The Home show on channel 4

[wintera]

Just watched this for the first time ever and I thought that the couple featured were a pair of ungrateful bastards basically. That house was a friggin eye sore before that George fella got his hands on it and to throw a hissy fit because he ran out of money to finish the en-suite was ridiculous. Anyone else see it?

[CybilLiberty]

I thought the bloke was completely ungracious and so was she.

Bone idle the pair of them, just expected george to come in with his magic wand and make it all better.

Perhaps they were hoping for some freebies. Judging by the list of companies named in the credits they got masses of stuff on the cheap anyway.

[nancy75]

missed the start, how much did they pay?
he did quite alot of building work to the house, and obviously if they had not done this on tv they would have had to pay an architect /designer to do what he did so i think they got a really good deal.

[JackieNo]

It was £123,000 though, wasn't it, so not exactly peanuts.

[wintera]

I know it's a lot of money, but the house looked amazing! It was so awful beforehand too. I just thought it was a total over-reaction when you consider the rest of the house. I thought the husband storming off in a strop was very ungracious indeed. He could have just said "well I am a bit disappointed there is no en-suite . . ." but to storm off like that was daft.

[CybilLiberty]

George should have done the estate agents trick of showing them the worst bit first.

[chegirl]

I had to stop watching after the first 10 mins. All that bloody crying and that presenter bloke acting like he was some kind of therapist.

Drives me bonkers.

[CybilLiberty]

But it's a journey

[nancy75]

have to admit i dont watch for the journey! i usually watch at the start to see how bad the house is, watch the other side then turn back at the end to see what they did!

[chegirl]

Its bollox is what it is.

Journey my arse!

I remember watching one where he was in a bathroom shop. He seemed convinced he could do an indepth pyschological assesment based on what basin they chose.

Of course the participants were delighted to be able to talk about what they were like and how right he was about their inate sense of minimalism or some such tossery.

WHY are all programmes like this now? Even gardening programmes have to have someone crying in them.

[CybilLiberty]

Oh I know, they can't just be a painter and decorator can they. They've got to be a friggin psychiatrist too. And look at Trinny and Susannah, they tried it with couples that didn't fancy each other anymore. Because if your dh starts wearing paul Smuith jeans, you will fall in love with him ALL over agin....

[chegirl]

I bet he did a lot of 'sourcing' didnt he?

Doesnt anyone bloody buy anything anymore!

[MorrisZapp]

Wtf, what a truly bizarre programme. I thought the couple were lovely actually, there were just a bit shocked that 123k didn't buy them an ensuite, as I would have been.

Also, did anybody else think that if you're going to bother knocking up a dormer window in an attic, you might as well make it as wide as you can? It was a narrow, mean looking thing imo. From the garden it looked ridiculous.

Utterly preposterous all the crying, meaningful 'analysis' etc. It's a makeover show ffs. That guy has clearly studied Kevin McCloud closely and wants to be him.

I thought the end result was truly fab, but what an odd format. All we really saw in the hour long programme was money wrangles and crying at the beginning, one small segment about not being able to put the stairs in the ideal place then voila, it's done.

I think I'll just watch the next one on replay, with heavy use of the fast forward button!

[claireybee]

Hmm...Considering that the initial budget was £70,000 and he said that to do 'everything' he'd need £123,000 (which they gave him) I think I'd have been pissed off that we didn't actually get everything too. But the house did look so much better afterwards. It did make me lol when she asked where the wardrobes were-so often I watch these programmes and wonder where on earth they are meant to put all their stuff.

[MorrisZapp]

Aye exactly clairey.

The whole point was that they wanted a 'finished' house becuase they weren't the type to organise improvements themselves. They were cheerfully honest about it from the start.

Maybe they wouldn't have actually coughed up 123k if they'd known they were going to lose a bedroom and have an unfinished 'master bedroom' with no wardrobe space and no ensuite.

Also, who made the decision to put the girl in the biggest downstairs bedroom? I'd be well pissed off if they did that to me - I'd rather decide that sort of thing myself.

[chegirl]

I had my house 'done' by a makeover programme. They gave me some really lovely things that I would never have been able to buy myself (beautiful french style furniture etc). But they took a whole wall of clothes storage out of my bedroom and gave me 1 wardrobe. It was beautiful but I had a Feck load of clothes and shoes and no where to put them!

