"Design Star" 3 recaplet (Ep. 7): A family affair

I'll violate the first rule of journalism and give you the ending right at the beginning: Team Gay is goin' to the Design Star finals, kids.

I'm telling you this because without that little tidbit of information, you might not all tune in next week and vote, and that's what it will take to get Matt Locke his own show. Because the judges are done, and now it's up to us.

But first, back to the beginning.

The final three (Trish, Jennifer, and Matt) brought it home this week, literally. They were put on airplanes and flown to their hometowns to do makeovers on their families' houses. Trish made over her parents' living room, Jennifer made over her sister's living room/dining room, and Matt? Well, Matt flew to Colorado Springs, CO, to redesign his mother's craft room.

In my pre-season interview with Matt, he told me his relationship with his mother suffered a serious blow when she found out he was gay, and that HGTV was one of the things that helped bring them together again. There certainly didn't seem to be any lack of affection between them inthis episode, although the craft room was certainly more of a challengethan a more conventional room might have been.

Welcome home, son

Still, as ten seconds on Matt's website would tell you, designing innovative solutions for odd spaces and uses is exactly what he's best at, so I had high hopes for this makever. Hopes that didn't really get anywhere, sadly, since the time constraints on this challenge were so severe it didn't give him an opportunity to design, say, a brilliant wall unit or radical lighting system, which is what this particular room needed.

Matt's mom's craft room, before

One challenge he met with complete success was trying to incorporate his mom's kiln (which looked like a giant metal crockpot) into the room. He built a movable wall that wrapped around it, and used it to mount the ubitquitous plasma TV. Very Matt-esque, and it got lots of praise from the judges. Unlike the big black leather chairs, which were probably both comfortable and practical for the space, but didn't do anything for it visually.

Matt's redesigned craft room for his mom

Jennifer did her usual clever job for her family, turning a badly-laid-out living room/dining room combo into something from, well, an HGTV design show.

Jenn's dazzling after

Trish, who as of last week was the one to beat due to her extraordinarily relaxed and gracious hosting persona, had the tough task of turning her parents' outdated and extremely conventional (the judges said traditional, but they were being kind) living room into something that was, in her words, "Pleasing to my parents, pleasing to the judges, and somewhere finding me in all that."

She completely aced the first, but the second, sadly, not so much. They found her design boring, saying it looked like a furniture showroom.

Find out if Matt made the cut after the break!

Trish's room, before and after

One note: Matt, who is pretty handy himself, had the most enthusiastic handyman assigned to help him, while Trish's guy seemed to be in serious need of a triple shot espresso from the nearest Starbucks. And Jenn's guy, while cooperative enough, wasn't what I'd call a dynamo. What's up with that, HGTV?

Some guys get all the luck

We saw a lot more of the contestants' hosting skills this week, and Matt seems to have found his groove, although I still want to make him some chamomile tea and tell him to breathe.

Matt hosting

We also saw him vacuum, a season three first:

Matt Vacuuming

While Jennifer has astonishing on-screen charisma, her hosting bits have always been awkward. This week is the first time we really saw her personality and energy overcome her nerves, and she did a great job.

Jenn hosting

Trish has been doing a great job hosting since the beginning, and this week was no exception. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, and her show was canceled.

And now there are two.

Matt and Jennifer

Next week, viewers will decide who will be HGTV's next Design Star, and the winner will be announced the week after that. This is the first time since David Bromstad in the first season that we've had a member of Team Gay in the final two, so I expect you all to do your civic duty and vote.