TEEN Mom Chelsea Houska has had fans questioning her design choices in the first season of Down Home Fab, and many are wondering what she’ll come up with next.
The second season of Chelsea and her husband Cole DeBoer‘s HGTV home renovation series premieres on March 21.
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While the show lives on, not all viewers are fans of the reality star’s interesting home makeovers.
DOWNHILL FAB
One project that outraged viewers was shown in the Season 1 premiere, where Chelsea, 32, and Cole, 35, were tasked with refurbishing a married couple’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota, home on their $100,000 budget.
Chelsea and Cole got right to work, tearing down walls and infusing their “South Dakota glam” style.
When it came to the kitchen, Chelsea decided to retain the original cabinets and refresh them with black paint.
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However, the cost of that single job was $15,000.
Chelsea and Cole didn’t seem to think it was a pricey investment, as the Teen Mom 2 alum claimed, “This is such an inexpensive way to get a huge change in here.”
“Since we’re gonna reuse the cabinets, we can save money that way. That way we can spend a little more on the countertops,” Cole added.
But viewers did not think it was a smart move and lashed out at the pair for their astronomical price for the repainting.
“I have to know how it cost $15k to paint cabinets,” one person wrote on social media.
“Seriously, I hope the prices were fake and just for the show, but even for a fake price that seems ridiculous,” another commented, while a third called the remodel price “absolutely insane.”
BIG DE-BORE
Chelsea and Cole again received flack for their design choices in another episode, in which they updated a different couple’s home.
The job was a complete overhaul of the living room, kitchen, and pantry, tearing down walls and updating the countertops, cabinets, and light fixtures.
When they revealed the finished product, their clients were elated and expressed their gratitude to Chelsea and Cole for their creative visions.
Viewers at home, however, didn’t share the same opinion and complained about the “boring” designs online.
“So they removed the character? Definitely, you could lighten some of those areas with a few white walls but the blue wasn’t bad?!” a fan wrote on a popular Teen Mom message board.
Another critic ranted, “I can’t handle this show. Chelsea is so unsure of herself, afraid to make decisions, and second-guesses herself the entire time.”
“I would sob on television if this was my house and I [saw] this. It’s awful,” someone else remarked.
OFF THE WALL
The criticism continued in a later episode, where fans voiced their distaste for Chelsea’s ideas when renovating her hairstylist Landon and his husband Ty’s home.
With their $50,000 budget, Chelsea opted to add black wallpaper featuring a skull print while keeping the adjacent walls white.
“It’s got some velvet skulls on it. It’s kinda a fun texture,” said the mom of four while looking over the wallpaper.
“I wanted to bring in something moody and something I know they would love, which is skulls.”
Luckily for Chelsea, Landon and Ty loved the wallpaper and raved about it during the reveal.
Fans online disagreed, with one writing, “Are those skulls on the ceiling?! Nightmare fuel.”
“Imagine trying to sell a house and there are skulls on the ceiling,” a second said.
Others called the transformation “tacky and hideous.”
HOUSE-KA FAIL
Chelsea’s ideas were questioned again when she and Cole made over a four-bedroom-three-bathroom home in another episode.
They repainted the entire house outside and reconstructed their clients’ living room, playroom, bathroom, kitchen, and storage areas.
The duo incorporated much of the white and black colors seen in previous episodes, replaced furniture and flooring, and added black and white countertops, among other updates.
Fans harshly scrutinized the TV personality’s designs in a popular message forum.
“I’d prob ask for a refund,” one person wrote, starting the discussion.
“Nooo those shutters or whatever they’re called on the exterior look unfinished. I hate it,” another commented.
“Why does it look like there’s pieces of plywood on the outside now?” a third asked.
“I’m no expert but this is awful? The white cabinets brightened up the kitchen and now it seems like smaller and darker. The outside??? Wtf is that like unfinished wood?” a fourth dissed.
REALITY TV JOURNEY
Many fans were first introduced to Chelsea when she starred on MTV‘s 16 & Pregnant and the spin-off series Teen Mom 2, which documented her life as a young mom.
Chelsea welcomed her now 14-year-old daughter, Aubree, with her ex, Adam Lind, 34, when she was a teenager.
She went on to have three more children: Watson, 6; Layne, 4; and Walker, 2, with Cole.
The family ended their run in the Teen Mom franchise in 2020, and soon after, Chelsea announced she signed on with HGTV for her new show, Down Home Fab.
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