DS6 - "This Job is about Hosting, anyway"

Cue Artie's jaw dropping. The minute that I heard Jason say: "This job is about hosting anyway" I nearly fell out of my chair! The challenge wasn't about hosting. The job as "Design Star" isn't about hosting. The challenge was to design a room for a child client - one that they would live in, love, but more importantly would show that the person who designed it was indeed a designer.

IF this was a competition about hosting, the name of the show would be "Who wants Clive Pearse's job!" The final 5 seemed to have the same issues they've always had: not enough time.

Dan. My poor Dan. I loved some of the elements that he used this week, considering his client. The young environmentalist wanted a green room, and with the new bamboo floors, reclaimed items and re-used pieces he scored big with on green points. The things that I thought he missed:

1. The finishing touches. I hope he didn't intend to leave the platform base raw pine. The clouds on the mirror were really unnecessary, so I'm actually glad to see that he didn't get time to etch that mirror. Unfortunately though, the tape remains.
2. The colors. I'm not so sure about the greens and blues that he used. I'm a fan of the fuchsia, and I think that it's a great compliment to some of the other details. But the green blue combination seems like the colors are fighting against each other, instead of working with each other.
3. The client wanted something that was "earthy" and this room doesn't read that to me. Even with the blue and green paint.

Torie. You know, her idea for the loft bed with the desk under it was great! I loved the blue with the touch of orange/red, even the "name in lights" concept was a good one. What I didn't like:

1. What's with that fabric? I know that she intended for something else. When she first mentioned it she said "basket weave pattern" and so my guess is that Torie simply ran out of time.

Antonio. Oh Antonio, finally finally finally. Someone took an out of the box idea and proved that there is some potential. What I loved:

1. The rocks. Fantastic.
2. The bed. Storage is such a great thing in a kids room - and he really recognized that.
3. The decals.

You know, I had sorta left Antonio out of my book of potential winners, but he has certainly proven with this room that he has great ideas and loads of potential.

Lonnie. You know, even labeled a one trick pony due to her wall treatments, I think that Lonnie took a room that looked so drab and boring, and made it feel like a young and comfortable room for a guy that will last a long while. Pieces like that ottoman, and the desk will be pieces that her client can take with him to apartments, and even into his first home. I think overall:

1. Lonnie scored a homerun in her design, and in her hosting. I was rather impressed.

And then there was Jason. In his exit interview, Jason said he was embarrassed. America hadn't gotten to see his design style, and even though I understand that, it wasn't because he didn't have a chance to show us.

Saturday night, at a wonderful party my friend "Margaret" and her husband had, I got into an interesting conversation with my landscape designer neighbor about this season's cast. We both recognized how difficult it must be to have that sort of stress on your creative flow, but we agreed that it was also the true test of a design star to be able to creatively think and express an idea even "on your toes". So that's my closing question this week. Who has it?