Grand Designs

[covetingthepreciousthings]

I couldn't find a Grand Designs thread for this new series...

Did anyone watch this weeks?!

The entrance to this week's house reminded me of the atrium to some of those really high end City offices.

Just watched this weeks. I really liked the couple, his tears at the end made me well up. Mind the interior decorating was bonkers and I couldn’t understand the purpose of the lazy river sink but good on them. They’re happy.

@Wrongdissection I agree, it was very moving to see him get upset like that at the end. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so driven to do anything

loved the house
loved this episode
design shows rarely make me laugh but kevin's expressions on the design discussions had us

OMG who is watching this tonight ! What a twist!

Carrie mac - what happened. I had to nip out half way through. Did they split up?

Yes , before the build started
But she still project managed for him
So sad and slightly arkward

I watched it. Yes, a surprisingly depressing episode. Was the original house his childhood home?

Ah, I was only half watching it so missed the jist of it. How sad.

The house is on the market now so I guess he couldn’t make the numbers work. So sad.

This episode made me really sad

Here’s the ‘for sale’ listing.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83905949.html

Just turned it on so have inadvertently spoilered myself by finding this thread before finishing it .

So, in June they were putting the footings in and though a bit tense and distant, they were together and by August they had split up? Very odd. There must’ve been rumblings before? There’s no way that a long standing marriage just goes pop, like that, is there? Even the six months between winter 2018 and the footings going in seems quick for things to go so drastically tits up without warning (I know sometimes marriages fail out of the blue when one person abruptly leaves r an affair is revealed but that doesn’t appear t be the case here, it seems all amicable- though that could be for the cameras?).

Which begs the question, if all this was in the pipeline, why would you embark on this? Sell your family home and sell a new dream to your kids, put a failing (or failed) marriage under the strain of a ground up build you can’t afford AND then put it under the microscope by broadcasting it on national TV?

Really weird and sad.

Looking at the Rightmove link, it is quite cheaply fitted out for a £1m home. Cheap unfinished pine staircase, cheap, dated bathroom tiles, high street chipboard kitchen from a retailer with notoriously bad reputation (Wren). What a shame all round.

It does seem to have been a very unfortunate state of affairs all round. I’m guessing they edited the programme as diplomatically as they could, but obviously a lot more has gone on behind the scenes. So sad for everyone involved.

That's very sad :(

Why has he been living in such an unsuitable house since 1992? Why isn't that in any way suitable / adapted? How has he not been upstairs during his kid's whole childhood? Why would a wheelchair user buy a cottage not, say, a bungalow, or whatever.
Why aren't they spending the money extending and adapting the house to be suitable for a wheelchair user, installing a lift, accessible kitchen, etc.

None of this makes any sense

It was a odd one. He's been in a wheelchair since his teens so presumay they brought the other house knowing his physical limitations. I reckon it must be an affair to go pop so quickly but who knows, sad all round esp as its now being sold

Terribly sad all round

I couldn’t understand why they lived in such an unsuitable house either. It must have been so hard on her when the children were little. He had been in a chair since he was 16 so he moved in there knowing it wasn’t any good for him.

As for the split, it does seem odd to start building when you know your marriage is failing, unless one of them had an affair I guess.

step free, lift etc certainly has an appeal.
shows like this always makes me wonder why certain things are not building standard already.

I thought the lift in the new house was really stupid. Fine till it breaks and the he's stuck upstairs or down.
It seemed to me the house was the equivalent of a sticking plaster baby. When it all went wrong and he couldn't have the basement then the house ceased to look like a solution for them and became another stress. I think he's probably been depressed for a while and she ran out of energy to cope with it. Terribly sad. I agree though, living in an unsuitable house for so long was very odd. Extending the ground floor would have been far more sensible.

I’m catching up.
Just watched the round house on the lake.
They seemed like lovely people but that really wasn’t to my taste.
I thought the building looked like a cafe and community art space and I didn’t like the decor at all. That sofa looked so uncomfortable

But, it’s their house and they most likely wouldn’t like mine.

So sad to see it's on right move already- feels like that was such an unsatisfactory outcome all round. :(

The Scottish cliff place was unsatisfying. Such a dramatic location; I didn't feel it lived up to its potential. The couple were an odd pair too, the woman seemed passive about the whole enterprise despite it being a big move.

The Lincolnshire episode was so entertaining. It's rare you get a couple who don't mind telling you the cost and are unashamed about being flash. I laughed out loud when the alien 'it was advertised as a cigar', was brought in. They were very happy with it and that's great, dog pound, hot tub and all.

The latest episode was just very depressing. I felt for all of them, but I'd be very surprised if they got anywhere near a million for that uninspiring box.