Trading Spaces S02E46

How thrilled was I to receive a very complimentary email from Trading Spaces designer Vern Yip shortly after TWoP started covering the show, saying how much he enjoyed our recaps? Let's just say: very. I'm a big fan of Vern's work and even when the final results are not necessarily what I would choose for myself, I very much admire his work ethic, the obvious amounts of care he puts into planning and execution, and the respect and consideration he typically shows homeowners. I immediately requested an interview and Vern readily agreed. I finally managed to speak with him in mid-July, as he was returning from taping the first handful of Season Three shows in Maine, and preparing to leave a couple of days later to shoot an episode in Long Island. Vern was incredibly gracious with his time, speaking with me for an hour and a half.

Right after doing the interview, I listened to my tapes, only to discover to my great horror that the middle thirty minutes were missing. That side of the tape was just blank! I knew I'd lost a couple of great anecdotes on that section of the tape. But he had been so incredibly nice and generous with his time already that after I finished kicking my own ass all over my office, I screwed up my courage to tell him what happened and ask if we could repeat the part of the interview I lost. We managed to hook up a couple of days later. Despite having had only about ninety minutes of sleep the night before (as you will learn in this interview, he tends to pull all-nighters as he prepares for each room makeover), he graciously spoke to me again for another half hour. I've made this interview a careful composite of the two separate interviews, but I believe Vern will agree that it represents an accurate picture of our discussions.

Vern genuinely comes across as an extremely fine person, as well as the overachieving, talented architect/designer we've come to know and love on the show. He's energetic, articulate, positive, smart, considerate, and funny. He devotes himself intensely to whatever he takes on, whether it's education, work, or relationships. He's quite a catch, really (and available -- ladies, the line forms to the left).

Deborah: I don't find anything built post-war that I really, really like, in terms of residential architecture. I know you probably do have much more of an appreciation for modern architecture than I do.

Vern Yip: I do. In my practice, I have a lot of modern homes that I'm currently working on, because I do both architecture and interior design. But the house that I live in was actually built in the 1920s.

D: I bet it's gorgeous.

VY: Yeah...it's not really me. Like, the house isn't me. But I love living here. I live in town. I live in a neighbourhood where all the houses are older and from different periods. It has a lot of character to it. I don't like the feeling of moving into a neighbourhood where every third house looks exactly the same.

D: Yes, that's very depressing.

VY: I understand why people do it; people have to move because the schools are good, or their price range dictates that they have to be....

D: Or they just don't care that much about aesthetics, or whatever.

VY: Yeah, I think some people are like that, too. But I think there's a way to...It's so frustrating, because I think there's a way to actually achieve affordable housing that's attractive. I think it just requires too much effort.

D: It's not what developers are interested in putting up. There's not a lot of money in doing that. I think it can be done economically, but they're just not interested in working that hard at it.

VY: I agree with you.

D: I don't think good design and attractive aesthetics have to cost a lot of money. It takes more effort, it takes thought and talent, but it doesn't have to be a bundle of money.

VY: Oh my gosh, please, that's the whole premise of our show. I agree with you on that.

D: How did you end up in an older place if it's not really what you care for?

VY: Well, I bought based on location. I've always...in addition to having a Masters in Architecture, I have a graduate Business degree, so I'm a very left-brain/right-brain person. When making the decision to finally purchase a home and give up apartment living for good, I really thought, well, I'm going to look for the best neighbourhood, and I'm going to look for, first off, location, and also, potential for resale.

D: And I'm sure as an architect, you wanted a quality building.

VY: Absolutely! This thing is built like a rock.

D: They don't build them this way any more. These old houses are so good.

VY: They're absolutely wonderful. The new houses that we're actually building are amazingly well-constructed, but it has cost an arm and a leg for my clients here. Fortunately, they're willing to do that, because they want a quality home. They're committed to that idea. But it's difficult. It's very expensive to do.

D: So you've already started shooting Season Three?

VY: We started Season Three and it's going to be really exciting because we're delivering sixty new episodes this season, versus the forty-five we had.

D: I know! Kim and I have so many recaps to write.

VY: You guys are going to be busy. I think what we're planning on doing is showing two new shows every Saturday night, one at eight and one at nine, which will be so exciting. I think we're limiting the debut of new shows to Saturday nights, because I think this past season...

D: The schedule was really confusing.

