Sometimes it pays to be the ugliest duckling — $150,000, to be precise. That’s the value of the makeover that Vermonters Brooklyn and Dylan won Wednesday night on Season 7, Episode 6 of HGTV’s “Ugliest House in America.” Over a period of six weeks — or 30 minutes in TV time — the couple’s aesthetically assaulting, circus-themed eyesore in Vershire, dubbed the “Mishmosh Hodepodge” in an earlier episode of the show, transformed into a functional and stylish mountaintop dream house.
“I’m so happy and so excited not to have to do this all by ourselves,” Dylan told the camera with a huge smile.
“I peed a little bit,” Brooklyn admitted, after host Retta and designer Alison Victoria dropped the big news, along with a stream of confetti. (HGTV did not provide the couple’s last names.) Their house was totally transformed from this:
Living room of the Mishmosh Hodgepodge house, as seen on HGTV’s “Ugliest House In America,” Season 7 Credit: courtesy of HGTV
To this:
Before photo of the Mishmosh Hodgepodge living room Credit: Courtesy of HGTV
As the host and couple toured the rehabbed house, the designer explained her overhaul from the outside, including adding more subdued colors and a new patio. After dumping the orange and blue entryway for something, well, tasteful, Victoria moved on to the “party bathroom,” which she converted into a refined powder bath, “with one mirror instead of 100.”
The renovated Mishmosh Hodgepodge living room Credit: Courtesy of HGTV
In the living room, gone are the art-project bird railings, sunken floors and hemorrhoid-inducing concrete seating, replaced with a single-level floor plan that allows actual furniture. The kitchen stayed put, but designer Victoria added all-new cabinetry, appliances and a disco ball-themed cooking hood.
The thatched-roof tiki hut ceilings in the main bedroom and bath were swapped out for real ceilings and walls, decorative stained-glass windows, and a walk-in closet with a private outdoor deck and new hot tub. The main bath got a fresh vanity, tub and standing shower.
Before photo of the Mishmosh Hodgepodge main bedroom Credit: Courtesy of HGTV
Not all of the heretofore hideousness ended up in a dumpster. The monkey-themed kitchen cabinets were repurposed into hallway mirrors. And the dead trees in the living room were reincorporated into what Brooklyn described as a “fairy forest house,” complete with a hobbit-sized hideaway under the stairs for the kids.
The renovated Mishmosh Hodgepodge main bedroom Credit: Courtesy of HGTV
“This is way more than I could ever imagined,” Dylan said. “It’s incredible.”
Not to quibble, but there was one questionable design decision: all-white furniture in a house with three young boys? Is this a preview for the next HGTV spinoff, “America’s Worst Stains?”
