I'm patterning this thread somewhat like TWoP's "how-to" reality forums, where they dump all their cooking, D-I-Y, and beauty/fashion makeover shows. However, this thread will just be about the home makeover shows, where rooms are renovated without the user's knowledge or participation.
To start--who watches Clean House on the Lifestyle Network? I love that show, as everyone is very good at what they do--and the results are almost always excellent.
For those not familiar with this show, this show makeovers cluttered homes by removing all the junk and selling it at a yard sale. The profits from the sale are then doubled by the producers, and that money is used to renovate the rooms while the owners are sent away to a hotel for a couple of days. A Yard Sale Guy, an Organizer, an Interior Designer, and a diva-like host comprise the group that comes to the aid of homeowners. Often the homeowners are reluctant to part with their clutter, which makes for interesting moments, but the payoff could be a fabulous-looking, clutter-free home, and the owners are usually surprised and pleased at how their homes have turned out in the end. Wish they could do that here...
The cast is great, from the funny host, actress Niecy Nash, to actor and Yard Sale Guy Allan Lee Haff, organizers Linda Koopersmith and Tanya Whitford, and designers Michael Moloney & Mark Brunitz. Moloney and Brunitz should be familiar to Lifestyle Network viewers, as they often appear in other programs like Area and Designer's Challenge.
Speaking of Area, it's been reformatted from a home & lifestyle show into a makeover show, where designers are given $2500 and 48 hours to renovate a room. The gimmick here is that the room owners are sent away while people close to them (friends or relatives) are the ones who do the renovating, all under the guidance of one interior designer. The end results are mostly great, and one can also pick up great design ideas here.
Other shows of this type that I'd like to watch but don't seem to be shown here are Trading Spaces (neighbors renovating each others' rooms); Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (an entire team of carpenters, builders, and designers makeover a house in one weekend), and While You Were Out (owners don't even know their rooms are being renovated)--are these shows being aired here?