VY: It was. It was confusing for those of us involved in the show, because sometimes shows debuted on Wednesdays, sometimes they debuted on Saturdays; you just never knew. And there was no rhyme or reason behind it. I think they began to realize that people were having a hard time catching new shows. There was no consistency. So I'm really glad that they are deciding to limit debuts to Saturday nights. So that's one really good thing in terms of scheduling. The sixty new episodes is great because our fans are so patient -- they will watch repeats over and over again.

D: A lot of people are just getting into the show and catching up, too. I'm still catching up.

VY: And in addition to the six designers from Season Two, we're bringing on two new designers, which I think is going to be really exciting.

D: Who haven't been on the show before?

VY: Yes, totally new, who haven't been on the show before.

D: Because some people were rumouring that Dez might come back.

VY: Well, you can put the rumours to rest. Dez is not returning. But we are bringing in two new designers, one male and one female. I think they really looked for people who were going to bring a different dimension than already existed.

D: Cool.

VY: And of course, we're still looking at doing some celebrity episodes, possibly two celebrity episodes this season. And some additional fun things: we might do a houseboat switch, or something like that.

D: Excellent. Any other unconventional spaces, like trailers, or offices or yurts or something like that?

VY: I think that's always a possibility. I would love to do trailers or dorm rooms or anything like that, I think would be great.

D: It's partly logistical problems, isn't it, what rooms you can do?

VY: It is...I have to be completely honest with you, it's 100% logistical problems. If it were up to us, we would be everywhere. But what people at home don't realize is that it's not just you and the two homeowners who are in the room. There's the camera guy, there's a sound guy, there's a grip, there's a producer, there's an assistant producer...there's a lot of people who need to be in the room when things are happening.

D: So you can't do a 10' x 10' room.

VY: Right. Which is why we never do bathrooms.

D: Oh, people want you to do bathrooms so much!

VY: I know! And I would love to get my hands on one.

D: Very few people have 14' x 14' bathrooms.

VY: Right! Exactly. You're so right.

D: But if you could find a pair of people who had those, would you go for it? Would the show go for it?

VY: I think that they would definitely consider it.

D: Because it's awkward with plumbing fixtures, right? I mean, nobody really wants to see a toilet being changed.

VY: Well, you know, we do plumbing a lot in kitchens. Bathroom's a little more of a stretch. But I think that's what makes the show interesting.

D: I think it'd be a really cool challenge to do a bathroom.

VY: Well, I'm getting ready to leave on Friday to shoot a show. I'm doing our first sort of...I guess, I wouldn't say "nursery," but it's an infant's room.

D: Oh! Like a baby's room?

VY: Well, he's fifteen months old, and his parents are wanting him to transition from a nursery to a toddler kind of space. That's kind of a first for us on the show.

D: It can be really hard to know how much you're biting off, can't it?

VY: Yeah, well, because you don't know until you dig into what's going to happen.

D: I know. I have this happen to me all the time. I took the wallpaper off the plaster in my living room, which had been applied directly to bare, hundred-year-old plaster, and I can't even tell you how many pounds of joint compound there are on my living room walls.

VY: It's crazy. Taking down wallpaper sucks. You know, in "Springfield: Sunset Terrace," they put up -- not the homeowners, but the people, I guess, who owned it before -- they put up white wallpaper. Which I totally don't get!

D: That's baffling!

VY: Yeah! But I had a room full of white wallpaper, and I felt like I really needed to take it down, like I couldn't just prime and paint over it. The only time I will ever prime and paint over wallpaper is when somebody higher up says, "There is no way that you can take that wallpaper down, because we don't have the time." Unless somebody basically puts a knife to my throat, you have to [remove wallpaper before painting]. There's always stuff like that. In Season Three, I've already had a couple shows -- I'm only like, into the beginning of Season Three -- and I've had probably the toughest, toughest floor ever to tackle. It happened to me in a kitchen. So you guys'll have to wait and look for that.

D: I can't wait to see that. I think I gravitate a lot to the ones where people have really torn off a huge chunk, just way too much for two days, because that's my own style, just to dive in and take on too much. And so I like to see how other people cope.

VY: That's always my style, too. That's why I'm always like psycho and crazy. If you're going to be that ambitious, if you're going to try to tear off that huge chunk, you better be prepared to try and get it all done in that amount of time. You don't get any more time than if you decided just to do decorative things, you know? It's all the same amount of time.

