War of the catalogs

July 17, 2005

While the ramifications may be slightly less earthshaking than a war of the worlds and its budget is certainly less than the Steven Spielberg remake extravaganza, Catalog This! recently premiered on the Fine Living cable channel, and if you watch, you’ll see a few Old North Knoxville residents take the challenge of compromise while decorating one room in each of their historic homes with only what they found in catalogs.

The Fine Living web site says Catalog This! "pits a feuding pair of housemates against one another in the design challenge of a lifetime. With competing tastes, the struggle to compromise can get heated, but staying within the budget (of $7,000) without going over is the hardest part. If a couple can get through this, they can get through anything!"

On July 19th at 8 pm. (which may have already aired by the time you see this), Scott Schimmel and Lisa Sorensen took the challenge In an episode entitled "Man’s Space," Scott wanted a room "that’s a proud showcase for his collections," while Lisa wanted the same room "cleaned up or cleared out."

On Sept. 13th at 8 p.m., you’ll see Russ and Amy Porter redoing their living room. Details on the show were not on the Fine Living web site at press time, but their adventure was highlighted in the November/December 2004 issue of Old North News. Then the show was titled Catalogue Wars. Apparently there was a compromise there as well. The show repeats at 11 p.m. on the night it’s shown.