Message Boards

I like to watch Genevieve when she does small kitchens as she did on today's episode, but will someone PLEASE tell her that referring to faucets and paint colors as "him" and "her" is not charming or even quirky. It is very annoying.

sms, were you posting about the 30-minute Ikea commercial otherwise known as an episode of Dear Genevieve? Sorry, couldn't resist. She started a new season and it's been 2 blatant Ikea commercials, so far.

BTW, thought that kids' table was useless. Besides that, I have my doubts about the construction job. For one thing, you can't plaster and drywall one day and finish out the kitchen on the next day. In addition, the flooring fix was another ill-advised shortcut.

WRT Episode 1, they could have done a much better job fitting the Ikea cabinets and completing the closet. (Jimmy's excuse didn't make sense.) The color story (patterns, etc.) didn't work for me, either.

JMHO.

Now that you mention it, she did push Ikea in this episode. If she shows up as an Ikea spokesperson ala Sabrina/Target, I won't be watching her anymore.

OMG, that Asian-contemporary space is the worst thing I've seen Genevieve do since the first season of her show.

The wall of Asian antiques she slaughtered to make a "built-in" wall of cabinetry totally overwhelm the space and look like an overpacked corridor in a used furniture store.

Worst of all, the sofa/tv placement is even worse than it was before. The homeowners started with one room that wasn't used very much, and Genevieve simply flipped the rooms so the OTHER room won't be used much. What a disaster.

Haven't had time to watch the Asian contemporary episode yet but I did notice that it includes the requisite Ikea scene so she's now 3 for 3 WRT product placement scenes.

The feature wall you described, eveninparadise sounds similar to the Ikea cabinetry they crammed into the first episode, a master b/r. Nothing like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, eh - (oops, too much Canadian HGTV, lol). Jimmy left a huge gap between the unit and the ceiling, using some flimsy excuse.

IMHO, sms, Gen's product placement scenes are worse than Sabrina's Target connection. Sabrina filmed at Tarjait a few times per season - not every single episode.

Take care -

quote:

Originally posted by eveninparadise:
OMG, that Asian-contemporary space is the worst thing I've seen Genevieve do since the first season of her show.

The wall of Asian antiques she slaughtered to make a "built-in" wall of cabinetry totally overwhelm the space and look like an overpacked corridor in a used furniture store.

Worst of all, the sofa/tv placement is even worse than it was before. The homeowners started with one room that wasn't used very much, and Genevieve simply flipped the rooms so the OTHER room won't be used much. What a disaster.

I agree with you - it was such a disaster. I'm rarely speechless but that one did it!

Awful, awful, awful. So bad that a friend who came in for the reveal was confused about the before v. the after.

Reminded me of the FL guy who put David's cheap Ikea furniture on Craigslist the next day. (That'd be me after this reveal.) Hope that the ho's can reclaim some of their previous pieces.

So dark - between those oversized chests and ugly wallpaper. Plus, they put the w/p on every single wall. The TV area chairs appeared extremely uncomfortable and they could only fit that one oversized Ikea chair in the other zone. Besides the cheap Ikea furniture, how about the cheap Ikea drapes/curtains. I could go on and on ...

Couldn't help but wonder if the dh kept saying "Holy Cow" b/c he couldn't think of anything positive to say. Liked the way they extended the wall and the 2 beams but that was about it. BTW, if those chests were truly antiques as Gen claimed, too bad they altered them. Perhaps selling them would yield a few **$ to cover the labor necessary to remove the w/p. The wife did seem to genuinely like them, however, so they're probably staying. At least their kids will have fun constantly opening and closing them, haha.

JMHO

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

I thought the wall of chests was interesting but I have to agree on the sofa/tv area...unless the Tv was on a swivel who could actually watch it with the furniture configured as such? It was sad tho to see them saw the legs off many of them. I wonder how much money was spent buying all those chests. And did Genevieve have them stored somewhere just waiting for a project she could use them in. That was an awful lot of chests to have found in what seems to be a fairly short period of time.

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

I actually did find Gen's idea interesting, too - Debicga. Unfortunately, when they placed them in the room - major scale issue, IMHO. They were far too deep for that narrow room - they overwhelmed it. I thought it might have worked with other pieces.

Yeah, agree, you have to wonder if Gen had them in storage. Don't know anything about Asian items but they certainly didn't look like antiques, to me. Thought someone picked them up at Cost Plus or Pier One.