D: You still have to accomplish whatever you set out to accomplish. Now, you personally don't have a lot of disappointed or outraged homeowners, but there have been maybe a couple of lukewarm receptions. How do you feel when that happens?

VY: It's very difficult. I wish I could say to you that I don't really care and that it's over and whatever, but I think if you're going to take the approach that you're going to try your best and you're gonna pour your heart and soul into the effort, it's gonna sting a little bit. But you know, the flip side of it is, is also that I have done everything I possibly can do; it wasn't that I decided not to watch the video, or that I didn't listen to the interview, or I didn't listen to input from the homeowners I was working with. I take all those things into consideration, and if you do all your homework, and prep as best you can, and the response isn't great, I think you have to just say to yourself, "Well, I did my best, and I have to move on." But it definitely does suck. It's definitely not what you're looking for.

D: Do you watch all the shows, even the ones you're not on?

VY: Yeah! I have to. Because part of the show, too, is that not only do I not want to repeat a technique that I've used, or a craft that I've done, or a project that I've done, but I also don't want to do anything that anybody else has done. I need to make sure that I know what everybody else is doing so that I don't end up doing the same thing.

D: Do you have a favourite designer? Who would you like to have do a room in your house?

VY: I think if I let anybody do a room in my house, it would probably be Gen.

D: Really? I was expecting you to say Doug.

VY: Oh, really?

D: I don't know why. That was what I thought.

VY: I'll tell you why: Gen and I are really good friends off the show, too. We were in Boston together. We're just goofy together. We have a lot of fun. I think she probably really knows what I would like. She's just a sweetheart. She's like my little sister.

D: In the "Plano: Bent Horn Court" episode, some people thought you were "cheating" by taking that leather furniture from the other room. You've told me what happened there, but I wanted to give you the chance to tell our readers.

VY: Okay, well, I can understand why some people would think that. What actually happened was, that leather furniture was the original furniture that was in that room, and the homeowners, Chad and Sherry, were so nervous that they were going to get somebody who was going to come in and paint their leather furniture or alter it in some fashion.

D: Can't imagine why they would think that.

VY: And they decided to switch it out, so that the very formal furniture that was given to them by, I think, Chad's mom or something, that was in their living room...they had this little formal living room in the front of their house, that they called "The Museum" because nobody ever goes in there. It's very, very small, and it's not a room that they use it all. It's just a decorated room. And it was so weird to me when I arrived and I saw this huge leather furniture crammed into this little room, and then this little formal furniture in the room that they were supposed to use every day. And I sat on the couch and I thought, "Even if I recover and reupholster this thing, it's still like...the pitch of the back is really shallow. It's like a formal sofa."

D: It was like a church pew or something.

VY: Yeah, it was a sofa you would sit at and have, like, tea. But it's not the one you would crash on to watch TV. And so, when I finally asked what was going on, it was finally confessed what actually had happened. And so instead of actually wasting the time to recover her sofa, which I had the material to do, I decided I would make the switch back and make their furniture that was supposed to go in that room, work. But they actually didn't have it positioned like I had had it, so we switched the arrangement around.

D: Were you bummed that you had spent money on fabric that you didn't need, and could have spent on something else?

VY: Well, what happened was I actually ended up returning the fabric. I brought it back to Atlanta and got credited for it, and I used that money instead to buy them some additional things for their room.

D: Ah, very resourceful.

VY: Yeah, I know. It's so funny because people don't always know the full story behind things.

D: No, they don't, and in the absence of knowing or being able to find out, their imaginations just go wild. With forums like we've got, speculation is the substance of the discussion sometimes. If there are no hard facts, well, let the rumours and speculation fly!

VY: It's always...like that "Philadelphia: Jeannes Street" room that I painted all the walls and ceiling in it bright red. The story behind that was, in her profile, she said that her favourite season was Christmas, and that she wanted her room to look like it could be Christmas year-round. Which is why I ended up putting those little trees with lights in there, and painting it bright red. She wanted it to basically be Christmas all year round. But that didn't come out in the show.

D: So people are like, "What's with all the red and the trees?"

VY: "What's with the Christmas lights?" It didn't, like, get that whole point.

D: I guess some things just get swallowed up in the editing.

VY: They have to be; we shoot so much video. You have to whittle it down to forty-four minutes of tape.

