162 replies to this topic

[Sugarwater]

The Novogratz used to have a reality show on Bravo about their family and their design company called 9 by Design. The kids were adorable. The parents were annoying. HGTV got rid of the kids and kept the parents.

http://www.hgtv.com/.../bio/index.html

Home by Novogratz, Saturdays 10/9c, premiering July 16 on HGTV.

Cortney and Robert Novogratz, the young, hip and artsy couple, team up in HGTV’s Home by Novogratz to develop and design unique properties in Manhattan and beyond. Both from large families and both with parents who were decorating enthusiasts, the couple moved to New York in 1995. Every project they work on turns funky into fabulous, with every detail considered and executed with the utmost taste.

Robert and Cortney scour the world often for interesting pieces and then install the prized items in home projects. When creating the vision for the spaces, they select distinctive architectural details throughout, forge exclusive finishes on the floors and then decorate each room with rare collectibles — creating a distinctive and spectacular design.

Robert and Cortney have been profiled in The New York Times, The Times of London, Sunday Styles, Italian Vogue Casa, Architectural Digest, Emirates Home, Interni, Oprah, Family Circle, Daily Candy, T Magazine, Elle and Living, Etc.

Robert and Cortney are the parents of seven children and reside in New York City. To learn more, check out their website, www.sixxdesign.com.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jul 8, 2011 @ 12:01 PM.
Added quote tags

[InnerCanuck]

The kids were adorable. The parents were annoying. HGTV got rid of the kids and kept the parents.

And that pretty much sums up HGTV... I was mildly interested in the designs of these two on the Bravo show, but not willing to put up with the Bravo-mandated *DRAMA* so gave up on it pretty quickly. Will check in and see if HGTV tames that part & ups the design quotient.

[ava24]

I really liked the kids, and I really like their (the parents) design style, so I'll be watching. I just hope it feels "real," without manufactured "tension" between the two of them.

[NYdreaming]

Never saw their Bravo program but I remember them doing promo spots various places. Besides allowing their kids to roam around sets aimlessly during interviews and demos, they went out of their way to make sure everyone understood they're "young, hip and artsy" as mentioned above. If you have to tell me -

[FlockRapid]

I have to admit, as much as I liked the kids, I am glad this new show isn't going to be focusing on the family dynamic. Perhaps the Novogratz parents realized that kids need to be kids first, before they grow up and learn to whore themselves on tv. I think these might be the first "we're a bizarre family" parenting team on tv that stepped back from the edge.

[Sugarwater]

I was a bit disappointed in this show. It was quite boring. They did briefly show the kids. The baby, Major, is getting so big and is a real cutie. Tallulah has really slimmed down and is so much taller than Bellamy now.

The master bedroom of the beach house was cool in a teenage kind of way. I hated the pink stove and blue refrigerator and I normally am a big color person. The rest of the house was just...eh.

Bob is still annoying, especially when he was doing that constant giggle as they were revealing the house.

[Grund]

I guess they prove that anyone can be a designer...and what was with Bob trying to look like a 22 year old hipster?

[Tahitian Moon]

Well some things never change. Bob still has a face that was made for punching and Courtney's voice is like nails on a chalkboard. This show managed to be both annoying and boring at the same time. I actually think their house from the Bravo show was amazing, but I think they are one trick ponies. That surf-shack was not appealing, and it seemed really juvenile (not rock and roll edgy). HGTV gave a show to the wrong Bravo famewhores (it shoulda been Thom Filicia!)

[OSM Mom]

There was an article in my local paper about the couple and the show. They included a couple of pics of their "designs". Ugly, gaudy, juvenile were 3 words that we used to describe what we saw. No way in hell I'm watching this mess.

[Cgr]

I watched, never saw the Bravo show, may watch again. But that kitchen had no dishwasher--a must have in my opinion. Didn't much like the tiny blue fridge. It went back 40 yrs and was not big enough for modern day TV dinners!
The bedroom was not good unless you are between 12 and 15. And excuse me all those wrinkles in the paper were laziness. Just go back to the depression and use newspaper for the walls.

