PG-13 Warning: This video is racy compared to what I normally post. That’s me, all lollipops and unicorns and rainbows and 
. But… a satirical comedy sketch about avocado bathrooms… as typically portrayed on TV home-buyer shows? I had to.
How could you sleep a wink knowing that somewhere in your house mute ceramic witness was being paid to your total inability to bow to the prevailing taste consensus?
hahahahahaha. Snaps to Damian, who must be from the U.K. because he knows who Mitchell and Webb are. Here’s their un-site, which indicates where you can read more about them. Thank you, Damian.
I’m from the United States and I know who Mitchell and Webb are! Their show has been on BBC America (although not currently). My husband and I are BIG fans of this show, and British comedy in general, especially sketch comedy! We were recently re-watching Series 1 and 2 (which we own on DVD), and were thinking of ordering Series 3 (from Amazon UK). Very funny stuff!
That’s awesome!
That is hilarious! I’ve never heard of Mitchell and Webb.
As funny as that was, I wish it wasn’t so true to life. I’ve been sickened so many times by these home shows ripping out beautiful bathrooms and kitchens. I saw a beautiful pink bathroom replaced by beige and metallic tile last weekend on Moving Up.
You know, I thought a lot about whether to post this, because I have no desire to battle with the home shows. I think that folks are always trying to do their best to love their house and make it the best they can. Yesterday, I actually read somewhere that about 50 years after a home is built, there tends to be a real “danger period” when what is original to the house is still not quite yet appreciated…and because the homes are turning over, there tends to be a lot of gutting. I think this was true for Victorians and bungalows, too, for example. Now, we’re seeing it with mid-century homes. Hopefully, there is enough interest brewing — and the internet certainly helps to make that interest more widely available — to recognize and preserve the best of mid-century homes within a narrower window. … Let’s take the video as “laughing at ourselves” because we’ve all probably felt the same way or done similar things. I know that I have. I ripped out (in retrospect: gorgeous) bordello red flocked wallpaper once — horrors!!!
Its official….thats the funniest video I have seen in a long time!!
I ripped out the light yellow and black tile in my 1949 Cape Cod. Oh, and the original light brown, blue and pinkish multi sized mini tile floor. YAY ME!!! I cringe now when I think about it because I put up a stupid smooth, white fiberglass shower surround.
In my very first house, a 1938 brick bungalow, I guess you’d say, (of the flocked wallpaper), I also covered up lovely vintage kitchen flooring with press-on tiles. And, I painted the perfectly wonderful vintage wood maple cabinets. Fortunately, I was too broke and otherwise disinterested to do anything else severe. I wonder if the knotty pine Florida room with jalousie windows is still there???
I really think a “Mass Day of Mourning” needs to be held for a majority of homes built prior to 1970. The biggest offenders are “flippers” who seem to think the majority of homeowners REALLY prefer to live in condos, fitted with stock items from the Home Depot. These homes are stripped of any sort of charm. (my biggest peeve are 15″ plastc shutter attached to ANY window reguardless of height or width)
Pam, I suggest you check out Colin and Justin on BBC America Saturday morning at 9. They too rip out-but thoughtfully replace…and they really are a hoot.
Flocked or foil wallpaper can be lovely….but like wicker lampshades/starburst clocks/stencilling/Artex walls or silk flowers, can fall into the wrong hands….and then it’s all over.
I am still strongly considering my “Noted Authority” moniker!
Excuse the above spelling errors…I was on a roll.
That is so spot on. The neutralization advocated by those home “improvement” shows is such a travesty. You are absolutely right that mid-century modest & modern homes are suffering at the hands of what I call the “Home Depot Fairies.”
I cringe when I see a hint of the original solid wood or metal kitchen cabinets repurposed in the garage…after being replaced by pressboard cabinets from HD.
Happily I can report that the majority of my mid-century home buying clients want to see original finishes and fixtures intact!
Wow, Shannon, it’s great to hear that more folks are now shopping for un-re-muddled mid mod homes!
Save the Avocado Bathrooms! The 50 year point also seems to be the cutoff for the National Registry of Historic Places.
