......................GRAND DESIGNS......................RETURNS.................

[RTKangaMummy]

WEDNESDAY 05 APRIL

Interests

Grand Designs

9:00pm - 10:00pm

Channel 4

VIDEO Plus+: 1834
Subtitled

1/7

The setting for the Grand Design in the first of this new series is so gorgeous, you'll want to sit on the floor, weeping, as you bang your fists against the TV screen, yelling, "It's not fair, it's not fair." Well, that's what I did. A nasty part of me hoped that I'd hate the very wealthy couple who'd bought this piece of heaven - a disused trout farm complete with loch in the middle of nowhere, yet less than an hour's drive from Glasgow. But Jim and Simone are charming. Curses! Oh well, there's still much enjoyment to be had, simmering in envy as we watch the couple build their stupendously lovely home in this completely deserted spot. There aren't even too many of those typical Grand Designs almost-disasters to keep us on our seat-edges while we hope (actually, this is probably just me) that the whole thing turns to disaster. The lovely Kevin McCloud can't mask his admiration for the plans of the perfectionist couple as they strive, whatever the cost, to build the house of their dreams.

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\link{http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/K/killearn.html\Was it this one?}

Looks fab on the pictures and virtual video tour. But definitely not a familyhouse! Looks more suitable for a youngish childless couple.

Tee Heee!! I saw them filming this!! It's nextdoor to my friends' house and they sold the family the patch of land originally. We arrived for lunch one afternoon and ds clambered out of the car chattering away loudly. tHen I heard a loud "CUT!!", looked up and saw Kevin McCLoud standing doing a piece to camera in the big picture window at the front of the house. Had a nose all afternoon, but alas did not get an autograph. Weird looking house compared to the rest of the village - has a bit of a repuatation locally, but the family are really nice.

Oops no - it's not the Killearn house although that's down the road from me too, it's another one in Balfron - I guess that's still to be shown as they were only doing the finishing off shots last month. THat Killearn one looks ok compared to the on eI'm thinking of!

Killearn is about 25 mins drive from Glasgow - v popular commuter village with good schools. A lot of folks send their children to independent schools in Glasgow. Although the secondary school for the area is the best in the county. Have a lot of friends here and you really get the best of both worlds lovely country village, but a short drive from the city. There are loads of 4/5+ bed detached stone-built villas and it's a real hotspot atm.

Like the outside of the house but the inside was too sterile for me. It just didn't look cosy and instead looked quite cold and clinical.
Also wondered how they clean that fish tank or what if one of the poor things die!

The illness was probably Chrohn's or ulcerative colitis. I think he was being treated with steroids because when they said he was having a flare-up his face looked puffy.

Gorgeous house and location, agree the inside was a bit sterile and the whole place definitely not toddler-friendly. Loved the fish tank but I too wondered how on earth they could keep it clean enough - you really had to be able to see right through it.

My question is can anyone live in a house with 3 kids, white sofas and NO clutter !!???

The house was beautiful though - would never get tired of the views

Very toddler-unfriendly - can you imagine tumbling down those stairs? Eek. The landings/balcony/deck had separate glass panels instead of bannisters - looked as though toddlers might slip through the gap.

Proportions of the house looked wrong - too tall for it's footprint, somehow. But I'm probably just jealous!

I initially thought the water was scary for a toddler, but I think you would just have to be very strict about ever letting the baby outside - Its not as though DS is ever let loose in our front garden because of the road. Maybe they could have a child friendly garden area fenced off round the back. (Can you tell that I want to move there?) Agree about the stairs and baby gates - maybe theres a business opportunity there - baby gates for the style conscious.

Usually I hate magazine articles about people with perfect homes and children, but this couple seemed quite nice. I was impressed that during the most stressful part of the build he was ill and she was in the early stages of pregnancy, but from what we saw they kept it together very well. Even allowing for a clean up before filming, I'm afraid I think they are the kind of perfectionist people who would have a perfect house with a toddler.

Actually white leather sofas are ok with small children. My parents had one when db and I were little and it just wiped clean.

The whole place felt a little like a very large, modern hotel suite rather than a home, and there were no bookcases or books which I find quite freaky in a home. There wasn't much storage, but then they didn't have much 'stuff' did they? The location was absolutely stunning though, and I liked the internal layout if not the fixtures and fittings.

I thought the glass staircase was a bit scary, I like to hang around the house in my socks but I'd have a nasty accident on those stairs if I did that there. I haven't liked open-backed stairs since my cousin climbed through the open stairs at her home and fell on her head (a long time ago when she was a child).

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Grand designs are filming the building of one of our New England style, post and beam American douglas fir houses at the moment. I'll let you know when it is on.

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