Interior design masters series 6

[Chrysanthemum5]

Hello all
I couldn't see another thread but it looks like this starts on Thursday 10th April.

What will be the themes this year? Banquettets aplenty? Grumpy contestants coming on to the thread to tell us off for not being kind? Hideous colour combinations?

Who know what joys await us!

I loved the bedroom with the antiqued mirrors either side (though how would you clean them? The paint would come off. You can get stuff to do that to the silvering on the back but might be expensive) have the floral panel above the bed. Was it Elizabeth's? It was gorgeous.

HATED the green frames around the yellow doors. It would have been so much nicer with just the yellow doors.

Loved the wooden armchairs but the wall tv media unit thing was too boxy and just plain awful!

Thought the sparse living room with the tiny sofa and the orange stool in the window was just soulless. If one person was due to go then it would have been him, but I guess as it was a joint effort then it needed to be both of them.

Yep available in any good local ‘see you coming’ shop (purveyors of old tat for extraordinary mark ups) and also Hygge Tygge 😂

Hygge Tygge had a lot to answer for 🤣

Watched it late. I could not believe they liked the fireplace. It was incomprehensible to me. Bradley would have gone for that if it had been me. I love Holly so much, really sad to see her go. I didn’t like the weird bed, or lack of blinds, but I loved her wallpaper, and I didn’t mind the lustre dinner set, I and many of my friends collect quite kitsch ceramics, and we are in the demographic. Ayisha really overdid her spaces. I think maybe they got carried away and had a bit too much fun. I have a few things that I loathe. Grey, nautical themes, fake panelling, pelmets and tiny little unslouchable sofas. And most had at least some of that.

Bit disappointing this week, but was good to see what everyone is made of.

Bit stuck on who I think will win it now.

I really think the lack of budget and time in this programme is showing a lot now. Half finished rooms, and not enough furniture in some makes it obvious. People seem to be making a lot of stuff badly as well,probably because of the budget I don't think they are given enough of a chance to show what they can do. The low budget is quite limiting.

I couldn’t have called it last night, there seemed to be about 5 people who I thought had done very bad things. The yellow doors, the fireplace, the stripy wallpaper, the general lack of luxury… any of them could have attracted the wrath of Michelle on another day. Some big time bullet dodging going on.

I agree with this. These types of shows always seem to make the contestants jump through impossible hoops. With Bakeoff, they also run out of time, but at least they have all the ingredients they need. It would be good if the producers could somehow arrange for a lot of things that the designers could borrow - big items like furniture and wall art, etc, so that more time went on the actual design and less on creating the stage dressing items. If your design incorporates a bold black and white abstract painting, for example, you make the same statement whether you "buy" it or make it yourself. I suppose that's a show's budget issue, though.

I agree that the lack of budget and time are beginning to show, which I think is to the detriment of the programme, certainly I'm not as enthused as I used to be and the finished rooms are …lacking.
I think you can do well with a small budget but need enough time to source, think about and finish items.
They could do this and fast forward the boring non TV friendly bits. Otherwise it's becoming a bit Changing Rooms.

I am sorry to see Holly go, as I think she has good creative potential, but the hallway was truly awful.
Who did the day bed? It was terrible, not even good for storage.
I'm still amazed by some of the things that Michelle lets past, like the clashing blues of tiles and wall, and the poorly fitted fireplace.
The one thing I really liked was the bedroom with the floral mural. Lovely colours.

Yes the blue made the tiles look worse! Interesting no one chose to change them somehow (I thought they looked a bit bathroom tbh)

John messed up his timing but why not let them do their arts and crafts head of time. Why are they being tested on doing things in an unrealistic time (like the apprentice!)

at this point they may as well get them to do it on a VR machine so budget and time aren’t an issue.

Yeah I liked the bedroom, I didn't rate the floral mural but it did seem to fit the potential client well.

The losing team tried to be too trendy with the sun's and cheeky seaside theme and it didn't work. I don't think I've seen Michelle quite so annoyed, but I am sad to see them both go as they did well before.

Overall I was underwhelmed last night, but more pissed off with the producers than contestants. You can't do mature luxury in a large flat with a few cans of paint and some MDF in two days. I get there are financial constraints in making these programmes, so why not have fewer weeks with less contestants. I'm probably showing my ignorance towards producing programmes there, but it must be a nightmare for the contestants doing this around a day job and kids if they have them. I'd rather have the quality in the programme than quantity. I felt they stuck in Alan Carr arsing about to soften the blow of a lack of impact. Still love the programme, but just want to not see them set up to fail.

You don't even have to give them a huge budget, just extra time to source second hand furniture and finish the rooms properly.