[InnerCanuck]

Meh... I watched the very beginning, FF'd to the wallpaper being put up in the living room, then FF'd again to the reveal.

Did like the painted stairs, perfectly beachy but not exactly original. Loved the smallish armchairs at the dining table - they were a little short in the back, but the fabric & the acrylic legs were terrific. Hated the furniture placement in the living room. Who got the street art bedroom?

As for the SMEG...they've had a real revival in the past few years, especially in the UK. Love that retro look, though I covet the one with the Union Jack door! If the house is a beach house, and thus mostly used at weekends or a couple of weeks at a time in summer, then the fridge is perfectly well-sized. We're used to the much larger fridges in this country - depending on your usage, smaller is better on a lot of levels.

I may give the show one more shot, but don't be surprised if I FF through the middle ten minutes again!

[Paula in Playa]

I liked it more than I expected. But I could do without Robert. How much did he actually do?

For a beach house, I thought it was o.k. I liked the Smeg (although I lust after Union Jack one, too!) and the pink range. I even kinda liked the graffiti'd bedroom. If it was strictly a weekend place, I could deal.

I'm sooooo sick of real estate shows, that I'll probably watch this one just to get a little my design fix!

[NYdreaming]

Happy to see another design show but other than the stairs and collage, it was all downhill (or downstairs) from there. Even if I were a 22 yr old surfer chick, believe the posters (both up and downstairs) and wallpaper would have been ripped down by the time those two returned to Manhattan. The wallpaper colors were fine but the place screamed 16 yr-old boy fantasy to us.

I could go on and on but IMHO, the lack of a cohesive space plan was the major issue plus a coordinated lighting plan (within the space plan). Nothing like starting a regular-sized kitchen with large stove and then completing it (???) without a dishwasher and minute refrigerator, standing alone instead of built-in with additional pantry space. Did the girls provide that small double bed in the bedroom, even though they had room for at least a queen? Hope they have a budget for additional lighting and seating.

Liked the head/foot dining chairs with the lucite legs but doubt anyone could stand them for more than 15 minutes. (Sorry, they don't look like suitable dining chairs to me, even for surfer chicks.) Oh, they can sub-in the hard, metal folding (?) chairs after they finish using them in the reading corner, haha. At least they don't have to worry about guests overstaying their welcome. Stopping now or won't be able to ...

Edited by NYdreaming, Jul 19, 2011 @ 6:57 PM.

[Joymarie]

I could go on and on but IMHO, the lack of a cohesive space plan was the major issue plus a coordinated lighting plan (within the space plan). Nothing like starting a regular-sized kitchen with large stove and then completing it (???) without a dishwasher and minute refrigerator, standing alone instead of built-in with additional pantry space. Did the girls provide that small double bed in the bedroom, even though they had room for at least a queen? Hope they have a budget for additional lighting and seating.

This show was so odd. They started out by discussing that the budget was $40K. Then they get to the house and it turns out the house needs some real work -- floors, etc. -- so there's hardly any money left to decorate. So they spend all their money on a cutsie stove and fridge and silver wallpaper and graffiti art on the walls. And there's barely any furniture and almost no place to sit down and what furniture exists seemed to small for the space.

It's like HGTV decided to give these two a show but couldn't bother to make any room for it in the budget. Do most design shows use the client's money only?

So about the only take-aways were the paint on the stairs (okay for a beach house but not my thing) and that you can hang a chandelier in the corner rather than over the table (although not sure the chandelier in the corner made any sense to me.)

And this was the debut, which is when they usually show one of the better episodes of the season to suck you in.

It seems like the most interesting thing about these people is that they have a lot of kids with stupid names, but now the kids aren't really in the show so I'm not sure why I'm watching.

Edited by Joymarie, Jul 20, 2011 @ 12:40 AM.

[NYdreaming]

We thought about the budget issue, also, Joymarie. It appeared they started out doing a regular (not cottage or weekender) sized kitchen (sink side) but ended up with a small kitchen - small stand-alone refrigerator and no dishwasher. Plus, they apparently forgot to buy a single table lamp and sufficient seating. Had to wonder if the budget disappeared or it was more poor planning. BTW, loved that reading nook with the chandelier and hard-backed, uncomfortable chair - that was her design tip, no less.

