Curbly’s Top Design Fan Club, The Finale: Loft Design

By DIY Maven

Last night's Top Design wrap-up had to be one of the most anticlimactic finales in the history of reality t.v. Much like a visit to the dentist, I was glad when it was over.

(The next 4 pics are of Matt's loft.)

The Task

The two remaining contestants were asked to design–for themselves, acting as their own client–a 1700 square foot loft in downtown L.A. They had 2 months to plan the design, which they did at their respective homes, and 5 days to actually transform the lofts when they returned to California. Their budget: $12,500 for construction, $25,000 for kitchen appliances, $150,000 for PDC pickings.

The Drama

Carisa’s painted FINISHED floor. Was there any wonder the tape lifted off the paint? Carl’s fireman’s chain handing up lumber 6 flights of stairs. His crew should have shared the 100K prize just for that. (Note to self: Do not buy a loft in a building without a really big service elevator.)

(The next 4 pics are of Carisa's loft.)

The Winner and Loser

Trudie Styler (aka Sting’s wife) was the guest judge, for some reason. Together with the rest of the judging panel, Matt and his rather boring, monochromatic vision of 40's Hollywood was handed the victory. If I had been a judge, and based on this design alone, I would have argued for Carisa to take the win. She used the space to its best advantage; her bed, which was completely impractical was, at least, interesting; and her repetition of the geometry of the mullioned windows was a great design choice.

The Summation

Highlight of the night included Carisa’s use of cork flooring on her office inspiration wall. Matt’s use of multiple black and white family photographs was a nice touch. Low-light of the night was TD’s choice to let the designers design for themselves. It would have made much better television if they had to design for each other and then had to serve as guest judge to the other as well. Now that would have been interesting. But then the show wasn’t interesting anyway, so there was no reason to expect anything different for the finale.

Carisa's cork wall.

Matt's b & w picture wall.

Tagged:
Bravotv TopDesign

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April 12, 2007

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