It's Not Your House Anymore!!!
Okay.
Fortified with a nice glass of Cotes du Rhone, I sat down this evening to watch a bit of television. I surfed around and landed on TLC and a show called "Moving Up." The premise of this show is stunningly simple: Two houses, one a starter home, the other a step up from a starter home. First-time buyers purchase the starter home and proceed to renovate it to their own taste. The couple who sold their starter home to the first-time buyers purchase the step-up home and proceed to renovate it to THEIR taste. Then the people who sold the first-time buyers their home come back to tour the renovated house and comment on the changes, and the people who sold THEM their step-up home come back to tour that house (which has also been renovated) and comment on the changes.
For some reason, none of the sellers seem aware that once someone else buys and moves into the house you sold them, IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!!
Now, I'm sure that the couples who come back to tour their erstwhile homes are instructed by directors to find as much fault as possible, but DAMN, people! At least TRY to be consistent!!
Case in point:
In tonight's episode, the first-time buyers changed a retro-looking battleship-grey kitchen with standard black granite countertops into something a bit warmer. They installed cherry cabinets and a counter of mottled beige and brown granite. Not really to my taste (which shifts rather violently between sparkly granite like uba tuba butterfly--which we wanted but couldn't ultimately afford for our kitchen redo--and retro boomerang Formica in turquoise or red with assorted pastel motifs), but not horrible. Just different from what the old owners had.
When the former owners (we'll call them the step-ups) came to see the renovation, though, they were offended by the change. They didn't like the cabinets. They were especially put out at the granite, because they believed their old granite to be "perfect." Okay... the new kitchen is not to their taste, but hey! IT"S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!!
Fast forward a bit to the walk-through of the step-up's newly renovated home. When the step-ups bought the house, the kitchen was all white save for a butcher-block wood countertop. Care to guess what kind of cabinets and countertops the step-ups put into the kitchen once THEY bought the house??? Walnut cabinets (ooohhhh.... so NOT like cherry!) and the VERY SAME beigy-brown mottled granite for the counters!!! Huh??? It's blasphemy in your old home, but it's what you love in your new one?? Oy, gevalt!
But wait!! There's more!!
In the starter home, the original bathroom was an artifact of the 1950s, complete with cotton-candy pink ceramic tile surrounding the entire room. I have to admit, that had its charms for me. I probably would have worked with it, myself, although it's not what I envision for the master bath remodel we are planning for our own place sometime in the future (like when we pay off the kitchen reno in about eight years or so...sigh). But the first-time buyers didn't like it. They tore out the old tile and put in beige tiles (I'm sensing a "color" preference here).
As you have probably already surmised, the step-ups were outraged that the first-timers had torn out a piece of history. It was original to the house and it was now gone forever! How dare they?? Because (time for a clue...) IT'S THEIR HOUSE NOW--IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!
But oh, the irony... What did the step-ups rip up when they reno'd the bathroom in their step-up house? Why, nothing other than the original yellow 1960s tile, original to the house! And what did they replace it with??? BEIGE tile!! Good grief!! And when the former owners commented that the step-ups had torn out a piece of history, the step-ups were--you're way ahead of me here, I can tell!--outraged!! That old tile was hideous and outdated, thankyouverymuch!
I have to tell you, I was channeling my dad, yelling at the TV, trying to holler some sense into these idiots.
Oh well... I just had to share.
I don't think I've had enough of that fine French wine yet, do you? Heh!
Fortified with a nice glass of Cotes du Rhone, I sat down this evening to watch a bit of television. I surfed around and landed on TLC and a show called "Moving Up." The premise of this show is stunningly simple: Two houses, one a starter home, the other a step up from a starter home. First-time buyers purchase the starter home and proceed to renovate it to their own taste. The couple who sold their starter home to the first-time buyers purchase the step-up home and proceed to renovate it to THEIR taste. Then the people who sold the first-time buyers their home come back to tour the renovated house and comment on the changes, and the people who sold THEM their step-up home come back to tour that house (which has also been renovated) and comment on the changes.
For some reason, none of the sellers seem aware that once someone else buys and moves into the house you sold them, IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!!
Now, I'm sure that the couples who come back to tour their erstwhile homes are instructed by directors to find as much fault as possible, but DAMN, people! At least TRY to be consistent!!
Case in point:
In tonight's episode, the first-time buyers changed a retro-looking battleship-grey kitchen with standard black granite countertops into something a bit warmer. They installed cherry cabinets and a counter of mottled beige and brown granite. Not really to my taste (which shifts rather violently between sparkly granite like uba tuba butterfly--which we wanted but couldn't ultimately afford for our kitchen redo--and retro boomerang Formica in turquoise or red with assorted pastel motifs), but not horrible. Just different from what the old owners had.
