AIBU?
Grand Designs has lost it's focus. AIBU?
SecretLocker · 11/10/2018 17:33
I've watched this lovely programme since it began all those years ago. It's always been a fascinating programme, heavily focussed on building, design and all related subjects. There would be brief info on the people featured each week, with relevant nods when necessary to their financial situation or project setbacks etc.
This current series seems to have changed the balance, and now seems more interested in the personal lives of the couples and their extended families and friends. Too much airtime is taken away from the actual project and the progression of the build.
This week's episode was the worst by far - it just didn't get going. It kept bouncing between the relationship of the female of the project and her best friend, and the struggle of living with kids in a caravan.
Kevin just appears to be conducting interviews now. There was barely any of the building process shown, and I gave up after the second ad break.
Anyone else agree?
DonDrapersOldFashioned · 28/10/2018 09:32
Yup. I don’t think Kev was impressed either. I seem to remember him saying that they’d ended up building a red & yellow house in a black and white village. It was a pastiche. They are nicer than the generic Bovis/Wimpey etc estates that are everywhere and look exactly the same but it was frustrating to see this one going against the ethos of Grand Designs really, people self building individual homes.
SeekingClosure · 28/10/2018 18:31
Can I add to GD bingo -
Couple are above average attractive
Kevin licks his lips while talking to couple, his eyes flicking up and down in the manner of a perv trying to look 'subtly' at one's boobs (only he does it to the males too so must just be a tick)
My favourite was the converted lifeboat house/pier with gorgeous big window overlooking the sea. I also liked the converted cave (just down the road from me in a place called Rock, fittingly), the woodland eco bottle-ends-in-walls build and the Huf house. I hate most of the new builds with huge spaces that must never get warm, no cosy corners or comfortable seating. The concrete bunker was ghastly, imagine trying to make it look festive at Christmas.
Kevin's surprising skill base is never ending it seems. Recently he was painting some doll house furniture for some gorgeous houses he seemed to have made himself!
KM wafted past me at The Ideal Home Show once, and unsurprisingly he smelled divine.
longtompot · 28/10/2018 22:54
I guess I think I was taken by the couples 'story' about the build. They seemed to be a young couple with little money wo wanted to build a home. I did not realise that was not the case.
I agree its not the best home built. I couldn't possibly choose which one I loved the most. It could be one from the first or second series, which was white and built on several levels based on a New England style home I think (I could be wrong - it was a few years ago).
It could be the beautiful home the guy built on his parents land in Kent? His wife died during filming and the end reveal with all the family and friends there was truly heart warming. I did cry at that one.
Or the one where the womans husband died so she had to scale back the build and had an amazing team of builders.
Catquest1 · 30/10/2018 14:51
Does anyone remember an episode with a couple who renovated a windmill? Wasnt grand designs but George one. The lady developed cancer halfway through and passed away before it was finished but gor to see the sails put back on the top of the mill. It was a beautiful house with sich a sad ending :(
BagelGoesWalking · 30/10/2018 17:41
Does anyone remember the water tower one? Renovated this ugly tower - was it at the end of the garden or something?
Also, square/rectangular furniture in round towers/rooms always looks so awkward. But I guess really expensive to have custom made stuff with overspends on budgets.
BrightYellowDaffodil · 31/10/2018 22:06
Does anyone remember the water tower one? Renovated this ugly tower - was it at the end of the garden or something?
Yes, I watched that one at least twice. And I've seen the building itself too - it's in Elephant & Castle. I think it was up for sale recently?
VisitorsEntrance · 31/10/2018 22:08
Hmmmm.
I have to say I was hugely annoyed at him guffing on about how eco friendly his house was when what would have been even more environmentally sound would have been not to build it in the first place.
And he seemed to brush the use of plastic, polystyrene and concrete away.
steppemum · 31/10/2018 23:28
my brother built his own house overseas and was on one of the spin off programmes to GD.
He stuck to budget, didn't compromise on the build quality and brought it in finished on time.
I should point out he is a builder!
They built on a well known island with a lot of links to UK, but they had just moved there. The phone started wringing before the program had finished with British based ex -pats who wanted to build a holiday home 'back home' on family land, and needed a reliable builder.
Which was kind of why they agreed to do it!
The asides to camera were a bit pathetic though, as there wasn't much he did wrong in process, I think the worst one was - Is XX obsession to quality detail going to take the project over budget and over time? Er - no!
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