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I’ll confess. I’m addicted to TLC’s show Trading Spaces. I watch it
obsessively—even though I live in an apartment, and I can’t imagine what my landlord
would do if I attempted to cover the living room walls in, say, plastic flowers.
For those of you who don’t know the rules of the show, they’re simple.
Two teams of homeowners switch homes for two days. Each team gets a designer and a
thousand dollars (and a carpenter to share), which they use to renovate and redesign one
room in their friends’ home. After two days, the homeowners go back to their own home to
see their new room—which often brings them to tears (sometimes tears of joy, other times
tears of shock and horror).
But if I have to explain the show to you, the
book isn’t for you. Trading Spaces Behind the Scenes is a book for the hardcore
Trading Spaces fan—for the obsessed viewer who knows the designers on the show
like they know their best friends. People who know how to use the word “tchotchke” in a
sentence. People who often find themselves sitting up until all hours of the night,
waiting to see what that lady is going to do when she finds out that Doug painted her
living room brown.
Behind the Scenes is a coffee table book filled
with bright, glossy pictures of the stars of the show—host Paige Davis (whose real name,
incidentally, is Mindy Paige Davis Page), the designers, and the carpenters—and their
favorite rooms. It gives inside information about the things that viewers don’t see on
the show—the preparation and extra work that goes on behind the scenes—and it tells how
the designers ended up in front of the camera. It also includes a few decorating tips—to
make you feel like you’re reading it for the tips instead of for the gossip about your
favorite design superstars.
If you’re a fan of Trading Spaces,
Behind the Scenes will be a fascinating read. I sat down and read it from cover
to cover, excited to get the inside scoop on the show. But unless you’re a real die-hard
fan (one who would use the episode guide in the back of the book to keep track of your
reactions to each design from the first three seasons)—or unless you’d like to use the
pictures in the book to inspire your own room redo—it might just be a good book to pick
up from the library.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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