I don't understand why Extreme Makeover does kids rooms the way they do

[punkin]

When DD was in kindergarten we did her room in a bright pink with Disney princess sheets and bedspreads and a princess canopy over her bed. She also has flowered accessories (like mirror and lamps) along with light lace curtains. She is now 9 yo and wants a room makeover. Pink is too girlish- she wants something dark. She already took down the canopy and bedspread (princesses ) and has posters of fencers all over the walls. She also has hooks on the walls for her fencing gear (the mask and sword make for cute decorations). However all these things are fairly cheap and after 5 years I have no problem changing them. The only real expense will be the painting (and it will not be dark, but some neutral color we can agree on). The furniture, however has not changed since she was born (other than the bed obviously) and is good solid wood that goes great with any decor. I think that's the trick.

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

I think they go overboard because these people usually all share the fact that they don't have much money to give their kids luxury items-so when their rooms are redone, they like to give them something that'll make them go nuts & something that'll make them feel special (which to be frank is perfect for the camera)

While I definitely agree w/ you, I think the designers really need to think about the future for these kids. More than likely, the family won't have enough money to redo their rooms so the kids will just be stuck with the little kid theme. That said, I still love to see the lavish designs they do, but I have always wondered about the kids rooms.

 

[clarabelle]

P

Just an aside Michael's teeth have been whitened so much now that when he smiles I think he looks like the Cheshire CAt! And seriously, how is it they are always able to cry on cue? Some of the stories do not call for tears but Paige , Paul and Michael are fantastic at this they should hire themselves out as mourners at funerals.

That is funny

 

[mpls_mm]

While I definitely agree w/ you, I think the designers really need to think about the future for these kids. More than likely, the family won't have enough money to redo their rooms so the kids will just be stuck with the little kid theme. That said, I still love to see the lavish designs they do, but I have always wondered about the kids rooms.

I don't think many people know how these shows go. We donated stuff one time. The homeowner was demanding and bossy and was never happy. I will not divulge many details for my business sake, but they will hound us and probably demend everything be redone again and again. A lot of extra stuff is given to them off camera by local businesses. For example, a show is filimng and a car dealership hears the story and they give them a truck or car, others give money because they want local recognition, the ocal college gives free scholarships, so take what you see on camera and add 25 or 50k, and another vehicle. They also pay off the mortgage for legal reasons, in some cases i was told the property might be owned wth someone else like a relative. They buy that person out so the only person on there is the person they built the house for. They also make the houses very energy efficient, in many cases the power bills are less even though the house is bigger. They also give them money to pay the increased taxes and utilities etc for two years. So if anyone thinks you cannot afford to repaint the bedroom after EHM with all of that... But anyway, after being told we werent giving enough, doing enough etc I won't do it again and I have a very dim view of the dog and pony show.
*By the way, you need to donate a minimum of 25k to be featured, so for 25k, I don't want my stuff showcased in a boring beige room. It had better be over the top, because I am using those photos in my advertising.

 

[MM27]

I've always wondered that myself. The rooms are cute, but not practical. I wonder how many of those families had to change their children's rooms after the episode was over.

 

[RUDisney]

I don't think many people know how these shows go. We donated stuff one time. The homeowner was demanding and bossy and was never happy. I will not divulge many details for my business sake, but they will hound us and probably demend everything be redone again and again. A lot of extra stuff is given to them off camera by local businesses. For example, a show is filimng and a car dealership hears the story and they give them a truck or car, others give money because they want local recognition, the ocal college gives free scholarships, so take what you see on camera and add 25 or 50k, and another vehicle. They also pay off the mortgage for legal reasons, in some cases i was told the property might be owned wth someone else like a relative. They buy that person out so the only person on there is the person they built the house for. They also make the houses very energy efficient, in many cases the power bills are less even though the house is bigger. They also give them money to pay the increased taxes and utilities etc for two years. So if anyone thinks you cannot afford to repaint the bedroom after EHM with all of that... But anyway, after being told we werent giving enough, doing enough etc I won't do it again and I have a very dim view of the dog and pony show.
*By the way, you need to donate a minimum of 25k to be featured, so for 25k, I don't want my stuff showcased in a boring beige room. It had better be over the top, because I am using those photos in my advertising.

I can't get over some people. We took a special needs girl into our GS troop this year. She wants to go to camp, so she wanted to be affiliated with a troop so she could sell GS cookies.

FF to the meeting after the cookie sale when we, as leaders, were told that we couldn't give her any money from the cookies she sold... any girl for that matter... it was to be considered troop money.