Tried to pull their production information and determine who's contributing the $$$ but couldn't find any. (Does this mean HGTV only ordered a limited number of episodes?) IME, the greater the homeowner contributions, the better the rooms. Funny, when I looked for their info, noticed HGTV's premiering a DOD remake - see the HGTV thread, if anyone's interested.

[toolazy]

Is this the show where they installed a beautiful hardwood floor and promptly painted it pink? Because I stopped watching right there.

[NYdreaming]

IIRC, toolazy, they mentioned sourcing a lower quality hardwood because they planned to paint it. If it makes any difference - I know, I know - what a pita to deal with later.

I nearly turned it off for all of the numerous reasons mentioned above. Didn't since I occasionally learn some design trick that might be applied elsewhere, even when the designers' application of said trick appears off the wall - (Or on, like the posters plus color, lol) Other than that, I gave them a chance for their stupendous premier episode, even though I'm wondering if it's all downhill from here.

[Ima Pilgrim]

Please tell me with all the renovations that beach house needed that jerk didn't spend 6k on a piece of "art". Really?

[Elliot52]

That art was 6K? Yikes, they could have finished the bathroom, the other bedroom and put in a dishwasher for that amount. My daughter is the same age as the girl's buying the house, and she would have really liked the colours and graphics.
The Asian comic stuff is very hot.

[beezer]

I hope you'll all be willing to help publicize my new collage business - I'm calling it 'Glue Stick and Magazines for $6,000, by Beezer.' Seriously? Fucking seriously?!

I never watched the kid version and it just came on and they said they were redoing the house for $40k and it clearly needed a lot of work so I thought 'oh, coo... what the hell are you loons doing?!'

The one sister loves to cook - so spend money on a fucking pink stove, blue retro fridge instead of, call me crazy here, COUNTERSPACE? That kitchen could not have been laid out worse if they'd tried. Word to the lack of dishwasher but the lack of counterspace and weirdo sink placement that took up that much room were just ridiculous. One square of counter, off to the side of the stove but NOT between the stove and the sink, that was a tiny thing. Just...

The chandelier in the corner made no sense. Fine, chandeliers don't need to be centered - do they need to be hanging by the side of the television far across from and to one side of the seating area?

The stairs were just... I actually wondered if that effect would throw people off looking up or down but regardless, yes, it does look like a playhouse. How the fuck old are you two?

I cannot with painting the floors - and painting them that horrid shade of mauve. That was not pink. I have a nice, fairly new, HD tv and that was a dusky, fugly mauve.

I further cannot with the "artist" slapping shit onto the walls and then randomly spraying it with pink. He was right, it was certainly hipsterish. Loved the 'see all the bubbles, it doesn't have to be perfect!' but it could have been, see.

That place could have been really nice and beachy with the whitewashed stairs, shades and then pick a damn idea and stick with it. That was my biggest wtf with the place - aside from that there were 42 pinky shades everyplace, there was zero cohesion. Didn't she say they liked shabby chic? How hard would that be in a BEACH HOUSE?

The dining area was a bit shabby chic-ish (but not really) the kitchen had contemporary, minimalist cabinets (which didn't go with ANYTHING) and countertops, retro-lookingish fridge, pink yet modern-looking stove (why not get a retro stove? Oh, because everything else looks like it wandered over from Ikea? Didn't stop you idiots when you bought the fridge), totally modern, minimalist fixtures and what the hell??

The living room was Paris Hilton modernist with the wallpaper and cheap-looking couch, the stairs were overly cutsey and the upstairs was some kind of 12-year-old hipster-wanna be fantasy - with a countryish wrought iron bed. Nothing went with anything else and 'there're shades of pink splattered around' is not cohesion.