D: What was the deal with that blonde wig in the season finale?

VY: Well, the real story behind it is that our cameraman -- our cameraman is so funny, Rob -- happened to find it. It was sitting on her bathroom vanity or whatever, so he started wearing it, with the hat. So we were all joking with him about it, and he was like, "Hey, why don't you put it on?" So I was like, "Sure." I think that the part people don't realize is that it is so much fun, because the crew's a blast.

D: It'd have to be. You'd crack up otherwise.

VY: We crack up all the time, actually, in a good way. We're constantly joking with each other. Even in the very stressful and tense times, we still manage to make light of the moment and to have fun with it. It's amazing.

D: Okay, we're running out of time here and I have a lot of questions I want to ask, so let's skip ahead to the questions about you. You had a birthday recently?

VY: June 27.

D: Happy belated birthday!

VY: Thank you!

D: Are you by any chance an oldest child?

VY: I am...the youngest child by ten years.

D: I'm amazed, because you totally have the "oldest child" thing going on.

VY: Well, I grew up almost as an only child. By the time I was in junior high, I was by myself completely. Everybody had left for college and whatnot. So I did a lot of growing up on my own and I was very much a latchkey kid. I would come home and sit down, and my parents were still at work, so I would sit down and make sure I got my homework done and get everything ready for the day for school.

D: And you were totally reliable and responsible and could be trusted on your own, right?

VY: Oh, yeah. And actually, my mom...my mom's background is in child psychiatry and so she used to be really worried about me because I was a very intense kid, and I took everything I did with a level of seriousness. But I had a lot of fun too. I was really active in school: I played soccer, I was in student government, I always got great grades in school, but she was worried that I wasn't taking enough time just kinda hang out and be a kid. So she used to do stuff like show up at school and take me out of class and take me out to lunch. Of course, I'd protest, "I can't miss class...I'm gonna be behind..." But it was her way of saying, "You can be a kid sometimes, too."

D: What made you decide that medicine wasn't for you?

VY: I had this research internship that went over summer holidays and breaks at the National Institutes of Health. It was an internship where we were researching asymptomatic HIV and hepatitis C. And it was in the Transmitted and Transfused Viruses Laboratory. It was, like, a really serious job. And I really realized at that point that this was serious work and that if you were going to pursue something like this, you better be dedicated to it, you better feel it in your bones, and you better be extremely passionate about it. Because it's important that whoever goes down that path be really into it so that they can maybe do something revolutionary and incredible for society. It's not a joke. And so, I didn't have that passion for it, and I realized it. And I also realized that I did have a passion for something else: I always wanted to go into architecture. It was something I was fascinated with from the time I was a little kid. I used to go down to the Smithsonian East Gallery and stare at that building for hours, because to me it was and still is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. And it was always amazing to me, even as a little kid, that something like a building could move you emotionally, and could have such impact. So I knew that I could impact the world and make a difference for the better through my natural talents versus going down the path of medicine. I think I could have been a great doctor because I really care about people, but I felt like I would be taking up a slot in medical school that rightfully belonged to somebody else.

D: I don't know if you realize you have a very avid following and there are lots of people who find you very dreamy.

VY: Oh, that's awesome! Thank you.

D: I think your abs alone have their own fan club.

VY: Oh, that's sweet.

D: But I don't think those people will forgive me if I don't at least ask you if you're seriously involved with someone.

VY: I am, unfortunately, not seriously involved with someone at this time.

D: They'll be happy to hear that.

VY: I would like to be, because I'm a very monogamous type of individual. I've always really devoted myself to worthwhile relationships. I'm not the kind of person who dates a lot of people simultaneously. With my lifestyle, it's been a little difficult to find the right person. But I'm out there; I'm looking!

D: What qualities are you looking for in a partner?

VY: I'm looking...it sounds like it's gonna be such a clich answer, but I'm really looking for somebody...the two main qualities I really look for in a woman are intelligence and passion for life. I really want to be with somebody who is passionate about what she is doing, and someone who is smart. Looks are great too, you know, I definitely...I can't pass those up. I think someone who's physically fit is great, and fitness is a real part of my life, and I treasure that in somebody else, as well. And of course, everybody loves a sense of humour. You can't take life too seriously. You kind of have to...especially with me: I have that tendency where I can really take it very seriously.

D: I can relate to that. I purposely married somebody with a better sense of humour than I because I need the balance.