So, we found a "scholarship" for her and another girl to send them to camp. One girl got the full $300 and the other got $175. I don't know what the criteria was for those amounts.

Well, we later found out that the GS Council had done special things to raise money for this girl that we took into our troop. We got an email telling us that we needed to give them $85 out of our troops funds so she could go to a second week of camp. We told them that our position was that she wanted to go to camp for a week... we got her into camp for a week, for free. This girl was just trying to manipulate the system into getting a second week of camp. The GS Council is paying the $85; we aren't. It wouldn't be fair to our other girls if we funded one girl's way to camp and not the other's.

So, my point is that we are dealing on a small scale. I can see how people learn, especially during a poverty situation, how to manipulate the system. But, telling a donor that its gifts are not good enough is beyond anything I've ever heard... especially at the dollar levels that you're talking.

 

[_queenie_]

One of the rooms from the earlier seasons I remember thinking "What are they going to do when she doesn't like it anymore?" was for a young girl who was really into doing hair. Half of her bedroom was a normal room and the other half was a hair salon. Lanolium(?) floor, sink, spinny chair. No just changing the paint and buying a new comforter for that room!

Totally agee. I don't think it's a big deal to give a room a certain theme, but the trouble is that with these rooms, as you say, it's beyond changing the comforter and giving it a fresh coat of paint to update it. It's so true that when something has been "nailed in" you have a hard time imagining these "needy" families being able to afford to change it so drastically.

So, my point is that we are dealing on a small scale. I can see how people learn, especially during a poverty situation, how to manipulate the system. But, telling a donor that its gifts are not good enough is beyond anything I've ever heard... especially at the dollar levels that you're talking.

So true again. We also are small bussiness owners, like the PP above, and are always getting asked for donations. DH is always being nagged out of his mind by the Special Olympics, they're ALWAYS looking for more donations. They're one of the major organizations that we donate to and I don't mean to sound cheap, but we give them plenty. Still, they constantly call us wondering if we would like to give money. We tell them no for now and that we will/already have given our yearly large sum, but then they virtually tell us that there's always room for more. If that wasn't enough, they now want us to personally donate, you just want to say "Doing so through the bussiness come out of our pockets too you know!" We don't at all mind giving to charity, I like helping those in need, but what really gets on my nerves is them continually asking for more.

 

[suzimar57]

greedy, greedy, greedy.

i guess it's true: beggars can be choosy.

 

[mpls_mm]

I get so many solicitations from horse rescue groups, there are good large groups out there with exempt status and I will get individuals who are "thinking" they want to save a horse but need a barn and fence to do so, can I donate? I ask if they are exempt and they get mad. We only give to the big well run places and it's all we can afford to do.

As for the homeowner, I was told she asked each and every company for more. Her attitude was why not? Ty did apologize but we skipped a lot of the festivities. I also learned most of the volunteers you see are from local vo-tech schools, kind of neat. They were all excited.

 

[Amlee]

I am so glad my glass are the kind that shade darker when exposed to light. Because when Micheal smiles, I woud go blind if they didn't.

I volunteered one Christmas at the local Christmas Love program. Where those that need help submit their child for Christmas gifts. NEVER AGAIN!! I was so mad, I couldn't see straight!!

We started handing out the bags of toys to the parents, when all of the sudden parents start screaming, yelling and cussing at us, because the gifts aren't good enough for their child. WTH!?

I looked at the lady next to me, and she just shrugs her shoulders. She said it's always the same set of people every year. One lady tossed her bag back down on the table and told me she had requested a Nintendo 64 for her son, and that wasn't in HER bag! I looked in the bag and agreed that it wasn't a Nintendo. I told her her request wasn't possible. She said, she refused to take that bag of toys and left.

Well there was a lady who's request had been over looked and there truly wasn't a bag for her. It had already been decided that if there wasn't a bag left over, that we would get togather and put her a bag togather with our own money. So I gathered up the bag the lady refused to take, and gave it to the lady who was waiting to see what happened. She was so excited and thankful to get that bag.

Well the lady came back after we had shut down wanting to know if she could pick up her son's Nintendo now. I looked at the lady in charge whom I had explained everything too earlier and said good luck! I stepped out of the room. You should have heard this women explode!!

 

[_queenie_]

I am so glad my glass are the kind that shade darker when exposed to light. Because when Micheal smiles, I woud go blind if they didn't.

I volunteered one Christmas at the local Christmas Love program. Where those that need help submit their child for Christmas gifts. NEVER AGAIN!! I was so mad, I couldn't see straight!!

