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anniedeighnaugh

Remember Lynette Jennings?

3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago

I found a video of some of her best decorating tips. Of course it's grainy and it's old, but the principles she explains are still as relevant as ever. Such an interesting woman....



Comments (34)

  • 3 years ago

    Wiki has her still alive did she just pass?

  • 3 years ago

    I do remember watching her ( was it in the 90's or earlier?). I liked her alot. I was wondering too-what roarah asked. I just googled as well and unless it's really breaking news, she seems to be with us still.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I have one of her books. It includes information that is timeless in design/decorating. I haven't picked it up in years, but it was one I would not donate when we moved the last two times.




  • 3 years ago

    I might just go natural..... She looks great. I recall she remarried and moved to the midwest.




  • 3 years ago

    Allison I grew out my hair color four years ago best decision ever. Go natural it is liberating!

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    My bad...I thought she'd passed away from cancer several years back...

    I edited the OP.

  • 3 years ago

    Oh, yes, loved her show. I miss that era of decorating personalities.

  • 3 years ago

    Watching her makes me smile and feel kind of safe and nostalgic although I don’t miss the same Waverly print on both the couch and the chairs. She does convey sound, timeless info clearly.

  • 3 years ago

    Gracious, talented, inspiring. I loved watching her as well. She looks so wonderful in that last photo -- like a woman who embraces exactly who she is at this stage of life, and that is so refreshing.

  • 3 years ago

    Loved her - wish she'd come back to do a show!

  • 3 years ago

    IIRC, Lynette Jennings and Christopher Lowell were both on TLC...when their focus was on actually learning something.

  • 3 years ago

    I also enjoyed watching Lynette when my children were in school. So long ago it seems

  • 3 years ago

    Oh, I miss those shows...informative, calming. Loved Christopher Lowell also. He was my inspiration to finally discover color on my walls. No more antique white. I followed his advice....if you don't like it, it's only paint, you can repaint it. I haven't looked back since.


  • 3 years ago

    I was leafing through my signed copy of the above book recently and then googled her. She's now an artist, married to an artist. Maybe a sculptor (don't remember). She had a book signing at our local B & N years ago which was like having coffee with girlfriends. We visited one on one. She was/is great.

  • 3 years ago

    Many years ago she said that houses sell faster if the front door is painted yellow. Whenever I see a freshly painted yellow door, like a psychic I’ll say to whoever is listening that I bet that house goes on the market soon. So far it has happened lots.

  • 3 years ago

    She's one I always watched and loved too. Definitely a few notches about some of the ones who soon followed.

  • 3 years ago

    Another Lynette Jennings and Christopher Lowell fan, loved these shows and learned a lot. Watched them when my kids were toddlers. I rarely watch HGTV type shows anymore, the shows are basically the same story only a different cast and location, boring.

  • 3 years ago

    I've never watched her shows, but then I've never decorated with floral patterns, and so it is difficult for me to relate.

    When she said, "Look at the colors in your sofa," I thought, yes, my sofa is a solid color, and that makes it much easier for me. I use animal patterns - zebra, giraffe, leopard, tiger, etc instead of florals, but I use them only as accents - not on an entire sofa. I also like a few unusual geometric patterns, plus stripes. I like to make geometric patterns with solid colored fabrics.

    I do have some fabric that I am planning to use to make a bedspread for my California King bed in Cathedral City, and it is a brocade with a Middle Eastern theme with camels, palm trees, and desert scenes. It is the closest to floral of any fabric that I have or use, I think.

    I'm not sure why I have avoided floral patterns. I do think they are pretty, but I have mostly been drawn to abstract patterns, if I use patterns at all. I loved floral wallpaper when I was a small child, however.

  • 3 years ago

    That was back when HGTV was good.

  • 3 years ago

    Well, Lars, it was broadcast in the 90s so fabrics with prints or colors were used quite a bit in furnishings. But the principle would apply if you were choosing colors from a plate, a piece of art, or even an outfit to inspire a room. I still remember one room that Candice Olson did inspired by her favorite outfit...

  • 3 years ago

    @Annie Deighnaugh are you thinking of Nancy Zimmerman?

    I loved the early 90’s HGTV shows that were not focused on decorating for the masses like a bunch of …sses. Even if I couldn’t relate to the end result, I learned something in the process.

  • 3 years ago

    Y Spanish, I know Nancy Zimmerman passed away with cancer, but Lynette Jennings had breast cancer somewhere along the line too.

  • 3 years ago

    Lars, for some reason I have mostly avoided floral fabric also, gravitating instead to stripes, checks and plaids, solids, medallion and chevron prints. For the first time in my life I have curtains with a large botanical looking pattern. I like it and the colors are perfect, but sometimes I look at it and think I’d rather have something textured instead!

