Dec
19
Look at the Pretty Books !
December 19, 2006 |
I have previously confessed a slight obsession with the home improvement shows on HGTV. Well it appears that HGTV and I have reached a crisis of values. On a recent episode of Sensible Chic the designers were creating a “gentleman’s study” as a surprise for someone’s deserving husband.
The room was being created for around $2000 as opposed to the “inspiration room” that cost about $54,000. So where do the designers cut corners? The answer in these shows is usually “everywhere”. Artwork is a common place to save big dollars. “We trimmed $1.3 million from the cost of the inspiration room by substituting this weathered block of wood that sort of looks like one of the mushrooms in Fantasia for an original Rodin sculpture.”
The artwork switcheroo should bother me more than it does but I figure, if the home owners don’t care, why should I. So this attitude should have carried through to the gentleman’s study. However, when the show sent out one of its intrepid bargain hunters to stock the gentleman’s bookcase, I wasn’t prepared. When the book store owner asked if the client was interested in history, the bargain hunter replied, “I don’t care what the book is about as long as it’s pretty”.
“ARE YOU KIDDING!” I screamed at the television, feeling badly that I hadn’t mustered that kind of ire in defense of Rodin. With a self-satisfied smile on her face the bargain hunter went on to explain that her main goal was to have books with attractive colors on the spine. I slumped down in my chair as she left the shop with her box of “pretty books”.
“So whatever happened to not judging a book by its cover?” I asked the TV. No answer was forthcoming. The “gentleman” did, however, appreciate his room. As he and the designer cooed about all the wonderful things in the room the books were not mentioned. I can only hope that he accidentally acquired some tomes of intrinsic quality that he or perhaps his children will someday pick up and actually read.
As for me, I plan on looking at these shows a bit more critically. I will no longer take it on faith that one can blithley substitute one chair for another because I know that the pretty, leather bound book with the red highlights probably won’t be of much use in my library.
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