Surprise! You guys get 2 posts this week! First off – are any of you watching Scandal? Last night’s episode was bananas! I can’t handle it! But that’s not the show I’m here to talk about today.
Apparently a lot of you lost your cable on Monday night! I’ve gotten a lot of questions this week about what happened on episode 2 of Ellen’s Design Challenge. I have to say, I’m still holding out hope for this show. There were a few glimmers this week.
To start, the challenge was a lot more exciting. Each designer was tasked with creating a piece of furniture to house the mystery contents of a storage unit. The contents varied from barware to baby clothes to craft supplies.
What I really enjoyed was seeing the designers spend more time with their carpenters actually designing and building their furniture. I know in a first episode of a new series that you need more time to establish the show – the rules, the contestants and their backstories, etc. But in episode 2 you can really dig in and see the contestants’ process.
Ellen was again – no where to be seen outside of a TV monitor. She provided the contestants with some inspiration for the challenge, however, I really missed seeing her in person. Knowing that they film her talk show in LA and they filmed this show in LA, I am sorely disappointed that she couldn’t find time to show up in person to tape 5 minutes for each episode that has her own name in the title.
When it came time for judging all of the critiques were on point. However, I disagree with their final winning selection. I thought Gaspar’s sideboard for dishware knocked it out of the park. I wouldn’t put it in my home but I thought it was stunning for the right space.
The judges had other ideas though and selected Katie’s red cabinet that was VERY 80’s inspired. I thought it was over the line kitch, but the judges just loved the artful storage it provided for clothing. Her finished piece is below:
The judges eventually decided to send home Leslie FINALLY. Although she caused drama, which makes for good TV, her overall attitude and approach to everything was just annoying and I was so happy to see her go. The dresser she created to house baby clothes was too simple, lacking any unique features. And as Christiane pointed out, the changing pad with a baby would have gone flying off the table without being properly secured.
So I’ll give the show one more week. What did you guys think? Are you still watching? Or have you grown bored?
Sledgehammer With Style 