absolutely nothing for me. In addition to the glasses, I could have easily done w/o the clock and the games (ping pong/chalk) rack. Although Chris' rack was cute and appeared very functional, I had actually noticed a cool item they could have easily used (without modification, incidentally) for that purpose in one of the 2nd hand stores he'd visited, earlier in the episode.

Besides that, SS actually left at least a couple of hundred dollars on the table - or possibly $300, IIRC. Why not use it? She'd already "saved" her 70% or whatever, haha.

If they insist on doing projects, then I'd prefer one significant job per episode instead of the small, crafty stuff. The only reason I can think of for doing them is that possibly, WRT viewers, it's more interesting than watching the two of them shop. Not purposely trying to harp on my pet peeve but I'll take shopping in the various NYC places instead of Tarjait any day of the week.

Anyone else have a preference? Projects, shopping or a little of both? Types of stores?

Haven't had time to get to the porch yet - work. Hopefully, soon!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bballdays,

BB - you're right - the small crafty things are what I hated about Kim Myles show. If you're going to have a room that looks professional, these types of things usually (there are exceptions of course) look a little TOO crafty. If you're doing a craft, make it a GOOD one.

On the subject of shopping - I completely agree with you. In fairness, however, I'm sure they are trying to appeal to all the many viewers who DO have a Target down the road but aren't able to go into NYC for a day of shopping. Even so, I like seeing the various shops - and think it emphasizes what I always tell my clients - you never know what you're going to find until you go IN the shop and poke around. If I had a dollar for every time I've been able to find exactly what is needed for a client's room in an unlikely place, well....I would have a lot of money. As one of my clients said (after curling her lip up when I suggested a certain store and being shocked when we found exactly what was needed) "I guess you really DO know where to shop!"
As for Shopping vs projects - I am not a good one to ask since I should have been named "Shopper" instead of Suzi. I have no interest in doing home crafty things (with rare exception) or tearing apart something to make it function as something else.

I can't stand this show. The rooms are obviously built backwards - that is, she gets her low end stuff from Tarjay or wherever, then finds expensive stuff to sort of match it. It's such an obvious fix. Doesn't seem fair that the same designer gets to do the Low End AND the High End.

I liked the old shows better where they found a gorgeous room in a magazine or even in a real house, then tried to duplicate it. THAT was a challenge. This show is not a challenge at all, since it is all done by one designer.

quote:

Originally posted by Soosie:
I can't stand this show. The rooms are obviously built backwards - that is, she gets her low end stuff from Tarjay or wherever, then finds expensive stuff to sort of match it. It's such an obvious fix. Doesn't seem fair that the same designer gets to do the Low End AND the High End.

I liked the old shows better where they found a gorgeous room in a magazine or even in a real house, then tried to duplicate it. THAT was a challenge. This show is not a challenge at all, since it is all done by one designer.

Have to agree with you there - it was much more fun (and seemed more realistic) when the HGTV people had to create a high end room that another designer did. I'd love that challenge and bet Sabrina would have a hard time doing it from Target. Have to say, tho, last season she did a room (bedroom, IIRC) with a mirror in the high end segment which was identical looking to the mirrors I'd just placed in a client's bathroom - MY mirrors came from a low budget store, were on sale and were very very inexpensive BUT they did look identical to Sabrina's high end room. So, perhaps she wouldn't have as much trouble as we think she would.
At any rate - I still think they should be copying another designer's look rather than having Sabrina do both. Even if she didn't actually work backwards all of us who shop constantly know where we can find this or that and it would be easy to have cheap items in mind when putting the higher end together.

We all understand the game here, Soosie. Unfortunately, SS isn't doing a remake of those 2 earlier programs. We've accepted it and decided to play along -


WRT her Tarjait shopping, doodles, I don't understand why they need to film their visits so extensively - other than the obvious - for promotional purposes. I shop there too, (rarely/never for home furnishings, lol) but hate those episodes, as a viewer.

Wouldn't mind if they filmed them briefly sourcing a unique item at Tarjait (like they do during their NYC shopping excursions) but do we really need to sit through Sabrina going through all the Tarjait house-brand sheets? (I seem to remember her doing that at least once.)

Don't know what they did with the porch but hoping they have fewer Tarjait episodes this season.

My .02, again -

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bballdays,