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Interior design masters series 6

990 replies

Chrysanthemum5 · 08/04/2025 19:18

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!

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12
Netaporter · 09/05/2025 20:53

And I called the sofa guests correctly. Off to preen now 😂

Netaporter · 09/05/2025 20:54

John is toast. Michelle won’t get rid of Craig.

ithinkicanithinkican · 09/05/2025 20:54

I feel like they are looking at a completely different room when they are loving Briony’s. I thought it looked rubbish! The weird fake balls, the half-finished chairs poorly upholstered, the boring bland white walls. I’m so confused.

SabrinaThwaite · 09/05/2025 20:55

They’re all being nice to Craig, so I’m guessing he’s safe.

ithinkicanithinkican · 09/05/2025 20:56

Loved Craig’s though, even though it had nothing whatsoever to do with rugby.

Netaporter · 09/05/2025 20:57

I can’t believe John got away with that. Victoria was robbed.

SwedishEdith · 09/05/2025 20:58

Victoria's was horrible. All that work on the rose and neither Michelle or Nisha mentioned it.

Netaporter · 09/05/2025 20:59

Next weeks looks fab.

WEDNESDAY next week folks. See you all then!

Mulledjuice · 09/05/2025 21:26

Netaporter · 09/05/2025 20:51

In those boxes there are seats just outside in front that belong to the box guests. You arrive, drink, eat before the game then drink during the game and afterwards (with more food)

HOW did the judges not understand that the box guests don't watch the match from the box.

Victoria- for the 2nd or 3rd week - has focused far too much on functional and corporate over design.
Jon's looks like something out of a Cotton Traders catalogue melded with ikea panelling plus some gold leaf?

Briony's was dreadful. It looked like there was no option but to leave the big light on.

Bruisername · 09/05/2025 21:59

Well I think they made the right choice but I liked Victoria

Hated ritas and brionys was boring

YouFetidMoppet · 09/05/2025 23:04

Oh lord, just finished. It's getting worse.

I'm more angry at the producers. The designers are given fuck all to work with. Everything looks so half finished. They all do. It's never been like this before. Usually it's time keeping and maybe its one contestant, but if they are all a bit underwhelming something is definitely up with the way the programme is produced or the budget.

Painting chair upholstery for fuck sake. And winning! I thought John's would have been OK given more time. Craig's was pretty good in terms of being a social space but no link to rugby. Rita's, Bryony's, John's and Victoria's didn't look bare, but looked like they didn't have much to work with budget wise. Nothing really looks finished in this series. I would say Craig seems to get stuff done so it looks finished, but he did mess up today.

I'm sick of a bit of a bit of gold leaf and cheap paneling and people saying it's luxe. Give them enough money to show us something different please. I'm not someone who is well off either, so I'm not being snobby, but I want to see some finished rooms.

JamMakingWannaBe · 10/05/2025 01:01

Rita's colour scheme was based on a Springbok jersey. It seemed an odd choice for the home of English rugby. Her "two for £5" vintage speakers and Victoria trying to repurpose a mirrored wardrobe door show, as previous comments, they just don't have a big enough budget for successful execution of their ideas and the lack of H&S / fire retardancy considerations of their DIY upholstery/padded bar is frightening.

C8H10N4O2 · 10/05/2025 09:07

I was I was surprised at Briony winning considering the finish was so bad. As for Craig’s “Rothko” look - Rothko did not splash a few daubs of pain on a panel, and the room had no connection with rugby.

I thought John was sure to go as yet again he couldn’t manage his time. Victoria’s room didn’t work well but I thought her track record would save her.

I’m also frustrated at the ridiculous way in which they have insufficient time and money to attempt a decent job. Even just one more day of time would make a huge difference to the finishing off.

I cannot believe that much of what we have seen this series is being retained by the “customer” without some significant remedial work after the competition team have left.

I did like the idea of celebrating women’s rugby precisely because those hospitality boxes are so male dominated. Rita’s attention to detail is better than most of the others, including Craig for whom detail often means clutter and dust gatherer. Looks like Craig and Rita for the final to me.

