Do you know anyone that had a room redecorate by "Changing rooms"?

[Whisky2014]

The episode of the smashed teapots just popped into my head and i went on a wee google changing room rampage. Some -most- of the designs are so shit and I've just seen some up close pictures of the work and it's horrendous.

Just wondered if any of you had appeared on it and what was the outcome? Did you love it, hate it? Did they restore things if they were shit?

I always boggled slightly at the contrast between the 'done' room and the rest of the house. Must be quite dizzying to go from tart's boudoir to dado rails and draylon suites in 10 steps.

does anyone remember the episode where LLB sewed one of his massive shirt sleeves onto a curtain by accident whilst using the sewing machine? Was comedy gold

I remember an episode where they dyed mop heads and used them as curtain tie backs

My "favourite" was the one where they stuck Love Hearts onto the walls. No varnish over the top to seal them or anything, natch. Exactly how long was THAT going to last ??

It ran for 17 series = 165 episodes!
I thought it was around for about 4 years in the mid 90s! Tbf I turned 16 and probably started going out

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_Rooms

I'm sad as I can't really remember many of them. Loving your recollections

Unvarnished love hearts and dyed mop heads? Pmsl!

I can't remember many of them either. Just LWB always used animal prints.

I can't believe they made their "improvements" on 330 homes! Wow

My favourite one was the designer made a 1980s style bachelor pad for a family. The female owner was horrified and Carol told her that the coffee table was second hand, but up cycled and the woman replied 'yes it looks like it.' She looked furious and gutted.

"The show gained popularity through the sometimes unusual designs of Llewelyn-Bowen and the reactions of some participants who disliked their newly designed rooms. Famously, one room of Llewelyn-Bowen's was decorated entirely in animal prints on the advice of the neighbours. The visibly upset homeowners described it as resembling "a tart's boudoir" and pointed out that the neighbours, also friends, had known of their dislike of animal prints but had suggested them to Llewelyn-Bowen as a joke.

In another famous episode, Anna Ryder Richardson designed a room for a couple where she placed framed erotic French undergarments around the room. On entering the room, the woman screamed aloud and shouted, "Why would I want this shit in my room?! I've got children!" and burst into tears. Richardson apparently blushed brightly.'

God I dont remember any of these. I want to watch them all!

www.thefreelibrary.com/CHANGING+ROOMS+WRECKED+OUR+LIVES%3B+WE%27VE+BEEN+BOWEN-ED!+THREE+VICTIMS...-a0121435788

highlights from this article include:
"They'd agreed to do our undecorated playroom," Jo says. "Then Laurence turned up eight months later and announced, 'We've never done a hall - we're going to makeover your hall instead.'
"'No you're not', I said, and he answered: 'This is TV, sweetie, get used to it.' I kicked him out and called him a pretentious, frilly-sleeved prat with a paintbrush. I refused to do the show until the producer made him phone and apologise.

"When he painted my playroom 23 shades of brown I told him he was insane.

and

"I live on a main road and the framed underwear and red light were visible from the street. What were they thinking? Didn't they stop to think about my reputation?"

Sam's room has now been redecorated in tasteful shades of beige and cream.

LLB still has wallpaper for sale on Amazon if anyone's interested

Thought the teapots (prior to bering reduced to rubble) and Dracula's boudoir deserved dusting off and being enjoyed all over again

LLB designs some of the rooms on DIY SOS, so is still let loose on the public

I had no idea that it was two sets of neighbours who did each other’s homes! I thought it was just the awful designers who just did it for some willing couples

I loved this show too!

I know someone who had their house done up as a funfair, with a waltzer car as a sofa, hall of mirrors in the hall, etc. Her kids had suggested it after the husband died, to distract their mum - and I think the house needed renovation anyway. They kept a lot of it so years later you could still set the row of ducks moving and shoot them.

Andy’s face in that clip is amazing 🤣

Loving Linda and her ‘ I take full responsibility, you wanted a sensible corner cabinet’ speech.

I was about 11 when changing rooms started and LOVED every single room they ever did. I remember they did a teenagers bedroom and made a bed out of scaffold poles. I begged my parents for a bed made out of scaffold for years.

Well, it does sound like a distraction!

Has anyone got a link to the 'tarts boudoir' episode please, can't seem to find anything online!

Just watched the teapots on Youtube. HOWLING!

We were interviewed for CR and rejected! Actuallt maybe it wasn't Changing Rooms though as it was Channel 4 and 1998. Or 1999. Anyway they came and interviewed us and did a screen test and we failed . When it came to selling up though and my ongoing reputation 20 years later I am glad we were such failures!

It was definitely a similar premise to CR - low budget and handing over all control to the "design" team.

I have LLB wallpaper on my bedroom walls, it's lovely.

I bloody loved changing rooms. I used to watch it with my Nan. Lovely memories.

I quite fancy LLB I must admit...

Remember a gothic theme one

Awful

The woman cried

If you think Changing Rooms was bad have a look at Your House in Their Hands, it was on a couple of years ago and only ran for 1 season, they had wannabe designers do 2 rooms in a house and the favourite one won cash.

They were awful, one of them covered the hall wall in hanging baskets and installed a fish tank into the dividing wall so you could see people on the toilet!

Did anyone used to watch Extreme make over home edition? It used to make me laugh at how amazing it was compared to the British changing rooms only 10 years before and would marvel at the life changing house and gifts but reading about it now it actually had devistating effects for some of the people. They were often people living in poor neighbourhoods who would have a massive house built but they couldn’t sell it as no one who could afford a house that size wanted it in those neigbourhoods, the houses were huge and expensive to run (including a full size carousel in the garden of one little girl). It was lovely to see the community come together to create the house but meant people with no experience did shoddy work which would later break and families couldn’t afford to fix

I remember one where the family had young children and the designer insisted on doing a polished concrete floor Eveb as a kid I thought that was idiotic.