We started handing out the bags of toys to the parents, when all of the sudden parents start screaming, yelling and cussing at us, because the gifts aren't good enough for their child. WTH!?

I looked at the lady next to me, and she just shrugs her shoulders. She said it's always the same set of people every year. One lady tossed her bag back down on the table and told me she had requested a Nintendo 64 for her son, and that wasn't in HER bag! I looked in the bag and agreed that it wasn't a Nintendo. I told her her request wasn't possible. She said, she refused to take that bag of toys and left.

Well there was a lady who's request had been over looked and there truly wasn't a bag for her. It had already been decided that if there wasn't a bag left over, that we would get togather and put her a bag togather with our own money. So I gathered up the bag the lady refused to take, and gave it to the lady who was waiting to see what happened. She was so excited and thankful to get that bag.

Well the lady came back after we had shut down wanting to know if she could pick up her son's Nintendo now. I looked at the lady in charge whom I had explained everything too earlier and said good luck! I stepped out of the room. You should have heard this women explode!!

When my DD13 was in early elementary we always used to do the secret santa thing where we'd pick an ornamet off of a tree in the school. The idea was to get a gift for what was supposed to be a needy child and the ornament had your "guidelines" with their sizes, favorite colors, types of games, etc. We did it to teach my DD about charity and also because she just liked to pick out clothes and gifts. Anyway, before long the kids started saying exactly what they wanted, and they wanted Gameboys and Playstations! Obviously, I refused to buy one and stuck to clothes and a little toy. In January, to my surprise, I got the gift back, but not because the clothes didn't fit or anything, the little s*** wanted a Gameboy instead! To top it all off, I was talking to a mother about a week later and she was complaining about her kid's secret santa gift being wrong and that the person wouldn't buy the right thing! I didn't let on to that I must have been the one who was cheap and refused to go buy her kid something mine didn't even have, I was afraid I'd explode with anger on her. Another thing that made me angry was that they are quite well-off, I thought the whole thing was supposed to be for people who couldn't afford to buy many Christmas presents! I don't get some people, you give them a gift and it's still not enough.

 

[Pikester]

I am so glad my glass are the kind that shade darker when exposed to light. Because when Micheal smiles, I woud go blind if they didn't.

I volunteered one Christmas at the local Christmas Love program. Where those that need help submit their child for Christmas gifts. NEVER AGAIN!! I was so mad, I couldn't see straight!!

We started handing out the bags of toys to the parents, when all of the sudden parents start screaming, yelling and cussing at us, because the gifts aren't good enough for their child. WTH!?

I looked at the lady next to me, and she just shrugs her shoulders. She said it's always the same set of people every year. One lady tossed her bag back down on the table and told me she had requested a Nintendo 64 for her son, and that wasn't in HER bag! I looked in the bag and agreed that it wasn't a Nintendo. I told her her request wasn't possible. She said, she refused to take that bag of toys and left.

Well there was a lady who's request had been over looked and there truly wasn't a bag for her. It had already been decided that if there wasn't a bag left over, that we would get togather and put her a bag togather with our own money. So I gathered up the bag the lady refused to take, and gave it to the lady who was waiting to see what happened. She was so excited and thankful to get that bag.

Well the lady came back after we had shut down wanting to know if she could pick up her son's Nintendo now. I looked at the lady in charge whom I had explained everything too earlier and said good luck! I stepped out of the room. You should have heard this women explode!!

When my DD13 was in early elementary we always used to do the secret santa thing where we'd pick an ornamet off of a tree in the school. The idea was to get a gift for what was supposed to be a needy child and the ornament had your "guidelines" with their sizes, favorite colors, types of games, etc. We did it to teach my DD about charity and also because she just liked to pick out clothes and gifts. Anyway, before long the kids started saying exactly what they wanted, and they wanted Gameboys and Playstations! Obviously, I refused to buy one and stuck to clothes and a little toy. In January, to my surprise, I got the gift back, but not because the clothes didn't fit or anything, the little s*** wanted a Gameboy instead! To top it all off, I was talking to a mother about a week later and she was complaining about her kid's secret santa gift being wrong and that the person wouldn't buy the right thing! I didn't let on to that I must have been the one who was cheap and refused to go buy her kid something mine didn't even have, I was afraid I'd explode with anger on her. Another thing that made me angry was that they are quite well-off, I thought the whole thing was supposed to be for people who couldn't afford to buy many Christmas presents! I don't get some people, you give them a gift and it's still not enough.

I can't believe the gall of some people! I guess I just assumed that those children listed on the Wish Trees were in desperate need. I remember one kid asking for a game for his xbox. OK.