They didnt give DS1 anything to put his clothes in but I have to give them credit for even going into thats cess pit.

It took me MONTHS to sort out the mess but it was my fault for having so much stuff in the first place and I wouldnt ever seriously moan about what they did.

Most of it has been changed though. I dont mean I have got rid of it but I have had to move things around. It wasnt practical as OH isnt very steady on his feet and I have smelly boys who ruin stuff.

They were all lovely though and it there was NONE of that crying malarky (well not from me anyway). I think I was expected to though but I wouldnt have it

[midnightexpress]

Oh George. You only have to watch it once though, is the good thing, because it's exactly the same every single week:

George goes to stay for a night
They hand over the cheque



George turns the cheque over

George paints the house white and then draws all over the walls



George's builders find dry rot/unsupported roof, thereby blowing the budget, owners agree to compromise

George takes the couple for some (very) amateur retail psychology and fails to guess which chair/table/bed/basin they would like. They make a quip about having given all their money to a man who hasn't got a clue about their taste.



They all come back and gasp at what he's done and then random collection of friends/family/neghbours/passers-by come and ooo and ahhh about it.

Except for last night.

And at least they've got rid of the ghastly woman from the last series who swanned around Europe looking at fabric swatches and door knockers. Though not sure that the 'what does this chair say about you?' segment is much of an improvement tbh.

[BitOfFun]

That's interesting chegirl - I wish I'd seen it! (Go on, give us a hint )

MorrisZapp, I agree with you. They seriously scraped that money together and were very serious about not ever having extra for holidays, compromising their retirement plans, making sacrifices etc...Why do the Phil and Kirsty types never understand what a BUDGET is? They show people stuff twenty grand dearer than theyu asked for, and expect them to be able to just pull it out of their arse.

So this makeover guy (or guru, as I'm sure he likes to think of himself) has basically shafted them - he said they could finish the bathroom when tyhey had some money at a later date. Did he not listen? There Will Be No More Money. Ever.

Channel 4 should have stumpted up an extra three grand or whatever for breach of contract. They priced the bloomin' job.

[BitOfFun]

Pmsl MidnightExpress - spot on!

[TheFallenMadonna]

I'm with the couple. If I were handing over that much cash, I'd expect a bathroom on the same floor as my bedrrom. Especially as he'd put in a new en suite downstairs for the kids!

[PlumBumMum]

Thats right TheFallenMadonna I'd be in the downstairs bedroom instead of the daughter

[ruddynorah]

why did he put an ensuite on one of the boys' rooms that they hadn't asked for or mentioned in the plan..and not put wardrobes or ensuite in? i felt kind of sorry for the dad. he didn't get anything he wanted..no office, just a crappy ikea desk with no storage on the landing...no wardrobes while his daughter got about 3...and er no ensuite while his teenage son did get an ensuite

they were expecting to pay £123k for the full lot which included an extra bedroom. they didn't even get that seeings as one of the bedrooms was knocked out to put the stairs in. poor do really.

[ksld]

I would have been really annoyed if it was my £123,000. Yes they ran out of money and yes that often happens. But I would have rather he asked ME where to make the savings than left the bathroom not done.
eg Did they NEED a balcony? How often is that realistically going to be used?
or the corian (is that how you spell it?) in the kitchen was lovely but not an absolute necessity.
Also I would have wanted to be asked before my office became a desk on the landing...

[BadgersArse]

i dont watch this show
BUT i got a text about it
andabout the people being chavvy?
were they?

[ruddynorah]

the balcony was shit. a window would have given them a nice view fgs, plus the house wouldn't have looked so odd from the outside.

[jeanjeannie]

Glad I'm not the only one who was a little after this weeks prog. Yeah, he ran out of money and admitted it was because he had problems with the stairs and head height....duh...you're a top-fanny architect...stairs should be a piece of cake! They lose a bathroom and storage becaue of it ....Mmmmm, me thinks it was his mistake. Basically they got option 5 and paid for option 6!

And those darn bi-folding doors - he must have a directorship of a company or something...every week they're in there. All very nice on a hot day...and we get loads of them. So, what if you want to open a window...oh, wait, you can't. DP has just installed some and already the clients want to change them I bet they're selling by the bucket load thanks to old googly-eyed George.