The Worst Interior Design Show from the 90s

Hello, princess. Sorry, don't start it

off like that.

>> Hello, princess.

>> So, if you're like me and you've gone

through many HGTV phases, I can't name

any of the shows that I've watched

because it's all just the same people

over and over again. Sorry. Is that

racist? I can't tell any of them apart.

I'm sorry. But god damn it, I love all

those shows. Okay, I love all of them.

There is one with this couple. No, no,

no, no. They're brother and sister.

Sorry. It's either brother and sister or

a couple. I love it. I think it was like

called like farmhouse uplift. Uplift

farmhouse. They're Canadian. There's

this one scene where Billy is literally

cutting wood while it's like [ __ ]

blizzarding outside and it's insane and

it's awesome. Anyway, there's this one

viral show from 1997 that's been kind of

going viral on Tik Tok lately of these

two ladies. They're wearing matching

overalls. It screams 1997 and oh my god,

they make the most insane choices you

could possibly imagine.

>> For example, you know how some people

get like eyebrows tattooed on? Well,

think of that but for a rug. So they

paint the rug on the floor and now it's

not going anywhere. So that's one of the

problems solved. I can't think of any

more issues with that. So my friend

Pinley held me hostage when I was in

England and we did a video on that

together reviewing some of those clips

of these two ladies. I just was really

inspired to come take a look myself at

this. And also I had a really crazy

trip. Uh secondly, my last video was too

much thinking. And thirdly, I got home

to a broken microwave. I didn't break

it. So, my week has been crazy. We're

going to do something a little more

chill this week. Okay, so this show is

called Decorating Sense, and I it did

air on HGTV. Uh, it's been going viral,

and one of the ladies from it got

interviewed, and she said something

along the lines of, "Oh, it's an honor

to go viral. It was going to air no

matter what, so even if it looked kind

of bad, oh well." And you know what? I

love that philosophy. I think we can all

take a little bit of that philosophy in

our daily lives. Not everything has to

be so perfect. Not everything has to be

so perfect and polished. Isn't that

right? Can you tell this video wasn't

scripted? I can. All right. So, the

premise of the show is they're going to

redecorate this person's home who has

six little girls for under $500 adjusted

for inflation. I don't know. Braden, may

you please? I'm holding the number in my

hand. That's $500 in today's money. So,

the whole thing decorating sense.

They're doing it on a budget.

>> And we're going to do all of this for

under $500.

>> Let's figure out how far we can stretch

this $500.

>> Yes, you heard me right. Six little

girls live in this house. Ages 11 to 1.

They are such cute kids. Yeah, they're

really a great family.

>> I know this isn't related to the show

whatsoever, but whenever I was a kid and

I walked into one of my friends homes

and they had this on the wall, first of

all, this looks like all of them died.

Is that just me? Is it just me? This is

a little offputting.

>> This room is off to a good start, but

it's a bit too cavernous and masculine

for a family with six girls. This room

isn't very functional or fun, and fun is

what we're all about on this show. So,

we began our fun right here in the

kitchen with decorative paint. The

pacing of this show is really weird.

First of all, I'd only seen clips on Tik

Tok, but the pacing of it is so strange

already. All right, so these ladies love

paint. If there's anything they love

doing, it's making permanent vanish on a

budget. Freehand cursive. All the names

of the daughters on the sophets. These

are the two colors we'll be working

with. Burnt sienna and leaf green.

>> Those are my favorite Pokémon games. and

then painted it leaf green by tracing

over our line drawing. A stiff bristled

brush as this works best.

>> Please tell me they're going to smooth

out those lines, right? Right, guys?

They're not just going to leave it like

that, are they?

>> Then we stamped oversized copper leaves

in between each girl's name.

>> Wow. So, every episode is like this,

huh? Does that look like a leaf to you?

I feel like ancient aliens are going to

recover this house in 500 years time.

