December 9, 2004


Two Almaden families exchange keys—and decorating styles
(Second in a three-part series on a reality show remodeling experience)

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Now that the paint has dried and the dust has settled on Linwood Drive, the Lee and Hubbard families are sharing what they liked—and didn’t like about their “Trading Spaces Family” experience.

12-year-old Brandon Lee proudly displays his “Trading Spaces Family” shirt, with signatures and personal notes from the cast and crew.

The popular TLC reality show takes two neighboring families who have agreed to surrender their keys and one room in their home to the other for the weekend, knowing they will not be allowed back until the moment of truth. With a $1,000 budget and a designer, they strip, rip, paint—even do homework—for the next two days until either the transformation is complete or they run out of time.

According to Marlies Lee, the adventure started last June, after meeting “Trading Spaces” carpenter Carter Oosterhouse at the Garden Show. An avid fan, she had attempted to sign up for the show a year ago, but found most of the homes selected to be on the East Coast.

“I watch the show and heard he was going to be there,” she said. “We went because Dave wants a putting green out front. While there, somebody asked him when they would be coming out west and he said they were coming in the fall.”

“Carter was definitely on her agenda,” Dave replied.

According to the network’s online application, two families must agree to a list of conditions in order to qualify for consideration. While walking home from Williams with Gina, her 7-year-old daughter, the following Monday, Marlies stopped outside Ann Hubbard’s home and asked if she would be interested in participating.

“She had to ask her husband and then came running back out saying, ‘yes, he said yes!’”

“I have a hobby of applying for reality shows, including ‘Amazing Race’ and ‘Survivor,’” admitted Ann Hubbard, a part-time middle school teacher at Almaden Country School. “I’d never really seen the show and hadn’t heard from the others, so I said yes.”

“I never thought we’d really actually be chosen and I agreed to it all along because of that feeling,” said her husband Cliff, a firefighter with Station 13. “I had no interest what so ever. But my wife really wanted to be in this and this is a good way for me to support her.”

“When I came home, she asked me,” remembered Marlies’ husband Dave, an auto repair shop owner. “Already three people are in on it and I didn’t know about it. I said sure, whatever. Like we were really going to get in.”

Two months later, they received a phone call from the network informing them that they were among the top 20 families still under consideration and a phone interview followed. One month later, a second call came in. They were in the final 10.

“I’m still kind of going, ‘whatever,’” he said, but admitted that reality didn’t set in until four teams arrived to do an in-house videotaped interview and told them they were in the final four.

“I just kept thinking great” added Ann. “One show I haven’t watched and this will be the one I get on.”

“I went, ‘wow it’s getting kind of real now,’” he joked. “Then they called and said we had been picked and they were going to start filming in two weeks.”

Day one found both families signing a “mountain” of waivers, including allowing their minor children to be videotaped, delivering notices to the neighborhood, signing building permits and non-disclosure agreements, and taking measures to ban cameras from their homes. Additionally, pets had to be removed, along with any children under 9. At 7 and 5 years old, arrangements were made to keep Gina Lee and Makena Hubbard with family close by.

“The girls became friends through this,” admitted Marlies. “We were just neighbors before, but now they play all the time. This show definitely sparked their friendship.”

Sixteen-year-old Clifford Hubbard however, was mysteriously absent the entire weekend.

“He wanted nothing to do with the show,” admitted Ann. “He thought he would look un-cool at school. Bummer for him though, a big market share of the show is teenage girls. And they really wanted him on the show. But we couldn’t talk him into it.

Arguably the most intimidating document of all found both families agreeing to pay a hefty $100,000 fine if photos of the rooms leaked out prior to the show’s airdate.

“That’s good discouragement right there,” Dave said. “And they were very good about keeping us in the dark. It was very professional and they didn’t mess around. Although they were mostly kids, it was a huge production and they knew exactly what they were doing.”

Marlies and Dave Lee take in a lesson on furniture recovering 101 from “Trading Spaces” designer Barry Wood.

In all, the “Trading Spaces Family” production consisted of host Joe Farrell and Carter Oosterhouse, traveling carpenter, along with designers Barry Wood and Christie Proctor, designing two very different projects that they say “tested the show’s limits.”

“It still amazes me what we get done in two days,” admits Farrell. “The designers tailor their projects around the people doing them. Here, we did an office/family room and a family room/den. These designs are very interesting and very unique, so it’s going to be very exciting.”

Armed with only videos and written interviews, “Trading Spaces” designers Barry Wood and Christie Proctor soon arrived and after meeting with both families, they surveyed the two rooms for the first time to see how well their plans would fit in.