  • 3 years ago

    I have never had a floral sofa or chair, but that doesn't mean you couldn't learn from her show. I watched the video, but FF through a good bit of it. I bet she looks back at her clothes, earrings and hairstyles and laughs. Don't we all.

  • 3 years ago

    At my gym there are tvs on that I can see from some of the cardio equipment. I don’t watch but if I glance up all the decorating shows look alike. The results, the gray, the hosts, the camera work, the forced drama, the ads. Same, same, same. 🥱 The only clue that it might be a different show is if we entered a new half hour.

    On my days off work, I would watch Jennings, Lowell, Olsen, and Richardson. As Spanish said above, even if a space wasn't my taste there were things you could learn, and you saw different styles.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I could learn from her show if she had information that I did not already know. The furniture that I have designed (from 1989 on) has been targeted to a very different market than hers, possibly because of geography.

    I used to watch Candace Olson a lot, even though I hated her color combinations, especially the turquoise with medium brown. Other than that, I did like her designs. I love turquoise, but brown is my least favorite color. I confirmed this when I took a Luscher Color Test at a Color Theory class that I took when I was getting my Interior Design degree. The test that I took included turquoise, but this one does not.

    Here's my result from this particular online test:

    Your result:

    Longs for a tender and sympathetic bond and for a situation of idealized harmony. Has an imperative need for tenderness and affection. Susceptible to anything esthetic.Dissatisfied. The need to escape continued involvement with his present circumstances makes it imperative for him to find some solution.Unhappy at the resistance he feels whenever he tries to assert himself. Indignant and resentful because of these setbacks, but gives way apathetically and makes whatever adjustments are necessary so that he can have peace and quiet.

    Physiological interpretation:

    Stress resulting from the effort to conceal worry and anxiety under a cloak of self-reliance and unconcern.

    Psychological interpretation:

    The existing situation is disagreeable. Feels lonely and uncertain as he has an unsatisfied need to ally himself with others whose standards are as high as his own, and wants to stand out from the rank and file. This sense of isolation magnifies the need into a compelling urge, all the more upsetting to his self-sufficiency because of the restraint he normally imposes on himself. Since he wants to demonstrate the unique quality of his own character, he tries to suppress this need for others and affects an attitude of unconcerned self-reliance to conceal his fear of inadequacy, treating those who criticize his behavior with contempt. However, beneath this assumption of indifference he really longs for the approval and esteem of others.

    In brief: Disappointment leading to assumed indifference.

  • 3 years ago

    True. My 60+ self would not learn anything from her videos. But my 20yo+ self added to what I already knew by growing up in/coming from a furniture store(s) family and reading everything I could get my hands on (pre-internet).


    Here is another link on Jennings. She has a ranch in CO.

  • 3 years ago

    I was never really big on HGTV or most of the decorating shows. I do love interior design/decor books although I do not buy them anymore as following certain designers/bloggers/etc. has become my new "decor magazine", so to speak. I do know who Jennings is, but I don't recall watching her. While I do love some floral fabrics, I also have never had a floral piece of furniture. I do have floral window treatments in our kitchen and floral shams in the guest room. I frequently use floral patterns on duvets/coverlets, etc. in our bedroom, but always mixed up with solids. I may love the patterns, but sometimes you only need a small amount. I especially love washed floral linen fabrics. Having a small amount of florals works in our slightly cottage decor, antiques and wood floors. : )

  • 3 years ago

    If you've taken courses and have a degree in interior design then you probably wouldn't learn a lot from those shows, but if you didn't...like me...they were great learning experiences. There were many principles from her, Christopher Lowell and Sarah Susanka that I applied when building our home ... frankly I couldn't have done it without them.

  • 3 years ago

    I don't know why but I had always thought she was Canadian. That was a very interesting all encompassing link, Allison. It did refresh my memory a bit more, to say she was on Discovery Channel. There was something so welcoming about her presentations. I don't know the last time I watched any decorating show. They've all become so gimmicky.

    I'd love to watch some reruns of hers.

  • last month

    I've tried to find the old Lynette Jennings shows but have been unable to locate any. I've tried Discovery Channel, You Tube, Amazon Prime, and so many other sources (recommended to me by Discovery Channel). If anybody has old videos; I'd love to buy some or get copies.

  • 16 days ago

    If anyone knows of a source for streaming the Jennings videos; I'd love to learn about it. There must be some fan who recorded all the shows or some library system with such records. I'm unable to find it anywhere but I know this exists somewhere. HGTV, Discovery Channel, etc. insist they don't have the files. Richard jwin1@att.net

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