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player ready...`This is like my castle,” says T.R. Tenarodriguez, as cameras follow him through his house. “I’m the king . . . I love it!”
Tenarodriguez and his fiance, Melissa Provost, are new homeowners profiled in an upcoming episode of HGTV’s “My First Place.” While saving money for a down payment, the couple lived in their friend’s basement. They don’t say how long they occupied the 900-square-foot space, or how much they had to save for their new construction, 2,400-square-foot home in Aurora, Colo. Viewers are subjected to a poorly staged scene in which the bathrobed couple struggles to share a tiny bathroom. Further details of the housing search, which would seem to be obvious fodder for a series with the words “first” and “place” in the title, are absent.
Instead, the series is a variation on the “Queen for a Day” theme — perfected by such shows as “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” — in which unfortunate circumstances are supposed to be alleviated by material goods.
Provost divulges that she lived in 12 cities by the time she was 18 years old; Tenarodriguez says he spent most of his 15 years in the military residing in barracks. The two clearly have worked hard for homeownership, and they seem like perfectly nice folks. But you can almost hear a hearty proclamation of “Johnny, tell them what they’ve won!”
For “My First Place,” the “prize” is $3,000 to spend on one room and a designer to pull it together. Enter Cariann Arkowski, one of a team of alternating interior designers, who helps create a stylish (but overcrowded) living room. She designs the room around a painting of tropical flowers that Provost made, and incorporates Tenarodriguez’s heritage with pottery from the Dominican Republic. Arkowski also oversees the remaking of bachelor-pad-black lacquer cabinets, teaches the couple to sew curtains, and buys furniture and accessories.
In keeping with room-makeover tradition, the couple is whisked away for a few hours while a family member and friend help Arkowski finish the project. Host Jill Cordes pitches in and provides narration, including this nugget: “Three-thousand dollars can only go so far. They’re going to have to work to make it feel like home!” For one room in a new house, a budget like that can probably go far enough.
“My First Place” premieres Oct. 22 on HGTV. High-speed Internet users can watch an episode on the network’s Web site, HGTV.com, starting Monday.
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Carmel Carrillo is assistant editor of Real Estate. You may contact her at [email protected], or write to her at baiduhai, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.