(Image via hgtv.)
Each week, our intrepid summer intern, Caitlin Giddens, recaps the latest episode of this season’s Design Star for your reading pleasure. Herewith week two. Enjoy!
By Caitlin Giddens
Collaborate and listen,
Ice is back with my brand new invention.
Apparently, Vanilla Ice’s new invention is in the design world as host of the Vanilla Ice Project. Home renovator/contractor Robert Van Winkle (who knew Ice had another name?) guest judged on last night’s Design Star. In this episode, the 11 contestants were challenged to the ultimate blank canvas, the white room.
Rachel impressed the judges again with her skillful mix of patterns and approachable demeanor on the designer video. But Dallasite Hilari’s room lacked the glitz and glamour that defines her. She barely made the cut. In the end, Jordan’s “Japanese garden” didn’t grow on the judges and he was eliminated.
As with past white room challenges, the designers were encouraged to prove their innovation and creativity. But this time, the rooms were displayed in Los Angeles’ Union Station and the designers received $1,000 to spend in a home improvement and garden store. Stanley redeemed himself for last week’s crazy collage by using colored light to decorate his white room. He flipped the couch and illuminated the room, and white cushions on the wall, with lights. “This reminds me of a hotel I tore up back in 1992,” Vanilla Ice said of the room.
As if Vanilla Ice needed to remind us he was a star in the ‘90s. All this comment did was cause me to question why Ice’s face hasn’t aged in the past two decades.
Danielle incorporated a graphic art wall into her room. She based the asymmetrical design on one of her mother’s walls. Cue in heartwarming family story, finally. After Ice compared the room to a stylish record studio, it was obvious that Danielle is a star. She also impressed the judges with her designer video. The only fault in her posh gold and black room was the cheap looking lamp.
Kris attempted to incorporate Austin wildfires into his room. He used a blowtorch to burn accents in the darker side of his room, and then portrayed the American dream on the opposite. The judges ranked Kris’s room in the middle, but I was left confused by his design. Instead of two extremes, the room just looked like an angsty teenager’s bedroom. But Luca should take cues from Kris’s bold concept. Turns out you do need concept to be a designer. The only illuminated moment in Luca’s room was the innovative lighting and tag on the back wall. Vern Yip said the accessorizing was horrendous.
Hilari, our Dallas star, seemed inspired at the beginning of the show with plans to model her white room after a jewelry box. But after shopping in the home improvement and garden store, she worried her inexperience in execution would ruin her design. “I’m nervous. I’m not handy. I can’t hammer, saw, drill. I can’t do any of that,” Hilari said. Let’s raise some perfectly manicured hands for the Dallas girls.
The other contestants survived elimination, but displayed brief moments of creativity. Miera’s room was modern and risky for her. But Ice said her art looked like she “just cut some 2x4s.” Britany’s nautical room looked pretty but safe, apart from a creative chain chandelier. And Mikel’s native-inspired room bored the judges, who expected more from a set designer.
Bex seemed to be in trouble when working with stacks of PVC pipes, but she added a copper vignette that set her room apart. Personally, I could have done without the penny border around the silhouette disk. But the judges appreciated Bex’s creativity, especially compared to Jordan’s uninspired garden. Jordan painted some bamboo and turned table into another table. The judges thought his room looked like a cheap restaurant and Jordan was sent packing. Hopefully the Aussie can take solace in his love of painting (instead of “curling into a ball”) and brave bolder design in the future.
