Expectations were rather mixed for 'Love in Design'. Hallmark did do some well above average and more films in 2018, having literally just come fresh from watching one of the best from the year 'Pearl in Paradise'. Andrew Walker is always worth watching, even when the film isn't good (and that has happened quite a number of times). The concept didn't really excite me though. Am also not the biggest of fans of Danica McKellar, who tends to be typecast and plays most of her roles pretty similarly.

'Love in Design' didn't work for me. It is not unwatchable and has its good things, have almost always seen one or two redeeming merits in the Hallmark films that miss big time. It is also not particularly good and fails quite badly in a number of crucial areas, well strictly speaking the areas that matter the most. Is it one of the worst 2018 Hallmark films? Probably not, there were definitely worse. In my mind, 'Love in Design', while not one of the worst of the batch, is one of the duller ones.

Am going to begin with the good things. Walker is an amiable and subtly charismatic leading man. Also thought that the production values were attractive, it's not lavish but it didn't look cheap or shoestring budget like.

The music is pleasant enough, nothing memorable but it didn't feel at odds or melodramatic.

However, quite a lot doesn't work. McKellar is very bland and shows a rather limited range of expressions, literally the most believable expressions come from the eyebrows and even they are mainly one emotion. The two have no chemistry together and seem incredibly distant, they wouldn't even be believable as friends. For a story so heavy on the personal drama, the relationship felt very undercooked and the drama was thin and what there is lifeless. Didn't care for their cliched and really difficult to endear to, due to the overwritten negative personality traits (especially with McKellar's) and the characters have very little to them.

Supporting cast are undistinguished at best. The script has nothing to it, did not sound like everyday conversation, is too talky and is very forced and over heated towards the end. The story doesn't engage at all and drags badly most of the time, too much of the drama going nowhere. What there is is very predictable, with there only being one surprise in the whole film and it still managed to not be that big. For a setting as promising as this, nothing really is done with it. We even don't get to see much of a final result. The ending is not as too neat as most Hallmark films, but this reviewer did lose interest quite some time before the end to really care about the outcome and part of me thought it contrived (like the whole conflict itself) and anti-climactic.

Overall, very lacklustre. 4/10.

Hannah McElroy (Danica McKellar) has hosted four seasons of her modern renovation show in Los Angeles. Network brass Wally wants to change it up and for her to renovate a historic manor in her hometown of Lewisburg. She reluctantly accepts but is shocked to find her ex Jeff Winslow (Andrew W. Walker) as her liaison with city hall. The former couple clashes and reconnects.

Obviously, Danica has decided on steering her career directly into the Hallmark lane. That's no crime and she's good at it. She has the natural goodness charms since her childhood days. She's Winnie Cooper for heaven's sake. As for her co-star, he's also a veteran of these movies. They have the basic chemistry to make this work and it's not terribly demanding. It's a simple Hallmark movie and it doesn't need to be more.

I have seen Danica McKellar from "The Wonder Years" and in two Lifetime movies namely, "The Wrong Woman" and "Mommy, I Did Not Do It". Then, I decided to see another one of her movies from Hallmark entitled," Love At Design".

It is about Hannah, a TV star from Los Angeles that returns to her town at New England to renovate a historical manor. Upon returning, we get to see her work with an architect and her old High School flame Jeff Winslow, who is portrayed by Andrew Walker. While they work together in the project, they apparently - as expected - get to reconnect and relive their old romance. We see the steps they go through from working together; the initial discomfort they felt for each other; their connection; and finally, how they end up together once again.

No question that this was a predictable and simple Hallmark TV movie. It was more of a rehash of love stories that were told in the past. Added to that, we see everything happen as expected together conclusion that the viewer predicted from the start.