I am a huge fan of the HGTV series Rock the Block and am so sad that Season 2 is finished. I wanted to close things out with a few of my thoughts on the finale – warning spoiler alert so if you are going to watch, you may not want to read this now.
Each week a winner is selected based on a challenge from a specific area. As a reminder, the designers are the people listed below and I am a HUGE fan of Nate and Jeremiah!
- Mike Holmes and Alison Victoria from Homes on Home and Windy City Rehab – Alison Victoria is the only repeat contestant from Season 1
- Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent from Save My House
- David Bromstad and Tiffany Brooks who are two previous Design Stars winners
- Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt of 100 Day Dream Home
Nate and Jeremiah European Farmhouse Exterior
Going into the finale, Mike and Alison had 2 wins (kitchen and master bed/bath), David and Tiffany had one win (main floor entry and great room), and Nate and Jeremiah had 2 wins (basement and exterior/outdoors). Of course, this means Brian and Mika had 0 (yes, zero) wins, and in fact, Mika had become increasingly petulant as the series progressed actually throwing a tantrum after the master bedroom challenge.
The weekly challenges were judged by other HGTV personalities and were somewhat subjective based on design. The kitchen was a close one but I agreed with all the winners.
The finale was judged by a different standard – appraised value. As a result, Brian and Mika got the win for many of the added items that they put into their house such as the covered pergola, garage gym, bowling alley, and large laundry room which resulted in a small master closet. Ironically, many of these items contributed to their weekly loss because they were just not that attractive and their house, despite being custom, still looked pretty builder-grade as they just could not compete on style with the other exceptionally talented designers.
David and Tiffany Tudor Exterior
So, did HGTV get it right, I suppose given the criteria they set out, mathematically they may have gotten it right with Brian and Mika having some extra features. However, beautiful it was not (terrible palm tree metal art in a house in Atlanta is just missing the mark) and anyone who has purchased a house knows it is a very emotional feeling that ultimately results in making an offer.
I think that the better way to determine the winner would have been to sell the houses and see which actually sold for the highest price as the on-paper appraisal did not take into account the beautiful kitchens in Nate and Jeremiah’s house or Allison and Mike’s house. Similarly, the jaw-dropping master bath tile in Allison and Mike’s house did not contribute to the on-paper appraisal value. But folks, those things really count as we found out when bidding on a designer’s house in Newport Beach which ultimately went for over $200k above the asking price given the beautiful finishes and design which resulted in it selling fully furnished.
Brian and Mika Blue Craftsman exterior
Anyway, I am sad to see another season end and hopeful that they are already thinking about Season 3 as it really is fun to see how different identical houses can be based on the creative genius of different designers. For example, see the unfinished exterior of the basic home that everyone got at the start then scroll back through the other pictures to see how different they ended up.
Allison and Mike Stone Exterior
If you have not seen Season 1 or Season 2 – lucky you! If you have, you might be interested in some of the other series mentioned above and of course, I recommend starting with Nate and Jerimiah’s series Save My House on Netflix. Wish they would spin up a Season 2 of that show!
If you want to see more of my Rock the Block reviews, and more importantly, check out some beautiful pictures of some of the other spaces from Rock the Block, check out these posts:
All Images from HGTV Rock the Block