The show will still be going on, of

course. Season 500, who knows? And

they're going to look at this and be

like, I think our ancestors painted what

they saw, which is alien.

Wait, so they're they're painting all of

the daughter's names on the wall in the

kitchen. I know this is low hanging

fruit, but why? Hey, that's going to be

a quick Why

>> do they do that?

>> I think to get just the design that you

want in this kind of a size can be hard

to find and can also be expensive. So,

uh, we decided to try making our own.

And we used a real oak leaf.

>> Oh, the perfect leaf after hours of

searching.

>> This is the leaf you came up with after

hours of searching. Listen, not not to

flex. Not to flex, but hold on.

[Music]

So, here's a leaf I came up with after

like 10 minutes of searching. Take a

look at that. Just a small flex. This is

from 2024. Hang on. I thought this one

was also really cool. Check it out. My

leaf. Here's another one. I really did I

really think I did a good job. This is

like This is like the perfect

representation of Canada. I just don't

think that's the best oak leaf they

could have come up with. That's all I'm

saying. I'm not trying to flex, but I am

pretty good at picking out leaves. And

I'm just saying they could have done

better. We'll use the term window

treatment loosely in the kitchen.

Because we want the light to pour in

through the windows, we'll add an

outdoor decorative touch. We wound

honeysuckle vine and real oak leaves

over the window frame.

>> Okay, now hold on, hold on, hold on,

hold on, hold on. I like that one. I

think that's cool as [ __ ] I don't know.

There's something just about having

nature inside the house that I really

[ __ ] with. That's kind of my favorite

thing to do in Minecraft when you have

like leaves inside the house. It just

adds a little something. I think they're

on to something here. I really like it.

>> This window treatment simply enhances

this area and warms it up without

blocking the lovely view to the outside.

>> Wait, $38? Why did that cost $38? You're

just picking up sticks and leaves from

outside. I I've noticed that about this

show, at least in the clips that I've

seen, the things they choose to spend

money on are are kind of bamboozling to

me. Like in the collab I did with Evil

Pinley, they had like a rug that was a

rug that was literally like a plastic

tarp and they painted on it and it

looked like a toddler had done it and

that was $90. They could have just

bought a real rug for that money that

looked so much better. So I don't I

don't understand why this is $38. The

kitchen is either all lit up or dark. So

to cozy up this space, especially at

night, we placed two inexpensive lamps

on the sides of the sink.

>> They were adamant about using the the

oak stencil again. We need to put a leaf

print on this, please. Or else what's

the point? If I'm just putting stuff in

the place, then like is that really

decorating? You need to customize it.

>> One more similar lamp was added here on

the second sink for more coziness.

Notice how we continued our leaf motif

by tracing around a real leaf on the

shade and then outlining it. We draped

and swagged and swagged and draped until

we got just the right amount of droop on

each window. And the finishing touch on

these windows, small nose gaze of oak

leaves and acorns.

>> All right, you know what? I kind of dig

the nose gaze. Hey, do you No, I can't

think of a joke. Hey, do you nose gaze?

If anyone can come up with a funnier

joke for the nose gaze, let me know. You

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But when I'm craving a burger or

anything of the sort, I love using

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And thank you for not ruining my walls

with paint. Back to ruining walls with

paint.

>> We replaced the artificial flowers in

the homeowner's base with more oak

leaves and cattails to tie in our new

theme.

>> Hot dogs. You guys ever have those

cattails around? I don't know why they

made them look so edible. They just look

like corn dogs. Or do you think uh No.

Cattails probably came first. We modeled

the corn dogs after the cattails. But

then here's what happens in society.

society looks now looks at the cattails

and they're like m I should eat that

when you really shouldn't. So it's

really whoever invented corn dogs like

permanent psychological damage kind of

like the ting

but then it's also like okay them look

so yummy then I wouldn't have wanted to

eat them

>> you know

>> this handmade V toy box doubles as a

great window seat and the safety hinged

lid makes cleanup duty a snap.

