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I was VERY happy to see Meg's Great Rooms show yesterday, 5-12-2012. Hers was the first show where the demo didn't destroy perfectly good cabinets and materials. THANK YOU MEG for being sensitive to recycle and re-use! Most of the shows on HGTV demo and destroy perfectly good items that could be donated to a Habitat for Humanity Restore or any community or private building program. It was a joy to view Meg's show and see her great practices.

I was glad to see that they saved cabinets and appliances for reuse. I hate to see Crashers destroy them.

i LOVE Meg's show - very diversified - no one real style! Her personality with clients and crew are fun to watch!!!

I love Meg--her show is fresh and fun to watch. I have been a fan since she won Design Star. She has a great personality and I look forward to watching Great Rooms.

I haven't watched HGTV in ages.
Turned it on tonight expecting to see David or Candace and, instead, got Meg.
I'm sorry to say this but I find her voice just grating.

I am enjoying her show. She knows how to read the clients, and she has a fun, natural joy she brings to every project.

I wish they would bring back Marc's Show Kitchen Impossible! I love him as a host - cohost not just a carpenter. He always gave us remodeling tips - yes I understand Meg is more for design than construction- but an hour show that focused on both would be great.

I watched this show for the first time last weekend and have to say I thought it was a great change from the other design shows. Meg seems like a nice, down to earth person. She didn't seem to be flirting with the client like some of them do. On this show she made a wine rack out of old wine crates. I loved that idea!

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Originally posted by MrsFowler:
I watched this show for the first time last weekend and have to say I thought it was a great change from the other design shows. Meg seems like a nice, down to earth person. She didn't seem to be flirting with the client like some of them do. On this show she made a wine rack out of old wine crates. I loved that idea!

Meg IS down to earth and real. Yes, her voice is different and her design style isn't going to appeal to everyone - but she's someone who listens to her clients and seems to give them what they want without a personal agenda like so many of them do. Usually there is at least one thing I like in her room and it isn't cookie cutter (one of the complaints so many have voiced about other design shows) or boring. I think the biggest problem people had with Meg was that she won over the other contestant that many loved, and then others want to pick apart her voice and/or her weight and/or style of dress.

I've seen the reveals and other parts of Meg's episodes and have to agree - there's usually something positive, IMHO.

WRT the last kitchen - I believed the banquette made perfect sense but was concerned she didn't mention how they'd replace their mudroom area. (Didn't care for the terra cotta boxes and row of hooks plus they won't cut it.)

Liked her space planning but didn't care for the obligatory island cutting off the kitchen's circulation. In addition, the cabinet boxes appeared very cheap and poorly stained. If they were mine, I would have had them professionally painted.

WRT the previous kitchen, I loved the way she converted a useless area into their bar but didn't care for the way she/Marc/d.a. completed the wine rack. In addition, I thought the 2-tiered island was fine but, IIRC, she used 2 different materials on the tiers and that didn't work for me.

So, overall - mixed reviews. JMHO.

On the June 30th show, Meg created a great room with violet accents. I thought the fireplace and wall unit were super, especially since the wall unit helped to minimize the ugliness of the gigantic TV. The splashes of mauve worked well, but the wavy wall thing didn't work for me since, from the front view, it didn't have much dimension and looked like a dinosaur bone sculpture. The home owner said, "What is it?"

Overall, Meg has a friendly manner and a good sense of humor. She is enthusiastic, and it works on TV. What I dislike is part of the intro where she tells the viewers that they will see some of the "biggest transformations ever seen on HGTV." It sounds too boastful to me, and I don't think she means it that way. I also feel that if she is going to ask the home owners to help pick out something, she should incorporate it into the design or tactfully redirect the home owner as John Gidding does. Meg asked the home owners what wallpaper they they were drawn to. When they chose a graphic pattern, she told them they were getting the mauve. The whole exchange seemed too dismissive and awkward. Live and learn; I guess.

