Trading Spaces (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Trading Spaces is an hour-long television reality program that ran for six seasons on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home (reruns continue to air on the latter, with occasional new specials such as "$20,000 Kitchen Radical" on TLC). The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series Changing Rooms.

Premise

In each episode, two sets of neighbors redecorated one room in each other's home. Each two-person team had two days (not including a "day zero" of planning and shopping for materials and furnishings, which in earlier seasons was not shown on camera), a budget of USD$1,000, (or, in later seasons, $2,000 if they choose the 'bonus room' pre-selected by the show's producers) and the services of a designer. Under the original format, the teams would share the services of a carpenter.

Beginning in March 2005, Trading Spaces moved to a "no host" format, eliminating the position of host in favor of allowing each team its own carpenter. The change allows the two homes to be farther apart. The most extreme use of this flexibility to date was with homes in New York and Oklahoma, but it was rarely exercised. Eventually, the second carpenter was eliminated.

The teams had no say over what happens in their own homes, but were able to give input into what happened in the home they are redecorating. The teams were not allowed to enter their own home for the duration of the show, and the transformed rooms were revealed only at the end of the second day.

The show was generally credited with sparking a nationwide interest in home decorating and improvement television shows in the United States. At the peak of its popularity, it inspired ancillary products such as two Trading Spaces books and a computer software program.

The new season of trading spaces starts on October 16th, 2007.

Cast

The show featured different participants each episode. The host (seasons 1-5), designers and carpenters (the cast) are recurring (though there are only two designers, one host (only through season 5) and one carpenter — originally one and then changed to two and now back to one — each time).

Hosts

Alex McLeod (season 1)
Paige Davis (season 2-half of season 5)

Designers

Barry Wood (season 4; Now stars on HGTV's Hidden Potential)
Douglas Wilson
Genevieve Gorder
Hildi Santo-Tomas
Leslie Segrete (Previously Carpenter on Trading Spaces and While You Were Out)
Vern Yip (seasons 1-4)
Christi Proctor (season 4)
Dez Ryan (season 1 only)
Edward Walker (started in season 3)
Frank Bielec
Jon Laymon (winner of 'Pick the Next Designer' competition)
Kia Steave-Dickerson (started in season 3)
Laura Day (started in season 4)
Laurie Hickson-Smith
Rick Rifle (season 4 only)
Roderick Shade (one episode in season 1)

Carpenters

Amy Wynn Pastor
Andrew Dan-Jumbo (from While You Were Out)
Carter Oosterhouse
Jimmy Little (several episodes in a row after Town Haul ended)
Leslie Segrete (from While You Were Out)
Ty Pennington (left for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition)
Faber Dewar

Leslie Segrete and Andrew Dan-Jumbo , from the former TLC show While You Were Out have also been featured in at least one episode each as carpenter (and Leslie, as a designer). Jason Cameron, who was from the same show has appeared also. Handy Andy of Changing Rooms also worked a "special" episode that was based in London and another that was based in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Trading Spaces: Family

The first spin-off, entitled Trading Spaces: Family, also aired on TLC (2003-2005). It allowed larger teams of three or four, including children considered too young to participate in the original Trading Spaces program. The same designers and carpenters (one per episode, shared by the two teams) worked with host Joe Farrell.

Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls

Another spin-off, Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls airs as a part of Discovery Kids (and also formerly aired on the network's Saturday morning block on NBC). Unlike the original, this version uses the same two designers and two carpenters for each episode. In addition, there was no budget limit, and the rooms are rebuilt into theme room, making the show look more like Monster House.

Trading Spaces