Since the start of quarantine, many have had to stay at home for work, sometimes with family. Dining rooms have been turned into makeshift offices for multiple people, conveniently right next to the living room where someone's watching a little bit too much HGTV.
HGTV features reality programming that centers around home improvement and renovation. Some of their most popular shows include Property Brothers, Love It or List It, and Flip or Flop. Truthfully, no one starts watching these shows with the intent to learn how to flip a house. They're just nice to watch since they don't have an intense plotline to follow, nor do they have the hair-ripping drama reality TV typically has. Also, it's immensely satisfying and even wish-fulfilling to see a dumpy looking house transform into a clean, fresh, and functional home. And after 7 months of passively (or obsessively) watching HGTV during quarantine, it seems everyone has learned a thing or two about home renovation.
The Things Everyone MUST Have
On every episode on HGTV, an open kitchen means life, love, and laughter, and most of the homeowners' already tiny budget goes into kitchen renovation. Everyone who buys a nearly 100 year old house in Hometown jumps into tearing down the wall separating the kitchen and the living room as if the wall personally murdered their entire families and spat on their bodies. Also, a screened-in porch never looked so delicious until the Johnsons brought it up. Sure, perhaps one never felt the need to sit outside amongst the cobwebs and dusty porch furniture with a cup of coffee that gets too cold too fast because it's windy and 60 degrees outside. But maybe, just maybe, one might want to do that at some point in the distant future.
There Is Definitely Something Iffy About Every Home
No one really questioned the 5 by 6 closet/water heater room upstairs until Hilary Farr of Love It or List It nearly fainted at the sight of one at a house. Nor did anyone think twice about the two-toned yellow and red paint in the downstairs dining room until they saw how gorgeous gray paint would look with some nice wood paneling. Ugh, who's idea was it to paint the dining room like that--oh. Oh yeah. Also, white-tiled backsplash with pine cabinets is absolutely sinful. What is this, the 90's? And finally, never DIY home projects; that situation always ends up looking like those cryptic "unsettling images with Minecraft music" compilation videos on YouTube.
No One Can Get Everything They Want
Budget, budget, budget. One of the most important elements in every HGTV show. A good budget could make the difference between a cute 5 bedroom 8 bathroom beach house to an atrocious 1 bedroom 1/2 bathroom apartment in the middle of LA. Unfortunately, there is rarely an instance where homeowners can afford to get everything they want. That means sacrificing a luscious master bathroom, or even something like a mudroom, which apparently is a room for taking off shoes that may or may not be dirty. Which makes sense for anyone who lives in the snow or where it rains a lot. But Karen and her husband live in Southern California where the changing seasons are nonexistent, she can't just give the Property Brothers a budget of $3 to give her a mudroom and claim she can't live without it!
Overall, HGTV has got people rethinking the look of their new home offices. The only thing that still needs to be featured is how to make a game room full of Amiibos, figurines, art prints, and movie posters look somewhat HGTV worthy. If neon LED lights don't seem to be on any episode of any show, then perhaps it's time to change things up.