I just had to comment on this post and how true it is. Most home shows have a common distaste for any thing old. I remember an episode of Changing Rooms years ago where one of the families had a beautiful mcm side board which they asked the makeover people not to get rid of. They should have told them not to touch it at all because when they got back the home the designers had painted it white. If I remember correctly, the wife was very upset because it was her grandmother’s.
Also, I saw an episode of Flip this House or something like that where they didn’t like the 50s tile in the bathroom and covered it with cheap faux tile wall board. It seems to me that alot of the time they replace things that are in good shape with alot of good years left with very cheap updates. On the flip side, do they realize that alot of the modern upscale updates they make like the glass bowl bathroom sinks are going to go out of style? In 10-15 yrs. people will be doing these same shows saying how awful,tacky,retro,misguided and hideous it all is before taking a sledge hammer to them.
If you watch old episodes of This Old House from the 80s you’ll see that alot of those european style kitchens they put up are now being torn down. Not to mention all of the cultured marble sinks,glass block,white/bisque appliances,vinyl flooring etc. that is currently terribly outdated and must go. One episode that I found hilarious they were installing a laser disk system into the house. The owners didn’t even know what one was when they saw it(you had to flip a the disc 1/2 way through a movie and sometimes 1 movie required mult. discs unlike vhs). Alot of those older home shows are just chock full of remodels that just wreak of the 80′s and 90′s.
I’ll leave on a bright note, if these shows do any good it’s to provide a time capsule of just exactly was going through someone’s mind when they made that now dated alteration.
I Have always thought the same thing and actually studied decorating trends and fashion trends of the 20 th century for an art class to prove the point. everything that people want now will become obsolete by nature, and classic styles will be repeated such as fads for victorian and country furniture. Of course thrift stores have become mini museums of things that were once thought important, discarded as worthless and revived. I dont ever remember thrift stores when I was a kid in the 60s because people didnt fill their houses with junk from the dollar store. Im surprised more people dont notice this.
I have to laugh at the comment about the “bowl sinks.” My sister and friends are trying to convince me to put in a vessel sink in the new/antique dressing table vanity I am installing in my main bath in the 1980′s house. I keep thinking, “Yes, but what will I do with it in 10 years?”
So, I really liked reading that someone else feels the same as I do.
In fact, the only thing a sink like that would have going for it would be that the hole in the antique marble top would be smaller, which is a silly thing to think, because any hole in a marble top is a HOLE IN A MARBLE TOP. In other words, it ruins it.
I love Mitchell & Webb. I plan to marry David Mitchell someday.
This was hysterical but oh, too true!
I had to stop watching “This Old House” because I caught myself yelling at the television as they hacked up and rearranged Queen Annes and bungalows. I used to love watching it to see how they did all that stuff, but I can’t bear it any more.
50 years! Heck now we are seeing people tear out kitchens that look to be less than 15 years old, sometimes only a few years old. I like to think that people ‘in real life’ don’t do that but when home improvement stores are footing the bill for product placement on a television show, it’s a different story I guess.
Oh, haha! That is hysterically funny. (I guess I’m lucky that I don’t get any TV channels, so I’ve never seen reality TV.) We actually have an avocado tub in our Queen Anne, dating from 1962 when they finally decided to put a bathroom on the first floor and converted what was apparently the butler’s pantry. When we bought the house ten years ago, the sink and toilet (also avocado) were in very bad shape, but the tub looked great. We just remodeled around it, doing a vaguely art-deco thing, with green and black tiles on the wall and black and white marble floor tiles. We put in a white pedestal sink and toilet from the local hardware store, and some art deco light fixtures. A very inexpensive makeover, and the tub looks FABULOUS–like the bathroom was added at some vaguely distant time in the past, maybe in the thirties when they “modernized”, splurging on a chic pastel tub.
I watch the home decorating shows when I go on the treadmill. Which isn’t often enough these days. When I have watched lately, I seem to have noticed less gutting. The flip-this-house shows are off the air — that strategy proved to be a dark tunnel of economic doom, didn’t it? There seem to be lots more design-on-a-dime type shows. Lots of paint involved. As Dave mentions, this, too, can lead to relative “disasters.” But at least, for the most part, paint can be un-done. The recession is forcing people to work with what they have. As the header says, to Love The House You’re In.
Blood brilliant!
Beg pardon–I meant to say “Bloody brilliant!”
