What is wrong with people who go on Grand Designs?

[RobynRB]

Seriously, time and time again it's the same thing. Why do people feel they need to build a house the size of a cinema complex and then moan when they run out money. Most of these things could be 10-20% smaller and you wouldn't even notice. Don't these people understand that materials like wood and concrete cost money so buy less of them and the house will be cheaper.

Speaking of which, last night was a classic case... we haven't got any money, but we bought this copper bath for our bedroom and this (frankly disgusting but I'm guessing ridiculously expensive) gold and black marble for our kitchen.

It struck me the reservoir building was big enough to build a reasonable house in, maybe with a smaller extension to the side. It certainly looked twice the size of my three bedroomed house on it's own.

And of course five minutes after they started they announced they were having a child. What brilliant timing...

I agree with so many of you on here. The thing that always makes me shout at the tv is when a couple with one child build a house with just two bedrooms - even if they don’t go on to have a magic Kevin baby, are they planning to never have guests? And one single living space so there is nowhere for the children to go and play so mum and dad can have a few minutes peace from the noise of video games or Peppa Pig on repeat.

I may be very old fashioned, but I am a fan of separate rooms. I am currently watching recorded World Cup rugby, and telling the players exactly where they are going wrong, and dh is working in a different room, in peace. When we cook, the cooking smells,,and that greasy dust that we always seem to get in the kitchen are kept in the kitchen, and we can eat without all the washing up sitting there looking at us. If it’s cold, I can light the gas fire and shut the living room doors, and warm up one room, rather than having to heat the entire ground floor.

All that said, if I ever win big on the lottery (hasn’t happened yet - the bastards keep selling me the wrong Lucky Dip numbers), I would love to buy a site and build our perfect home. But there would be no wanky designery nonsense - it would be designed to be comfortable, usable and future proof. I’d have a larder in the kitchen, a utility room with a shower for dh to clean the dogs when they have rolled in something stinky, a library cum craft room for me with plenty of shelves and storage, and room for a big table to cut out dress patterns on, and a lift so if either of us can’t manage the stairs any more (I already have mobility problems and he has MS), we can still sleep upstairs.

And I could safely invite Kevin along without any risk of a surprise baby.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but that one in Fulham Cemetery is on air bnb
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/47213436?source_impression_id=p3_1695917459_%2FG68htfcrPdE%2Fc%2Ba&check_in=2023-10-05&guests=1&adults=1&check_out=2023-10-10

We should have a whip round and go for a mumsnet mini break!

I bit that made me chuckle last night was when the man said seeing their sons face as he runs round the house just makes it worthwhile (paraphrasing). I mean 2 year olds don't care that you spent 1.2milliom building the house. Getting into that amount of debt would never be worth it for me.

I always wonder about the bedrooms. They have a million square feet but only put in 3 beds room, a master and 2 singles. Surely bedrooms aren’t that expensive!

the one I remember was a barn conversion that had a owl box when they bought it and that was their inspiration for the bedrooms so it had a huge cavernous space and a pod sorta half way up the wall with tiny bedrooms.

they always want space for entertaining too! Who are they entertaining that don’t want to stay or park or sit somewhere cause they only ever have tiny couches floating about in gym halls.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Oh God, separate rooms all the way all the time! We have a lounge/diner (smallish London flat) and it drives me nuts. We do have a separate kitchen but the previous owners took the door off (why?).

My in-laws built their own house, and although it's nowhere near as bonkers as the GD ones and finished to a lovely spec, the entire ground floor is one open-plan living/dining/kitchen area. There is a separate sitting room, and a tiny galley kitchen which was supposed to be (a) temporary and (b) turned into a utility room once the main kitchen was completed, but MiL has never even used the new one and continues to cook for four adults and two children in what is basically a shoebox with an oven

This one is my favourite. The farmer in NI, building out of shipping containers. Made for under £150K, sensible sized, beautifully designed, really interesting, great finishing touches, very liveable. And really nice people.

