Interior design masters new series - let the battle commence

[Chrysanthemum5]

The next series starts on the 21st April. Looking forward to banquettes, and bizarre paint choices, and upcycling of old junk. DD and I are rewatching the old series and I’d forgotten how crazy some of the rooms were!

The general consensus is Michelle needs to go as a judge, too inconsistent. And bad choice of stand out space this week.

Personally i didnt mind Duran going, but thats because other than emmerly, I think they're all a bit blah. Ans wven emmerly isn't particularly great, just better than the others.

Last night was a travesty. The gift shop was nice enough, but it looked like every other middle class gift shop in any nice town.

the guitar shop delivered. DH and I also mentioned that you aren't exactly going to lay them out by price point. Not that kind of shop. Duran and Emmerly both seemed gutted and rightly so.

I haven't watched last night's episode yet, mainly because I've just checked out already because of the terrible, inconsistent judging. I made the right choice not to bother.

I love this show, and I like Michelle as a person, but I don't think I can watch this show anymore with such terrible judging. I was glad John won last year, but it's frustrating that better designers are not given a chance to shine throughout the competition and major errors are overlooked. Someone like Ajeet would have probably smashed it this week. I want to see good rooms at the end of the day, and if you get rid of people who are good early on just so you can 'manufacture' a clear winner, it isn't a competition. I'm sure this is what is going on. The company providing the prize should get what they are given, and not put their name to it unless they are prepared to accept the true winner.

If it isn't manufacturing a case for a pre-decided winner, then you need a panel of judges. Not just a random popping in each week talking bollocks that Michelle ignores anyway, that then flounces off. Or, have a more methodical way of going through the brief and checking off what was good and what wasn't with the owner. The judging is mad in this competition. What other competition won you just have one person deciding? It's too subjective.

Super post @Urgentbiscuitrequired
And that solo judge doesn’t seem to know what she wants. 🙄

Another de lurking to say I loved the guitar shop, hated the tree and boggled at Michelle's word salad of a reason. I have never been a fan of her as a judge but that took the proverbial biscuit.

And another lurker nipping in to say WTH in choosing the gift shop over the guitar shop?

Those card display units can be found all over the place, the "not a Welsh Dresser" wasn't a unique piece, the window "tree" was awful, please erase that paint brush light fixture from my mind. Oh, how we giggled over the text of 50 Shades book (did it really deserve that much airtime)?

Guitar shop owner got what he wanted. I wasn't a fan of the big papier mache guitar (those radiator knobs will fall off with the heat through those windows). I'm sure they could have sourced some old guitar bodies and done something creative (clear/coloured resin guitar bodies spinning in the windows would have been cool). Duran Duran could have added some garden decking type lighting spots to the floor of the stage with minimum effort, give a bit more life to that area. But it was effective, clean and tidy. Another sofa in the middle to encourage musicians in to chat would have been good too. It needed a bit more, but it delivered.

All my favourites have now gone. I felt frustrated after last night, very little real creativity. Long for a bit of Banjo.

The big problem with guitar shop vs gift shop is that everyone has been into and bought something from a gift shop. We understand the language. Most of us haven’t ever been on a guitar shop. DH plays guitar and other instruments and loved the guitar shop. He said it was exactly what he would want. They were robbed.

It’s getting so annoying now - I feel Michelle makes the wrong choice weekly now. Thought the guitar shop was brilliant and just what the client and customers would want and more.

the gift shop was meh. The tree was frankly horrific and weird.

I loved the striped wallpaper 🤣

I really didn’t agree with the judges saying the expensive guitars needed to not be next to the cheaper ones though. To me that would then make the cheaper ones look ‘cheap’. Much better to have them on the same wall. Thought their shop was excellent.

I did think the others did well though too. I’d have found it hard to choose between them if I was judging.

I wonder if Michelle is saying that you need to offer a surprise or something extra to what the client has asked for. Otherwise you wouldn’t hire an interior designer as could just get the trades in to do your own vision. It’s the only thing that explains what she was talking about imo. Not sure I agree though. Also seems inconsistent as one week they need to do what the client wants and the next week they need to show that what the client wants isn’t what they want. Make your mind up!! I do like Michelle though, comes across as a lovely warm person and seems genuinely sad when having to send someone home.

The guest judge even said the rest of the gift window display was shite.
Agree with everyone that gift shop was very much mid (as the youths say).
Who hasn’t been in a shop like that with the tatty Welsh dresser and a bit of wallpaper.
The till area looked very cheap and didn’t fit with the rest of the shop ( I also couldn’t get past the badly placed sticker).
Maybe you had to be there but to me Lia and Sophie are bringing nothing that hasn’t been done before and nothing that would stand out as signature in Next ( ooo leopard print).

I have a music playing son. If we went to a guitar shop with a £200 budget, I'd be OVER THE MOON if one I liked was displayed next to a £20k one. No customer is more important than the next.

Only caught up tonight. Also have a guitar playing partner who thought the guitar shop was exactly what the customer would like.

Wye Fret is a great name for a guitar shop though.

DD and I felt that if Mary Portas had been the other judge she would have understood the value Emmely and Duran brought to the guitar shop.

