A-maz-ing!

Have you been watching this season of HGTV's Design Star? I love all types of "before and afters" - hair, make-up, clothing, and in this case, decorating makeovers. I just love seeing how bad something looks before and then what someone can do to transform it into something better. I'm perfectly content watching the first 5 minutes to see the space and then the last 5 minutes to see the final product. I don't need to know how they got there, just what it looks like once it's finished. I'm somewhat of a copycat when it comes to decorating, so all I really need to see is how I can steal the idea - I do at least come up with that part on my own.

The challenge this week was called "White Room". This has become a tradition on the show and each year the rooms get more and more creative. Each designer is given their own 3-wall, all white room that they must transform into a beautiful space. The challenge stems from where they have to shop for their supplies. One year it was a pet store and this year it was a grocery store. As I watched the contestants walk up and down the aisles, I felt completely overwhelmed and I was sitting on my couch. I tried to make my mind come up with some cool solutions but all I could think of was self doubt and giving up. Needless to say, when they revealed their finished rooms, I was amazed. How could they think so quickly on the spot and come up with such creative solutions? Who would think to make a floor covering out of cereal and charcoal or wadded up napkins to create wall art(see Torie's zebra pattern in the pink room above)? Or, what would make you think of screwing real apples onto the wall to create a focal point on the wall (see Dan's orange and grey room above). One of the judges, who happens to be one of my favorite, went so far to say that Dan's room was the best yet in the 4 seasons the show has been on the air! I'm anxious to see what they will come up with next.

Now if I can just find a way to have them come to my house to do a "Before and After" on my kitchen! Until then, I'll just continue copying and pasting their ideas into my house and calling them my own.