>> You know what? This is awesome. I'm

going to say I'm going to say it. This

is awesome. We need to give credit where

credit's due. There's just something

about me that really loves a good like

seating that doubles as storage. It just

always does something for me. Also, I I

still don't know why they're so adamant

on putting the leaf stamps on this. It's

like kind of their watermark at this

point. It didn't need it, but god damn

it, it's there.

>> With six little girls comes a lot of

story books. So, we brought up the kids

bookcase from the basement for family

room reading and got busy painting it to

coordinate with our leaf theme. Listen,

I'm I'm no professional interior

designer, but it's kind of blowing my

mind how they're painting this in just

like splotches instead of like going up

and down with the wood grain. That's

driving me a little crazy.

The [ __ ] leaf stamp again.

>> Then to hide the books and make it more

attractive.

>> Why did they put the books like that?

Why didn't they just stand them up?

There's clearly room. Why do they have

to do that? And now they're like, "Well,

since it looks so [ __ ] ugly, we have

to cover it up with more of these

blinds." Yeah, cuz you put them that

way.

>> For pennies, just $16, we took the

bookcase from this to this.

>> Wait, they only painted the side? I

thought they were going to paint the

whole thing white, but that just it kind

of looks like a mistake. I'm sorry.

That's so mean. No, it kind of looks

like a mistake. Did the bookshelf need

curtains? Did the bookshelf need

curtains?

bookcase that blends perfectly with our

new decor.

[Music]

>> Dude, the guitar strumming, the guitar

picking in the background, I feel like

it's been looping for like 20 minutes at

this point. It's kind of making me

dissociate. I don't know what about it

is like kind of hypnotizing.

>> Shut your [ __ ] mouth. With the help

of interior floral decorator Melissa

Kenny, we began updating the wreath by

removing the fruit. Then we wired

honeysuckle and glued and tucked in oak

leaves. Mission accomplished. An 80s

wreath brought into the '9s.

>> That's just crazy to hear. Also, it

looks so much worse. Wait, hold on. It

looks like the the swamp people from

Avatar made this. It looks like a looks

like a You know what? Yeah, it's an '8s

wreath brought into the '90s. You're

right. All that's left a few finishing

touches.

>> God, that seems like a fire hazard. Even

if these leaves are plastic, this still

seems like a fire hazard. Hold on.

They're just going to gloss by this.

This mirror is $40. See, this is what I

mean about like the money allocation

here. I'm about to go Dave Ramsey on

these people.

>> I learned from him.

>> And the frames, picture frames, $49.

Like I if you're interior decorating,

$50 for picture frames is not really

going to be like, "Wow, money well spent

here, right guys?" And what is that? $49

in today money. Hold on. I'm holding

space. It's that It's that much. That's

a lot. You can go to the thrift store,

find picture frames for like two bucks.

$50 lamp. Jesus Christ. I'm pretty sure

I saw that one at Goodwill the other

day. See, like all three of those other

lamps that they showed earlier, all

three of those were $48. And this one

lamp that looks like they found it at a

Goodwill. Maybe since I'm looking into

the past, maybe it does end up there.

This one is $50. Who's doing the

budgeting? Okay, I'm going to try this.

We have Jane and Laura, Grace, Rose, Mom

Diane, Dad John, and Melissa's at Cam,

so I'm sorry she couldn't be here, but I

got it right. Right.

>> Right. Very good.

>> So, what do you guys think of your new

rooms?

>> Absolutely love it.

>> Just nice little touches. I think that

really warmed the space up.

>> They seem like they really like it. I

love the idea of doing this like

irreversible damage to the home and then

sitting them down and asking them in

front of the camera. So, do you love it?

Mhm. Yeah, we love it. Keep the touch-up

paint cuz we're going to have to [ __ ]

do more work later to fix what they did.

>> We spent $4.99. $499. You guys enjoy

that. Okay,

>> we will.

