Grand Designs

[covetingthepreciousthings]

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

Did anyone watch this weeks?!

The daughter wasn't going to go on TV and rubbish her dad. It was such a shame though. The other house (the eye) was gorgeous and would have made a lovely home and now they have nothing, and have lost their lovely clifftop site. The silly, silly man.

The silly, silly man.

The more I think about it, the more horrified I am that one person’s vanity project has seen millions and millions of pounds pissed away, a marriage destroyed, his children’s family home destroyed and their childhoods subsumed by this vainglorious wank-fest.

Simply indefensible.

Are you his wife Colour ? I completely agree with you though the vanity project has destroyed all their lives, all for a house! it’s utterly ridiculous when you think about it. I do admire his honesty at the end though and holding his hands up to what had happened, it was definitely a cautionary tale, bigger really is not always better.

Are you his wife Colour ?

If I was, he’d have been pushed off that bloody cliff after he pissed away the first million

Vainglorious wank-fest

The risks some people make on this show are completely ridiculous. Seriously, I like a nice house but not at the detriment of my sanity and those around me.

And what a terrible eyesore on that beautiful cliff. A real blot of abandoned concrete on the landscape. It was almost ghostly. Made me shudder when Kevin pulled up in his Jag.

I have found my people !!!
Did not watch last night but will catch up ASAP
Dp always comments on the ‘ wankery ‘ things Kevin says but I love him ( Kevin )
Ahem and dp lol

That was jaw dropping last night. I’ve stopped watching GD as it’s a bit samey but that certainly wasn’t!

Determine not to spoiler myself again this week so I am just going to post without reading any other posts. I’m 12 mins in.

Initial thoughts:

1. Fuck. That is VERY close to the cliff edge. Won’t all that just fall into the sea in 50 years?

2. Fuck. That is an expensive build to crumble into the sea.

3. An outdoor infinity pool on such an exposed site? Looks lovely but how often will they actually use it? Maybe 4 weeks a year.

Or as I suspect you're discovering... No weeks at all EntrielyAnonymous! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Just finishing now. What a shame. £6m to finish it. £3m spent and a half finished shell plus a bungalow you can’t sell because of the concrete eyesore nextdoor. He lost his marriage and his financial security in the pursuit of this folly. Disaster.

Bloody hell.

Not surpsied they divorced.

His only real hope is to sell it for pennies to someone who can afford to finish it, then sell The Eye, go e the ex a chunk and declare bankruptcy

I was thinking earlier that if I’d won £174 million on the euromillions Lotto thing I’d prob give him a few mil just to finish it off. For the sake of the locals mainly.

But sadly it wasn’t me that won it

Oh I just watched this - I never saw an episode where someone never finished, even when they end up spending years. It was a cautionary tale. Even at the start I was thinking, this is totally insane and way too big (and I nearly died when they said they were getting a mortgage - really to go that ambitious when you have to borrow money is crazy). Not surprised his wife left him, and he totally destroyed his girl's teen years.

This should be mandatory viewing for all men who want to build a monument to their vanity.

I feel for the wife and girls made effectively homeless for his vanity.

If he’d scaled it back it might have been doable.
And if he finishes it now what will he do with it? Live there on his own?

We've just watched it. I mentioned to DH as the episode went on that his wife became quieter and quieter so wasn't altogether shocked.
The house would have been extraordinary- and maybe will be one day - but what a folly.

Agree the sunken coats element had passed his daughter by - but that's all on him really.

The Eye was beautiful and showed what he'd had an eye for.

It was the first episode this series that we've watched. Are the rest this scary/badly thought through?

Am amazed that he got planning permission in the first place. When the diggers started demolishing the original house it seemed almost criminal that someone would destroy a lovely home in the name of ambition.
He did say that the locals were pissed off by the resulting concrete eyesore on their coast. I thought his honesty at the end took some guts though. I bet some entrepreneur comes in to take it off his hands.

I never saw an episode where someone never finished, even when they end up spending years

two spring to mind, besides this one: The Irish castle that went tits up as the financial crash hit 2007/8 and this bloke was borrowed up to the eyeballs.

And another where some mad bloke was self building, he had a massive roof on the house that was like a sail or something, a big curved sweeping thing. But he kept fannying about with the build and GD ran out of patience, so just made an episode of this mad bloke and his never to be finished house.

Dear God. What an egotistical tosser. I kept waiting for his dance mixes to suddenly drop a massive royalty payout to allow him to finish it but apparently not. So sad and bloody ugly building too. I real lighthouse would be amazing

@Cruddles And the boat one which was never finished and ended up washed up on a beach somewhere along the coast of england.

So is this the second one this series to end in divorce?
Noticed the lighthouse design one actually had decent sized bedrooms for the kids. Usually these homes have a massive master suite and small rooms for the children (and often the guest suite is bigger than the kids rooms - for people who don't live there!)

I also couldn't believe they knocked down a perfectly decent house to build that and not finish it. Such a shame. Wonder if it will ever be finished? I read somewhere the locals are really unhappy with it and are likening it to a korean nuclear bunker!

Just catching up with it. I cannot believe anyone would be so stupid.

Ouch. That was tough to watch. What a waste. Waste of a building site, waste of money, and waste of his kids childhoods as well as his marriage. If it ever gets built, he'll never live in it.

What was the logic for building two houses?