April 6, 2007
It's Goil, "like gargoyle," as he himself likes to put it. Goil Amornvivat, the Yale-educated architect brought this sense of humor and unique sensibility to his time on "Top Design," and made it all the way to the final four. He took time from his busy schedule to answer BuddyTV's questions about his experiences on the show and his future plans. He also offers some additional insight into his design ideas for some of his rooms featured on the show.
April 5, 2007
Originally aired on Wednesday, 04/04/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: Matt, Carisa and Andrea all compete for a spot in the final two in a relatively straightforward challenge to create luxury on a budget.
Episode Highlights:
- The designers are charged with creating a luxury living room inspired by an Elle Décor cover, but have limited funds.
- Carisa and her carpenter Carl argue and eye-roll their way through another challenge.
- The rooms are judged and the final two are selected.
Recap:
The final three designers have been selected and are all focused on getting through this challenge and down to the Top Design final two. Andrea Keller is surprised that Carisa Perez-Fuentes is still in the competition, thinking that her design style has been pretty consistently one-note. Carisa, on the other hand, is surprised that Andrea is still there, thinking with her architecture background, she has been struggling to show a truly finished room.
March 29, 2007
Originally aired on Wednesday, 03/28/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: The final four compete for a spot in the final three and for a spread in Metropolitan Home magazine as they design a luxury hotel suite.
Episode Highlights:
- The designers get to take a field trip to the Viceroy Hotel and judge the judge: its designer is Kelly Wearstler.
- It might seem like a repeat, but it’s not: Carisa has problems again with her carpenter and Goil has problems with keeping his cool.
- A carpenter has a nasty encounter with a saw.
March 23, 2007
Originally aired on Wednesday, 03/21/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: Five designers are left and they are free, finally, to work alone on this week’s project: designing a chef’s table for a mystery guest.
Episode Highlights:
- As the designers head into the final stretch, they at last have the chance again to work solo to show their design style.
- Carisa Perez-Fuentes and Goil Amornvivat continue to be a little frazzled as they pull together their looks.
- The mystery judge makes his appearance, and it’s a face familiar to Bravo viewers.
Recap:
There are just five designers left and the big question is: do we still care?
March 15, 2007
Originally aired on Wednesday, 03/14/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: The remaining six designers have to work as a team (again?!) to plan and design a party tent for this week's product placement.
Episode Highlights:
- Top Design continues to test my patience by having the designers yet again work in a team AND work on a project that is just totally boring.
- Carisa and Michael carry on the friction that was established in last week's episode.
- Goil has a little meltdown.
Recap:
This week on Top Design, Todd Oldham tells the designers that they will be creating a party for Bicardi Limon, and, once again, they will be working in teams. Matt Lorenz says he is completely over working in teams. Hear hear: I'm over watching the designers work in teams. With only six people left, why do teams? It makes it difficult for the home viewer to really see any one individual's strength and style. And the intra-team conflicts just make nearly every contestant seem unlikable, so I feel totally indifferent as to the outcome.
Honestly, I'm getting to be a little over Top Design in general. I'm usually willing to give Bravo pretty wide latitude with their reality shows, but this one is turning into a snoozer. So let's just get through it, I guess.
March 8, 2007
Originally aired on Wednesday, 03/08/2007
Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: The designers have to work in a team to re-design a garage. Seriously. Yes, it's boring.
Episode Highlights:
• In order to build an entire episode around the vehicle that sponsors the show, the designs have to all work together to clean and re-design a garage; this is not a good idea for an episode.
• Carisa's working style continues to rub the other designers the wrong way.
• Ryan's continues to be ambivalent about interior design in general, and this challenge specifically.
Recap:
This week's Top Design challenge is, at host Todd Oldham tells the designers assembled outside the Pacific Design Center, "a family affair." And, as if by magic, a family appears in this Bravo show's painfully-awkward-product-placement-mobile.
March 1, 2007
This week, Bravo isn’t airing a new Top Design so we decided to take a look out in the blogosphere to find out: what do working designers think of Top Design? Tops or Nots?
Retail Design Diva, a retail design weblog, thinks the show features “some phenomenal up-and-coming talent” and that it’s “an added bonus to the show is the sneak peak into the personalities of some of the top leaders in the design world today” via judges Jonathan Adler and host Todd Oldham.
February 27, 2007
Currently working on a house in Cape Town, South Africa, Felicia Bushman has been quite busy since being eliminated on Top Design during last week's episode. Though in the past Felicia's designs had pleased the judges, last week's room prompted the client to say that if she lived there she'd "shoot [he]rself." Felicia took time from her hectic design schedule to talk to BuddyTV about her experience on the show, her issues with the time limits, and her consistently positive attitude.
What was your motivation for going on a reality show?
Mostly exposure. I love what I do and it was a chance to show a great number of people rather than just the clients I work for. I am also very competitive, love a challenge, it excites me.