>> We will. Thanks. Yeah. [ __ ] I really

hope that wasn't their money. It

probably was.

>> That's right. This room in its before

stage didn't reflect the charming

personalities of the family or address

the children's toy storage problem. Now

it's fun, cozy, and highly functional. A

place where all members of the family

can play, relax, or watch movies

together.

>> Watch movies together where there's no

TV in this [ __ ] room. Also, I love

how they said that this room is now

functional as if it wasn't before. Uh

because they didn't add any furniture or

anything to actually make it more

functional. It's just, hey, let's put

some leaves here. Okay, done. We spent

$499. You're welcome. Don't need to

thank me. Like, I do kind of like the

warmth that they did add, I guess, minus

the oak leaf stamps and the names on the

wall. A room for all seasons. All right,

the next part of this episode is an

interior redesign, which I thought I

thought that was the first part of the

episode. So, no. I don't know.

>> Buying a new home can be very exciting,

but how do you furnish your new home

without spending a fortune? Well, we

brought in interior rearrangers Marie

Kinnman and Wendy Leopard, members of

the Interior Arrangement and Design

Association to show us how to use your

old furniture in a fresh new way.

>> Dude, I better be getting some fune

psychology in this. I better be getting

fune centered design here. When I look

at these three ladies, they scream fune.

>> Here's something you don't see very

often. Two identical chairs side by

side.

>> Adding the second green chair that

matches this one. Adds extra seating for

the TV viewer as well as making a love

seat.

>> H. Something is not quite right. I can

tell you what's not quite right about

this. You know, that's interesting. I'm

not sure about these angles. I know a

lot about angles. you know, obtuse,

acute, perpendicular, right angle. But

this is kind of doing all sorts of math

in my head that I'm not really sure what

to make of it.

>> Here's a neat idea. The redesigners

found this beautiful bench in the

homeowner's yard by placing it in front

of the sofa. They have created a very

unusual coffee table.

>> Hold on. Okay, so they found this bench

in their yard. Perhaps it is a yard item

even. Perhaps it's a concrete bench that

they've now used as definitely an

unusual coffee table. Why? We got the

beige couch, pink rug, blue two sofa

chairs right next to each other, and a

red armchair on the other side of that.

What is happening?

>> And now here's the finished makeover.

>> Wait. Yeah. Okay. This was my issue with

angling the couch because look now when

you come up here because you know we're

we're looking at this over the railing.

You come over here, right? You cannot

pass through this area and then you're

stuck with this really awkward nook over

here. What is happening? What kind of

fune? This is anti- funue. If I was the

[ __ ] HOA in Animal Crossing, this

would get like 100 points total. This is

like trying to trigger the fune demon.

This is a Dutch angle, but for interior

design. How to make your guests feel

uncomfortable in your space. If funue

was Jesus, this is the Judas of Funu.

I'm trying so hard to explain how anti-

funue this is.

>> And this beautiful centerpiece becomes a

focal point of the room.

>> Dude, can you imagine [ __ ] stubbing

your toe on a concrete slab in the

middle of your living room? Ow. It's

probably so terrible to like put your

feet up on or even touch because it's a

yard item. You're going to [ __ ]

You're going to scrape your skin on that

thing.

>> We were able to maximize the space for

TV viewing, entertaining. Okay, this is

the second time they've talked about TV

viewing in the space in which there is

no TV. Are they hiding it? Is it in that

cabinet? Also, they kind of did the

opposite of maximizing the space. They

created a more less space, if you will,

with that weird corner. The homeowner

could hardly believe it was the same

room. Wow. For questions or comments,

please write to Decorating Sense, Box

50970,

Knoxville, Tennessee 37950.

Dear Decorating Sense, I have some

thoughts and concerns. All right, so

that was season 5. That was 1998. And

you know, 1998 might be a little too

tame for what we're going for. Uh, so

we're going to take it all the way back

to season 1 in 1997.

