Couple appear on “Trading Spaces” again after first “terrible” makeover

“I was so shocked that I just didn’t even comment on how much I hated it"

Kelly (second from left) and Mary Geerts (second from right) appeared for the second time on "Trading Spaces" with their new partners (Credit: TLC)
Kelly (second from left) and Mary Geerts (second from right) appeared for the second time on "Trading Spaces" with their new partners (Credit: TLC)

The second time proved to be a charm for Kelly and Mary Geerts, a couple who made a return appearance on TLC’s “Trading Spaces” after a “terrible” experience almost two decades ago.

The couple were on the show in 2001 and ended up with a bright yellow living room with canary-colored curtains, zebra-print furniture and a suspended buffet table, according to the Chicago Tribune. They were not fans.

“I was so shocked that I just didn’t even comment on how much I hated it. Like, I did not like it,” Mary Geerts told the Tribune. “It was very, very yellow and very, very bright. In the daytime when the sun was shining through the window through the front, it looked like, literally, like you were in the center of the sun.”

The Geertses moved to the suburbs not long after the 2001 episode and the new owners of the condo ended up repainting the yellow room.

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“I think they kept the artwork,” Mary Geerts told the Tribune. “We had a hanging table, and I’m not sure if they kept that or not. It wasn’t what sold the house, I’ll say that.”

Since then the Geertses divorced, found new partners and moved from their Albany Park condo to separate homes in suburban Park Ridge. On the episode set to air at 7 p.m. Saturday, the couple will redesign spaces in their exes’ new places.

On Sunday, a Facebook thread about the episode was filled with criticism for the designs of both rooms — largely aimed at designers Hildi Santo Tomas and Doug Wilson. Mary Geerts weighed in saying their second experience on the show was better than the first: “As one of the homeowners on tonight’s shows—stop hating. We BOTH liked the rooms we got. The space was not being used at all so what do we care what they do? Anything is better than nothing.” [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien