*****UPDATE***** This really isn't a "new" show as Joni from Cote de Texas pointed out (love ya, Joni!!!), but its new to me. I guess there was a previous season, but with a two year old I shockingly missed it.
one thing leads you to another. I googled designer Jason Bell from the May issue of Domino magazine. In the renovator's notebook section he designed a fabulous kitchen called "English Country" (sorry, I'll scan tomorrow but its page 80). I died for the herringbone subway tile and the classic lines, so long behold I was hoping to find a website, but no luck (Jason, email me if you read this!). But what did pop up is TLC's website and an announcement of a new interior design series that will be debuting in August called "
Material World". Jason is featured as one of the designers and this is what TLC has to say about the show:
"America’s East and West coasts are magnets for glamour and glitz. The country’s most expensive and opulent real estate is found there … with interiors to match. But who designs those spaces? Who can afford to pay for the designers’ services, and what do they spend it on when money is no object? TLC’s Material World finds out.
Material World, a new 12-episode series on TLC, is an irreverent, voyeuristic romp through the spectacular world of high-end interior design in the homes of the super-rich. It’s about taste, huge budgets, demanding clients and the high-end designers who serve them.
When it comes to building, renovating and designing a home, even millions of dollars can’t buy good taste. That’s where the designers of Material World come in. Viewers will see these in-demand professionals as they manage their high-profile clientele, catering to their every whim and weathering their every mood swing, while still maintaining a vision and staying on schedule. It’s no easy task. The designers must juggle meeting with clients, creating design schemes, shopping for furniture and fixtures, dealing with contractors, and even overseeing final installation and the finished product.
In each one-hour episode, viewers will get to know the designers on a professional and personal level, while getting a glimpse into the world of high-end interior design and the lives of their rich and famous clients. Designers featured in the series include Jason Bell, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Susan Cohen, Elaine Culotti, Vincent Jacquard, Jack Levy, Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, Courtney Sloane and Bobby Trendy. From the Hamptons to the Hollywood Hills, viewers will see the designers in action, as they employ passion and creativity and pour their hearts and souls into each of their projects -- and also enjoy the ritzy lifestyle their work affords them.
Over the series, viewers will see what it takes to have it all in the world of interior design. They'll learn how these designers interact with their clients, how they inspire confidence and trust in their ambitious ideas, and above all, how they convince their clients to part with vast sums of money to realize their dreams. In the Material World, the sky’s the limit."
As mentioned about Benjamin Noriega Ortiz is part of the cast which I'm excited about, who I have to say is one heck of a guy. I emailed him when I was enormously pregnant and renovating a bathroom, desperate to find an extra long, tailored clear shower curtain he once did in a featured article. He wrote me back! Gracious Home was the source in case you were wondering.....
So what do you think about this show's concept?? Honestly, I can't watch one more Molto Mario on Fine Living.
The "prom" stairs as my husband and I have joked about as you enter the house. I love them.
In the living and dining room, beautiful yellow stain glass windows.
The dining room. Felix is preparing to rip out that wall in the dining room. Look out!
Coming down the prom stairs to the sea of mauve and an odd wetbar. Both hot in the 80's. Not so much in 2008.
The "new kitchen" area. We are removing that arched wall and the wall to the left (behind is the dining room seen before.) Believe it or not, that is the actual kitchen behind that arch, with the oldest stove known to man.
Flavor Paper's 
Lulu DK's Madison fabric
