Your Home Made Perfect

[Brillig]

Apologies if there's already a thread, but I couldn't see one. Anyone watching? Apparently this is a new series.

I'm waiting for the bench seats to make their inevitable appearance......

Has anyone watched 'Ugly House to Lovely House'? There's a different architect for each episode so it's interesting to see the different approaches. For most of them, it's more about showcasing their talents than meeting the client's brief.

I've never seen this before watched last night with DS19 and immediately had to series link and watch last weeks episode. We were howling, what is that guy on? The garden in the middle of the house, the upstairs pub and the mossy roof were inspired but nothing on the bath in the kitchen 😂

I didn't like the first design, it still seemed very cramped but it was a very small house, but not at all practical with an adult son living with them. I liked the second house but I didn't like the master bedroom.

I think I'm most annoyed at the fact that the 60k overspend, casually dropped into the conversation as though it was tuppence, would buy an entire house where I live!

I think I'm most annoyed at the fact that the 60k overspend, casually dropped into the conversation as though it was tuppence, would buy an entire house where I live.

I agree. Assuming it's a mortgage or loan, £160k is an awful lot of money to have to repay.

@LadyEloise love me some Dermot, but I agree I would never use him!

Example of job with Dermot:

• Client at start of project: “my budget is €250 and I can’t go a cent over.”
• Client at end of project when asked what the final cost was: “I think we were somewhere around €400 but it was worth every cent”

No it friggin’ wasn’t! And who can just conjure up an additional €150?!?

I agree that he’s also very pushy with his designs - pebble dash INSIDE the house anyone?!

Interestingly, an architect friend of mine up here in the North studied with Robert and said he was a genuinely nice guy but was always a little bit off the wall. Not pretentious at all though.

That’s thousands of euro by the way!!!

€250 /€300
That's thousands of euros by the way

I love the clarification LightACandleHoneym

It was always the cringe moment at the end of Grand Designs, when the question of cost comes up.

I know it's not the focus of last night's programme, in fact the bloke with the spreadsheets I'm sure will have been all over it, but the final £ included a re-wire and re-plumb. And the removal of the pillar in the kitchen meaning extra steels, will have cost plenty.

I also wonder if the build is economic for the area.

I imagine they got a bargain in the first place, given the bedroom size and terrible layout.

Interestingly, an architect friend of mine up here in the North studied with Robert and said he was a genuinely nice guy but was always a little bit off the wall. Not pretentious at all though.*

Thanks for sharing that, I can't imagine him being pretentious.

I do think he genuinely seems to think he's got the clients in mind when he designs it, and I thought it was rather telling in last nights episode when he was watching with Angela and said something like "ah yes.. for the estate agents". Because the other architect was probably thinking of resell value by keeping the 5 bedrooms.

Sorry complete bold fail with that last post 🤦🏻‍♀️

Well you know @LadyEloise - personally I’d love to spend €400 on a home renovation! €400K is wild dreams country!!!

Prices in Ireland are far higher than in the U.K. - not just purchase prices but build costs too. It’s not so bad up in the north, but we recently had a quote for a small single storey extension on a house we were considering buying - it was literally just a small square box added on to the side of the house to enable us to combine two very small rooms into one large kitchen diner. (Pic attached - Black is original footprint of downstairs of house. Yellow shaded area is extension and yellow box shows the new room we would have created. Blue scribbles are the walls we would have had to remove) It would have involved obviously a whole new kitchen but nothing else in the house would have been touched. We were quoted between £50-60K!

Would help if I added the photo!

@covetingthepreciousthings I agree, and also bold fail all the time

@LadyEloise and @LightACandleHoney internal pebble dash? I need to see this show! It sounds excellent. It’s crazy how people go past their budget- or maybe they had reserves they didn’t declare up front. I know the advice is to hold 10-20% back, but even that doesn’t cover the huge overspending on these shows. Where we are it’s pretty much 50k to redo a floor of your home or for an extension. So I anticipated their spend this week would be about 150k

Also i do think Robert comes across as a decent guy and clearly passionate about what he does. The show makes that tension of cerebral architect vs practical design thinker to keep things interesting for sure

I was disappointed they kept the small bedroom and didn’t use the “dramatic” void Laura created, so perhaps keeping enough bedrooms was a concern mentioned behind the scenes that didn’t make it to the tv brief.

I wish they'd bring in Karen from OnePlan,she'd be brilliant on this show for normal people and normal budgets !

Great programme, been watching it with our teen dds.

Robert's design was completely impractical - all those stairs to go up and down when you bring shopping home, empty the bins etc.

I usually like Laura's designs but find they are a bit samey. All this open plan business. Why the kitchen/diner obsession? I get it if the house is small and you want a more open feel rather than pokey rooms. But if space allows, it's much nicer to have a separate dining room.

And yes their budget was huge but for a house that size in Surrey, it's going to be £1K+ so I think it's a good investment. And they've got a big house they can grow into as their family grows.

It all depends where the house is located, doesn't it?

Where we live (an expensive area) you could easily spend £180k on a two-storey extension, or single-storey extension plus loft conversion, and you would add that value to the property.

I expect people find the extra money by borrowing: increasing their mortgage or putting purchases on credit cards.

I know Strawberry that would wind me up to. I knew immediately why they wanted so many chairs. When we have a birthday it’s usually around 30/40 people & that’s just the immediate family. No cousins. If including cousins it’s easily around 60 plus.

@Strawberrypancakes DH mentioned the perching on the worktop thing last night! He’s convinced himself it’s an Irish thing because I do it and since we moved back to NI from Scotland he has met a lot of people who also do it!) I disagree and think that he just grew up in an uptight family - where I’m from the back door is the usual entrance to people’s houses and guests aren’t real friends if they don’t feel comfortable opening your fridge for a look what’s inside! (Then perching themselves up on the worktop for a chat!) I have learned not to do it in all my years of living in Scotland and England, but it doesn’t seem weird to me. I recognise that this is worst nightmare scenario for most Mumsnetters however who baulk at the idea of someone ringing their doorbell unannounced let alone coming into the actual house and sitting down uninvited!

Ha ha we noticed that too I expect the presenter is directed to sit in certain places. I really like her, she's one of my favourite things about the show.

I’ve not read the full thread as I’ve not watched last nights yet.
The first one seemed like a bedsit to me. But the owners seemed happy and the style seemed to suit them.
One thing I notice with this is that there is never any thought given to the placement of the tv. Now I know that it is very fashionable to say that you don’t watch tv but given the are on a tv program it’s a fairly safe bet that they do.

That's exactly what it reminded me of Flamingo. It was all a bit Steptoe and Son with the bath in the kitchen.

I think I'd rather have a tv in my bathroom that a bath in the kitchen.