I think timing is seen as integral to the task and they want them to manage it well rather than just show that they can do a thing, as it were. It's about making decisions of what you'll drop in order to have a coherent finish. They can do a fair amount off set, there just needs to be a balance and we want to see them improving, making better decisions, which includes timing.

I've been noticing window treatments going the way of looking bloody awful with some of them this year which would have me thinking I should get something decent out of the way in the beginning, not necessarily glorious if it wasn't the centre of my design, but it can make such a big difference at the end between tacky and raggedy and decent enough to pass muster.

I see your point on the timing but they just don’t give them anywhere enough

I suppose in the real world you would be livid if they rushed like that, but I guess it doesn't make great TV. I think it was clear though on last nights that they didn't have much time. Two of the flats looked too bare in places.

I think maybe John tried to do more complicated art work maybe. He should have just done some well placed circles like everyone else does. 😀He gets too into being artistic and geometric on the walls and it takes time.

I think this is why the previous format worked better. Neither Sophie, Robinson nor Daniel Hopwood were on a massive showbiz salary and I’m pretty sure the unmemorable fellow who used to be the actual host wasn’t being paid a squillion quid either. The budget seemed to actually go into the show I agree it’s in danger of becoming a bit changing rooms. This year’s contestants don’t seem to contain anyone who has a sense of spatial design either which has always been interesting because they are able to interpret the Spaces differently and can come up with some quite clever designs that you might be able to use in your own home.

I didn't really watch the old shows much, but them seemed a bit more practical. I guess I just need to accept IDM for what it is, but it's a lost opportunity really. I think it could be better with more time. Shows like Sort Your Life Out has some good ideas and some design elements in it. Wonder what sort of budget it gets. I guess it's only one home per show though, so different format.

Get rid of Alan Carr and spread his fee to the tasks

I'm laughing @Bruisername but I agree.

I like the new format but learned more from the original. I shouldn't be watching this and feel that I could do better than most of the contestants to a lesser or greater degree, or maybe I should but neither should there be someone on the show thinking that one of their customers is a retired mermaid. I liked both women but just about everything in their design, apart from the sunburst ceiling rose that I loved, was childish and Holly just gave up on her so-called day bed. It was twee with added badly made are you on glue. They would both have benefited from being paired with a more mature/experienced designer than them.

And although I am a show off I don't think it's showing off to say there's less talent on the show than this thread and it's why a Rita stands out because she's competent and knows what she's doing.

Rita will win because she’s their favourite. There were some awful things on last night’s, too many to list but the fireplace and yellow/green hallway stand out

I thought Craig would at least be on the sofa. The yellow was horrific and the bamboo framed pictures were like a kids project. And the whole bedroom a weird mismatch of styles.

I'm guessing they're told they have to come up with some time consuming crafting activity each week. There are lots of things they make that they could easily buy a better version of. I wonder how much time they get between being given the brief and turning up on site?

I think the day bed was Holly's. Seemed like a good idea but there wasn't enough time or materials to achieve what she wanted.

Yes! I watched an old episode of Interior Design Challenge last night and just about everything was better. Unobtrusive host, interesting discussions between the judges, good 'reveal' comparing befores and afters... It even had nice background music. Alan Carr might be funny (I'm not too keen) but he just gets in the way here and we don't see enough of the design process or results.

@YouFetidMoppet, totally agree. Of course there has to be some kind of budget and time constraints but asking for 'luxe' when the budget then requires twee 'home makey fakey' to the extent even bamboo breaks the budget and rather than buying a good day bed, time is taken up making a crap one from of MDF is not about design. I get designers will mostly need to work within a budget and have to have some clever work arounds, but it is all a bit too Changing Rooms. I really like Michelle and respect her, but pretty sure her commissions will not have her limited to rummaging in skips and creating a fake fireplace back out of cardboard (which was totally shite).

Interior Design Challenge was a totally different show (and far superior). It would never had made the transition to BBC1. Loved the little historical inserts, explaining the style of which ever period and how design evolved, and that the owners of the spaces actually gave feedback!

I agree. But re the fireplace back, it would have been better without the fireplace at all! It was unnecessary and looked ridiculous - and it spoiled the mural which I thought looked great.

LillyPJ- totally agree about the fire place. Why the hell have a random fire surround which did not fit with the room? I love a fire place, I have always lived in period properties (nought fancy- Victorian terraces and 1920s) and absolutely hate when fireplaces have been ripped out of living spaces and bedrooms. Even worse when they have been replaced with contemporary woodburners and those weird inset fireplaces (yes I am a snob about that). So putting in the wrong fireplace to me is far worse than than not having one (even when there should be a lovely old one). 😀