Hey peeps! I’m back, breaking down my thoughts and experience of Episode 4 of Design Star: Next Gen!

I’ve been sharing my raw and immediate thoughts and reactions via Instagram live every Wednesday night at 8 pm CST (they’re special for the people that catch them, so I don’t save them for later viewing), but I always show up here to break down all the deets for those of you who miss them or can’t see the show at all! So…let’s get to it!

Episode 4 starts with the final 5 showing up to set to figure out our next challenge. It’s down to Arianna, Chris, Eli, Justin and I and I’m really starting to feel the competition is heating up!

The first thing we notice is that the bus, train and plane are gone, so it’s looking like we’re back to our labs and on our own this week. On the porch of each of our labs is a little fish tank filled with water with a lodge scene inside and a plethora of potted plants.

And, surprisingly, our labs are unlocked and we noticed there’s no additional clues inside. Just big white boxes again!

With the clues we’re given, Chris guesses that we’re doing dentist offices (LOL), but Justin thinks we’ll be “planting stuff” and just the idea of working with plants this challenge really got my wheels turning. But, of course, none of us truly know what any of this means, but not to worry, the judges show up pretty quickly to put us out of our misery.

Lauren starts out by explaining that working with living, breathing elements is effecting design in every corner of America. She also mentions that we’re not new discussion of using plants and greenery in our designs in a meaningful ways (hello episode 3), but they want to see how we bring the outside in and the inside out.

Jonathan tells us that we’re transforming our new labs into an indoor/outdoor space that lives and breathes and demonstrates a real connection between the two areas. We also have to evoke multiple natural elements in our designs: earth, fire, water and air. Lastly, Allison tells us that we’ll be busting through the exterior walls of our labs to help bring the outside in and inside out.

With Eli winning last week, he got two advantages this week: an exclusive 15 minute head start in the furniture warehouse and a 15 minute solo visit to the nursery to have first dibs at all the plants.

The judges release us to get started on the challenge, so I immediately head to my lab to start mapping out my space plan and determine my new French door placement!

For this challenge, I wanted to create an indoor/outdoor oasis that felt like a vacation. The last vacation I went on was a quick trip Taylor, MS, where the whole family stayed in this amazing modern lake house. I wrote all about it here and loved every single memory about being there. The house was incredible and so well designed: modern, clean and understated, so that the views of the lake were the focal point.

That idea would be the inspiration behind my space: a clean, modern interior that allowed the greenery and life outdoors to be focal point. I wanted to take a risk this go round and break away from from normal selection of a bold wall color: I was going with white walls! No one in the competition had done it and I wanted to show that bold color wasn’t a crutch for me and I could create beautiful spaces without it. And with this being THE plant challenge, I wanted the plants to be the focus of the space. Jonathan wanted “intentional” and I was going to give him INTENTIONAL! And to bring in my four elements, I wanted to bring in plants for earth, a fireplace for fire, create a hanging mobile for air and some kind of water feature on the patio for water.

Of course, it’s not HGTV if there’s not some demo of some sort, so we all got to gear up with the tools of our choice to bust down our new openings.

I won’t lie, it was a pretty amazing way to release a ton of the stress that comes with competing in a design competition on national television in the hopes you win your own TV show and $50,000!!!

Once demo was done, I left my carpenters to install the new doors and got started on a few key elements in my space: 1. a custom planter box that would hold the plants acting as a headboard for my bed and 2. a custom fireplace that would give my space some architectural interest.

Since the carpenters were going to be really busy with things like putting in the French doors and building the fence for the patio, I knew I wanted to take on these custom items and show that not only can I design, I can build too! I was excited to get my hands on some power tools again, because it’s been sooooo long since I’ve had a chance to build anything! The last thing I built was a planter box for our own patio, so I knew it would be a no brainer for me for this challenge!

The judges and Allison came around to check on our progress and get an idea of our plans for our spaces. I told the judges that they’d be surprised by what I was bringing to this challenge. I was going out on a limb with the risk of going white, but I told them it would be worth it.

