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American Morning

Interview with Paige Davis, Doug Wilson from TLC's "Trading Spaces"

Aired April 17, 2002 - 09:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Every day some five million people tune in to one of cable TV's hottest shows, "Trading Spaces," on TLC. The show's premise is pretty simple and at the same time pretty outrageous.

Neighbors swap their houses for 48 hours, and with a $1,000 budget and some help from a professional decorator, they redecorate a room in each other's home. The before and after looks can be strikingly different and, as you might expect, the reactions from the folks next door can also be extreme.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.

PAIGE DAVIS, HOST, "TRADING SPACES": Is this a good "oh, my gosh?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

DAVIS: Is it a good "oh, my gosh?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.

DAVIS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But sometimes the radical redos do not go over so well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy, she's not happy. She's really not happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So is it home improvement or revenge?

Joining us now, Paige Davis, the host of "Trading Spaces," and Douglas Wilson, the show's decorator. Thanks for being with us.

The show is great. Now...

DAVIS: Doug thinks he's the only show's decorator, but actually there are five other decorators.

COOPER: OK, one of six.

DOUGLAS WILSON, DECORATOR, "TRADING SPACES: I don't think that. How dare you say that.

DAVIS: Just teasing you, honey.

COOPER: So tell us about -- I mean the premise of the show. How does the show work, Paige?

DAVIS: Well you definitely have the premise down right. These rooms are decorated in two days. It's all kept secret so the neighbors spend the night in each other's home and they don't see their finished room until the end of the second day. They have no say what happens in their own home.

COOPER: But the neighbors volunteer for this?

DAVIS: The neighbors write in. Yes, they take the risk and they do it. But the rooms have to be completed in the two-day time. Each room has to be done for under $1,000.

COOPER: Right.

DAVIS: They get the assistance of a professional designer and they also get the assistance of a professional carpenter.

COOPER: Well now, Doug, do most of these people have taste? I mean...

WILSON: Well we're there to nurture that taste and bring it to a -- to another level.

COOPER: I see (ph).

WILSON: Generally they've come to us because they don't know what to do with their rooms and we're there to nudge them into a new direction and broaden their horizons and look at their space in a new way.

COOPER: OK, very -- a very political view.

We're showing you a before and after of one of your rooms. Now I think this is the Seattle house, is it?

WILSON: Yes. Yes, this is Triola (ph).

COOPER: Right, this is a house in Seattle. The room, I guess that's the before, this is the after? DAVIS: Yes.

WILSON: Correct.

COOPER: Wow, it looks great. Looks pretty amazing.

WILSON: Well that's what I thought.

DAVIS: It looks fantastic.

COOPER: Here's another -- it looks fantastic. All right, no, but now the -- this has sort of become legendary, the couple's reaction was not quite what anyone expected. We're going to show a little bit of it and then we'll talk about it. This is the -- this is why everyone is so addicted to the show I think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Boy, she's not happy. She's really not happy.

DAVIS: Is there anything that you can see in the room to fix certain elements of it to make it better for the two of you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even know where to start. I mean I see one piece of furniture that looks remotely like the way I left it and the rest of it is just so not us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Oh my God. Well I -- you could hear the woman sobbing off camera in the background.

WILSON: Yes.

COOPER: Have you talked to these people since? How did -- how have they dealt with this?

WILSON: Well after the show we had the reveal, I went and talked to her. And I -- you know I apologized for, you know, her not, you know, liking the room. You know it was something that I really thought that she would have walked in...

COOPER: The room looked great.

WILSON: Yes, I mean I was really thrilled with it. I think it's one of my best rooms on the show. Unfortunately, you know she wasn't ready for a big change. And she was stuck on the fireplace. They didn't want it touched. And I really felt that the fireplace was a weak architectural element in the room and needed to be brought to...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Yes, it was like a ratty, like 70's ugly fireplace.

WILSON: Yes, so we covered it with a wood facade. So we didn't paint the fireplace, we covered it. And they weren't ready for that sort of change, unfortunately.

COOPER: And probably they're still not ready for it. Is the room -- did they keep the room or did they try to revert -- they tore it all out?

WILSON: No, they did tear down the facade and repainted the chocolate brown walls, but...

COOPER: What are people's reactions like in general? I mean, you -- you get a wide mix.

DAVIS: Well, I would definitely say that a majority of the time people love their room. In fact, I would say a whopping majority of the time we see tears of joy.

COOPER: Right.

DAVIS: But there are those few instances where people are very disappointed. But their expectations are so high, and they've worked so hard, and they're exhausted and they're very vulnerable.

COOPER: Well now what if some neighbor I mean doesn't like his or her next-door neighbor and decides -- I mean, what kind of visions do most people come to you with? Do they have a clear plan in mind or...

WILSON: Well, I think...

COOPER: ... is it in some cases revenge that they don't like each other?

DAVIS: We'd like a new valance and we'd like some storage. And some color would be nice.

WILSON: One thing that happens is...

COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

DAVIS: Right.

WILSON: Yes, it's pretty generic, you know, direction. One of the things, they've been working in a home where they may be working with green for two days and all of a sudden they come back into a chocolate brown walls. You know, so it's a shock. It's going to be a shock no matter, you know, what you expect.

DAVIS: I think even when homeowners love their room, it's still a shock...

WILSON: Yes.

DAVIS: ... because although you've been working on your neighbor's room for so long, I mean it's like Doug said, you basically left your house, went to sleep and came home and your room was so dramatically and drastically different that it's...

COOPER: Right.

DAVIS: And it's going to be jarring.

COOPER: Well the show is "Trading Spaces." It's -- it was based on the British "Changing Rooms," I think?

WILSON: Yes.

COOPER: Yes.

WILSON: Correct, yes.

DAVIS: They're sort of our mother ship.

COOPER: Right, yes. It's on TLC Monday through Friday 4:00?

DAVIS: Eastern.

COOPER: And Saturday the premiere at 8:00?

DAVIS: 8:00 Eastern and Sundays at noon.

COOPER: Great. You guys are on all the time, my God.

DAVIS: You really can't turn on TLC without seeing us.

WILSON: Yes.

COOPER: All right, Paige Davis, Doug Wilson, thanks very much.

WILSON: Thank you, Anderson.

DAVIS: Thank you.

COOPER: All right.

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