Outside the Beltway

TRADING SPACES

· Friday, April 25, 2003 · 1 comment

Rather off topic for OTB, but Virginia Postrel has intrigued me with her post on the popularity of the cable show Trading Spaces. To oversimplify, her thesis is that the show is wildly successful because it is the only one that shows the kind of homes people outside Manhattan and Los Angeles actually live in–large, ranch style homes with lots of square footage. An interesting post, which links to a larger piece she’s written for “D” magazine. Having recently moved out of a $90,000 three bedroom home in south Alabama and now paying nearly three times as much to rent a two-bedroom townhouse in the DC suburbs, I find her perspective interesting.

FILED UNDER: Popular Culture, , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Blogeline says:
    Friday, 25 April 2003 at 14:38

    I like watching Trading Spaces, but aminly because i think it’s funny when peole don’t like at all what their friends did to their rooms…
    But that is very interesting and I thinkit’s true.
    James, I know exactly what you are syaing about the prices around here. My husband and I are looking for a house and I really don’t want to live over an hour away from DC but I almost think I will have to if I want a real house.

    —

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