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Are you having a stroke??

We are miserable old gits when we see the finished house.
DH kept saying the entrance hall/Bridge was "a massive waste of space" (he had a point)
And I don't like the 99% glass doors/windows/custom made in Germany triple glazed walls because I am
a)quite private and wouldn't like any meandering ramblers/farmers/the amazon delivery bloke see me getting changed, or in the expensive copper bath
And b) I'd be worried about intruders if I lived that remotely and I wouldn't want them seeing where I was!
And I'd want more spacious bedrooms and a proper door and wall on the ensuite.

I've not enjoyed KM's show since his company built on the site of my old primary school in Bristol. The houses are ugly grey buildings whereas all the other local houses are either red brick or rendered.

GD has Australian and New Zealand versions of the show. As with the UK version the housebuilder is usually a man with an ego larger than his experience or budget.

Interesting that the container guy in NI was an architect: fees are a huge and never properly referenced part of the build.

This is a great thread. I might watch an episode tonight. I think I didn’t like it because I though we were supposed to be IMPRESSED with the ambition and designs but now I know from you lot that the point is to shout at the TV and despair!!

it’s the glass. I have bifold fours in an open plan kitchen and diner and it gets hot. I know you can get special glass but even a single velux can heat it to unbearable levels in the summer.

Also, it’s TOO MUCH to have so many windows. I stayed in a hotel which had a vista once and it stressed me out. Whether it’s a city scape, a sea view or a forest and rolling hills it too much stimulation to have so much glass and the movement of cars, ocean, trees or a never ending horizon is just unrelaxing.

i need my cosy front room. Anything else feels too exposed and draughty.

I think people on GD now build for a lifestyle not daily life. They don’t take into account children (including ones they already have living in a caravan on site), privacy or in forever homes actually growing old and not managing to get up the weird staircase.

add to the bingo - lights in ceilings no-one can reach to change.

id love a spin off with the neighbours.

Now I wasn’t sure about Huf Haus until I visited one and any fear of it being like living in a doctor’s surgery were utterly dispelled. I LOVED it. I love the windows but you don’t need to have the whole thing as windows- they do a version with more walls, there’s a lot of options with them. They are expensive but they are such high quality and you get what you pay for I think. It’s really the only ‘expensive aspiration’ I have.

People who do this are so selfish. They have no experience and waste years of their children's lives living in a leaky caravan and threaten all their financial security.
And they nearly always end up in a house that looks like a warehouse, with a fugly concrete kitchen!

All the houses are very samey, as are the owners.

was he not an architect ? he was a judge on Irelands home of the year fir a bit

This is pretty close to my dreamhome - my UK one, at least. My Greek Island one will be similar but white 😁

@Wexone yes he's an architect. One of the articles say "Taking advantage of local legislation that allows farmers to build dwellings on their land" so it must have been a happy coincidence he was a farmer as well!

My favourite is the New England kit house one, where the woman just got on with the whole thing, hardly any drama. The programme is from ages ago and very focussed on how she ordered it on this thing called The Internet. Here are the couple

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr6fF6rIyko/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Ps you should all follow 'no context grand designs' on Instagram

This is my kind of thread. We play bingo when we watch Grand Designs.

The flooded site, work stops, money has run out, selling their current home and moving into rental, somehow finding a few hundred thousand down the back of the sofa so the glass fitting problem can be resolved, and the pregnancy. There's always a pregnancy.

I love the episode with Pru and Richard - their house was just so warm and welcoming. Absolutely gorgeous.

I also really like the episode in County Down, with Micah the architect. They did a lot of it themselves, and it was a great house. They were a lovely family.

Just spotted on the GD FB page.

Few missing.

Oh yes! Was going to post this! He also met his wife thanks to the programme.

The mezzanine was indeed a MASSIVE waste of space. I mean yes, it was architecturally impressive being able to see through the whole top floor... but surely a better use of space would have been to punch some window in the roof and build some rooms up there.