JMHO.

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

IMHO the Asian inspired space in N.J. was a total disaster. Why would you emphasize bad architectural proportions? Making a long narrow room longer and more narrow by loading up one of the long walls with cabinetry is such a bad decision for anyone. It is inexcusable when done by a professional. The Chinoiserie wall paper was too busy, and the IKEA furniture looked like "first apartment" quality, not T.V. worthy. I like when Gen does kitchens esp. smaller spaces, but her "decorating" skills are rather questionable.

Ive watched one of two of Dear Genevieve but I was put off by the fact that she doesn't listen to her clients. She makes a big show of listening, but then she insists of stuff she has already picked. Her rooms aren't bad but aren't spectacular either. I think her arrogant attitude bothers me more than her decorating.

Good point about Gen's room extension emphasizing the narrowness of that room, Charles D. It's tough (for me) to determine from simply viewing the episode. Without reviewing the plans/specs myself and actually visiting the space to get the feel for it, I gave Gen the benefit of the doubt and assumed they might benefit from enlarging that first zone. It already appeared narrow and dark so assumed the positives would outweigh the negatives.

Besides that, at least Gen actively accomplished something to (hopefully) improve the space by adding the extension and throwing up a couple of beams. That is, accomplished something besides unloading a bunch of oversized fugly cabinets and junk Ikea furniture while airing another 22 minute (almost - or it felt like it) Ikea product placement/promotional episode.

Rant over, JMHO, as usual.

I couldn't believe how HORRIBLE her design was in Asian room. Space planning in that long and narrow room couldn't be worse. Those chests, piled on top of each other, were like a ton of bricks piled up ceiling high. All she does is disservice to anyone who wants to get inspiration from watching HGTV. She is high on arrogance and low on talent.

The only "room" she ever designed (other than small kitchens that I have liked) was the foyer with the wild tiles.

Prior to Trading Spaces, wasn't Gen's background basically a reality TV program (dating or something) plus her work as a VH1 (?) VJ? Isn't she self-taught as a designer? (No offense to any self-taught designers b/c many superb ones are out there.)

Besides that, isn't Gen strictly a TV designer? Not sure we should be surprised at some of the things she comes up with, considering her background and experience.

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

Just watched Two Jins and a Jen. What a mess she turned that studio apartment into. Huge mess of textures, styles and colors. Nothing made sense, nothing played with each other. Orange chair stuck out like a sore thumb. Did I miss a splash of orange elsewhere? Huge weathered leather sofa with a dinky pillow. Two walls that belonged in a two separate apartments... It's soo many unfortunate design decisions to point out. Why is she still on the air? After watching four episodes of Sarah's House, Jen's design looked even more pathetic.

After the DS debacle I thought I would watch Gen today, just to be fair. What a mess. Why did she leave those columns in? If she had to leave them in for structure why did,nt she square them off? IMHO the head board was to small for the height of the wall, too much open space above the sofa, junk under the desk, way to many accessories, just a hot mess. And on a more personal note whats with her and the too short skirts, totally unprofessional.

If the "design" she did in Two Jins and a Gen was done by one of the contestants on DS, she'd shred it apart! Too mush "negative space", she'd say. The waves on that huge wall were too small to make a statement. The wall in the hair salon had much more pronounced design. What she got, and said she liked it much better, was much smaller scale and from the distance looked like just a huge white wall with nothing on it. A lot of negative space, Gen. Should've put a piece of art , or something on it. The opposite wall was dark and BUSY!. Everything was on that wall. Looked like a cluttered hot mess. How can a designer, who doesn't know how to design, judge other, much more talented designers? Can somebody explain this to me?

Just watched the Two Jins and a Gen episode. I loved the textured wall in the barber shop but thought the impact was lost in the studio where the scale was changed from wide to thin. The glass cloche on the coffee table, covering the TV remote? I don't get it. If that was a DS contestant I can only imagine they'd rip that apart. I think the orange chair was supposed to be a pop of color. Lots of wasted space and everything cluttered on one wall. I loved the headboard and the wood buffet but they only showed glimpses of it. Would have loved to really have seen it.

Gen is one of the worst designers ever. She was awful on Trading Spaces and has never improved.

it's hard to believe that she is a judge on design star..The contestants can design better than her...

She is not a good designer and she is not a good judge. Her talent in talking her way into a show, not designing.