Lets remember that Trading Spaces was sponsored by The Home Depot. It is to their advantage to keep this renovation treadmill moving!
I must disagree about the paint not doing damage….there are 1 million shiney walls out there with the texture of orange rinds and unremoved wallpaper paste….and I am holding my tongue on the new Ralph Lauren Texture paints…whats the re-coat of THAT?
Abbie- good luck becoming Mrs Mitchell!!!!!!
Ok, I’m with you on the textured paint.
And again, I’m promoting a middle ground on all of this. Folks want to renovate their houses. We want to nest. Doin’ the old timey restoration thing — it’s just not for everybody. Never was, never will. Peace and love to all.
Gavin, I can tell you about that from experience. We purchased this house from a couple of people who thought they were real do-it-yourselfers. Only they were horrible. They tried to apply a Tuscany style texture to the bathroom walls, and instead ended up with thick layers of goop.
We hired a man with an electric sander. When he was done swearing, complaining that if he had known it was gonna be that bad he would have charged more, etc., we had a house full of dust and two bathrooms that were noticeably larger.
Someone made a comment here that all the new construction/reconstruction tends to look alike? Oh yeah, we all know it!
Let me add? We live in a college town with lots and lots of apartments, many of which turn over each academic year. One dreary and slow (otherwise) summer I worked as a carpet cleaner for a few months. I did, seriously, HUNDREDS of empty apartments. Realized that a modern apartment is not much other than a motel room but larger because people stay longer and need more space for their stuff.
Bathrooms, kitchens, everything the same. In the last 10 years or so there has been a great deal of new home construction, too. What amazes me is that despite the behemoth size (and price tags) they repeat design inside and out eacjh third house on most streets, and all of the bathrooms are not only white but built with the same cheap (the word was once “chintzy”, wasn’t it, to differentiate from inexpensive?) junk as the apartments. And…ta da…MOST of these bigger new houses are indeed rentals. Not inexpensive, either, but rentals just the same. Guess that way no one ever feels disoriented if they swap to another one somewhaere else because everything looks alike. Yipes!
Ever see the movie “Brasil”?
‘Briefly, a word about Ducts…’
Dave
Oh Pam, this is REALLY, REALLY funny!
That was awesome, Pam! Great find and totally hilarious. I especially love the “host” ranting about how they have to only like white bathrooms. Classic.
Well said, Darling!
While at the paint store today, I asked about these new textured faux finish/metallic paints and asked what the re-coat was…The saleswoman laughed and handed me a piece of sandpaper. She said they look really wonderful new, but that unless it is removed or you install replacement drywall-they are forever.
That was hysterical, thanks for the laugh! And just for the record, we have a yellow tub and sink with seafoam green tile on the walls in the Hacienda bathroom, and that definitely helped to sell the house to us!
Unfortunately everything seems like set dressing now…facades to fool the eye, but no real quality or substance.
Don’t get me started on wall-texture! I’ve been in houses where the walls look like a heavily frosted cake.
That was so funny! I liked the bathroom too! However, my powder pink tiled bathroom from the 60′s has a pink toilet, pink tub, pink sink and the rotating toothbrush holder! We love it!! White is sooooo boring!!!
Pam – that’s an excellent find! I just can’t decide whether to share it since it sounds a good bit like the ribbing my closest friends and husband give me regarding my freshly acquired radar for all things mid-mod. It was such a great laugh…thanks!
We’re in the Chicago burbs and LOVE Mitchell and Webb. I think Netflix has both “That Mitchell and Webb Look” and “Peep Show,” two great series by them. (They have other shows too.) I like retro, but I love Mitchell and Webb.)
Thanks, Julie. I am going to have to add these to our Blockbuster online wish list. I love rude comedy.
I just stumbled across this site since we’re remodeling a turn of the century house, but most of our things are mid century.. have give a great thumbs up to any site that rocks the retro and also posts a Mitchell and Webb clip. Huge fan of theirs and it really does just take a lovely jab at all those home design shows. Reminds me of how my father in law wants us to replace the claw foot tub I have with a new jucuzzi tub! (NEVER I think was my reply)
Welcome, Coleen. Mitchell & Webb were undiscovered territory for me until Damian sent the link to “Avocado Bathroom”. It’s just my style, and coincident with your email…well, I blew a good hour last night watching more clips on YouTube. They are really really good! I will have to buy the videos. And congrats on holding fast to your mid-mod-Vic. When it’s ready to prime time send me some pics!
