Interior Design and Redesign

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Our Robin LaMonte on Good Morning America

One of my sweet trainees from some time ago wrote me that she had been selected for a piece on Good Morning America about being hired by clients to decorate their homes for Christmas. This is a service that full time interior designers and other reative people have been giving to busy homeowners for decades without any criticism from the media. So it is disheartening to all of us to see the slant that ABC gave the piece all for the sake of boosting their ratings by trying to turn it into something controversial.

The ABC people knew that Mrs. Gunther "has an ill parent, her children are in college, and her husband doesn't have the time to assist in decorating" so she has used her decorator the last 3 years. But, of course, they don't give that side of the picture either. Robin wrote me, "that Kate Snow said she was outraged" that people would not decorate their own homes - yet she apparently hires a "baby coach" (a new term for "nanny"?) to look after her new baby. Isn't parenting an older tradition than decorating for Christmas?

Decorating for Christmas is not a sacred duty, please. I think everyone would like to do their own, but they have to set priorities - and let's face it - some people just don't have the talent for it.

Read The Piece

I think it would be awesome if all of you were to write, call or email ABC, and Kate Snow, and Good Morning America and voice your collective opinion on the outrageous comments. I don't even like the negative slant in the piece on the website. It makes it seem like our precious Robin is out "preying" on homeowners by their choice of words and phrases. She's providing a very valuable, time consuming and talent-driven service for people who can't do it for themselves, no matter what the reasons are.

Here's a link to write to Good Morning America and register your disgust:

Write to Good Morning America. We in the profession need to stick together as it reflects on all of us and makes it harder for us to provide the good, valuable services we give.

Just so you know, when you register a complaint, all you'll get back is an email from another source full of blatant advertising on how you can buy DVD's from them. It's a blanket response and set up just so they can pitch money-making products they are selling. But please register your opinions anyway - about the commentators, not the segment on Robin. Thanks.

Please also write to Robin and encourage her. Her website is: www.rooms-revamped.com.