to think Grand Designs is an hour long stealth boast.

[mileend2bermondsey]

I've never understood this programme. It's just an hour of, 'look how much money we have, look how great we are, watch us build a house which you could never afford to live in in your dreams peasants!' I can't stand to watch it because IMO it's just bragging. I can't even justify that perhaps they agree to do the show for money as most of them are rich as hell anyway (as shown by the houses they build).

My family say IABU but I can't be alone thinking this? Can I?

Came on to say YABU because there is nothing stealthy about it, but I see I am late to the party

Really loved the way twitter exploded when one couple "sympathetically incorporated old into new" (or some such bs) by knocking the old house down but keeping one half wall of it for the new house.

YANBU - I can't bear to watch it any more - the amount of fuss they make over every tiny design detail, the need for acres of space for their children, the way they go over budget but seem to be able to conjure up additional money and the fact that they never seem to have proper jobs - all just too irritating!

There was one where a couple bought land from 16surtiubdibg back gardens so they could build a swanky subterranean palace in the middle of a load of semi detached houses?

Or the one where the wife of some hedge fund manager built a subterranean palace underneath a load of flats? It went down, down, down. Floor after murky floor. At the bottom was a gloomy 'gym' where you could exercise alone in luxury.

I think one of the most fun things about watching it is listening to Kevin and reading between the lines. You can totally see what he really thinks of the house by the way he phrases things or terms he uses, it is great fun, especially when he clearly hates a place or thinks the people are twats. I love Kevin purely because he speaks a few languages and when he has done stuff abroad he merrily goes off and speaks to people in their native language instead of being all shitty Brit presenter abroad who can't be arsed to even learn a few basic phrases.

I love it.

Woodsman is my favorite too.

It is a really British reaction to be negative about people who are successful. The lady whose husband died, that was not a boast, that was inspirational determination. Even the guy this week, who "went big", made his own money and used it to create his perfect home. I find the series inspiring and I admire the people who are prepared to take a risk for what they want. When planners in the UK seem determined to fill our country with redbrick boxes that are of little or no architectural value, I thank god there are people around who are able to deliver their grand designs.

Oh and I love watching and annoying dh by detailing how idiotic people are being with their open plan palaces with absolutely no walls or privacy whatsoever. They have a cute baby while building but seem to forget that when they get a bit older they might want to not be able to hear fucking CBeebies all over the house and that maybe a wall between the "sofa and to" area and the "library" area might have been useful. I saw one once where the kid had a bedroom but the parents bedroom was a mezzanine level open to the downstairs. That'll be great when the kids are teenagers, I believe my initial thought was "how are they ever going to be able to shag?"

Certainly no 'stealth' in their brag! I haven't watched it in a while, it's the sort of programme that gets on my partner's nerves (spends an hour yelling about more money than sense).

I watched one of his other series a few weeks ago, the couple who moved from the UK to Sweden/Scandinavia/North Pole. Bloody ridiculous. Seem to be making a point about living the the Good Life meets Frozen, then moan about missing their kids, having to drive miles down the road just to have a Skype conversation with them. Seemed a complete waste of time, just to live some cold, hippy lifestyle .

One that sticks in my mind is the couple who gutted a perfectly nice Victorian house to put in their own design, which included a loo with glass bricks for walls and no door.

They were putting in a flat roof and the woman brought in German workers to do it because British workers couldn't be relied on to do it properly. Then the roof leaked and you could see the British lads trying not to snigger too openly. Then she had a go at the electricians because they didn't want to work on the electrical fittings while water was still coming in through the roof.

I loved the one where the German builders came and lived up to every stereotype - they built the most beautiful house in the pace of a week for a lovely elderly couple who had this fantastic art collection.
I don't have s problem with people being rich. But I do dislike the sharp-eyed egotistical want, want, want attitudes of some people on that programme.

With a few noticeable exceptions, the houses are pretty much all the same. I would love to know how the hell they manage to clean the windows and get cobwebs off the 50 ft high ceilings.

I thank god there are people around who are able to deliver their grand designs.

What an odd thing to say . I can understand your point about many houses built looking the same, but some people are ridiculous. As someone above said, £32k for an oven? It seems rather much. Anyway, there's nowt wrong about thinking 'talking money' is crude, it's part of the British charm .

I do watch the occasional one but they are formulaic. Couple plan to build house, one or the other is in charge despite having little to no experience or anything to do with building an house. Presenter can see things going wrong, things do start to go wrong. Money runs out so they have to find some from elsewhere, doubt is cast on whether they will finish or not. House does get built and presenter says how wonderful it is whether it is or not

I tend to find something else to do while half watching, such as mning, because my main interest is seeing the end product.

I do have vague memories of the castle one. I only caught the last 10/15 minutes of it but remember thinking it was beautiful when finished.

A relative of mine has built a new house which has been filmed for Grand Designs. It's a very er, unusual dwelling which probably scores a full house in GD bingo.

Interestingly, they were inundated with offers of freebies from tiling/kitchen/soft furnishing/landscaping companies once the word was out that it was a Grand Designs project.

I can't wait for it to be on TV.

MrsGently not an odd thing to say at all. If it were not for these people, who are not content with bog standard mediocrity, the blandness would continue unabated. Thousand of orangey red houses all built to a generic deign based on some pastiche of Victorian architecture = hell.

I loved the water tower conversion in London.It was so impractical & cost a bomb.

More is more

It depends on the show! Some where the emphasis is on preserving and converting what essentially is an abandoned wreck into a new home are fab!

Just like the one with a couple who had such a tight budget they had no money left for all the interior fittings they decided to get super creative and used junk and re-purposed items then came up with some very cheap but still beautiful ideas.

Others though... O-M-G pretentious twatty materialistic idiots. It really is about how much is spent to show off an boast about it than the actual materials, the way it fits together or if the house really flows/is a liveable home.

I also want to (and will one day) build my own home because after countless months searching I cannot find a home to meet my needs. I work from home so does the OH so converting a bedroom to an office/studio is a no go. I certainly wont be spending a fortune. I'm a salvage yard/tip/side of the road/abandoned in woodland kinda woman and will do it for as little as possible with as many free/freecycled materials as I can.

You'll never see me on a show like that though. It brings out the inner DIV diva in people.

Agree that the ones where they preserve wrecks for posterity are good

The one with the young couple with more money than sense (who alienated all their neighbours) was awful.

I dislike the sneery presenter though

It's boasting, yes, but there is nothing stealth about it.

I am being negative because the whole show is predictable and formulaic and well past it's sell by date. I bet there's stuff that goes on behind the scenes we know nothing of too.

I prefer seeing the success of people spending 5K to completely overhaul a house on HUTH TBH.

Tell us some gossip

TheDrugsWorkABitTooWellThanks tanturms? please tell me its tantrums! I love watching grown ups throw tantrums and NOT get their own way.

Oooh ooh it has to be couple bickering too.

The couple calling the presenter a twunt?

Ah I love TV!