God what a fucking mess. The money they wasted on the appliances (I'm all for spending on a quality appliance but not to make one pink), the "art," however much they paid the graffiti guy, the money I can't even begin to think about that they spent having the stairs striped just... people LIVE there. I'd rather have a really comfortable couch than a retro fridge stuck in an entirely non-retro kitchen (except for the yet again don't-go-with-anything subway tiles), or a nice couch, a couple nice big comfy chairs and a stained floor than that little dumbass collage, but ... uhm, wait, I didn't mean that.

Anyone interested in purchasing one of Beezer's famous Glue Stick and Magazine creations before I hit the gallery circuit and you can't afford one, please contact me forthwith. My first creations will be themed around.... let's see... cheap eats from NY Mag.

Edited by beezer, Jul 21, 2011 @ 9:51 PM.

[NYdreaming]

I heard the gallery owner/clerk quote him $3,500 on one collage but thought he bought the cheaper one for $2,200. WRT their selections, IMHO the colored appliances would have been exorbitant, i.e. the biggest "budget busters". If they hadn't bought those, bet they could have at least built-in the fridge together with some pantry storage and placed a dishwasher by the sink. Incidentally, love to see how they fare at resale, too.

I liked the colors, too but would have preferred different graphics, even at 22. The wallpaper design reminded me of those truck flaps (or auto shop posters) some younger guys buy. WRT the poster installation, hope they negotiated a discount on the bubble job -

ETA: We posted simultaneously, beezer, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you agree with my previous comment re: space planning. I've never seen these two before but they're supposedly the designers to the stars? They're welcome to them, IMHO. Or more likely, they're Bravo wanna'be celebrities themselves?

Edited by NYdreaming, Jul 21, 2011 @ 9:47 PM.

[beezer]

Totally agree - though the utterly nonsensical stylistic thing was more befuddling to me.

But yeah, the kitchen was a hot mess, the bedroom I didn't understand - like make the walls insanely busy and then the bed takes up the entire space placed the way it was.

The living area was just - tv on one wall, couch on the other wall, when it was a bigass space they could have done a lot with. Especially given they said they'd have family and stuff over - great, everyone has to sit in a line on the couch and stare at the busy pnik wall with the tv. Don't kill yourselves making seating or conversation areas there.

And what the hell does the sweaty guy do, btw? He just kind of popped up, bought the "art" and popped up in the corner a couple of times, grinning like a mentally challenged child molester.

[Joymarie]

I've never seen these two before but they're supposedly the designers to the stars?

In the other show, they bought houses in New York and gutted and rehabbed them. Since that doesn't pay anymore, now they're designers. I guess.

There was an article about this show in the NYT. It talked about how the two of them have totally different styles--Robert is edgy and Courtney likes Bohemian or something like that--and it's all about how they merge the two. Which sounded sort of interesting. But that's not what happened here at all.

The other thing I thought was strange was that wallpaper usually comes in a roll, and they did I think one feature wall, but only halfway down the wall, so they must have had a shitload left over. Or maybe they got what was left from someone else's house.

I missed that they spent thousands on the "collage" wall. I think my brain couldn't process that.

Edited by Joymarie, Jul 21, 2011 @ 11:13 PM.

[beezer]

They didn't say how much they spent on the graffiti "artist" and his collage wall, that I heard - the little collage in the shadowbox with the picture of a surfer and the word "SURFING" cost thousands.

[NYdreaming]

Interesting info, Joymarie. Sounds like a career change ala Jeff Lewis of Bravo's FO (my only Bravo experience). Bet you're correct about that wallpaper, too. Certainly looked like the 2 geniuses ran out of moolah.

Agree, beezer, they didn't mention the poster-art's cost. (Hope it was promotional.) Heard $2,200 for the surfing collage. BTW, I never saw Bob do much of anything, either. Courtney enlightened us with those incredible design tips. So much for the stupendous collaboration.

Still curious if the 2 women flip for the tiny double bed. Or, do they force the holder of the short straw to enjoy that gorgeous pink floor (will that paint peel - did they seal it?) and be confronted with those posters in the a.m.?

This was such a train-wreck, hot mess that I'll be forced to tune in at least one more time. Plus, I can't resist any design programming in lieu of the endless HH and other RE - HH clones.