“I saw Barry after we met Christy and the first thing I said to him was, ‘wow, its you,” said Marlies. “I wish you would work in our house but of course it will be great to be with you at the Hubbard’s place! He was absolutely wonderful and we had a great time working with him.”

“The designers are supposed to have only two carpentry projects,” adds Oosterhouse. “In this case, they had five a piece. We ventured into new territory here and were able to mess around with things that we’ve never messed with before.”

“Even though he was more vocal about what he wanted and she expected a room for him,” Procter said during the taping. “I hope I got enough of both of them to please her too.”
Homework

Once the plans were in place and work was well underway, each family was given a “homework” assignment that, in one case, offered very little in the way of sleep.

“The camera mounted up in the corner is pretty much rolling 24/7,” explains Dave. “You know the homework segment…it’s really homework

“My vision was that they would do all the actual work,” said Cliff. “We were working really hard toward the end to get done in the allotted time. They were very strict, but there was a lot of integrity with the show.”

“All I can say about this episode is that we pushed it to the limit,” added Oosterhouse. “We worked until we couldn’t work anymore. I’m exhausted, but it was a lot of fun.”

Accommodations
Although little emphasis is placed on the sleeping arrangements, when it came time to crawl into a strange bed, everyone agreed it was awkward at first, especially for the men.

“It was strange for about a half hour,” laughs Dave. “We literally worked our tails off. Sleeping in somebody else’s room was kind of awkward until our heads hit the pillow.”

“There was a lot of anxiety,” admitted Cliff. “Here’s all these people I don’t know moving into my house while I’m away. And then staying at somebody else’s house was a little odd as well. But it all worked out great. It was a nice time for us to team up with Shayna. We had a lot of fun together. Besides, we were so tired, we fell right asleep.”

The reveal
With little input on the process, both families accepted the fact that they might not like the outcome and agreed—in writing—to release the show from any disappointment. Even with the legalities out of the way, the cast admits that it hits hard when a family isn’t pleased. Ironically, it had the same effect on Dave Lee.

“The truth is I was totally displeased,” he admitted. “It was not even partially what I wanted. I didn’t like the color and they mounted my projector screen vertically. Still, I think I may have put on the happy face when they did the reveal—these people worked so hard and the camera was right on me. I didn’t want to be the neighbor that doesn’t appreciate hard work. I love the show, but I definitely didn’t put on the face that I was feeling on the inside.”

“There’s so much at risk in not knowing your client,” Wood replied. “We can’t help but take it a little personally.”
Brandon however, is still on the fence.

“I’m in the middle,” he said. “I don’t really like the color, but everything else is fine—except for the screen.”

Ann said she didn’t have any preconceived notions and didn’t like the room anyway.

“We wanted it kept as a place where they could watch TV but still have it function as an office,” she explained. “My only concern was that they’d do something we couldn’t remove.”

“I was, um, surprised,” said Cliff. “We didn’t have any expectations and it was different. I think they tried to accommodate the things we’d asked for though.”

“I love the way our room turned out,” laughed Shayna. “It’s all organized and pretty much just what we asked for.”

The experience
One thing the Hubbards and the Lees agreed on was the end result—not the rooms—the memories.

“Hanging on to Carter was the best part,” admits a giddy Ann Hubbard, with her daughter Shayna.

“We had so much fun,” added Marlies. “We would definitely do it again and it will be interesting to see the show too. We never went to Carpentry World to work with Carter, so we never saw anything.”

Admittedly, Dave’s acceptance of the outcome was based on two factors—diving in with the attitude that there was nothing they could do that he couldn’t change and looking back on the memories.

“It was just awesome,” he exclaimed. “For me, it was about having a positive experience and I had nothing but a positive experience. I just don’t like the room and that can be changed.”

“It was awkward because I had no interest in being on TV,” admitted Cliff. “But I would say that it was much more fun than I expected it to be. I want to see how they did everything in our room. We know how things went at their house, but we don’t know a thing about what happened at our house.”

But mother and daughter both loved it and are now hooked.

“I was really glad I did it,” said Ann. “It was so fun—it just made me want to do more shows though.”

“It was a lot of fun and I think I would like to do it again too,” agreed Shayna. “My friends can’t wait to see me on TV.”

Writer’s note: Our third installment will take you inside both homes for the before and after transformations, along with what you won’t see on TV—an exclusive look at the same rooms three months later. How much have they changed since the crew loaded up and drove away or have they stayed the same? With a tentative airdate of Jan. 2, look for the rest of the story on Jan. 6. For those who missed the first installment [published Sept. 30), the archived story can be found on our Web site: www.almadentimes.com

For more information on “Trading Spaces Family,” including airdates and applications to be on the show, visit http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/tradingspaces/tradingspaces.html.