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March 28, 2007: March Madness' Other Final Four
Opening tonight's show with a trip to the Viceroy Hotel to see Kelly Wearstler's handiwork was evidence that while her sense of taste may be lacking on her person, it's not half bad when adapted for walls and furniture. But there wasn't much Wearstler worship before the contest's final four focused on their latest task: Design a luxury hotel suite for a high-end/boutique hotel that incorporates a natural element. (Each randomly chose between earth, air, water or fire.)
With three days (positively lengthy for this show), Goil still had his weekly nervous breakdown, and Carisa was pouting yet again (though with an added cocky smirk, I noticed). Andrea's verbal claws were sharper this round, talking a little trash about her competition and bemoaning her assigned "earth" element. As for Matt — please, someone just give him this competition already! He quietly designs sleek, cohesive high-end visions, and the nice lad works well with others, too. His focus shifted entirely to his carpenter when he cut his finger on a saw (ouch!); Matt didn't care at that point whether the injury would cause him to lose the challenge. Somehow I don't think Carisa would have had the same reaction if Carl, her carpenter, had done the same. That poor guy quietly puts up with her perfectionist tendencies and micromanaging, and still she consistently talks down to him and blames him for anything that doesn't meet her unrealistic expectations.
Goil, on the other hand, seems at his best when he can collaborate and receive feedback, and work with someone (like his carpenter) who can rein in his many ambitious ideas. Still, their efforts weren't enough to save him, and it was, "Goodbye, Goil" (said Jonathan Adler, whose pea-green velvet suit, blue-striped shirt and brown polka-dot '70s tie actually bested Kelly in this week's Wearst-wear challenge, though that's not to say a close-up of her ruffles put a smile on my face).
Maybe Goil's incorporation of the element of fire was a bit too literal; however, his room (they all agreed) was the most practical in terms of actually being a hotel room. Besides, speaking of literal, grass for nightstand tabletops!? I'm guessing (hoping) they kept Andrea over Goil because of her entire repertoire in this contest so far. Her room didn't look very luxurious to me; then again, Goil's wasn't especially rich, either. Meanwhile, Carisa... she's talented, she has some good ideas, but I'm not sure her affinity for mod works in every situation. And I know this isn't a popularity contest, but I'm having trouble separating her designs from her whiny, arrogant attitude.
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Mar 29, 2007 1:00 AM
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When I see Jonathan Adler and Kelly W....and I don't care how famous and popular they are... in their ridiculous attire and her horrible hairstyles, I wonder how we can begin to take them seriously. I wouldn't hire them for a decorating project based on their looks alone! Is that catty? I don't care. They look just ridiculous.
Goil should have gone home. He's not up to the stress of the challenge. I think, though I hate to give these judges credit, that they're making the right decisions. I'm hoping for Matt. His room was beautiful and I've liked his other designs.
And I have to say that I'm so glad we're into individual projects now. Much much better.
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Mar 29, 2007 1:29 AM
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While I wasn't crazy about Goil's room, his was the only one that I thought actually incorporated the element he was given. While I don't care for Carissa, I did like her room but it reminded me of Water, not Air and it wasn't practical from a cleaning stand point. As much as I like Andrea, I thought her idea to put grass in the tables was awful and again you have the housekeeping problems. I liked Matt's room but didn't see anything that reminded me of water. The wall color was way too pale for water. I thought it was nice that he was so concerned for his carpenter that he was more worried about what was happening to him than if his room would get done.
Does Kelly pay a hairstylist to make her hair look so bad? Has anyone ever told her that her hair will fall out prematurely if she keeps teasing it that way? While I thought her hotel design was great, I have to agree that I would never hire her or Jonathon to design a room for me based on their appearances.
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Mar 29, 2007 7:48 AM
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I have been trying to put my finger on why Jonathan Adler seems so familiar. Well, I think that green jacket last night finally triggered it for me. He is the personification of Kermit the Frog. That smallish head on that spindly body. Anyone agree?
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Mar 29, 2007 10:02 AM
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Anyone else bothered by the preview showing Andrea saying "that was bitcy" to Carisa and Carisa responding back...when in fact she didn't say it to her at all? They should be fined for false advertising!
With my vent out of the way...I will miss Goil. He always thinks out of the box and had great ideas. Just wish he could actually implement his ideas completely.
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Mar 29, 2007 10:27 AM
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So glad Matt won the challenge. I absolutely loved his room, but I am partial to blue. Plus, I loved his answer to the judges about who was standing in his way to winning and he said, "No one". I heartily agree.
Carisa's room was nice, but I couldn't see the housekeepers having to keep those slats on the walls dusted. Andrea had some great ideas, but the grass table tops ruined it for her. Goil has the most original ideas, but his ideas run him, not Goil controlling them.
As for Jonathan Adler, is he color blind or is his favorite song, "I can sing a rainbow", because he sure was wearing one.
As for Kelly Wearstler, she's has wonderful decorating styles, but she must fire her hair stylist. She's a pretty woman and needs to play up her assets. I liked the guest judge, but I thought her hair was too red. She looked like Goil had selected her hair color to match his room (meow).