I also think if Lia hadn’t removed that awful hanging display the gift shop would have been on the sofa

I understand Michelle’s point about a designer bringing more but the guitar duo did bring more than just implementation of the owners ideas. They gave him a display that attracts attention to the shop, they reworked his displays, they added a sound room etc

I finally caught up last night, but was too tired to post…

Duran Duran seemed like a completely different personality to the previous week? Absolutely the right choice to go, however. without question, the guitar shop was a clear winner IMO. Having worked in the luxury retail sector for many years, my main bug bear about designers (like the guest judge this week) coming in with zero experience in the sector I worked in telling me all about “the customer journey” when they had zero knowledge that 80% of customers left with something completely different to the product they initially came in for. It seemed incredible that they lost out for giving the customer (who had many, many years in this sector) exactly what he asked for…Retail business owners and operatorsare not idiots, and no, customers don’t want always want to sit on some unfathomably uncomfortable seating/use screen technology… They want an environment that presents a comfortable setting, with human being interaction and clear pricing. I felt the guitar shop had all of those things. Plus an outstanding window.

Conversely, whilst the gift shop was almost certainly a huge improvement on its prior layout I didn’t find it remarkable compared with every other gift shop I’ve ever been in in a pretty town. I also felt that giving up the first floor to solely I thought the use of the pages from Fifty Shades of Grey so much in the footage would be the reason they lost, given it’s inappropriate nature for a window display? I also thought that the use of the first floor solely as a fitting room was a wasted opportunity to try and sell the customer something else whilstthey were trying on? I thought another rail of clothing (perhaps even dated stock at attractive pricing) would have been a genuinely better option. For me, I didn’t mind the stripey wallpaper, but it wasn’t clear to me that the framed prints were actually for sale?

Anyway, an all women final it’s not a bad thing, my money would be on Lia to win at this stage, although I think Emmerley has improved massively throughout the process and it is often those contestants who end up winning. She certainly very creative, but maybe not in the same commercial way that Lia is?

I agree that Mary Portas would’ve been the natural judge for this one.

My daughter is a violinist, and when we used to go to the luthier to upgrade/replace an existing violin, the retailer would leave out a selection of four or five violins which were within the budget that we had given but there were no prices on any of them so that it didn’t influence anyone’s decision as to which one was the best. It was purely on sound, feel etc. It was a lovely way to purchase something expensive.

But yes, I wholeheartedly agree that all customers are equally important regardless of the amount they are spending, because you never know how the circumstances might change in the future. Customers never forget how you make them feel.

I couldn’t work out what was the “something extra” in the gift shop. It was all remarkably standard - fresh paint, refitting shelves, making the artwork less accessible and the bloody tree.

The guitar shop window and soundbooth set up were both extra to the requests.

More than that, its often part of the process.. Such shops don’t just find some suitable models in the price range - hearing the stories about the five squillion pound model and its previous owners, performances you have seen etc whilst sharing your own stories is part of the customer experience for this type of product. Its not an accident that shops often have wildly differing price points adjacent. to each other.

Neither judge seemed to get that or understand the customers. It was a particularly weird bit of judging and does reinforce the vibe of knowing the winner at the beginning of the competition.

Yep, exactly 😭

So disappointed with this series.

I don't think any of the contestants are great and initially wondered why some of them were chosen as they are so inexperienced. On reflection I've decided I don't mind that one or two (eg Emmely) are learning on the job, as it were. But they need to switch the focus of the show if it's going to be cast with completely inexperienced 'designers' and make it more of a tutorial, focusing on the designs and then a post mortem on the results for each person not just the ones on the sofa of doom.

However the main problem is the judging is utter crap! Inconsistent and confusing. Michelle is not up to the task.

I’m still absolutely baffled that Michelle and the bloke apparently think the cheaper guitars should be displayed separately to the expensive guitars. Perhaps in some kind of “peasants’ corner”.

I’ve only ever bought instruments after a lovely chat and a nice long try of a few different options. It’s basically Ollivander’s Wand Shop vibes.

I thought the guitar shop was fab. I actually said wow when we “walked in”. Whereas the gift shop was naff. Too fussy and hated the colour scheme.

I am losing my love for this show. Whilst I still adore Michelles outfits, I think she has given conflicting advice and feedback this series which has resulted in the wrong people going home.

Alan Carr ( or his script writers) have been cringingly unfunny this series. Plus they need some fresh ideas on the type of challenge they set.

Agree with all of these points.

I saw a lovely post on Instagram from Chris, the Guitar Shop guy, who said that he was so pleased with what Emerlee and Duran had done, that they went over and above what he asked for. Surely that should have some bearing on Michelle's judging? I'm starting to think more and more that they earmark the possible winner right at the start (DH says I sound a bit 'conspiracy theorist'!).

I did also wonder if Emmerleeee is the winner and so we have this as a setback/journey episode where she cries about being on the sofa even though she did her best and really tried etc etc. I can see it fitting into a “how far she’s come” montage perfectly.

it annoys me so much that Michelle goes on about learning and growing and seems to want to teach the designers or have her listen to them, when her advice is always conflicting or not constructive and generally unhelpful and while they’re actively designing/doing the rooms, it’s Alan and his comedy set pieces who turns up when it might have been actually helpful to get a pointer or steer from Michelle halfway through.

Yes, you’re spot on with your observations.