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Originally posted by Karin123:
I also feel that if she is going to ask the home owners to help pick out something, she should incorporate it into the design or tactfully redirect the home owner as John Gidding does. Meg asked the home owners what wallpaper they they were drawn to. When they chose a graphic pattern, she told them they were getting the mauve. The whole exchange seemed too dismissive and awkward. Live and learn; I guess.

It does seem awkward and I can only think that it was poor editing and time crunches responsible for that. In real life, most design professionals would never simply override the client's choices. If the choices are truly awful, we would try to redirect, or if necessary explain (tactfully with a smile, of course) why a different option would be better to the overall design plan. This is where it is handy if the client trusts the designer.

I love Meg and her show. She is the best winner of Design Star since David Bromsted. I will watch any show she is on.

Meg's June 30th episode with the purple wallpaper and chairs was horrible. I was so upset for the homeowners. The design looked elementary and cheap. The puzzle table was awful. Good design should withstand time and fads. She should have decorated with large neutral pieces with pops of purple like pillows, accessories, etc.

David Bromsted is no better. His rooms are almost comical--so outlandish! Everytime I watch his show I cringe at the final product. I will never forget the yellow patent leather sofa he used in a HGTV'd episode. No one wants to live in a circus. David and Meg decorate like this for ratings--I feel for the homeowners!

I am a Meg convert! I have to admit that I did not think she should have won Design Star (I was rooting for Mark) but I really enjoy watching her show. First of all it looks like she is having a lot of fun and her enthusiasm is catchy without being nauseating. Secondly, many of her designs are ingenious. I thought the shelf/secret door was amazing. Finally, I love how she gets along with everybody. She treats her clients, co-workers and contemporaries with respect and it seems that everybody wants to be her friend. I know I do!

I've been watching this with some regularity. I didn't love it at first but it has definitely grown on me. Meg Caswell has a distinct personality that is very informal. The fact that she calls her clients "guys" will either resonate with you or put you off. Her contractor is very good and their chemistry is fun without being silly or provocative. Obviously there isn't a show everyone will love. For me this is one of very few HGTV offerings that shows the hard work and thought that goes into design, and avoids the "reality " T.V. crass drama and buffoonery.

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Originally posted by Charles D:
I've been watching this with some regularity. I didn't love it at first but it has definitely grown on me. Meg Caswell has a distinct personality that is very informal. The fact that she calls her clients "guys" will either resonate with you or put you off. Her contractor is very good and their chemistry is fun without being silly or provocative. Obviously there isn't a show everyone will love. For me this is one of very few HGTV offerings that shows the hard work and thought that goes into design, and avoids the "reality " T.V. crass drama and buffoonery.

I second that, Charles. I liked Karl's designs last year, but I also was rooting for Meg, partly because the "perfect people" syndrome in media has taken us to a very bad place, artistically and spiritually. Design should be uplifting, no? Get us responding to creativity (even if we dislike it)--not to interpersonal snits. Meg is open and disarming, and I think she is a real gift to HGTV, if they choose to embrace it.

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What I dislike is part of the intro where she tells the viewers that they will see some of the "biggest transformations ever seen on HGTV."

I AGREE 100%. I like Meg and her designs are for real people, but why be so boastful and say the designs are the best thing ever? It just sounds so incredibly phony and ruins her down to earth image.

I like Meg but rarely watch her show.I find it a bit boring.I was hoping they would have given her a better show.She was my fav last season on Design Star.

Hate this show. If you like crafts guess it would be OK. I can not wait for this show to be off the air.

do not like her shows..i've seen 3 and each time she goes out of her way to do something so impractical..stick to basics, we cant go out and do those pretentious expensive things for our home!

I hated what she did to her apartment last night. Just horrendous.

I love Meg's bubbly personality - She seems like the kind of person who would be just the greatest friend ever.

Some of her designs are really well done, but some of them, are just not my style.

Overall, I enjoy watching her - She's a "real" person, who I think the "average woman" can relate to.