Quirky home remodeling show comes to MaineFoster's Online (June 17, 2002) CUMBERLAND, Maine (AP) — The ranch-style home of Ellen and Daryl Quinn is undergoing a kitchen renovation, but the couple have no idea what the results will be. "I hope the cabinets go, I hate birch," Ellen Quinn said. "But I just had a new floor put in, so I hope they don’t touch that." Why the mystery? The Quinns were selected to be on the quirky home remodeling show "Trading Spaces," a cult hit which is going into its third season on cable TV. On Friday, the Quinns were preparing for the arrival of a "Trading Spaces" crew of 32 people along with some 15 vehicles, including two or three tractor-trailer trucks. The shoot was due to begin Sunday, with the Quinns and a "Trading Spaces" designer getting a $1,000 budget and two days to re-do the kitchen in the home of their neighbors, Joyce and Steven Frost. Joyce and Ellen are sisters. At the same time, the Frosts will be remodeling the Quinns’ kitchen with a designer and $1,000. Neither couple will be able to see or influence the work in their own home. The "Trading Spaces" crew films episodes all over the country, and will be in Maine until early next week. After filming an episode with the Quinns and the Frosts this past weekend, the crew was scheduled to do two more episodes at other locations in southern Maine. By Monday night, the Quinns and Frosts were to be filming the show’s always-climactic final scene. Like all "Trading Spaces" participants, the couples will be brought into their renovated rooms with their eyes shut. Homeowners’ reactions to the redesign have ranged from shouts and tears of joy to gasps of horror and tears of agony. "Oh, that’s what you wait for the whole show, that reaction at the end," said Melissa Swett of South Portland, an avid watcher who was interviewed to be on the show this week but was not accepted. "When they cry because they like it, that’s nice, but sometimes they cry because they don’t like it." "Trading Spaces" is aired on the TLC cable channel on weekdays at 4 p.m., Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at noon. Its producers get between 75 and 100 applications a day from people eager to get a $1,000 renovation project. |
