The Untold Truth Of Trading Spaces

Two days. $1,000. The ultimate trust in your neighbors. What do those three things create? One of our favorite shows from the early 2000s. Trading Spaces first aired in October 2000. The show followed two sets of neighbors who get to have a room in their homes fully renovated at no cost to them. What's the catch? They can't see the changes until they are done. Oh, and they aren't just sitting and waiting for it to be complete. The homeowners assist with their neighbor's renovations while those neighbors are helping with theirs. The show continued for eight years until TLC made the decision to cancel, with the final episode airing in December 2008. Those eight years were full of not just renovations, but plenty of behind-the-scenes fun facts and a few conflicts, too. Let's take a look behind the curtain of one of our favorite original reality shows.

One of the best parts of Trading Spaces was the homeowners' reactions to their newly renovated rooms. Will they love the changes? Will there be tears (happy or sad)? It was always assumed, based on the show's plot, that the homeowners had to have blind faith and completely give over their rooms, accepting any changes that came their way. But according to Trading Spaces executive producer Denise Cramsey, this isn't entirely true. She told SFGate that each couple on the show signed a liability release form, and that form included an area where homeowners could list what's "protected." This essentially meant that designers would not be able to mess with any element in the room that was included on the protected list. Speaking about a specific couple who later complained about the changes to their room, Cramsey said, "April and Leslie wrote nothing on the form."

There was no acting when it comes to homeowners' reactions to their newly renovated rooms. These were real people with brand new rooms they had very little say in. Leaderman told Good Housekeeping that the show took special care to ensure she couldn't see what was happening in her home. "They hung sheets on the windows and other shielding mechanisms around our homes. In fact, when the producer from my home makeover went to my neighbors', even the paint splotches on her clothing were covered with duct tape so I couldn't see the colors being used." She compared the two-day experience to being under "house arrest." Couples didn't even know who the designer working on their home was until the first morning of filming.

And what if your neighbor knew your tastes and wanted to help give advice and lessen the chance of a terrified reaction? There's a slim chance that advice would have been taken. According to a previous contestant who was on the infamous episode where designer Hilda "Hildi" Santo-Tomas included a hay-straw look on the wall, she couldn't do anything to make a change. "The homeowners have no control," Rhea Wisherop said. "They want us to say what we like or not, but it's all their concept. I guess they want the shock factor. I did not say, I think my neighbor would like hay and straw on the wall." According to SFGate, all concepts were created and materials were purchased in advance, so any chance of changes wasn't likely.

It was always a challenge for the designers to create the perfectly renovated room for each couple, and sometimes they fell short of the couple's expectations. Because of this, not every new room stayed intact. According to the Chicago Tribune, it took some couples less than 48 hours to completely undo the work that was done in their homes. For April Kilstrom, a contestant who appeared on the show, the removal of the renovations was a bit more difficult. The show had taken out her fireplace mantel, which the couple had hoped to keep. She told SFGate that the early estimate she got for adding the new mantel was $3,000. And it wasn't just adding, but removing, that proved to be a challenge. Kilstrom was the homeowner with the well-known hay-straw wall. Kilstrom's neighbor Rhea Wisherop told SFGate that the problems started right after the show left. "The baby the next day was gagging on the hay. We loaded [the bookshelf] up with books, and the next day it was pulling out of the wall. What if that fell on the kids?" Kistrom said it took 17 hours and five people to remove the glue from the wall.

Those years that Davis was not the host of Trading Spaces gave her the opportunity to get back to musical theater. In 2004, Davis joined the cast of Chicago on Broadway, showing off her singing and dancing skills. She also performed stints in a variety of other shows, including Sweet Charity and Beauty and the Beast, among other productions. And as recent as early 2016, we could still see our favorite host-with-the-most, as Davis was back in the Chicago production, performing the lead role of Roxie Hart.

The best news of all? Trading Spaces is coming back! TLC recently had its upfront presentation and, as reported by Deadline, the network spoke of the programming plans for the 2017-2018 season, and the beloved, old show is making a new appearance with brand new content. As TLC President and General Manager Nancy Daniels said, "We are thrilled to expand in this space, and what better way to do that than to bring back Trading Spaces, the series that put property on the map." No news yet on dates or if past hosts and designers will return, but this news is plenty to get everyone excited for what's to come.