In September, TLC announced it is rebooting Trading Spaces, which ran on the network from 2000-08. Fans of the show were particularly excited when they found out that Paige Davis, the show's effervescent, longtime host, would return to spearhead the new incarnation. Davis is a Philadelphia native who graduated from Southern Methodist University in the '90s.
The new Trading Spaces premieres at 8 p.m. April 7 on TLC, and other original players — including Ty Pennington, Sabrina Soto and Carter Oosterhouse — are also in the cast. We have a few Dallas locales that we'd like to see the show make over.
Luby’s on Mockingbird Lane and the French Room
Luby’s on Mockingbird Lane trades spaces with the French Room at the Adolphus Hotel. After they valet, the concierge escorts Luby’s patrons to their Louis XVI chairs and a 15-course experimental menu incorporating the cafeteria’s newly installed salon, bar and dining room. Meanwhile, at the French Room, where the walls are now plastered with burnt sienna and cerulean-striped wallpaper, guests are greeted with a Luann platter of fried fish and okra, plus a plastic tallboy of Clearly Canadian.
NorthPark Center and Vista Ridge Mall
NorthPark and Vista Ridge malls trade spaces. In this scenario, Lewisville’s Vista Ridge Mall gets a Neiman Marcus, a world-renowned Christmas train display and a bleeding-heart mall-walking movement. In exchange, NorthPark gets a Mr. Pretzel, an occasional Tiffany concert and a giant statue of Jesus.
J. Erik Jonsson Central Library and George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
J. Erik Jonsson's library trades spaces with GWB’s. Forty-three's, on the SMU campus, is transformed into a storehouse of fluorescent community bicycles. “I didn’t think I was going to be one of those people that cried,” Bush says. “Surprise!” says Mayor Mike Rawlings, jumping out from behind a stack of history books. He’s wearing a GoPro and clutching a bottle of Andre and two plastic champagne flutes. “There’s so much color. Is that OK with you?” the mayor asks. Bush nods yes, and the two men pop wheelies around the card catalog.