To think that Kirstie Allsop is hardly 'making do and mending'

[chegirl]

Excuse me but is she really trying to tell me how cheap it is to do up a huge victorian house?

How much did those chairs cost to reupholster? Digging about in skips my arse.

Asking Cath Kidson for tips on frugal living, have you seen how much she charges for a flippin tea towel?

Cant wait for next week's ideas for 'saving' money.

Fluffy are you Cath Kidson?

Do you have floral accessories and an arrrghaaa?

Blowing glass made her the most nervous she's ever been in her life. I can empathise with that [hmmm].

Nowhere near as good at emoticons as other posters.

I have floral placemats, I like Laura Ashley. I could be KA/CK. but I'm not.

Love the handmade glasses.

I LOVE a bit of floral. I have lots of pink girly stuff and am secretly jealous of KA and CK.

Lurve shabby chic (bit too much of the shabby as one delightful interior designer put it when she saw my house)

My house is a mix of stuff I have acquired from people and things I've saved up for and brought over the years. There's no style to it. It drives me up the wall. laura Ashley have some nice floral things in at the moment. I may spend invest.

When LA has a sale apparently the prices are really good.

I go for 'in the style of' rather than the real thing. If I see something I like I type a discription of it into ebay and see what pops up

I brought a lovely silk dress from LA in the sale, it's green with flowers. I saw it last year for £125, it was reduced after christmas to £36.70!!!! Fab!

Now i have enjoyed watching various KA progs previously - but does she have any idea how patronising she comes over in this programme???

Buying a dilapidated cottage (approx £400,000 perhaps?), spending 'simply pots of dosh' on artisans etc, when some people (probably the majority) are struggling and in actual fact, instead of this show genuinely helping people who don't have any natural homemaking skills be inspired, was a show and tell of KA's life.

Shame.

You got to sales in L.A. ?
Did you see her parents house? OMG she is so posh!

My fav line was 'More hand blown glasses to add to my collection'

Someone should tell her about freecycle then she wouldn't waste time rummaging around in skips full of rubble. I know a builder who disconnected a toilet but pooed in it before chucking it in the skip (lord knows why!).

Oh yes!

The skip was OTT.

Actually, DH was sitting there looking cynical tonight at Kirsty's evangelising, tbh it's hard not to when the 'little second/third/fourth home by the sea' was bought for her by her dh as a gift.

She clearly hasn't had to sweat the blood that the rest of us have to when it comes to restoring/renovating/extending your house. She no doubt hired a project manager to do all the hard graft while she skipped about blowing glass and making cushions.

I do quite like the message of the programme though - I like restoring old things and trawling antique markets etc. Her way of doing things is very much like mine so I found it all quite inspirational. Although I didn't like that Dutch print nor have I ever felt tempted to throw my own pot .

McCluskey - Laura Ashley

I was doing all this make do and mending before it got trendy. I also shopped in Primark before it was fashionable to. Basically I'm just tight.

Umm, I saw a trailer for this a couple of days ago, and had an epiphany.

Frugal people, said my epiphany, don't acquire enormous Victorian homes.

Frugal people acquire static caravans.

And it ain't no good 'throwing a pot' if you have to pay £200 for the lesson ..

which program was this?

It needed some realism. I think KA should have tried to haggle with the market traders while dragging her 2 kids around the market with her.

I also think the spirit of the programme is good. I've been doing similar stuff over the years, most of our furniture is from eBay and I make our curtains and cushions and have a half-finished sofa cover I need to finish. But KA is the wrong person to be doing it, we need someone genuinely poor instead. Loved her in LLL but not this.

I shouldn't think KA has ever dragged her kids anywhere.

She probably employs people to do that.

I was crying with laughter. When she popped back to the ancestral home for design tips from mater and pater...that would be MFI and Argos at my mum and dad's place then. Oh and the 'saving the world's resources' by cruising the home counties in a gas-guzzling eight-seater landrover pulling pine mirrors out of skips. Great entertainment - can't wait for next week!

The format was daft and dreary, the who thing lost its way and she wasn't that interesting. Much better for the glass blower, potter and street vendors to have had the whole hour to themselves, with out her twittering on in the background.
KA, why the hell do we want to see you renovate and decorate your second home in Devon, when most folk have lost their only homes, or can't afford to rent a one bed studio in this recession? I bet you lurk.

See also companion thread...

Bloody opening titles with shots of her legs, fishnet and fancy crochet work sitting infront of an open fire. Beyond belief!

OMG - Tango I just came on here to report that I had a dream about Kirsty last night!

She was running for our local Tory MP and I had a lunch date with her in a disgusting-looking cafe at a seaside resort not far from where I live! I was interrogating her what seemed like some very intelligent questions (for me ).

But I did keep looking at her legs and thinking how lovely they are... does this mean I have a deep seated girl crush on her?