Yesterday, Ajumma made her way through Minneapolis' Home & Garden show. It was the usual mix of window booths and landscaping vendors, and the only thing we ended up buying was a hand-held tape applicator for painting. The real draw to the H&G show was to see "Design on a Dime" host Lee Snijders, who did a promo on breaking the rules of design. Though we showed up minutes before he appeared, we walked to the front of the stage and spotted two chairs dead center. What a coup! Lee came out and was full of energy. He looks more handsome in person than on TV, which is the same thing I thought about Vern Yip when we saw him at last year's show. Lee fielded questions from the crowd and then launched into thoughts such as:- Dark colors create depth and therefore make rooms seem bigger, not smaller (I'm not sure if I agree with this one)
- Accessories are the fastest way to change a room's appearance
- Paint is the cheapest way to change a room's appearance
- Plants are the quickest way to warm up a room
- Put real plants on eye level and silk plants on upper levels (Ajumma generally says NO to fake plants, because fake and dead plants don't give off chi.)
Lee also talked about how to select paint colors for rooms. Here's what drew the largest laugh from the crowd: Lee said when selecting a color for your bathroom you should select the opposite color of your hair. Hmm. Lee also said:
- He has broken his arm twice during "Design on a Dime," both from skateboarding accidents
- He has adopted two dogs, so now his house is full of dog hair
- Unlike many other home makeover shows, after the cameras stop rolling DOAD lets homeowners keep everything the crew has made or purchased for the episode
- Alot of the stars of reality homeshows, these days, are not designers or carpenters, but actors. I suspect he was specifically referencing Carter Oosterhouse of "Trading Spaces" and "Carter Can."
Lee, Summer, and Charles wrapped up their last episode of "Design on a Dime" last October. Lee is now filming webisodes of his reality design series, "Real Lee TV," which are pretty cool. Watch his series promo here!
