The Trading Spaces Alumni Roster

Clearly I’ve been on a tear as of late with my Trading Spaces articles, to plead my case is that our current love for home design and décor, DIY and Home Depot has much to do with the early Home TV Shows as I pointed out in my Evolution of DIY Design. Trading Spaces was of course one of the earliest widely popular shows in the genre and has graduated a list of Alumni that are all across the design world spectrum and whose names are easily recognizable.

I’ve numbered Genevieve Gorder as perhaps my personal favorite, if for no other reason that she is a New York Designer and therefore I “run into her” more often in the media.

Nadia Geller, while she was only an occasional guest, I have to mention her being another of my favorite personalities, she has a practice in Los Angeles and a very cool design shop which anyone in town should go visit. By far and away though her crowing achievement in my book is that she was the Visual Director for ABC Carpet and Home in NYC, the best, if not most outrageously priced interior and design department store in the city.

Doug Wilson was more of a showman than the others designers and lasted throughout the full eight seasons, probably having something to do with the statement he once made where his job was to make the show interesting and entertaining (thank you very much) – yep we wanted to watch it and we loved Doug. He had a very successful design career in his own right and has been showcased in just about every design and trade magazine and across all media.

Leslie Segrete was a only on the show for two seasons, but who can forget that she was the female designer who could hold her own with a circular saw and other assorted carpentry skills, not just a pretty face but crossed the streams as a true DIYer.

There were of course many, many others who made the show and who have continued on in their design careers and on television, but I’ll maybe save that for a part two.