Chrysanthemum5 · 10/05/2025 09:34

I think this is the worst series yet in terms of the finish they manage on the rooms. Either the budget is just not workable or they are not given enough time now but something has changed

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Bruisername · 10/05/2025 09:39

I was a bit confused by Victoria’s wallpaper and why she had it on that cheap paper.

bryonys rugby balls looked shit but they overlooked that fact because they recognised the idea. But in other cases they’re not willing to overlook things

none of these designers seem great tbh so maybe that’s why it’s not so good this year. I can’t see any of them deserving the win

i’m looking forward to the shops though

PuppyMonkey · 10/05/2025 10:13

I was a bit squiffy on Friday night wine watching this last night Grinbut Bryony’s winning room looked utterly dull and meh to me. I quite liked Craig’s and wouldn’t give a stuff about it having no rugby theme. Another week, they’d have praised him for not being too obvious. Not fussed about any of the other efforts tbf.

Bruisername · 10/05/2025 10:23

i think bryonys execution was poor (some of the chairs/rugby ball etc) but that wasn’t commented on but others poor execution was

i thought the pews looked really uncomfortable!!

they clearly love Rita and bryony and judge them by a different standard

YouFetidMoppet · 10/05/2025 11:03

It is probably going to be Bryony that wins because the prize is a John Lewis contract and her style is likely to sell more (although I can't see how this stands out amongst existing retailers/designers). It would annoy me because although her style is nice, it doesn't stand out. At least Monika from a couple of series back was different. I think the prize is more about product design now isn't it? What do you design with the winning JL contract? If it's products, then it isn't really the right prize for what they are doing, and it's steering decisions in a specific direction.

I do think the show needs a revamp next time round. It's gone a bit Bake Off and setting people up to fail. It might not be a budget issue, they just might not have enough time in between projects to source stuff on a budget. Everything has gotten more expensive in recent years, so they need to account for that.

C8H10N4O2 · 10/05/2025 11:21

Is there a Kelly Hoppen week this season? Endless oversized greige should be right up Bryony’s street.

The prize is a John Lewis contract but do we know what the contract involves? Is it product design or revamping their staff canteens?

PuppyMonkey · 10/05/2025 11:30

I can’t say I’ve noticed that Bryony has a particular style tbh. Grin

Chrysanthemum5 · 10/05/2025 12:19

The prize is a product line in JL

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cordelia16 · 10/05/2025 13:08

I felt so bad for Rob. He was stuck doing those panels for the full two days (yes, they turned out gorgeous, but what a waste of time for him). And then the rest of the design didn't get used as a result of time pressures. A part of me thinks John got through because of Rob's hard work, not the overall design. How many times does he have to make the mistake of trying to go too big and then not finishing??

Also felt bad for the man attempting to put up Victoria's wallpaper. Another thankless job.

The designers need to give their crew more realistic tasks.

C8H10N4O2 · 10/05/2025 14:03

Chrysanthemum5 · 10/05/2025 12:19

The prize is a product line in JL

So right up Hygge Tygge’s street. Presumably that is also the attraction of Craig to the judges since his job is designing “giftware”. I guess its which style of homeware JL want.

Seems an odd prize really for an interior design contest as the two skills sets overlap but I’d have thought had some major differences (especially around manufacture). ICBW but I thought the early prizes were contracts to do actual interior design work.

FagsMagsandBags · 10/05/2025 15:42

I'm a little bit gutted at the end of that but I knew that it would be Victoria who had a mare from beginning to end and John who only got through because she had a mare because yet again he showed that he has no idea when it comes to time management and frankly by this stage that should see him out because it's not good enough. I'd have sent him home over Victoria because I like her more but in terms of what she did this week it was shockingly bad. Thing is, she knew it. She wasn't pretending it wasn't her fault. She got the wrong paper for all the right reasons (time management), I'm sure if she thought she was buying better quality than she was. She should have got the glass precut at a glass shop because I've seen contestants have things "ready" before. It would have cost her a bit more but it cost her the competition. Her and Craig sort of bookended each other. She forgot herself in the project and he thought of nothing but himself.

