Changing Rooms tonight. Anyone watching?

[AchillesLastStand]

I’m so excited to see the return of Changing Rooms tonight on Channel 4. I used to love watching the show in the ‘90s with my mum when I lived at home. I remember doing some very dodgy stencilling in my mum’s front room after being inspired by a makeover!

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen will in it so there should be some extreme makeovers. Will anyone else be watching?

On the old Changing Rooms it felt like the neighbours had far more input into the designs. They seemed to be more involved with the brief and I can certainly remember a few heated discussions and last-minute revisions when they disagreed with the designers' ideas. On this one they just have to go along with whatever the designer has already decided. It felt like the designers had to work harder to meet the brief and the budget on the old show.

I think LLB at least tries to give people a nice room whereas the other two are trying to create controversy. On this latest episode I was thinking, 'Bring back Linda Barker.' At least she'd be some kind of competition for LLB.

That's true @EsmaCannonball I was thinking, as I watched the last episode, that the neighbours aren't given much to do - just some awful 'art' project.

The two designers seem to think they are in a comedy programme. It didn't use to be like that, you could actually get some good decorating ideas from the original series. Even LLB's work, which seems to work out OK at the end, hasn't been anything I would want to try for myself.

I don't like this new series.
The neighbours have very little input.
It would be lovely to have a programme where neighbours swopped and genuinely listened to each other's briefs and decorated to that brief.
I'm sick of the " she hates purple so lets decorate it in purple " concept. 🙄🙄🙄

Another programme I watched recently which was good was Shop Well for Less on BBC1. They also changed some of things around in the family's house and it was all quite tasteful, as well saving them some money 👏🏼

Simon's back with The Great House Giveaway on c4 daily at 4pm. Pair of people, previously unknown to each other, agree to renovate a house together, time limit and cash limit agreed beforehand. House provided by Simon.When finished, house goes on sale and they keep any profit. Last series was fascinating in how many people- it's a gift! Do the graft! - failed to come through.

The 2 guys whose names I can’t remember are taking the piss / the hideous blue messy wall tonight. Just no.

Quite liked LLB’s again.

LLB is very talented. Wonder how much he charges for interior design? The other room was awful.

Just watching now.

Here is the website for the two blokes design company. www.2lgstudio.com/?4

Not much mention of their awards….

Well I’m angry already that they don’t know the difference between a gramophone and a radiogram.

I thought both rooms were absolutely hideous tonight, not a single redeeming feature to either of them, the worst yet by a long way.

Honestly it's making me angry now. I would have taken a can of white paint to both of those the minute the film crew had packed up. The woman did seem to like hers, but I don't think the men did.

One of the men clearly hated it, hence the rictus grin.
LLB's was boutique hotel and I liked the hidden dressing room but I hate brown and hate stencils. It was stylish but not really her - glitz and glam or beach chic: you could have had turquoises etc and made a hippy beach affair. Padded bedhead/wall is going to be difficult to keep clean.
As to the boys, bloody awful. Awful colour, awful splatter, awful feature artwork - hope the crappy disc pics come out the frames. A broken(?) lamp shade. Shitty stools. They never wanted futuristic or modern. Disco sausage rubbish (I don't mind metallics, it was Jeff Kloons esque but not for them).
Each room was allocated the wrong designer.

They only did the disco sausage for the sniggers when they were stuffing it. The brown room was like living in a Quality Street Strawberry Cream. I know you don't go on the show to get a tasteful greige throughout but they deserve better.

They certainly did as their briefs were easy
Her: sparkle, pink, turquoise, bright personality, wardrobe space (and possibly wooden boxed storage for all the shoes) beach-themed, light and breezy like the Caribbean. Not into brown.
Them: multi-functional lounge bar with retro vibes, warm the space up, allow it to be used for dining, bold colours, statement pieces, retro features. Not into sparkly.
What do they do?
Him: Georgian, Victorian bahamas, not bright, hidden floordrobe (no rails and furthermore, potentially less storage than there was in the first place)
Them: Über Futuristic with a strong, classic base, members' club/cocktail bar vibes. Sparkly gold moire wallpapered ceiling and scrunched metallic art. Electric blue splatter when they liked tidy streamlined. Camel paint. Metallic wrap.
Smoked glass (bugger to clean).

Just...why?
Graham and Linda could have delivered those original briefs in a heartbeat.

wrong thread!

Last night's were both hideous but the duo are utterly awful. When you make LLB look like a beacon of taste and refinement, it must be bad!

This series doesn't have the charm of the older series. I think because each week, the rooms have been variations of the same theme regardless of what the homeowners want.

LLB clearly has talent and vision - he seems to pull things together in a cohesive way. But it's definitely always HIS vision, not the CLIENTS vision. I wonder what he would be like if you actually paid him to do you home properly? Would he listen and work with you? Or just cover your house in poster paint?

It's nice that they are so keen on using colour - for years, every house has been variations of grey, so it's nice to see that they aren't afraid of it - but they are generally so tacky! None of them have inspired me or made me want to use those paint colours. I wonder what Dulux think.

I wonder what Dulux think

I thought that! I wonder if they have a glut of garish paint colours that they're hoping will sell like hotcakes after this programme....

The wardrobe did have rails - at least two I could see!

No one ever said Changing Rooms gave the participants the tastefully designed room of their dreams. There was a nostalgic documentary about it a good few years ago. I remember Carol Smillie saying, "what did they expect for £500?"

I do like the lids off bit, that's my favourite part!
I also think it's worked in that anyone wanting a bolder colour might turn to Dulux rather than MN favourite Farrow&Ball.
Have I seen any colour so far I loved? I quite liked the mint gelato (hated the room but liked that one colour).
Not keen on camel last night - if that's a classic fashion statement, come back magnolia, all is forgiven!

Another problem for me with these rooms is that they are so "of their time". Typically, you decorate and then you leave it for a decade or so until it looks a bit tired. These rooms would look ridiculous within a year.

And even the ones that look nice, I'm assuming would look so out of place with the rest of the houses. The blue room the other week that LLB did was OK but I should imagine it looks utterly ridiculous compared to the rest of the house...and as a PP said, it looked as if he'd been let loose with a bottle of poster paint!

I just feel like this could have been an opportunity to really inspire people to step away from grey and use the range of colours that Dulux have, but it's so ridiculous I really feel for the people having to be stuck with it!

I believe they use the range of colours that Dulux want them to promote. I also believe that roughs for the designs are drawn up weeks before filming so, as a 'tv client', you'll get what you're given regardless of any preferences you may have. If you were paying these people, things would be very different. Hopefully.

What was the point of the room that Bodgit and Scarper did? What was it for? You had that pointless seating area and table, but why would you sit there? Same with the stools, what were they for?

I haven't watched last night's episode yet - but I have to say that calling the two designers Bodgit and Scarper is sheer genius, @EastWestWhosBest!!

I didn't like either of last night's rooms but at least LLB is putting some skill and thought into things. The Other Two seem very amateurish. Why do they keep on giving people childish wall art, drawn by their next door neighbour?

I've noticed they no longer mention a budget. I'm guessing Dulux don't want viewers knowing the price of the paint. Real silk wallpaper would have blown the entire budget, and then some, of the old Changing Rooms.

Anna Richardson's hapless, clumsy act is making me miss Carol Smillie. Carol used to run up curtains and cushion covers for the designers. The, 'Ooh, I'm so ditzy, making all these terrible mistakes' stuff gets rather wearing, but does seem to fit in with the new vibe of the show.