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
