I used to love Changing Rooms as a child. A satisfying make over TV show featuring change, transformation, a bit entertaining, bright and jazzy... well thats how I remembered it until a few weeks ago when I saw this list on Buzz Feed. Wow, I recognise that this is an edit of the worst of changing rooms, so this led me to do a bit of further internet research and on the whole it was hard to find any good examples. It is easy to mock or dismiss something from 15-20 years ago because it looks dated, but in this instance I don't think that is the case. Changing Rooms was fortunately aired on BBC 1 and BBC 2 between 1996 and 2004, before the internet boom and certainly before online commentary/ opinion and cruel memes.
Some of the 'transformations' don't just look dated but pretty naff even at the time. In theory Changing Rooms did inspire people with achievable interior design on a budget and to get more creative in their homes which is undoubtedly a good thing. Longevity and forever pieces however were not considered the colour palette was often bright, loud and proud, meanwhile white or cream was rarely considered. MDF became a mainstream and a Changing Rooms cliche phrase. A contestant claimed that the rooms were transformed in to fake film sets only for TV purpose, then in 2004 Changing Rooms kind of became a bit tired and celebrity reality TV shows seemed to demand more attention.
Currently there are interior 'transformation' shows ranging from 60 minute Make Over (is it fair to describe this as Changing Rooms on speed bare in mind it is a whole house not just one room?) Then at the other end of the spectrum there are the more middle to upper class shows including Restoration Man, Grand Designs and George's Amazing Small Spaces, filming for these takes place over months and years not 2 days. Inspiring, aspirational and sometimes educational yes, but in terms of appealing to the masses, with a realistic budget with an element of fun TV and achievable to the 'average viewer' not so much. So if they relaunched Changing Rooms or bought it back, could it work? It is certainly still relevant and there is a huge gap between 60 Minute Make Over and Grand Designs. Maybe they should increase the time they have for transformation to a week instead of a rushed 2 days, perhaps involve the home owners in the research and planning stages of the transformation whilst still keeping the make over and decorating parts a surprise, or would that be too sensible?
I then fell down a black internet hole of looking at room transformations, this website below has entertaining before and afters, I am assuming they were from a US TV show: http://hookedonhouses.net/2015/10/29/6-of-the-scariest-trading-spaces-makeovers/