This is ever loving hilarious!!!!
Great video!
Im 26 and I just bought my first home…. a 1956 Ranch that is 98% original. It has a beautiful double fireplace and all the nutone you can handle! We have 2 bathrooms….one has a pink sink/tub/toilet/tile with grey accents and the other has a grey sink/tub/toilet/tile with pink accents. They are my awesome inverted bathrooms hahah and they are staying!!!!
As a realtor, I attempt to “educate” the buyers about the value of keeping the home in as original condition as possible – however, after mentioning my seemingly constant dilema with a collegue who holds the same love of mid-century and vintage as I, she bluntly said, “June, it’s a K-mart world out there!” That about sumed it up for me!
And I just read Shanon Stanbro’s comment, so will also leave an uplifting “realtor” comment…lately, I HAVE more and more clients who are looking for “untouched” properties…such a good sign!!! However, with the past run-up in real estate, so many “flippers” ripped out and added Home Depot stuff, the pristine homes, at least in Tucson and Phoenix areas are more and more rare.
I just bought a mid century modern home in West Palm Beach, FL that has not been changed much since 1961 when it was built. I was online today looking for renovation ideas and these posts may have just saved one pink bathroom and a few other key features. I cannot say I will leave the whole house in its original form but I will certainly keep more than I was planning to do. Maybe keep one wall of the paneling, the pink bath and a few other key features. I was already planning to keep the terrazzo. Even I knew enough to keep the terrazzo.
Sooooo funny!
I think I watch every series that airs on HGTV here in Canada, and House Hunters can definitely be frustrating viewing: episode after episode of real estate zombies on the hunt for granite-this and open-concept-that…
I might have to share this in my Retro-Renovation album on FB. I have a friend in real estate who, a year ago, responded to our ‘fill our house with color’ retro-renovation with a scoffing ‘I hope you don’t plan to sell your house anytime soon’. Now, a year later, we have made him into a believer of ‘think pink’ baths and Harvest Gold/Avocado kitchenettes.
This clip is so very funny! Avocado bath? You BET I say yes!
I was watching the Food Channel today with some friends, and I wondered aloud if all the silly chef challenge type shows were having an adverse affect on how we approach food and cooking in our society, making meals more about the strangeness and variety of ingredients that aren’t even really harmonious.
Do you think the same thing is happening on networks like HGTV? I don’t really watch them all that much, because nothing they do has ever really been to my taste. I was doing the mid century thing twenty years ago, simply because my husband and I were comfortable in that era of home, and they were affordable where we lived.
I was so used to being thought of as weird, and there was never anything on a home design show that worked with my house anyway.
I had a couple of friends who lived in the same period of house, and they felt the same way.
It is so much nicer now to have other people with us, but now that it is getting trendy, I want to grab all the “Mad Men” fans and knock them clear into the next fad so they will leave us alone again.
Anyway, I am glad Retro Renovation is here, because this is where the real, solid mid century people hang out.
I am rambling, as I tend to do. Sorry.
I just painted a 50s ranch house for a man who bought it as an investment property. He had his son living there about 5 years ago and the first thing his son did was rip out the pink wall hung sink and pink tiles in the shower surround. He also pulled out the sliding glass door and put in one of those awful plastic panel kits and a plane shower rod. The sink cabinet he installed was made of MDF and was delaminating and the inside was covered with mold. They also had the tub sprayed and it was chipped and peeling. Luckily no one touched the turquoise kitchen counter and copper toned range hood. Why can’t people live with what’s there if it’s in good shape and just have fun with it?
I laughed out loud when I watched this video! It’s early and I just tuned in to HGTV and Spice up my Kitchen is on. I had to switch to the news because they are going to RIP out the pink counters, pink stove and pink fridge! I just can’t take it! I too start yelling at the TV. Does NO one have any individuality? (besides all of us, of course) why-o-why would I want to be exactly like everyone else? And why is it that people think it is OK to make fun of your taste right to your face like you have no feelings? Yeah, I get a little worked up about it! We are purchasing a 1952 brick home with some original stuff. It was really hard finding original features and also convincing my realtor that I didn’t want any updates.