COVER STORY
>>
43
LIVING GREEN
working with all these designers – 12, 15 designers – on
“Trading Spaces.” We’d work on a project almost every single
day. You’re constantly experimenting and through practice
you learn what your likes and dislikes are and when you work
in a design space you really get a sense of it.
Describe the décor of your homes in Michigan and
California.
My home in Michigan is farmhouse that’s more than 100
years old. I’ve fixed it up a bit. It has a Victorian farm style
feel, classy and elegant. I tried to work with the Victorian
theme but still tried to bring a more hip version to it. The home
in California is a block off the ocean. It’s clean and contemporary.
It’s very simple and doesn’t have a lot of knicknacks
hanging around. We do a lot of entertaining and that house
works for us. The house in Michigan is very comfortable – the
kind of place you can go back and read a book by the fire and
relax and hang out with family.
How do you explain your popularity with viewers?
What makes me happy is pleasing other people and what I
can do for them. That’s why I feel I’ve had success on television
because I can work with the housewife who just wants a
transformation and I’ll dig deep and find out what she wants.
Her husband just wants her to be happy and I can appeal to his
likes and make sure she ultimately likes the transformation. I’d
definitely attribute my success to being able to work well
with people.
How are the people and homes chosen for your shows?
People write in or e-mail HGTV.com. They send in their room
or whatever it is. Then we narrow it down to the criteria we’re
looking for – a couple with an interesting back story on why
they need a renovation, for example. Then we go to the home
a week in advance and make some of the furniture beforehand.
And then we’re there shooting for only two days. It only takes
two days to do a makeover, but we have a lot of helping hands.
Oosterhouse prides himself on his carpentry skills, especially his ability to build furniture.
>>
/HGTV.com