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!

was there a design show where they designed rooms in a dollhouse, or did I just dream that up? Sandi Toksvig was the host, I think.

Yes! It's on channel 4 they make tiny furniture and teeny little items to go in them. Very skilled and totally bonkers. I love it (although Sandi is a huge disappointment to me given the debacle of the women's party)

@YouFetidMoppet - another severance fan by any chance?

I know someone who was on an earlier series and the budgets are tiny and unrealistic. Often when a contestant is on the sofa being bollocked for not including stuff (pictures/cushions/rugs), it’s not because they didn’t think of 8it, they just couldn’t afford it in the budget. Sometimes they actually have to take stuff out of the room because it would mean a £20 overspend so it literally was right there, then you see a scene where Michelle (who isn’t an interior designer and never has been) slags them off on screen for not including them. The trades are brilliant but you can’t decorate and full furnish a luxury room for £1000.

It’s not a surprise a lot of the furniture seems inadequate for the room on that basis. Sad really

@BoldRed If they only get £1000, how do some of them manage to include a big sofa and chair and a couple of beds? Do they go to a charity shop?

Yet the prize money in Pointless goes up by £1000 (I think) each time it’s not won. That is a ridiculous amount for a BBC programme. It’s really unbalanced, UK Masterchef offers NO prize money but, of course future fame and fortune! Prize money needs sorting out. Rant over!

I now watch Michelle and her views with less respect after seeing her own house online when it was up for sale.
We have very different taste and she lets some ghastly things go - like the fireplace and the horrendous hallways and yellow doors.
I far preferred the Sophie Robinson show. Restrained and classical.
This is just loud, like its presenter.
The contestants don’t get a big enough budget so it looks like amateur hour but the “celerities” are on big bucks.
The mermaid story 🙄
I’m sure those apartments will be very expensive.
I’d love to see the real show apartments for the development.
I now just watch the opening of the show to see what the task is and fast forward to the end result.

It would be better if they could rent furniture from one of those property staging companies

thank you! I think I only saw one season, but I remember loving it!

@cordelia16 your post reminded me I never watched the end so I've gone back and started it again!

Good idea

I saw the doll's house series and loved it because I'm obsessed with miniatures and dolls houses which I'd collect and buy and make furniture and accessories, etc for if I was rich. Sandy was meh but the programme was a delight. Was only one series. I'd watch that over and over again!

Yeah, I do miniatures and dolls houses too, and I loved that programme. The scope for having really beautiful, creative and extravagant rooms is huge and I so wanted to get into that room full of rubbish treasures!

It might be an idea if the next Interior Designers programme was prepared for in the same way, with a huge stash of interesting decor items and furniture to be used, modified and incorporated into each contestant's design.
It would showcase creativity without having to waste times on shoddy projects, MDF and weird unsuitable materials.

Wish they'd do another Minis series, with or without Sandi presenting.
Maybe with the guy who won last time?

I’ve only just watched the episode and am assuming “luxury retirement apartments” were intended for retired professionals over 55. I’m not retired but that’s me in the target age group.

I didn’t like any of them. I’m aware that I have very different taste from Michelle but:

• I honestly thought Bradley and Victoria’s was awful (bedroom slightly less awful).
• The judges and contestants both seemed to conflate ‘clutter” with “luxe”
• The mermaid apartment was really poor, disappointing from Holly in particular as I’d have liked to see more of Holly
• The contestants all seemed to equate “retirement age” with “lets repeat all of the hideous design monstrosities from the 80s”
• Briony still channelling Hygge Tygge
• Hessian wallpaper from the 70s went out of fashion for a reason (cats and dust)
• Every 80s design cliche seemed to be there. High contrast woodwork to doors, fake dados, fake fireplaces, hideous fake murals. All that was missing was Austrian Blinds (aka dust gatherers) and Rag Rolling (aka paint vomit).

I agree with PPs - budget and time scale are too low for anything pretending to be “luxe” and I don’t understand how they included sofas in the 1k budget. I preferred the show with Sophie and Dan.

I had my money on Rita, Holly and either Craig or John in the final with Bradley next to go. Obviously my powers of prediction are rubbish.

John is the teacher? I can't see him lasting because he keeps not quite getting it. Rita, yes and then. I'm sort of shrugging although I do think Clare Grogan has got something going on and she's improving. Craig did the yellow? I didn't hate that as much as you all did because it brought something that was totally missing if we went all hygge tygge. But I'm going through a loving yellow in a few things so it didn't shock me as much as it might. I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is so I'm not sure how far he goes. I think Bradley is pretty awful and I keep thinking about the MDF. I found myself looking at some plywood projects and wondering if maybe he confused MDF and plywood but I think I'm being generous.

I loved Rita's youth hostel room, thought Holly's container was great and that's it. I did like the mural bedroom but things are very boring this series so far. I sort of disagree re Holly though. She's a bit too away with the fairies and this week was more about who she really is than the container which was, I think, a fluke. She just wasn't embarrassed enough about that monstrosity of a day bed. I'd have been mortified, it wasn't even made as in one makes the bed in the morning, properly. That's not someone who has a lot to offer. Yet. If this was project runway alike people could come back in a later series if the judges felt they were further along in their journey toward being a professional. That could be Holly but in a year or two, not a month or two.

I haven't mentioned other contestants because those are all I remember. Is there anyone else? There must be!

And of course Bradley's fireplace that was just let off the hook. It belonged in sixth form stage design, not luxury apartment!

The fireplace and mural behind it were hideous !

I didn’t mind the mural even if not to my taste but there was no thought as to how to stage the fireplace

Gosh, I thought The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge with Sandi Toksvig was a current series, only caught one episode last week by flicking through channels and loved it, so will be recording the rest.

Agree that fireplace nonsense was the worst element from all of the rooms.

I like seeing which of the trades people return on these series - the smiling burly guy with the beard, or the other burly guy with the two tone beard. I wish I knew someone like that in my area ...

I know a sort of big burly man without a beard but he's not as fit as big burly guy with two tone beard who I always enjoy seeing. Funnily enough my sort of big burly man is coming to mine tomorrow to put up a mural.

I was surprised to see Rob Bent, from Sort Your Life Out. It makes sense, but still surprising to see him :)

He’s been in it for a couple of seasons now. This week he looked shorter than when he’s on sort your life out but then again, Dilly’s not exactly the tallest!

Haha, very true