The Great Interior Design Challenge

[Davros]

New series starts tomorrow, 7pm on BBC2. Anyone else in?

Wow . Just catching up. Slummy!! Wow wow wow. Sorry but that room is unliveable!

What does it look like now?

Frankie should have used a sharpie !

CRM used white a lot Orla. Deal with it! Sad to see Frankie go .

It's like Peter Andre exploded in a Fanta factory

Did you paint over it, slummy?

Lucy's room was absolutely bogging and she should have gone. Really gutted that Frankie took on too much and his finish wasn't good enough. Based on that room alone he had to be the one to go but his taste is generally so much nicer than the others. I think he's got the best chance of making it as an actual interior designer.

Just catching up.

I quite liked slummys room before the makeover. I liked the room apart from the orange. Loved the sofa and cushions.
I thought Frankie would go he's maybe just needing a bit more experience. None of them have been really good this series.
There hasn't been anything that's made me want to copy it, if that makes sense

Those fecking teddy bear heads - no way.

Poor Frankie.

I agree with extra, Sarah's room was the best. Cheers to Slummy, hope your orange party is still in full swing

Oh...I forgot to add why the heck did Lucy use those cheap looking 'grabber machine at Butlins' soft dogs? If she'd picked some old looking vintage dogs in nice fabrics I think that tapestry would have worked.

Haven't read any of the posts yet, so will go back afterwards.

Just wanted to say Slummy the daughter and I taped the show and ate a late dinner - so only just watched it. We had sweet potato (orange) in honour of your room.

Personally I thought yours was the best of the three. Absolutely loved the sofas and some of the soft furnishings and some of the oriental pieces she'd sourced. I liked the fireplace treatment in Lucy's room but the head thing and the rest of it? Just no.

But the one I liked the least was Frankie's room. He missed the brief by a country mile and the finish was just dreadful. For me ... the right one went.

Hmmm.
Well I didn't really like any of them that much, but I think Slummy's was the best.

Phew, just catching up - you lot have made me laugh a lot. Orange party was very fun. To answer a couple of questions: the room is still mostly orange (skirting and cupboards returned to white to alleviate the tangerine woodwork freakery) and we've kind of got used to the rest. The furniture and accessories are all pretty cool (the final room only had one of our rugs in it and everything else was new to us which was fun - most of the other rooms in the series den to have reused the homeowners furniture).

Our neighbours' dog thing looked as rubbish in the flesh as it did on TV, ditto the weird cuckoo clock, but oddly the panelling effect isn't totally terrible in the actual room (still glad I didn't get that room though). Having seen and enjoyed Frankie's rooms in the previous rounds I couldn't believe it was the same designer who made such a mess of the room on our street!

Anyway, I'll be checking in for the final tomorrow,so any burning questions - fire away.

Oh and thanks to those with the nice comments about my hair - all I could focus on was the fact that it was filmed BEFORE I lost a stone a couple of months ago. Aaarrrgghhh.

Your orange party looks amazing slummy!

I know what you mean about Frankie's room. I loved him but it really wasn't great tonight :(

That dog thing though

What were the designers like in real life?

Sarah was lovely and very much concerned about us liking the room - I texted her tonight and she was delighted to hear about the orange party! Sophie and Daniel were rather nice and he seemed less of a caricature in real life than he does on the show and Tom was jolly and friendly and really short but keen to get on with the job and get home I think!

When you gave the brief, did they get to have a conversation with you or was it a written thing?

Just wondering if they got to find out likes/ dislikes or had to guess.

Sarah's/Slummy's definitely the best; if only she'd used a slightly different shade of orange, something slightly muddier/older looking/towards burnt orange.

I wish they'd give a bit of a break down on how much of budget each designer used; Sarah seemed to get far more with her £1500 than the other two. Compare 2 settees, An armoire, coffee table tapestry, Ming vase-style table lamps and various oriental objets with a load of naff soft toys & some LED rope lights!

I actually found Lucy's painted wood panelling much,much better than the panel effect wallpaper that Frankie used in the Scottish castle that the judges gushed over;less uniform and more tactile. The faux fireplace fitted much better with the brief than the 1930s one but it looked like it would be a bugger to move out of the way if they wanted to use the real fire: a)pile of logs to move first b)solid MDF fireplace with no apparent castors or similar c)where the hell would it go when a fire was lit? Lucy called the soft toys kitsch, I call them hideously naff, totally undermined the credible parts of her scheme.

Frankie said he was so tired and did,t feel himself which could partly account for his really poor execution. That aside, his mood board didn't capture the brief even before he got going. He strikes me as someone who had some outline schemes prior to the show and has attempted to fit them in the space regardless of the brief. His scheme seemed too stark to have the feel of a grand European hotel.

Sarah to win!

Slummy, Mumsnet should do a Q&A with you! How was your lovely home chosen - were you approached by the production company? And are those sofas REALLY comfortable??

Great slummy. Sarah to win

Slummy - can you tell us, do they just abandon you when it's done whether you like the room or not? Or are they willing to give you some help to make good if you hate something? Did you have to paint your skirting white again or did they leave a tasty decorator to help?

Slummy DD1 wants to know why your cat flap is in your window?

Loved Slummys french settees though. How is tall DH managing with them? Loved Slummys hair, that row of houses is stunning! Was surprised how dull the other 2 rooms were beforehand (except Slummys which was lovely before.) I would just have swopped the settees and called it a day!

Oh Slummy, I love your house, I love your street, and you and your H are pretty damn cute too.

I hated the orange at first, but when the room was dressed (nice accessories and couches) it looked better.

Not a fan of Lucy's "wood panelling". Reminded me of the old days of IRA dirty protests.

I reckon Sarah is a shoo-in at this point. Lucy isn't real competition for her.

Slummy You live in an amazing street ! A film set! Were the Barchester Chronicles filmed there?

But does the Grade one listed thing make it very difficult to put new plugs or radiators etc. in?

Are all the residents musical and have to be affiliated to the Cathedral in some form, like in the old days?

I think it was very restrained of you to just paint the skirting boards white! Didn't I hear one of the judges saying with some common sense (unusual ) ,how would it feel to actually LIVE in that room? !!!

Looking forward to the final tonight. Looks like it could all be a little fraught with one of the home owners putting her foot down! Tears and drama!!!

Is Tom Dyckhoff's main job to exclaim "The owners loved it!" Were there any owners he didn't say that about after the final reveal? (I missed a few episodes).

IIRC I think Tom mentioned that the client disliked the dark green in Sarah's scheme. bibliomania