Screen shot 2018 04 06 at 9 (Photo courtesy of YouTube.com/TLC)

It's "the mother of all design shows." And it's back on Saturday nights. After 10 years, TLC's Trading Spaces returns tomorrow with its season premiere.


Trading Spaces has done for design what Emeril has done for food: the show is a pioneer for turning its craft as entertainment.

From 2000 to 2008, Trading Spaces connected audiences around the world with a cast and crew that remains iconic for design-obsessed, reality-show enthusiasts.

Its episodes paired two sets of neighbours with a professional designer and a paltry budget of $1000 to redecorate a room in each other's homes.

Trading Spaces' host Paige Davis kept tabs on everyone — and kept emotions running high — while keeping watch over 13 carpenters (Remember, Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? Or how about Amy Wynn Pastor — one of the first female carpenters highlighted on TV?) and 21 designers. (Of course you remember the always-barefoot Genevieve Gorder, the mad genius Hildi Santo-Tomas — and well, probably every single polarizing designer it featured.)

Remember, Hildi's straw wallpaper?

 

And so, the design show that started it all is back — with some changes. (But don't worry, Trading Spaces is keeping its signature emotive formula.)

How about that couple who HATED Doug's fireplace?

Yes, our dear designers return, with a few new faces. The homeowners' budget has had a makeover though: the budget has now jumped to $2000. (Far more in line with cost-of-living increases than salaries, right?)

So, with an extra $1000, and a whole lot of anticipation, Trading Spaces may just re-design TV again.

Toronto