So, one year before they did five

seasons within a year with it looks like

roughly like 13 episodes a season. This

is they were hard at work. I'm going to

say it.

>> I'm Joan Stefen and today we are going

inside this house to redo a kitchen for

under $500.

>> Golden. Thank you so much. This is

definitely what a project fit for you.

>> I'm having a breakdown in here. It's too

>> It's way too white for me. Took my cue

from the client's chairs.

>> Okay, these chairs over here.

>> These are terrific chairs and great

great colors. kind of love this. I do

love the chairs and the clock on the

wall is wild. I really wish we had stuff

like that today. I can't wait for them

to take it way too far. And I'm going to

paint them out. Fabulous colors.

>> Oh my goodness.

>> Um lime green, turquoise, red, just to

make you want to eat in this kitchen and

stimulate your appetite. Just what you

need.

>> I will definitely be stimulated. I can't

say to eat, but I'll definitely be

stimulated.

>> And I'm going to take these ceramic

tiles and glue them randomly on the

backsplash. Oh boy, would that be

inexpensive and cute. Cheap and

colorful.

>> I love the idea that I'm going to just

do this randomly and it's going to come

out really good. Kind of like this video

if you really think about it. That's

kind of how our how all of our best

works are are made, right? Randomly,

spontaneously.

You know, who am I to even judge this?

God, I'm hungry.

>> Stimulate your appetite. Just what you

need.

>> I'm hanging pictures.

>> You want to spell that for me? Are we

talking?

>> P I T C H E R S. Pouring pictures. She

said that like like Debbie Ryan saying

like I sat down with the president of

Disney Channel and I said I want to make

history and that's what this is.

>> I'm hanging pictures and she's like you

want to [ __ ] explain what that means,

dude.

>> Now that thing I'm not visualizing so

I'm going to just have to wait and see

how it turns out. That'll be fun.

>> She still has no [ __ ] idea. As do I

not have a freaking clue. She's like I

guess I'll just have to wait and see

what the hell you're doing. We didn't

approve anything. We're just letting you

have full reigns on this. We have no

clue. Like what's gonna happen? We found

you on Craigslist.

>> And remember, we are doing this for

under $500.

>> They didn't have the guitar guy yet for

this. And and it shows it's a little too

calm in here.

>> The first thing on our list is paint. As

Nancy said, she wanted to bring

attention to the sophets, so she chose

bright accent colors in red, lime green,

and turquoise.

Dude, this is like the Maple Story

soundtrack. I really dig this. I really

love the vibe of relaxing like video

game music behind them [ __ ]

destroying this kitchen with bright with

like the most overstimulating colors

they could have possibly chosen. Lime

green literally juxtaposed right next to

bright red. Wait, hold on. Bellow.

Bellow. Bellow.

Okay, hear me out. Hear me out. Hear me

out. Hear me out. I like this blue color

by itself. By itself, I like the blue.

This is definitely stimulating. It's not

stimulating me to eat, but I can only

imagine it's going to get they're going

to go further with it.

>> Keep in mind, if you decide to use

wallpaper in a kitchen, it must be able

to stand up well to steam, grease, or in

the case of my kitchen, smoke.

>> That was a good one. That was a good

bit. Or in my case, the [ __ ] smoke

from when I burn everything in there.

Alternatively, you can also give

ordinary wallpaper a coat of gloss

polyurethane to make it more durable and

longlasting.

>> These people are obsessed with

polyurethane. Obsessed with it. And and

a lot of the clips I saw in in the

collab video, they were just putting

polyurethane on everything. If you don't

know, it's like an oilbased finish. I

feel like we don't do that anymore. I

feel like there's got to be a reason for

it. I genuinely don't know. That was

that sounded like it was rhetorical. I

literally have no idea. Anyway, so I'm

going to take these different tiles and

randomly put them up on the backsplash

wherever the mood hits me.

>> Okay?

>> And I'm going to stay within the

perimeters of the squares and that's

what's going to be. And then when this

is all done, we'll have bursts of color.

