Your Home Made Perfect

[Halsall]

Anyone watching? Bench Seat Man has gone!

@ImAncient 👑😂😂

Julian's design was stunning but if you live in South East you're paying a lot for a column of air rather than an extra room with double height designs.
I loved the black lights with the brass interior on the back wall

I know we are all in a sense nit picking here as both the designs were lovely, but I keep coming back in my mind to the fact that they've spend near £150k and have a lovely house but they don't have any extra rooms. I don't know the market down there at all but would a "designer" fancy 3 bed sell equally for something a bit less fancy but 4 upstairs rooms?

They may never sell of course so that could be completely academic.

I suppose they have 3 doubles now rather than 2 doubles and a small "nursery/office".

Rather than all the filler of visiting other houses, I'd love for them to do an estate agent valuation at the beginning at the end.

Although I know this couple weren't interested in the value added as it wasn't important to them, but as a viewer I'd rather hear that from a nosy point of view than all the filler.

Agree with PP - nice design but not keen on the black/white colour palette throughout & the shiny surfaces will be so hard to keep clean.
Also how do you heat double height spaces?? Surely all the heat rises up to the top??
I'd definitely have left the sitting room closed off too.

We've got a big galliered landing Squirrel and it's a nightmare for letting the heat up. DH works upstairs in a t-shirt while I'm downstairs wrapped in a blanket.

I don’t miss his designs but the show was definitely poorer without Robert. I’d have liked to see him in a section in the middle, showing us futuristic homes with bed pods, vestibules and bench seats.

There was always a bit of a frisson between bench guy and Angela ! She's my girl crush so don't blame him !!

Love this show but does no one else think the costs are completely unrealistic. Plus where on earth do they find these amazing builders ?!? We have done loads of work to different houses and could never find a builder that was this amazing and cheap ! Wish they would be a bit more realistic about this. Do the show team project manage the whole thing ?

I also question why they felt the need to have all new windows and a new front door. I know they wanted the dark grey/black frames so they wanted to match them throughout, but the windows they had looked absolutely fine and quite new. I also preferred the look of the front of the house before the work. It was really attractive and timeless whereas that heavy black and white look and very modern front door will not age well.

I know we are all in a sense nit picking here as both the designs were lovely, but I keep coming back in my mind to the fact that they've spend near £150k and have a lovely house but they don't have any extra rooms

Well they now have three double bedrooms and an en-suite plus a more usable downstair loo and utility/pantry whereas previously they had 2 doubles and a tiny boxroom, no ensuite, a useless downstairs loo and no pantry so it is much better, even if not much bigger.

But I agree, in terms of space you could perhaps have added more value with a loft conversion using the box room to house a staircase and getting 2 bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs.

The space used to get double height rooms and mezzanines is glamorous but not hugely useful or practical. They often seem to focus on adding lots of light and giving the illusion of more space instead of just giving them more actual space!

What size was the garden?
I was trying to gauge it from the big windows but it was difficult to see.

@LadyEloise

What size was the garden? I was trying to gauge it from the big windows but it was difficult to see.

The garden looked tiny afterwards. The extension seemed to eat up most of it.

I think the double height section is just asking for a Victorian airer to be hung up in it. Get the washing dry in hours

I too didn't like their colour palette afterwards. Loved the design before hand. I would have also put in pocket doors for the living room, just so it can be closed off, and maybe with a door off the hallway into it.

Ah, Bench Seat Man, who also used to put a living wall, i.e. a fecking tree or climbing plant inside your fecking house, in every property, and then he wondered why no-one ever went for his designs. I still can't get over the hidden bath right by the front door when the couple's son still lived at home. Bet he doesn't risk having any mates round.

When I watch this programme I'm always thinking three things:

1. Where do people get the money? Are people all over Britain bumping off rich aunties or something?

2. If you've got £150 000 to spend, wouldn't it be less stressful just to buy a nicer house?

3. You're going to regret that open-plan living space when you're trying to follow Line of Duty and someone's running the taps and bashing pots around in the kitchen.

The couple this week were really nice and the new architect was a big improvement. His designs seemed much more liveable than you know who's.

Yes to No. 3 @EsmaCannonball 😂

@EsmaCannonball

Ah, Bench Seat Man, who also used to put a living wall, i.e. a fecking tree or climbing plant inside your fecking house, in every property, and then he wondered why no-one ever went for his designs. I still can't get over the hidden bath right by the front door when the couple's son still lived at home. Bet he doesn't risk having any mates round.

When I watch this programme I'm always thinking three things:

1. Where do people get the money? Are people all over Britain bumping off rich aunties or something?

2. If you've got £150 000 to spend, wouldn't it be less stressful just to buy a nicer house?

3. You're going to regret that open-plan living space when you're trying to follow Line of Duty and someone's running the taps and bashing pots around in the kitchen.

The couple this week were really nice and the new architect was a big improvement. His designs seemed much more liveable than you know who's.

I quite liked Robert and his teeth and beads.

However, you're bang on with your 3 points! I have 2 teens and a pre-teen, all boys, and if I didn't have our front room to escape to I'd go bloody mental. Currently in midst of loft redecoration so DS1 (17) can get away from his brothers properly I.e. on a different floor completely!

End look was soooo bling- not my thing at all- and not very cosy or welcoming.

Bring back Robert with his plants!

I still can't get over the hidden bath right by the front door when the couple's son still lived at home.

The couple that picked that design must be living to regret it. He put in one of those stupid modular space saving staircases with treads where each step was a half width as their only access to the upstairs bedroom, so the only people capable or brave enough to use it needed to be young, fit and sober. Didn't fancy going up and down that in the night every time I needed a wee.

Then on top of the bonkers bath, the master bedroom wasn't even a proper bedroom. The bed was hidden behind a curtain on a raised platform in what was previously their sitting room, but with all the internal walls taken down.

The whole thing was a lesson in how to take a smallish house worth 200k with a limited resale market, spend 100k on it, then end up with a smallish house with a really limited resale market worth 150k.

Totally bonkers.

2) If you've got £150 000 to spend, wouldn't it be less stressful just to buy a nicer house?

I wonder this, but then think it must all come down to the location being so good they don't want to risk it.

@Puffalicious yes totally. Open plan works for small children but when they’re older you need walls and doors! If you have an open plan kitchen how do you eat sneaky chocolate without being seen?

coveting I think by the time you've paid estate agents fees to sell your house, stamp duty on a higher value place, moving expenses etc then it's often better to improve than move for a relatively small upgrade of 150k.

If they are happy with the road/school/neighrbours/location/commute then moving is a big risk.

[quote bendmeoverbackwards]@Puffalicious yes totally. Open plan works for small children but when they’re older you need walls and doors! If you have an open plan kitchen how do you eat sneaky chocolate without being seen? [/quote]
This is why walk in pantries are popular in open plan houses

[quote bendmeoverbackwards]@Puffalicious yes totally. Open plan works for small children but when they’re older you need walls and doors! If you have an open plan kitchen how do you eat sneaky chocolate without being seen? [/quote]
Yup walls and doors and more floors and sound proofing (I have one teen who's a drummer and a budding DJ). I love my kids...honest

Looking forward to tonight!

Me too. Excited to see the new architects.

Declutter and get smaller furniture. It's a really nice house.