When the former owners (we'll call them the step-ups) came to see the renovation, though, they were offended by the change. They didn't like the cabinets. They were especially put out at the granite, because they believed their old granite to be "perfect." Okay... the new kitchen is not to their taste, but hey! IT"S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!!
Fast forward a bit to the walk-through of the step-up's newly renovated home. When the step-ups bought the house, the kitchen was all white save for a butcher-block wood countertop. Care to guess what kind of cabinets and countertops the step-ups put into the kitchen once THEY bought the house??? Walnut cabinets (ooohhhh.... so NOT like cherry!) and the VERY SAME beigy-brown mottled granite for the counters!!! Huh??? It's blasphemy in your old home, but it's what you love in your new one?? Oy, gevalt!
But wait!! There's more!!
In the starter home, the original bathroom was an artifact of the 1950s, complete with cotton-candy pink ceramic tile surrounding the entire room. I have to admit, that had its charms for me. I probably would have worked with it, myself, although it's not what I envision for the master bath remodel we are planning for our own place sometime in the future (like when we pay off the kitchen reno in about eight years or so...sigh). But the first-time buyers didn't like it. They tore out the old tile and put in beige tiles (I'm sensing a "color" preference here).
As you have probably already surmised, the step-ups were outraged that the first-timers had torn out a piece of history. It was original to the house and it was now gone forever! How dare they?? Because (time for a clue...) IT'S THEIR HOUSE NOW--IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE ANYMORE!!!
But oh, the irony... What did the step-ups rip up when they reno'd the bathroom in their step-up house? Why, nothing other than the original yellow 1960s tile, original to the house! And what did they replace it with??? BEIGE tile!! Good grief!! And when the former owners commented that the step-ups had torn out a piece of history, the step-ups were--you're way ahead of me here, I can tell!--outraged!! That old tile was hideous and outdated, thankyouverymuch!
I have to tell you, I was channeling my dad, yelling at the TV, trying to holler some sense into these idiots.
Oh well... I just had to share.
I don't think I've had enough of that fine French wine yet, do you? Heh!
Labels: embarrassing TV habits, idiot reality tv participants, wine
posted by Cathy VanPatten at 10:01 PM
6 Comments:
See, this is why Reality Shows (sic) annoy the HELL out of me--all the participants seem to have IQs lower than that of your average sessile sponge: IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE! YOU'RE MESSING AROUND WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND ON NATIONAL TELEVISION! YOU'RE SNARKING ABOUT SOMEONE WHERE THE WHOLE WORLD CAN HEAR YOU! YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, AN ACT WHICH WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!*
And so forth and so on.
Sheesh. Maybe eugenics wasn't such a bad idea after all.
And my parents' bathroom on Robin Road had pink tile, courtesy of Bob Grey, the builder.
*Who was the comedian who used to warn people "Don't videotape yourself having sex because, well, you don't look the way you think you do."? These days I would add "And you'll wind up being downloaded by greasy 13-yr. olds from PornoTube!"
I'm another one stating that this is one of the many reasons I hate reality TV. All the manufactured drama makes me crazy.
I'd totally keep one of those retro pink bathrooms from the 50s! My husband wouldn't be too keen on it, but I'd be in heaven with a pink bathroom!
Excellent blog, Cath! Funny, and true. And kinda sad. I mean, t.v. is now touting arguments and disagreements as entertainment more so than ever before. You ever see that "Moment of Truth" show? I watched about 20 minutes of the first episode. Awful!
So, arguing over houses, arguing over facts, arguing over how well a chef cooks something, it's really kinda pathetic.
Yet I watch America Idol. Sigh!!
Beth
Oh, man... I just couldn't bring myself to watch that Moment of Truth show--too cringe-worthy and voyeuristic. I mean, you know that people were just hoping to see horrible things revealed!
I agree with you all--reality TV sucks. But of course, I watch it. ;->
I do try to stay away from the baser instinct shows, though... well, I admit to watching bits and pieces of Flavor Flav or Rock of Love if I land on 'em. But just bits and pieces. And of course, my former confession about America's Next Top Model.
Actually, I could deal quite well with a pink retro bathroom. But for our redo, I really hope we can affect a kind of 30s retro look, with octagonal mosaic tiles for the floor and subway tiles on the walls, a curvy but petite console sink (ay, there's the rub... that sucker would have to be custom made), etc. We don't have a lot of room in that master, and I'm not taking any square footage away from the guest room for it either!
As to the "It's Not Your House Anymore" fact, one of my mom's neighbors sold her house and moved closer to her kids, down near Roanoke. But when she came back to visit the Boro about 6 months after she moved, she had a hissy fit that the new folks had dug up quite a bit of her garden and had put in new fencing in the back yard. People, people, people!
Beth
My wack-job mother-in-law would be perfect for this type of program. Roughly four years ago she and her husband moved from their old home only a few miles west and the would lament the changes the new owners were making.
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