By David Bauder
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Whenever Ball State University instructor Janet Fick asks new or prospective interior design students whether they watch Trading Spaces, she says, "every hand shoots up."

She's not surprised.

With Ball State's interior design program growing from 90 to 250 students in two years, Fick believes she owes her job to TLC's popular program.

Since starting in 2000, Trading Spaces and similar shows that have followed in its wake have fueled interest in interior design as a profession - although educators aren't always sure that's a good thing.

"We spend a lot of time trying to debunk some of the myths created by the show," said Michelle Snyder, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Interior Designers in Washington.

The series follows neighbors who agree to redesign a room in each other's homes. Each couple has 48 hours and a $1,000 budget to do the work, and the episodes climax when they first see - to their horror or delight - what's been done to their houses.

Fick likes what it has meant for her students, and not just because it has guaranteed her steady work.

'Have such fun' on show

"It has given them a direction that they feel they want to focus on," she said. "They have such fun on that show. Who wouldn't want to do the same thing?"

The design program at the University of Minnesota has been full for a decade, but Professor Denise Guerin said applications have jumped the past few years. About 80 students usually are enrolled, and there are 104 now, she said.

Kathy Davidov, TLC executive producer, was happy to learn of the student interest.

"To us, it's very gratifying that people are making life choices based on the show," she said. "It speaks to the phenomenon that the show has become. It's an inspirational show."

As a senior at Ball State, in Muncie, Ind., Courtney Johnston's interest in design predates Trading Spaces. But it still inspires her.

"Last year I got the feeling that I didn't want to do this anymore because I was so stressed out by the work," said Johnston, 22. "Then I watched Trading Spaces and it got me interested in it even more."

She wishes her teachers offered more of a chance to use her creativity like she sees on the show.

That's the downside some educators see in the show's popularity.

"Trading Spaces may have done the interior design profession a service in terms of the recognition that the interior design profession exists," Minnesota's Guerin said. "However, the disservice is that it emphasizes the decoration component of interior design."

Lot of grunt work

Interior design is more than picking out an odd wall color to match the couch, the experts say. There's a lot of grunt work involved in design, and in making rooms work well instead of just look good.

"We might glamorize it a little bit," Davidov conceded. "But it is a lot of hard work."

Even with these worries, the educators say Trading Spaces has made the general public more aware of well-designed spaces.

"I don't consider myself a fan, but I watch these shows because they're entertainment," Snyder said. "And that's how they should be taken, as entertainment."