“Hmm,” said Nolan.
Their next stop was an antique shop—Nolan kept calling it a “vintage store” and Grayson didn’t have the heart to tell him it made him sound pretentious—but they found a bunch of really cool accessories to put in the house. Grayson’s favorite finds were some antique picture frames. He planned to email Carol and ask her to send him some digital photos he could print out at the Restoration Channel offices on good paper and frame them.
They wrapped up at a trendy lighting shop because Nolan wanted a cool overhead fixture for the kitchen. That, too, created a little bit of conflict when Grayson fell in love with a really cool chandelier made of glass balls that looked so light, they could have been bubbles. But Nolan said, “Absolutely not. Way too modern. Doesn’t work with the theme at all.” The camera guys seemed to be eating this up.
Their “load in day” happened the following day. In addition to what they’d picked out, they had access to a truck full of stuff from one of the Restoration Channel’s sponsors. In exchange for dropping the name of the company into casual conversation several times in the episode, they could take pretty much anything they wanted from the truck at no cost. Was anything in the truck cutting-edge? No. But Grayson spent some time browsing and picked up a cool ottoman and lots of textiles: throw-pillow cases, throw blankets, curtains, sheets, towels. There were also boxes of dishes, picture frames, wicker baskets, ceramic animals, storage boxes, all kinds of things. He was determined to leave an impression on this house, and if that meant he only picked the throw pillows because Nolan was a control freak who kept nixing his ideas, well, they would befabulousthrow pillows.
He carried his finds into the house, where he found Nolan staring intently at a line of mismatched wicker baskets sitting on the kitchen island.
“Do you like any of these?” Nolan asked.
“I like the black one with the white trim.”
“Sure, okay.”
Grayson ignored whatever basket crisis Nolan was having as he found a good spot for the ottoman and then placed the throw pillows where he wanted them. He gave each pillow a karate chop and then tossed a pretty cabled throw over the back of the sofa he and Nolan had picked out.
Nolan held up a sea green ceramic vase. “What do you think of this?”
“It’s nice.”
“You say that like you don’t want to tell me you hate it.”
“It’s a little plain, but the color goes with the rest of the design well. Are you going to put flowers in it?”
“Sure. I figured we could buy some on the way here on reveal day.”
“Cool. Do you think the sofa needs more pillows?”
Nolan walked over and looked at what Grayson had done. “Any more pillows and there won’t be anywhere to sit.”
Grayson nodded and decided he was satisfied with the living room. Then he looked at the bookshelves.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not.”
“What?” Nolan said.
“I know that turning books with their spines toward the wall creates this nice off-white color palette for stuff on the shelves. But I hate it. A lot. It’s totally impractical. How is the home owner supposed to tell what’s on the shelf?”
“So put them back.”
“I will.”
The camera got all of this. They got every little tiff about design Grayson and Nolan had all day. When they finally finished to Nolan’s satisfaction, Helena said, “I’ve been watching the dailies. You guys are already arguing like an old married couple. I love it.”
“Oh, boy,” said Nolan.
“Viewers love this sort of thing. Little conflicts. Compromises. It’s great.”
“Are we done?” Nolan asked, seeming annoyed.
“Yes,” said Helena. “The house looks great. We’ll all come back tomorrow for the reveal. The Robertses are scheduled to arrive back at the house at eleven, so I want to get here at ten to get some footage of you guys doing some final tinkering.”
In the car a half hour later, Grayson asked, “So are you actually annoyed with me?”
Nolan let out a sigh. “No. I’m just not used to designing with a partner. And our aesthetics are different.”
“I think I’ve landed on how to define us. I’m more modern, but a little quirky. You’re surprisingly more traditional. The furniture you picked for the den all looks kind of antique. But I don’t really care for that look.”
