MPDP -- wearing jeans and a tie-dyed peasant t-shirt -- greets us from Austin, Texas, in front of an Austin mural. She says that murals are common all over the city, and that she hopes that one of their designers does a mural: "It's a great use of large space, and all it takes it some paint and a little imagination." And some talent. Don't forget that part.

Ty, Hildi, and Laurie are frolicking at a sign vendor's lot. Hildi's leaning on a large martini-glass sign. MPDP says that Austin is a melting pot of culture and creativity, much like Trading Spaces. I nearly choke on what I'm eating. Frink slaps me on the back. MPDP continues, saying, "In our pot, we put four homeowners, two designers, one carpenter, and a thousand dollars. We let it stew for forty-eight hours and hope the recipe turns out." She doesn't mention the secret ingredients they occasionally throw in: a pinch of crack, a handful of magic mushrooms....

We see Brian and Diane in their kitchen feeding their three daughters, all of whom are probably under eight, maybe even under six. (I'm not good at guessing children's ages, though, so if one of them is obviously twelve or something, you don't need to email me about it.) They want their bland kitchen brightened up. It's got oak cabinetry, some kind of mottled wallpaper, wood (or wood-look) blinds on the windows, and a work island. There's a pot rack over the island. The countertops and backsplash have sort of a cool-toned sage-y laminate and tile, which clashes horribly with the lichen-coloured valances, although I think the valance fabric might go with the splotches in the wallpaper. And they're those poofy valances, which, I'm sorry, look to me more like full diapers than anything else. There's an eating area in front of two windows with a black kitchen table and orangey-toned wooden chairs in it. There's also a narrow bench seat underneath the window. Brian (who's got those chiselled, all-American good looks) says they want to redo the kitchen because it's just the way it was when they bought it, and for the most part it's not what they wanted. He says they're not crazy about some of the colours and they want to lighten up the room. Diane says that because there are so many cabinets, and because she finds them so dark, along with the dark blinds, the room is just too dark for a space they use so much. Frink keeps telling them to open the blinds. We get a close-up of the bench, and I can see now that the wallpaper pattern is a sort of leafy floral pattern. Diane would like the bench extended out so that it can seat more people. Apparently, it's too shallow even for their children's butts. She adds that she spends most of her time in the kitchen and is excited to see what the designers will do with it.