Edited by NYdreaming, Jul 22, 2011 @ 6:56 AM.

[beatsurrender]

Ok, it doesn't hurt that I am the exact same demographic as the clients, but I LOVED the beach house. The fridge, the 60's Asian bombshell art, the chandelier, the white and pastel kitchen. I want to buy that wallpaper just to look at it because it would fit nowhere in my tiny NYC apartment. The painted floor and overpriced art were cringe-inducingly impractical, but I expect at least something ridiculous like that on tv.

I'm pretty new to watching hgtv, and but I now watch some of the other shows just for the train wreck factor -- usually either a boring suburban remodel (let's tear out a cute 40's vintage kitchen and put in the Home Depot Showroom for 60k!) or some shit where they pretty much tear down half the house and rebuild it ("your living room is now a built in karaoke studio!"). I like shows like this where they're injecting personality using methods that I would have access. Learning about custom built architectural elements does me no good in real life, but I can certainly get inspired by stylisthat elements that appeal to younger, more urban demographics, and that I can deploy on a smaller scale in real life.

[blanccorail]

Did that get product placement money because that's the only thing that can explain why anyone would spend $5000.00 on a pink stove for a home that needs a gut renovation. I also believe in quality appliances but someone who needs to renovate and furnish a home has some seriously fucked up priorities if more than 10% is being spent on a stove.

As others have pointed out the design was a hot mess - The only thought I had when I saw the cabinets was that perhaps some demented designer was going for a retro look by trying to replicate the cheap ass metal kitchen cabinets that were put in some older homes years back.

This show makes no sense. I can't imagine that expert advice for a crappy old home wouldn't be to spend the $40,000 on structural types of things and not waste it on decor because you can always get cheap decor items and then gradually replace. Isn't that what normal people do - spend money on necessary structural items - floors - kitchens - bathrooms - and then furnish as affordable.

ETA - I actually didn't mind the design elements themselves such as the wallpaper or the graphics. I only thought in the context of the show they were a hot mess because of the whacked out priorities.

Edited by blanccorail, Jul 22, 2011 @ 2:21 PM.

[lizziefitz]

I thought the poor kitchen remodel might have been a reflection of the budget limitations--enough to buy a pink stove, not enough to move water and gaslines, so they just plugged new items in the old spots. I wonder if the refrigerator was a gimme, as the brand name was so prominently displayed. Given that the floors needed to be redone and the stairs rebuilt, I thought they got a fair amount done. But I'm sure that living room wallpaper wasn't cheap, and I didn't see the point of having a chandelier in the corner if it didn't illuminate much of the room.

[car54]

I saw a preview of another episode....looks like the painting crap up the stairs is going to be a recurring theme for them.

I liked their Bravo show for the most part--but could not like this surfer house at all--and the vibe they put on of how cool they are is freakin annoying. Just decorate, people, and we'll know you are cool.

[NYdreaming]

WRT appliances, IIRC, Courtney recommended spending a large % of your reno budget on appliances because you'll supposedly get it back on resale. Because of her "tip", I assumed they'd paid for those appliances. I know - doesn't necessarily mean they did.

Happy to hear you liked it, beatsurrender. When I watched it, I tried to imagine my 22 year old self and didn't believe I'd have like it. Just personal preference and YMMV. Even though I called it a hot mess, I love design and will continue watching. Didn't care for the particular graphic they selected for the posters but that's one idea I might adapt and use in another form some day.

If you don't mind my asking, in your demographic, beatsurrender, if you were buying this place, would you consider the resale situation WRT the pastel appliances? If you considered it, would you hope to find another specific buyer who appreciates them? Of the ideas you liked, which would you use in your own place and how? Sorry to bother you - I was just happy to see another view on the thread. BTW, if you like the wallpaper, have you considered snagging either some samples or a small quantity of it and framing it or making a collage or shadowbox with some other colors? Sorry - my DIY thoughts.

I'm not into beige and boring, either. Just hoping these two can actually complete the next place and present something more cohesive, together with the creativity.

Edited by NYdreaming, Jul 23, 2011 @ 6:50 PM.