On the morning of day 2, we got to meet our guest judge! With this being an indoor/outdoor challenge, I knew it would be someone that lived or worked in that space!

Well, I was right! Our guest judge was none other Maurice Harris, owner of Bloom & Plume, a bespoke floral design studio based in LA! He’s a literal genius when it comes to creative uses of flowers and plants and has created spaces that even Beyonce has adorned!

It was amazing meeting him, because he gave me some advice that I needed for this challenge, but it advice that I could carry with me throughout the competition. I was struggling to come up with an idea for my water element that I felt was good enough for the challenge. Actually, I was on the verge of hyperventilating about it. Maurice told me that this competition was not the time to be a creative genius and wrack my brain trying to come up with ideas that the world has never seen! This competition was a COMPETITION and I just had to do what I had to do the “check the box”! The mission is to make it to the next challenge! Coming up with a genius water feature could be great, but come at the cost of completing my space; but completing a beautiful space that checks the box of a water element would get me to the next round! That advice freed me!!!

With that in mind, I set out to do what I do…create a unique space that evoked my inspiration and could be well defended if the judges questioned my design.

Time sped by and by day 3, it was time to pull the space together! I felt like I was separating myself from the others by focusing on the indoor experience of the challenge. I knew everyone else would be spending all of their energy in their outdoor spaces.

Time was called and it was time for our evaluations. We were back to the original set up of being able to walk into our spaces with the judges and explain our designs in person. Their first impressions of my space were just as I expected: shock and awe! They were shocked by my use of white, but totally understood my attempt to bring something different to the challenge. Jonathan loved how “architectural” the space felt and truly began to see me beyond just a great stylist.

Maurice, however, wanted more color. -_- He suggested bringing in flowers, but as a plant lover, I wanted the plants in the space to be the focal point of color! He also didn’t care for my representation of air, the mobile. And honestly, with the hell I went through to put that thing together and get it up, I wasn’t completely in love with it either. LOL. He said it felt stiff, but I told him to imagine the windows and doors open and it moving with the breeze of the imaginary lake that was outside! LMAO! It “kinda” worked.

Now, my patio you guys! This thing was a BEAST to bring to life in only a few hours! We had to clear the ground, build the fence AND lay the pavers and pea gravel before bringing anything into the space! It’s probably, one of the hardest things I’ve had to do (outdoorsing of any kind is not my forte). It came with a few hiccups, like having to change it’s overall dimensions at the last minute, which meant changing up the layout and furniture at even a later minute, but I was happy with how it came together! I was able to bring in a lounge area, bistro style dining area and an amazing firepit! I even came up with a last minute idea to include a special detail in my fence that really gave it some interest and set it apart from everyone else’s.

The judges approved! Especially, of my last minute DIY water feature that you see to the left in the shot below! It wasn’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever created, but I CHECKED THE BOX!!!

After the judges reviewed everyone’s spaces, they decided who would stay and who would go. (Sorry, I don’t have pics of everyone else’s spaces. I may try to get my hands on the and add them later.) In the end, Chris’s space was the winner and it was incredible! Justin’s space was also amazing and he took a giant leap from being in the bottom last week to being in the top this week. Rounding out the top three…ME! I was safe! Which meant Eli and Arianna were in the bottom.

If I can get photos of their spaces, I’ll be back to tell the story of what landed them in the bottom (Eli’s is the most entertaining of the two. Just think McDowell’s Golden Arcs! LMAO) But in the end, it was Arianna that was eliminated. I hated to see her go, because with her leaving, I was the last woman standing! The pressure is on!

The episode ended with the most surprising of cliff hangers! After Arianna’s departure, we thought it was time to go home, but noooooo. The judges and Allison informed us that our next challenge would be starting at that very moment! Stay tuned for next week’s episode recap to find out what that was all about!

But, of course, before I go, I’m not going to let you leave without handing over all the sources. Everything I didn’t build is listed below!

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Extra White SW7006

FURNITURE & ACCESSORIES

PATIO AREA

Once again, huge thanks to Rob Pryce for all the professional photos of us and our spaces! See you guys next week!