I loved his room for what it was, which had nothing to do with either rugby, Rothko or the 1950s although it was 50s adjacent. It was Craig looking not as clever as the thought to a pedantic bitch called fags. He loves Mad Men but doesn't know that the first episode starts in 1960. I'd let him off because style doesn't change on the first gong of midnight the next decade but that means that none of Mad Men is set in the 50s and you get to the real 60s feel of the interiors quite soon. The 50s interiors are more sort of either homely, the Draper's home, corporate and doesn't change much, the general offices, the clubs are a bit more ornate and swirly than his idea of the 50s which is in fact more 60s, but he didn't know that.
Rothko is not known for f-ing panelling. He is about colour blocking but not in a that is what it is and all that it is. He is love or hate - I love - and he's deeply important in art, not just "I'll throw a bit of that at it." Craig has got his idea from watching at least a couple of episodes of Mad Men which cover a particular commission, the Seagram murals which he ended up giving to the Tate in London and wow (LOVE, you may hate and I agree with each of those opinions. I hated them when I first saw them, now I go and sit in front of them and sigh with pleasure. Life's strange.) Anyway, it's a triumph when they're put in the restaurant, The Four Seasons and it's a tour de force in NYC and anyone who knows about art or wants to look like they do ... and Betram Cooper, head of the agency gets his very own Rothko and all the boys want to sneak into his office and see it. It's a bit of the comedy part of the show and fun. So, Craig has gone, mad men, that episode, Rothko in The Four Seasons, Rothko in my Rugby bar. I don't know if the circle thing was supposed to be Rothko, but it wasn't and neither was anything else. I love Nisha, but someone had told her and Michelle what to say about Rothko and that was it. Craig showed too much of his show off side last night. In terms of not doing one thing - one rugby ball does not count - that adhered to the brief he could well have been the first person to be sacked off for a lovely room that was well put together, great bar, but off brief. That would have been a travasty, and much as he annoys me I wouldn't have wanted that to happen to him. But it was him and Victoria doing the opposite thing and she would always lose out. She has proven something about herself though and every week I've watched her learn a little bit. I'll be really surprised if she doesn't get a career out of this and maybe the only one of them who does apart from maybe Bryony who works hard and is very midlevel which will appeal to places like John Lewis. Victoria will get corporate work and then more personal. She needs to trust her own vision. I loved her bedroom in week two.

Craig will find it hard to get work while he makes it all about him although I'm sure Alan will happily have him around his to do up his bits and pieces.

FagsMagsandBags · 10/05/2025 15:50

I think I disagreed with most of you in terms of rooms apart from who was on the sofa which was right. I wasn't surprised that it was only Bryony and Rita who went through and I preferred Rita's because I loved thinking about something rugby but different. I'm sure that even Twickenham can manage to have one corporate box for women. I think that it might even make them think about having some more. Women like rugby too or so my niece who plays it thinks. I don't but I do like a bit of inclusion. I think that Byrony fell a bit short - the upholstory because she's not done it before but it was the right thing to do and while I wasn't inspired by her space it was done well and said "Rugby" without being comical. The mixture of balls was a really good idea and the one that was sort of bandaged looked like a ball being made. It was well curated.

I think and hope it's between the two remaining women to win. John can't win it. He can't do time management and he has an eye but he doesn't have a real feeling. Both of the women - along with my boo hiss nemisis (Not really!) have an eye and a feeling and the other three can manage time better than him. I quite like him and do feel for him.

I'm looking forward to next week, not least because Rye is bloody lovely! I think Rita and Bryony will work better together because there are more areas of overlap between them but I'll be gutted if one of them goes in place of John or Craig.

And Breathe! Sorry, I watched on catchup after falling asleep ridiculously early last night and waking up at about three am! So,I've just vomited words at you!