Design Me A Star: Week 5

Since this is a day late and a design short, let’s just hit the high and lowlights of this week’s HGTV Design Star.

• Team challenges are all well and good but how about another individual challenge (spoiler alert: looks like next week I get my wish).

• The old trusty military family challenge is similarly played out. “Thanks for volunteering to be in the military let’s reward you with a new living room.”

• The way the teams broke down made the outcome academic. No way were Lonni, Jason and Nathan going to create anything worthwhile.

• Lonni did actually show me something for the first time this season with her chevron wall. At first I questioned her choice because what happens to the symbolism if the soldier gets promoted or more likely killed. However in the end it’s a striking graphic that made for a stand out design accent.

• The rest of Lonni’s team was horrible. Jason continued his streak of average work mixed with incompetence. I thought it was hilarious when he started off the episode noting how all the fat had been trimmed off of the group of designers. Hello Jason, you are still here. His decision to nail in curtains along with his wall of keepsakes would have been enough to send him home if not for one slow ass teammate.

• Nathan was one of my favorites to win after week one but it’s clear now that Dan was the driving force on that team. After spending the entire challenge on one entertainment center I expected Nathan to reveal a stunning final product. Instead it looked like a cheap solution that may have worked for staging an open house. Also his decision to skip the desk, a primary element of the room, made his cancellation a slam dunk. While I think he may be more talented than Jason I have a hard time disagreeing with the judges once again.

• Antonio continues to surprise and frustrate. Loved his color scheme and the entertainment center. However he let himself get pushed out of shopping once again and still has not had a coherent complete design. He was right to push back on the colors and he should have pushed back on the shopping too.

• Dan continued to be the Rick Bayless of Design Star. His helpful attitude and peacemaking skills were certainly put to the test this week as Torie and Antonio had their dust up. He also managed to create a wonderful table/study area that was my favorite piece in the room.

• Torie took a small step forward this week. Her inability to see beyond the walls in reference to the client’s soft request for warm colors made her a target for possible cancellation. However she finally had a successful shopping trip. I felt like the couch wasn’t great but I loved the accents including those wood panels that flanked the TV area.