Thanks so much for this terrific study of Arsenic Green. There were many jobs that fatal or injurious to workers (often so impoverished they had no choice but to stay with the industry that was killing them) in the textiles and fashion industry. Example include that urine was often used as bleaching agent (barf) and…

My wife & I were on a Season 2 episode with our neighbor/best friends. The hay episode had just happened and we spent a lot of time that was cut joking with Hildi about the possibility that things could be pried off and eaten by children.

I remember hearing that too. I thought they were just “provocative” and were taken during a fundraiser or something like that.

Do you have more stories? I’d love to hear them...

Oh, man. I will never forget Genevieve’s moss wall with the glued down uneven slate tiles. What a mess.

Trading Spaces was one of my first jobs in showbusiness. Two interesting things;

This actually is one of the things that I’m surprised isn’t remarked on more as a progressive matter — a lot of home design and real estate shows feature same sex and/or interracial couples with no attempt to draw attention to the fact that there’s anything “different” about the couple.

Hildy was a bitch. I am pretty sure she tried to do the most outlandish and ugly things just to see if she could get people to agree to it. I mean seriously do you ever think she would look at an actually client paying her a lot of money and say “I see hay or silk flowers everywhere”. No she was just trying to do…

This was such a great tradition with my in-laws (from before they became my in-laws). We’d sit around and watch; my wife and her mom would critique the styles and I and my future father-in-law would express surprise and disdain for much of the construction techniques.

I remember one episode where one of the participants did not want anything to happen to an upholstered chaise lounge that had been her mother’s. The team painted it with black paint. It seemed so mean spirited. The paint wasn’t even dry during the reveal; it was like the designer did it on purpose to make a point that…

That designer who redid the fireplace was ALWAYS doing stuff like that. People would say “Do whatever you want but don’t touch this” and he’d Go “Lets touch this!” He was such a dick about it too. Hated him. But man I forgot how much I liked Paige as the host. When Trading Spaces went to the host-less format was when…

Does anyone remember the episode that Chris Hardwick was in? He was just as obnoxious then as he is now (more, since now he’s learned to tone it down a bit). Now that he’s found success being obnoxious on tv, everytime I see a promo for one of his shows, I think “I still remember you from Trading Spaces, jackass.”

I remember a period where it felt like Hildi and Doug were in a competition to see who could displease a homeowner the most, which culminated in an episode they were both on where one did an all-white room and the other an all-black room. They did a lot to kill my enjoyment of the show, which for years seemed to at…

Weird tangential Trading Places story. Paige Davis had made the tabloids for dropping trou while standing on a table at a bar (she was fired shortly after). I was working at a car dealership, and was telling one of my coworkers about it. He wanted to see for himself, but this was before mobile phones were searching…

The main thing I recall about any of these decorating shows is how horribly they decorated and the very ugly colors and pieces. Not everyone wants modern! Not everyone wants uncomfortable furniture! Learn to decorate in more than one style!

What I remember most about that show was how mean-spirited it was. If someone goes out of their way to discuss a cherished memento, you know the designer will sand/paint/destroy it. If someone hates a color, you know that’s going to be the color on the walls. If someone expresses pride in a previous home improvement…

It was one of the first non-scripted, non-adventure type shows, to feature gay and lesbian couples, without comment.

It got sooo real, when one couple was just like f-it. And completely didn’t take into consideration what the other homeowner said. There were many tears, and REAL drama. There ain’t no drama, like someone tearing down your fireplace, when you just specifically said that that is the reason you bought this house to…

Personal favorite was the episode where they found a huge framed boudoir photo of the wife and put it over the fireplace. She was pissed.

I remember the fireplace lady saying in an interview that the way they covered the fireplace and ran electrical also turned out to be a terrible fire hazard.