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Original poster

Do you know someone whose house was featured on Grand Designs?

138 replies

Cocogreen · 10/09/2021 01:51

I'd love to know how they found the experience, given the fact that building and renovating is so stressful - plus they have tv crews appearing every few months.
Were they REALLY happy with the finished house?
Or have you had one built near you? I'd like to hear the neighbour's opinions more on some of these projects.
Obviously I'm not asking precisely which house or what area you're in.
I'm in Aus and watch our local version of GD from time to time and know pretty well a lot of the areas where the houses have been built but haven't gone for a peek at them.

OP posts:
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3GreenPullups · 12/09/2021 19:09

I recall the violin factory lady. I think that was the first GD i ever watched. That was another vanity project. The way her husband said something about not being interested in art and she crooned smugly 'Oh you loved the Tracy Enim piece'.

KittenKong · 12/09/2021 19:13

Oh - and I really enjoyed the one where the London family had two little children and they wanted to build a super eco type house in London.

My eyes started to roll - then they told their story that both children had a range of horrible allergies, they needed to be near a hospital (as they were being rushed in regularly), and they came across as absolutely lovely people.

Their house was built on someone’s garden space and it turned out just as they dreamed - and the children’s health really benefitted from all the work they did on the building, decorations, interiors etc. Hope they are doing ok...

froomeonthebroom · 12/09/2021 19:36

We've got one near us. DH met the husband on a night out with mutual friends while the build was in progress and said he was the most stressed out person he'd ever met! They had major issues with getting utilities to the house and spent loads more than their budget. Don't know what it's like inside but the outside is a bit of a mess now tbh.

SwayingInTime · 12/09/2021 20:38

I would love to hear that someone knows the couple who made the very narrow, low wedge shaped house in SE London somewhere and to hear that they’re still together and happy. There was a tiny dance studio and a bath under a sliding floor I think.

PeoplePleaserBe · 12/09/2021 20:40

The owners of Dinton Folly sent their boys to a nursery mine attended. I wouldn’t have purely for the location. Interestingly, the A418 never was shown on TV Hmm
They’ve been trying to sell it on & off for 3 years.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/property/amp30872130/dinton-castle-for-sale-buckinghamshire/

Do you know someone whose house was featured on Grand Designs?
GrandDesignHouse · 12/09/2021 21:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Scarby9 · 12/09/2021 21:12

Years ago (2000s sometime), I was in a packed, silent 125 train coming into (or going out of? Can't remember, but it was only a couple of minutes from the station) Kings Cross from the north when someone stood up, pointed, and announced to the entire carriage ' That's the Grand Designs house!'
Cue 5 minutes or so of general chatter about the house, the programme and presenter among strangers.
I always looked out for the house after that.

WhileMyMeringueGentlyWeeps · 12/09/2021 21:26

I saw the Chilterns Watermill one repeated the other day and it's classic GD. The obsessed man, the pregnant wife, the careful camera shots, the neighbour who hates it. I used to work with the blokes wife/partner Jo and she was lovely. Google does not seem to know what became of the house......

SouthOfFrance · 12/09/2021 21:37

KittenKong I remember that one, I really liked the family too & hope they are doing well with the children's health now. Amazing they did so much for their children to help their allergies, what lovely parents. And the house looked great too!

bonfireheart · 13/09/2021 07:49

If you look carefully when Kevin visits in a few episodes it's exactly the same furniture, love the idea of the production team driving around in a van full of dining chairs fully expecting them to run out of money so needing them.

Horriblewoman · 13/09/2021 14:20

I very very vaguely know the woman who was part of a couple in the last series, she had cancer and he was building her a house. She is genuinely the most lovely person I've ever met.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 13/09/2021 14:31

@Horriblewoman I loved that episode. They seemed a lovely pair and the house was actually sensible as well as unusual.
I don't live too far away from the Dome House, by Windermere. That looked an absolute state till a lady paid for it to be finished. They owe her a lot of money and it's a guest house now. They really weren't liked by the neighbours, I believe, because the house is so big and out of keeping with the area.

Original poster
Cocogreen · 13/09/2021 22:58

I'm always entertained when the cameras catch the busy roads or highways that seem to be SO close to these million dollar properties!

OP posts:
ZealAndArdour · 13/09/2021 23:00

One of the directors of a company I used to work for was on it, he built his wife a disco room in the basement.

callmeadoctor · 13/09/2021 23:13

I remember the disco room one, didn't they have to spend a lot to keep the water from seeping up?

ZealAndArdour · 13/09/2021 23:37

Gosh yes, that’s far more beautiful than I remember from the episode.

Yes, Ian Hogarth, he was the director. I don’t think I ever actually met him, maybe walked past him in the office once or twice.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 13/09/2021 23:39

Kevin Mc Dreamy did a question /answer thing on here years ago, it was really interesting.

GotToGoBye · 13/09/2021 23:40

Yes but in reality they had to sell up and move, but the end of the show was shot as if they were going to live there and didn’t dwell too long on how they were financially crippled (until they sold) funky house tho

prettyteapotsplease · 15/09/2021 16:00

I used to drive by a house which was featured on GD when I lived in a seaside town in the West Country. It was up a steep hill by a hairpin bend, modern with balconies and lots of glass overlooking the sea, and the owner said she'd never move as she loved the sunsets, the sky changing every day and all that.

At each ad break they showed the palm trees by the beach which made it look very exotic.

If I remember rightly it went on the market eventually for an eye-watering price.

callmeadoctor · 15/09/2021 16:28

granddesignsforsale.co.uk

QueefofSheena · 15/09/2021 16:54

Not GD, I know someone who was on a Phil Spencer thing with his wife. They did up a house in the uk then one in France. Lovely guy.

My favourite GD was the water treatment place with the mini as a desk. I saw that got sold a while ago and wondered if the couple were still together and what sort of place they ended up living in.

SirChenjins · 15/09/2021 17:38

I loved the wooden house that the bloke who owned a wood built using traditional methods. He seemed so lovely and genuine, didn’t have much money at all to put into it and created the most beautiful house that fitted perfectly into its surroundings rather than some of the monstrosities on the programme that look like civic amenities and aren’t at all sympathetic to the area. It was so nice when they did the follow up to find out he’d got married to a woman with similar eco views and had kids - www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/ben-laws-wooden-house/

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