VY: Oh, yeah! It's important.

D: If money were no object, what one item would you buy?

VY: Wow...if money were no object...[hesitates, thinking]...I would probably...you know, money isn't that important to me, curiously enough, it's just kinda... What I really value is my family, so anything that involves my family, anything that would possibly benefit them is what I would probably spend money on. You know, my mom is my best friend.

D: You're going to be besieged with invitations and proposals when we publish this interview.

VY: But you know what? It's honestly the truth. My mom is my hero. She is just the most amazing woman; always has been. Like when I was growing up, in high school, our house was the house that all the kids would come to hang out at, because my mom was so cool. And I have a wonderful sister and a great niece and nephew and they're the treasure of my life. So if there was a way that I could spend money so that we could be together more often, that's what I would spend money on.

D: Tell me something about you that fans and viewers would probably be surprised to hear.

VY: Oh my gosh, there's so much. I am huge sports fan, which I think has always sort of separated me from a lot of people in the design community. I don't have a lot of friends who are designers, because on my off time, when I'm not designing, I love to watch hockey, I'm a big tennis fan, and I'm obsessed with stuff like the Tour de France and other stuff like that. I love to travel. I'm actually very casual at home. When I'm at home you'll more than likely find me in a white cotton t-shirt and shorts and tennis shoes, or you know, jeans. And I think a lot of people have this perception of me on the show as maybe being a little bit on the formal side because I tend to be exact and anal-retentive about things. And that's definitely me: I can't deny that I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder. But there's a side to me that also very relaxed.

D: What would you like fans to know about you and your work?

VY: Just that it's my passion. It's what I was put on this earth to do, and I feel blessed every day that I get to do what I do and make a living at it. It's an honour and a privilege and not something that I take lightly. Ever since I made this decision to switch from medicine into design, it's been the difference between a fish swimming upstream versus one swimming downstream. I all of a sudden...when I made the decision, it was amazing because everything just sort of fell into place and has continued to do so. Design is what I love to do, and it's my passion.

D: What would be your dream design opportunity?

VY: My dream design opportunity? Boy, I'm living it. It's incredible.

D: Did you ever think you would be on TV and be a celebrity?

VY: No, and that's not...it's never been a goal of mine. If you made me pick between being a designer and being a celebrity, I would be a designer. And without a doubt, without one second of thought. I couldn't live if I didn't design. I mean, that's an exaggeration, of course I would live...

D: But you would just be surviving, not thriving, right?

VY: Right! Any opportunity to design is a great opportunity, and I don't care if it's a celebrity's house or if it's somebody in the middle in the country who has never seen a designer in their life. It doesn't matter to me, because there's an opportunity to do something really great. And I think I kind of live a little bit of my medical career, what would have been my medical career, through design, because I've always felt that you can't just live life selfishly, that whatever you do in life has to somehow contribute to society as a whole. And so, that's why I view the show as this really great thing, because you get to show people who wouldn't necessarily have that opportunity to get exposed to that design or to those ideas...

D: You're doing something not just for the homeowners but for everyone who gets to see it as well.

VY: Yeah, that's really the point. Yes, absolutely, you want to leave something behind.

D: You're reaching a huge number of people by doing this as well.

VY: And you're making it fun, too. I think people have a tendency to maybe tune out, even if you're telling them something useful, when it's just kind of boring. But if you're doing it in an entertaining fashion, and you can make learning fun, then people have a tendency to soak it up a little better. I love that aspect of the show. I know that there's been some grip[ing] about the fact that we did a celebrity episode and did [Dixie Chick Natalie Maines] get special treatment, and I want the record to be absolutely clear on that: she did not get any special treatment. I did not go above and beyond for her more so than I would for any other homeowner. And she worked very, very hard; she was expected to do just as much as anybody else would do, and in fact, she wanted to do more. I think she was really out to prove that she wasn't, you know...

D: That she wasn't expecting special treatment?

VY: Oh, yeah! She definitely rolled up her sleeves.

D: That's the impression I got; I did hear that griping too, but it seemed to me that she was held to the same standard as other people and I feel like you always give 110% anyway; I didn't feel like she got a better deal than anyone else did, you know?

VY: Absolutely. I think she had some things, some advantages in that...

D: She had a very nice room to begin with, and things like that.

