Interior Design Masters 2026 thread two

[Chrysanthemum5]

Hi all I’ve started a new thread for when number one is full.

I would love to live in Sophie's rooms unfortunately my husband would hate it.

Am I the only one who didn't warm to Emmely? Her posh girl accent with the glottal stops and dropped aitches made her sound fake. I didnt particularly like her papier mache either.

Lia's rooms were tasteful but a bit bland to me. Definitely not the best series.

I think the right person won the final but there have been some iffy decisions along the way.
Sophie really hadn't evolved as a designer and was too fixed on her animal prints. Most rooms were OTT but the dining room was bleak!
Lia's felt more thought through and cohesive.
I agree with pp that as it's Longleat, the likelihood is that families stay rather than groups of people, the swapping of rooms was unnecessary. The ugly sofas looked uncomfortable and squashed in.
And what serious designer would have dried plants as a 'signature' ! The clump on the mantle looked hideous and would just collect dust.

Maybe Sophie’s mum ‘with a French twist’ should have applied instead.

You are so right.

I did wonder what was the French twist. I had flashbacks to “shabby chic” being described as chateau style some years ago with all that chalky paint.

Having just browsed through the current holiday cottages for rent on the Longleat estate, I will concede that Lia's is nicer. I didn't like her lounge (what a horrid fireplace), but I think she made the right decision to swap the rooms around,

I sat watching it on iPlayer and my lasting memory of Sophie's lodge was all the dust swirling around in the hallway.

https://www.idealhome.co.uk/all-rooms/next-interior-design-masters-winner-lia-gold-collection

The tomato vase! 😫

The tomato vase is a bit too gimmicky for me. The striped stuff is lovely, and I am very partial to a stripe, but it’s hardly groundbreaking. Personally I love a stripe/floral mix so maybe it would have suited her more to go in that direction.

I love that lampshade! And the rugs. The blue one is gorgeous.

i kinda love the tomato vase. It’s fun and a good centrepiece.

I agree re the horrid fireplace and the dust swirling round - it was quite distracting
Thank you for the link to Lia’s designs for Next.
Even with none of the ghastly dried flowers in it, nothing in it the range would entice me to buy.

I didn't watch last night as I lost interest last week. Lia won then? I think she was the stronger contestant. Really don't like her collection though. I would wear some of the textiles, but not really have it in my home. I'm probably not the trendiest of people though.

Emmerly doing her arty stuff would have looked better and more sophisticated, even a free form papier mache vase!

The tomato vase is definitely a talking point. Surely that would look weird with flowers in, or is it trendy now to put leeks in a vase instead of flowers? Should we all be channeling Uncle Monty from Withnail and I interest our homes now?

We loved Emmely! My 11 yo and I were rooting for her to win. I didn't find her accent especially posh or annoying, no.

I'm struggling to find the collection on the NEXT website, but then I usually struggle to do ANYTHING on their website. I don't know how anyone manages to find and buy anything on it without giving up 10 years of their life trying to do it.

If the green bedding set is something she has designed then I really like that. The bedding sets are quite nice, but I don't think they especially stand out as a signature style like John's did last year. I would buy the green one if it's a good price.

Thinking about buying the tomato vase for my MIL 😀

I think the collection goes on sale
tomorrow.

Emmely’s accent may sound odd because her mother tongue is Dutch. Some of the quirks are similar to those in Dutch and Danish colleagues.

Ok fair enough. I apologise but it was a bit like nails on a blackboard to me.

The tomato vase is not my bag, the stripey stuff is a bit overly fringed for me but that seems to be coming back into fashion. I can’t say those sample items scream “Lia” to me but I felt the same about the John Lewis set last year. I wonder how much input they really have?

I was curious about the kitchen ware comment:

"I think pots and pans are so boring but you use them every day. So I would like to experiment with the shapes of pots and pans."

I suspect the reason cooking pots and pans have changed so little is because those shapes work and there is limited scope to change them. I suppose a fringed asparagus kettle would fit with the tomato vase!

It is a bit odd sounding - I think some of the twangs might be from learning it second and then going to an art college which is heavily public school students. She is presumably long since bilingual.

I was looking at her past work an exhibitions and tbh I wondered why she was doing a TV contest. She seems relatively established.

The tomato vase is hideous. Who would pay £69 for that? Also the weird curtains round the table - what purpose do they serve? Isn't a table cloth simpler and more practical?

I hadn't spotted the price!

I can definitely see shelves of them in the end of season sale

Yeah, my first thought on the table fringing thing was ’why’?

A different article with a few different pictures.

https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/decorate/a71520682/interior-design-masters-winner-interview-next-collection/