>> I feel like this lady, even though

she's, you know, definitely creative. Uh

she gives me that energy of that lady

who does like that magic the rainbow

sponge thing where she she does it and

she's like, "Oh my god, this is

amazing."

>> But this is exciting. Look at this

color. Oh, it's kind of the same energy.

So, like honestly, I'm just here to be

like she's having a good time. At this

point, I don't give a [ __ ] what the

owner thinks. As long as she's having

fun, I'm I'm having fun, too. One by

one, Nancy hung right.

>> Wow. So, that's what she meant by

pictures. Literally obstructing the nice

view outside with a blue plastic jug

hanging from some beads. $75

for all these pictures that you're not

going to use. I feel like $75 for all

this isn't very cheap. How many pictures

does one kitchen need? I have one. I

don't know about you, but I have one.

>> Is this not the most creative window

treatment you have ever seen? This is so

cute.

>> You are good. It looks like stained

glass. It does.

>> It does. Where? It looks like stained

glass. You just have to close your eyes

and pretend that it's stained glass. You

know what? As long as she's having fun.

That's what I said. It really has a fun

funky effect without being a curtain and

a little bit of privacy.

>> I like how they say that it adds

privacy, but it's like like I can't see

you. There's a jar in the way. There's

five jars in the way. It's It's too

private. I can't see inside. It's like

it's like a big piece of stained glass.

>> We custom built this shadow box to

display art, a message board, photos,

utensils, and decorative objects.

>> Wait, I kind of love that. I feel like

this whole show has been like, "Wait,

hold on. That's cool on its own. Also,

I'm really overwhelmed. Also, I'm

definitely stimulated. This This kind of

looks like it's inspired by that. Like,

it kind of looks like this from Pete

Mandreion Mand. Anyway, it kind of

reminds me of that and I kind of like

it. The rest we wallpapered. The reason

we hung such a bold piece on this large

wall is because the kitchen needed an

architectural accent to balance the

room. Now, the eye travels naturally

from the window area to this section of

the kitchen. and refrigerator magnets.

What kitchen isn't complete without

magnets arranged in a checkerboard

pattern?

>> You're so right. No kitchen is complete

without magnets. I do love magnets. I'm

not going to lie to you. I I feel like

in every each episode there's like one

thing that's like, you know what, that's

pretty cool. And then the rest of it is

just it's something. For the other one,

it was the toy box. The toy box chair

thing next to the window. Seating next

to the window that doubled as a toy box.

That one was pretty cool. I'm also into

the magnets with the pictures in in the

middle. I love it. I think it's a real

success and I'm happy with the color and

I think it did it. We did it. We

>> did. Is it time to take a look at what

we've accomplished? Let's take another

look.

>> Okay.

>> Wow.

Okay, guys. I know I've been saying hear

me out this whole time, but hear me out.

I don't hate it. I think it's I think

it's camp in a fun way. I know not

everything camp is good, but I like I

like how the vases match the colors they

used. I'm kind of into it. I feel like

I'm in a painting painting. You know

that painting of that room? Hold on.

Kind of reminds me of this painting by

Van Go. I could not tell you why if I'm

being honest now. Like now looking at

both of them, I don't really see it. But

in terms of vibe, I kind of see it. Let

me know if you agree. So that was

Decorating Sense. My name is Sherlock

Holmes. And you know what? This is a fun

show to put on. I quite enjoy it. It's

pretty low stakes. Uh besides the person

whose house got renovated, but you know

what? It's really not my problem.

>> They're just having a good time. If you

know, if they're having fun, I'm having

fun. I hope you guys enjoyed. Be sure to

listen to my new song, Perfect Fantasy.

It's a city pop song. It's out now. It's

in the description. Make sure to add it

to your playlists, everything, whatever.

Follow me on Instagram, atgabby bell.

And I have some pictures to buy.

Bye-bye.