Bonkers In The Bunkers

Week 2 and the designers are starting to get to know each other. It's fun to watch their personalities develop in relation to one another. Eddie, Nathan, and Natalie seem to be having a lot of fun becoming friends behind the scenes.

Eddie has nicknamed Nathan "Tranny" which he lovingly accepts. And Natalie is always the nearby sidekick. Big love-fest brewing ... Preston has been keeping to himself. He seems to be taking this all very seriously. This challenge was a great way to see the designers express themselves, and their sense of style individually, while also having to work with someone else. It's very similar to what we have to do as designers in relation to working with our clients. We must work with them to combine their needs and style while still letting ours shine through. But we see it over and over again, if you don't work well with your team, your design will suffer ....

As we saw with the losing team -- Jennifer and Robert. You saw it on TV and I saw even more behind the scenes. They were so disjointed -- neither were happy about the direction the other was going, nor were they happy with their own direction. Not being able to connect with the other left them both foggy on their own sense of style, so when they finally decided to just do their own thing, that wasn't even as good as either of them had to give ... sad to see. If they had to divide the space, at least they could have made each space spectacular on it's own. But ultimately, why on earth would you even come to that conclusion if you had such a tiny space in the first place to live in for such a long time? I mean seriously, there would be no better time than this to put your egos, or whatever it was, aside and figure out something you could both agree on. I felt badly for both of them watching them struggle. I'm sure they both could have shown us some great work if they just could have gotten past the initial disagreements ...

Preston and Ondine actually worked well together on the challenge and I thought they did a nice job of creating a lovely and livable space. They both brought their individual design ideas to the table and created a clear and cohesive design but just got carried away in the final hour. They added that last layer that just cluttered up the tiny space. Yes, you have to make a space functional but you cannot sacrifice your design aesthetic and must figure out cleaver ways to combine form and function. This is a challenge that designers are faced with every day and these two failed. Kerry and Shazia looked as if they worked well together but behind the scenes it was clear to see that (I'm sorry) but Shazia is just downright lazy. I watched her take breaks, stroll about for this or that, and all the while Kerry just kept his mouth shut, and when she didn't do it he just did it for her. It was very frustrating for me to watch -- I can't even imagine how frustrated he was but he's just a big old loveable softy and too sweet to tell it like it is. Let's give her some muscles and give him a backbone and then see what they can do! I think Kerry may have been able to show us a bit more of his talent if he wasn't being dragged down with extra work ... Natalie and Teresa had a good time working on this project. Natalie cracks me up -- she is so silly and keeps us all laughing. Teresa kept quiet and let Natalie lead in this one but, not unlike Preston and Ondine, I felt their space was just over-decorated even after Todd told them to edit -- they still couldn't show us any restraint. The space was pretty but still I'd go a little bonkers in the bunker if I spent more than a couple hours in there. Wisit and Nathan showed us complete design restraint in their space. They got along so well that they decided they would be getting married. What a perfect match -- a tranny and an opera singer! Personally, I liked their space the best; it was so peaceful. There may be some bonking going on but I certainly wouldn't go bonkers in their bunker .... It was fun watching Eddie and Andrea. Eddie immediately took the reins and made Andrea his assistant at his Martha Stewart Showcase. This was a perfect challenge for Eddie as I can already see this room in Martha Stewart Living magazine -- absolute perfection. But where is the individual style from either one of them? Congratulations Eddie, but we all know by now that your designs are perfectly beautiful we just want you to show us something unexpected, something unique. Come on! Go a little bonkers!!