Interior decorating has existed since there were blank cave walls and something for the women to put on them.

Following close behind were the men sitting around a poker table, betting the furs they had killed that day.

Both of these concepts now dominate the television world and, consequently, have taken over our everyday lives.

Every decorating project is now influenced by “Trading Spaces” on The Learning Channel.

I don’t have cable at home so when I do find a television with TLC, I am glued to the set and the show dedicated to an insider’s view of decorating.

I’ll watch episode after episode, even if I have seen the show before and know how many times the wife will say “Oh, my God” when she sees her renovated room; even if I know the couple will tear the room apart as soon as the cameras are gone; even if I know the room looked better in the before picture than the after shots.

A brief synopsis of the show: On a take of the reality shows, two couples (presumably who are friends prior to the arrival of cameras), trade houses. With the help of a two eccentric designers, they renovate, redesign and remodel one room in each other’s homes. The level of friendliness between the two couples after the show depends on the reaction to the rooms, i.e., whether the “Oh, my God”s are accompanied by tears of joy or sorrow.

Realistically, the show is a lot like a football game: you could turn in for the last five minute just to find out the final (or in this case, the color scheme). But you would miss the turmoil, the tension, the homework assignments.

Yes, this show comes with “homework,” which has become synonymous with interior decorating. Get together in a group to help a friend paint her house and you won’t walk out the front door without leaving her instructions for “homework” to be completed before the next morning. Even without the show’s two-day limit and cameras peering over your shoulder, do-it-yourself renovators feel like they should stay up late, live off caffeine and complete their homework — or the project just won’t be complete.

The show has also changed the way the average person will decorate her house; it allows her to take more chances; it allows her to decorate with things never meant to be hung on the walls; it allows her to get rid of that chair her husband has hung onto since college.

If the decorators on the show can get by with covering an entire bathroom wall with fake flowers, then my mustard yellow office is surely acceptable. And if the decorators can find a room lime green on the top and bathroom brown on the bottom attractive, then my green, pink and blue plaid walls should be a hit.

When I get tired of watching other people decorate their homes, I’ll flip the channel in search of the second best show on TV — the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour.

Warning: This show is even more addictive than the decorating shows. Whereas the decorating shows are merely spending a couple thousand dollars on rugs and paint, the poker players are tossing around $100,000 on a one hand of No-Limits Texas Hold-Em. Since the viewers are privy to each player’s cards, you know before hand which player just bet his 8-club, 6-spade hand against two aces and lost the equivalent of a child’s college tuition on the flip of one card. Since I began watching the show (including a season-ending all-night marathon of every show), I’ve become very hip in poker lingo, especially since they flash the meaning of the terms on the screen for novices like myself.

I am now fluent about the river and the flop, the turn and the ante. And rather than the standard game of pitch when friends visit, we dig out the poker chips and the list of the best possible hands.

The only difference between us and the poker tour? We’re not betting away our kid’s college tuition, just their allowances.

— Ronda Graff is hoping to go on the World Poker Tour and win enough money to line every room in her house with fake flowers.