VY: Exactly. That's the advantage that she had, versus some of the homes that we go into. But we go into some lovely homes. Sometimes you pull up to these homes and you think, "Oh my gosh, are they really going to let us in?" It's amazing.

D: If you had to choose another profession, what would it be?

VY: Good one! I've never been asked that question. Bravo!

D: Thank you.

VY: Another profession...gosh, I couldn't. I am doing exactly what I love to do. I think I originally wanted to be a doctor because I had family expectations of going down that path, but also because I always feel like it's worthwhile to do something in life where you feel that you can contribute not only to your own good but to the good of a larger group. And I think doctors do that, I think teachers do that, I think everybody can actually do that in their own job. It's just being aware of it and actively pursuing it. I mean, everybody has that opportunity. So I know whatever I do...I mean, that's why I think this job is so special. It's so great, because you really get to kind of spread good design to people who may not necessarily have access to it. And you really get to spread some original ideas when people [...] tend to be feed the same ideas over and over again. It's really great to be able to say to somebody, "Well, here's something new, here's something different. Here's something that you can do in your own home even if you don't have a huge amount of money to dedicate to a room transformation. So I like that portion of it, and I think that if I wasn't designing for some reason [...], I would still want to be doing something that benefitted society as a whole. [Pause] And I also love hockey so I wouldn't mind being a professional hockey player. [We both burst out laughing.] I just love hockey.

D: I'm from the same town as Wayne Gretzky [Brantford, Ontario].

VY: Oh, my God.

D: So I heard a lot about hockey growing up. He's just a little bit older than I am and he was just coming into the public eye as a player to watch in the minor leagues when I was in high school. So everything in that town has been named after Wayne Gretzky now. [A slight exaggeration.]

VY: Are you a huge hockey fan or do you hate it?

D: [slightly sheepishly]Actually, I hate it...[laughs]

VY: [Groans in disappointment.]

D: It was sort of forced down my throat when I was a teenager; my whole family loved it and my brother played it, and if there was a hockey game on, I couldn't watch anything I wanted to watch. We were watching hockey. So I'd just go off and read a book or whatever. I kind of resented not being able to have a little bit of control over the TV. I sat through a lot of hockey and just never gravitated to it.

VY: Never caught on with you?

D: Not really. I'm not much of an organized sports fan. I like to do things on my own, like swimming or walking or whatever. The whole team sport thing, I've never really gotten. Too much of a rampant individualist, I guess.

VY: Well, I have to say, for the most part I'm like you. I played a lot of soccer and I love hockey, but I love a lot of the individual stuff, too. I mean, tennis is one of my favourite things.

D: What do you see ahead for you, apart from the show? Do you plan to do the show for several years, or do you want to finish after another season or two?

VY: I really don't know. I think the show's doing great and I'm having fun and as long as I'm having a good time and feel like I'm contributing something, then I'd like to continue with it. But you don't know what's gonna happen and I think it's good to let yourself grow as a person, to try new and different things. I know that whatever I'll be doing, whether I continue the show, or I continue the show and do something else, it'll always involve design, there's no question about that.

D: That's it for life. You know you're always going to be doing that.

VY: Oh, my gosh, yeah, absolutely. This is what I was born to do. This is what I live, eat, and breathe. [...] It's ridiculous. I do it because I love it so much. And I feel so blessed...

D: Well, I know you have to go, and I could talk to you all night, you're so easy to talk to, but I know you have to go, so...

VY: This has been so much fun. And really, I am huge fan of you guys. You guys are like, amazing...amazing writers, you make the show so entertaining, so, kudos to you, really. You should be so proud.

D: Thank you. How did you find the site and the recaps, I've been wondering?

VY: A friend actually directed me to it.

D: You must have thought, what is with these people writing eighteen-page summaries of the show?

VY: But it's so funny! It's so funny. And it's so funny too, because you get to see the show through somebody else's eyes.

D: In excruciating detail.

VY: Exactly, exactly, but it's great.

D: And through the filter of our very strong opinions.

VY: Well, you guys do an amazing job. Congratulations on your success.

D: Thank you. Thank you. I was so excited when we started to cover this show and I was even more excited that I was one of the people who got to do it, because I love decorating and design and I love this show and it's a thrill to work on it, and it's really fun. I have a good time writing the recaps and watching the shows. It's been great to talk to you. Thank you so much for being so generous with your time and your energy.

VY: No problem at all.