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Mar 29, 2007 11:03 AM
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I must say, it was no surprise that Jan Brady got the boot last night. Fortunately for Goil, his crazy ideas will continue to expand, so I think he'll benefit from this competition. On to the rooms: Matt's room was as close to perfect as any in this competition. I appreciate that he used water as an inspiration and didn't try to interprate it literally; LOVED IT. Carisa's was good too, but felt a bit cluttered with all the slats everywhere, and I didn't really like the mod fabric she incorporated. Goil's room was okay, I really think he got messed up during the shopping portion of the challenge. Had the furniture and bedding matched the ambition of the wall, he may have been saved. And Andrea's room was just sort of a jumble of different elements that weren't pulled together. I'm sorry, but Earth couldn't have been as hard as she kept whining it was, especially because in past challenges, she's shown that she ain't afraid of using earth tones everywhere. I was surprised she was so upset that she picked it, I thought it was right up her alley. That being said, I think it'll go down as 3.Carisa, 2.Andrea, and 1.Matt. I like Carisa better than Andrea, but the judges seem to feel differently. Barring any unforeseen disasters next week, I can see the finalists going in that order.
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Mar 29, 2007 11:04 AM
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I loved Matts room, I can see it over looking an ocean and I would stay in it.
What is up with Kelly? Last week she looked like an extra in Interview with a Vampire and this week, don't know what that was.
Scary to think that these are the people that help determine how our homes should look..
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Mar 29, 2007 7:50 PM
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reality junkie: Matt's room did remind me of water. That color was barely tinted blue, but very lovely (and I'm not a blue fan). Water doesn't have a color, but we perceive it to be blue, as in some bodies of water it looks blue. I thought the color very appropriate. Then with the use of mirrors and shiny furniture, while impractical in the long run, was the perfect touch. IMO I definitely thought it was simply perfect and definitely belonged in a magazine spread.
Good luck, Matt.
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Mar 29, 2007 8:09 PM
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I don't remember who said it, but I totally agree with the comment about comparing Jonathon Adler to Kermit!
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Mar 29, 2007 8:57 PM
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LOVED Matt's room! So glad he finally won an individual challenge. I was really touched by his concern for his carpenter. He really is a nice, class act. I also loved his response to the judges as well. And so true, there is no one standing between him and the title!
Anyone who says they are afraid of green shouldn't win. What was Andrea thinking? The color green (and not grass--huh?) would have definitely improved her room. I don't think Earth was a hard element at all.
To me, air and fire were the hardest. So kudos to Carisa for doing as well as she did. But she IS annoying!!
As for the judges, how can you be so good at decorating and so lousy at personal style? I just don't get it. I'd hire Montecristo from 'Knights of Prosperity' before I'd hire any of them!
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Mar 29, 2007 9:26 PM
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KCguy - Bravo's promos are ALWAYS misleading. It's a real crappy thing for them to do, but it's been known to lead to some SERIOUS zaprudering of the promos on some of the fan sites, to try and suss out if bits the preview makes look related actually are and so forth. ::rolls eyes::
As for the show itself, I REALLY hope Matt wins. I love the stuff he's come up with. Andrea isn't bad, and I'd be ok if she won, too. But please, no Carissa winning! We've already had Jeffery the jerk win PR and Ilan the @#%hole win TC2, I don't wanna see Carissa the whiny @itch take this one!
On their rooms this week, if I'd had to guess, I would have guessed that Matt's was air because everything was so light (not just in shade but in feel as well), and that Carisa was doing water because her colours were more mixes in a lot of the kind of "watery" blues I've seen, and the bolder colours and heavier feel wasn't as ethereal as I would expect an "air" room to be. In fact, everytime they showed her room, I had to remind myself she WASN'T water - even those big, black slat things made me think of water - like the way you get dark strands of seawead floating up through the water.
As for the earth room, I can't believe how much trouble Andrea had. If she didn't want to go with primarily dark, muted colours, she should have done something like having a rug, carpet or other flooring in golds and reds, reminiscent of walking on the leaf-covered ground in winter, maybe some low-level paneling (similar to Matt's wainscotting, though maybe coming up a bit higher on the wall) that has a really strong wood texture to it, and stained in a medium wood tone, paint the upper parts of the walls in a soft-ish shade of green or blue (depending on what you can find that will go good with the golds, reds and brown). That way, the "heavier" colours are down at the bottom where they can "anchor" the room's theme, but aren't the focus of the room. Then for furniture, look for things that have a good "solid" or "sturdy" look to them, without being really "heavy" and use the golds, reds and/or soft greens for upholstery and such. Obviously, that would need some more work and thinking, but that's what I came up with in just about 5 min of thinking...
Anyway, I liked both this week and last week's challenges the best of any, so far, hopefully the final one(s) will keep up the quality!
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Mar 30, 2007 4:33 AM
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One other thought - I have to give Jonathan Adler kudos for managing, each week, to say that horrid "See you later, decorator" line with what comes across (to me anyway) as a genuine fondness for the person and in a sympathetic way. The line's STILL corny as hell, but he somehow keeps from sounding too wisecrack-y or snarky saying it. Just a thought I wanted to throw in 
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Mar 30, 2007 4:40 AM
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