The show's formula goes something like this: two couples, with the help of two professional designers and a master carpenter, trade houses for a weekend and fix up a single room for their friends. They are held to a strict budget of $1000 each by an attractive host (in the first season, it was the lovely Alex McLeod of Joe Millionaire fame, but later seasons had the more energetic and equally attractive Paige Davis), who assists each couple from time to time. Like the spin off show While You Were Out, there are a host of techniques that everyday people with little training in home improvement can use to fix up their living spaces using more sweat equity than cash. The show itself started in 2000 on the little-known cable station and has since helped boost TLC to a newfound status with ratings increases all the time. The core demographic seems to be younger couples since the designers, carpenters, and hosts all reflect that attractive appeal I've noticed in more mainstream projects too. In later seasons, designers like Frank (an older teddy bear type) were added but most of the time, even the guests reflect this focus. In a collection of episodes centering on designer Doug Wilson, Trading Spaces: Creative Home Décor with Designer Doug Wilson, host Paige Davis was present for five of the most popular episodes of this increasingly popular show. Here's a quick breakdown of the DVD with general synopses by TLC:

Scott Air Force Base: Ash Creek: 12/21/2002: Host: Paige Davis: Designers: Doug Wilson and Kia Steave-Dickerson:
"The U.S. Military has never seen an operation like Trading Spaces! Designers Doug Wilson and Kia Steave-Dickerson travel to Scott Air Force Base to undertake a search and design mission. Doug's keeping it all in the family as he tries to transform a real automobile into a bed and toy chest for a boy's bedroom. Meanwhile, Kia parachutes in to her living/dining room, bringing a touch of camouflage down with her. Carpenter Ty Pennington is certainly not missing roll call — he stays up all night working on Doug's car and Kia's faux fireplace. Will our homeowners go to Def Con Five when they see their new rooms? Tune in and find out!"

New York: Whitlock Road: 9/21/2002: Host: Paige Davis: Designers: Doug Wilson and Genevieve Gorder:
"Genevieve Gorder's team fights her every decision — from paint to pillows! Doug Wilson fights his own battles on bed placement in the master bedroom. Doug can usually hold his own but, this time, both members of his team are lawyers." The carpenter this time was the hotty Amy Wynn Pastor and what I liked about this episode was how both rooms looked fairly subdued, rather than the designer crazy styles that no one would keep."

Columbus: Camden Road: 2003: Host: Paige Davis: Designers: Doug Wilson and Vern Yip:
This episode was not actually listed on the TLC website but it was notable for the financial confrontation between carpenter Ty Pennington and Doug Wilson when Ty spends a huge amount of money on top quality wood that Doug didn't plan on. Otherwise, the two rooms were actually among the best of the season, even Doug's "zig zag" floor room.

New Orleans: Melrose Drive: 1/10/2004: Host: Paige Davis: Designers: Doug Wilson and Edward Walker:
"The Trading Spaces team has headed down to New Orleans and our designers have invoked the Mardi Gras Spirit for a little bit of inspiration.
Designer Edward Walker is devilishly decorating his master bedroom with some Bourbon Street flare, even though his homeowners said "NO MARDI GRAS!" Down the street designer Doug Wilson is working "with" his country clad kitchen and is trying to recreate a French Bistro feel.
Outside, handy gal Amy Wynn Pastor is there to keep these boys designing on a dime. French Quarter... French Bistro... with all this crazy Cajun influence will our teams think their new rooms are tres jolie or just plain bad! Je ne sais pas!"

Tampa: Amelia Avenue: 4/10/2004: Host: Paige Davis: Designers: Doug Wilson and Hildi Santo Tomas
"What happens if you hold an episode of Trading Spaces and nobody comes? Well, not nobody exactly, but what if all four show carpenters are busy and the homeowners can only shoot those days and what d'ya do? Well episode 36 is what you do.
You get designers Doug Wilson and Hildi Santo Tomas to strap on tool belts and head into carpentry world and in addition to designing and sewing and painting, they're now sawing, nailing and building.
Now you'd think that with this daunting task ahead of them they might scale back and build something like your 7th grade shop project just to go easy on themselves... but you'd be wrong about that. Doug tackles a huge entertainment unit in his living room and Hildi constructs an entire fake fireplace build-out! Paige Davis jumps into the middle of it all and the results are really something to be seen.
If nothing else, you simply have to watch this episode just to see Doug Wilson do his impression of Ty Pennington. It's a show biz moment not to be missed!"

Doug's claim to fame on the show is that he maintains an air of superiority, of knowing that his ideas are better than anyone else's, and of being among the most temperamental of the designers on the show. He'll fight anybody that tries to change his vision (including the cast and crew) for a room and sometimes comes off like a big jerk. People that watch the show regularly will probably find him the showman of the bunch with a subtle sense of humor that seems to escape the others but is an admittedly acquired taste. He's done professional work for some of the biggest names in the country (Barbara Walters comes to mind) and his work on the show is often very pleasing to the aesthetic eye. I'd still rather see complete season sets but this was a pleasant volume to watch (and was dirt cheap to boot) so fans of the show's "bad boy" will likely find it worth a rating higher than my Rent It.

Picture: Trading Spaces: Creative Home Décor with Designer Doug Wilson was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color, as originally shot. The fleshtones were accurate, the colors solid and the image crisp and clear. While there would occasionally be some pattern noise, it always looked much better than my cable company and that alone made it worth a couple of bucks for me to shell out over the advertisement laden episodes on cable.

Sound: The audio was presented in stereo, PCM (pulse code modulated) English with no subtitles present. The music was low budget but added to the charm and the vocals were always clear. The package listed closed captions and the overall sound was at least as clear as my current digital cable system provides.

Extras: The only extra was a featurette called Designers and Carpenters and Outtakes… that really wasn't episode specific as I would have preferred but a series montage from various seasons. I liked it when it originally aired on TLC and I liked it here but I'd still like the show to be released in season sets with distinctive extras as other television on DVD sets have received.

Final Thoughts: Trading Spaces: Creative Home Décor with Designer Doug Wilson was a fun five episodes to watch but there wasn't anything different here to offer those of us that have seen the episodes on cable. I suppose my rating of Rent It seems light but considering most people have access to seeing the show for free, albeit with slightly weaker technical aspects than this DVD offered, something added on might make more people sit up and take notice of the opportunity to buy the DVDs that are being released. The show itself is great fun to enjoy and maybe those season sets will eventually make it out but I'm not holding my breath.