Makeover TV - love or hate?

It has its uses

Tiny bathroom makeover that did not happen in a week

Until recently, it had been years since I’d watched many interiors makeover shows. The only ones that stick in my mind are from my American years: Trading Spaces (the US version of Changing Rooms) and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, also American, both of which were airing around the time I bought my first house in Los Angeles. Looking back at clips, I’m not sure I could handle the brashness of Ty Pennington or the truly extreme methods used to re-do a house in a week, as per Extreme Makeover’s format in helping a family in need, but it was of the time.

If memory serves, there was rarely an episode that didn’t involve hoards of people descending on a property, demolishing everything in sight to rebuild a brand new mega-size home. Taking sledge hammers to perfectly good cabinets and appliances just wouldn’t be acceptable behaviour anymore, but it was the early noughties and re-use/recycle hadn’t yet hit the mainstream.

Today there is so much content available in terms of interiors makeovers and inspiration, with everyone and their mother posting in real time about their renovations (myself included) on social media and celebrities opening up their homes for tours on Architectural Digest. But the more traditional makeover show still has its place. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from watching an hour long show where everything gets sorted. And in my opinion, for complete satisfaction there is no better show than Queer Eye.

In the weeks following my recent breakup, I was craving comfort and distraction as well as an outlet for my tears. What better place than a binge watch of Queer Eye, Season 8, with the Fab 5 at their most fabulous, improving people’s lives inside and out - interiors, fashion, food, hair, mind. The idea of having a team - A TEAM - of people each with their area of expertise (and their own teams to make the magic happen) is so alluring, particularly when feeling low or overwhelmed. My daughter and I no longer live together - what with her now being a proper grown up and all that - but we love a lot of the same tv, this one included.

I can walk into someone else’s home and - only if asked - offer advice on changes that would improve the flow, layout, and feel of the place. I can offer my kids and my friends words of encouragement when they’re feeling lost or down; I might even be able to offer a recipe or a fashion tip if someone asks. But I can’t always do it for myself (except the interiors, that I can do for myself). Which is what makes a show like Queer Eye so appealing.

Imagine in the space of a week, your house or office gets a full makeover by Bobby, your wardrobe a rethink by Tan, your hair and makeup a zhuzh from JVN, your head and heart some guidance from Karamo and your fridge/kitchen a boost from Antoni. Honestly, I’d take it in a heartbeat right now. Sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do, right?

Now I know lives can’t really be fundamentally changed in the space of a week and there is always more work to be done, but sometimes I think we’d all benefit from a team. A team with an objective view taking a look at our lives, the way we deal (or don’t) with issues and stressors, the way we dress/eat/live, and telling us what we need to do to get us out of our ruts. And fast tracking that change.

I wrote here about my love of pottering, and it is still how I get a lot of things done. It’s slow but there is a therapy in its slow ritual. But there is also something to be said for getting things done in a hurry. Many of us are saddled with too many obligations and not enough cash and/or time to finish jobs around the house, or to consider our outfits more carefully or cook better meals or work on our mental health. My children have left home and now I live alone and even I feel this way!

This is why these makeover shows are so pleasing to watch. We know it took an army of people and a mountain of cash to redecorate the house/revamp the wardrobe etc but my god it’s satisfying to watch. Maybe we can’t achieve that in our own lives so we fantasize about it through TV. With ‘x’ amount of money and a small-ish team I could genuinely finish all the jobs around my house and garden in a week. Easily. And yet that isn’t my current reality.

And even though I really like fashion, I’ve reached a time in my life where I no longer know what suits me and I hate all my clothes. And the hair and makeup situation? Despite having a famous hairdresser in the family, I’ve never really known how to style mine. My makeup regime is Nars tinted moisturiser and mascara because I just don’t know how.

So yeah. I’d welcome the Fab 5 into my life.

That said, I’d also like my own TV show, less about big grand makeovers and more about working with what we already have and styling it out. Less about knocking down walls, more about sanding old stools. Come on, wouldn’t it be fun?! Last year I went to New York to see one of my brothers and while there I had lunch with a lovely woman who felt a bit like a mentor. She used to work with a very, very famous household name in America, who started out with books and went on to have an extremely successful TV and product career. My lovely mentor/friend said to me “No more books. You need to be on TV”.

And I get it. I love writing interiors books, but TV (and obviously social media even more so) is how you really reach people. Although it seems that now the only people hosting interiors shows are already famous and have careers unrelated to interiors (Tinie Tempah, Amanda Holden, Alan Carr, Alan Cumming, shall I go on…?) Where are the experts?

Have you noticed that on many interiors shows (Grand Designs, Extraordinary Extensions come to mind) bucketloads of money are spent on an incredible build but when they show the after shots of the interiors, they are often soooo bad! I feel like this is a whole other post, so I’ll save most of my rant. But that’s what interests me. That’s what I love. Those are the makeovers I want to see. Because how can you spend a fortune on an architectural gem and then forget about the interior, the bit where you’re actually going to spend most of your time?

Not everyone can afford an interior designer, so it’s about teaching people tricks they can do themselves at home, just like on Queer Eye when Tan shows a man how to dress in a more mature way without losing his personality (and his love of a Kiss t-shirt). I’d love a show that helps people make real changes at home in achievable ways. Quick fixes, styling tricks, attainable projects that have real impact.

But clearly I still love a big, bold makeover show because sometimes you just need a bit of fantasy.