I hate these Grand Design Houses

[pushchair]

They all seem to be hard glass and steel with no clutter or 'normality' Where are the magazines,tissues,toys,books even. The couples are all really demanding and perfectionist.GAH

I have always thought what a nightmare they must be to keep clean and shiny. ALl those marble surfaces and shiny tiled floors. Every slight smudge and fingerprint would show.

Not good for someone like me who is pathologically allergic to house work!

And as dh said 'what about the heating bills?' All exposed brick and glass. Or did we mis the solar panels and wind farm?

They always show the houses with a lot of glass on a nice day - imagine how depressing it would be sitting there in your glass box when it is dull and rainy for days on end. They also tend to go for a lot of wood on the exteriors, which looks really awful when it has been left a while and gone a bit grey and soggy looking ( they have built some £1m eco houses near us and they looked wonderful when they were put up, but 12 months on it looks dreadful, and quite a few are unsold)

Don't forget the limes Robinpud

I thought the house was stunning but I bet it's a bastard to clean, all that glass and steel. And they had a small child! They must have locked him in one of the ergonomically designed discreetly invisible cupboards so he didn't leave smeary handprints all over the beautifully aligned glazing

But I agree it looked like a house, not a home. And can you imagine how miserable it would have felt in the winter, so stark and cold?

They were wonderfully cagey about the spend as well weren't they?

Last nights one left me cold.

I will never understand why people buy a derelict building which is sliding down a muddy hill. Ever.

They are all the same

old meets new with some horrible (IMO) steel contraption, the woman will get pegnant, the architect will be called away to another job in another country and Kevin McCloud(is that right??) will HATE somethin gwith a passion and change his mind when they do the reveal.

And then Kevin McCloud will tut a lot and suck air in through his teeth whilst wearing a jaunty hard hat.

My dad is an architect and has always had a bee in his bonnet re planners as, in Ireland at least, they have a LOT of power but no aesthetic training whatsoever. So he might spend weeks working on elaborate plans for a fabulous building but the planner will turn it down because they don't like it. No other reason.

And my mum is a conservation officer and watches Grand Designs and then rings me and says 'what a bunch of tossers they were!'

Yes I noticed the wife always gets pregnant before the build is finished, a bit bored with that storyline. Why is everyone doing white interiors with glass and metal? I agree, it's so cold-looking. My favourite one was the welsh family who did most of the build themselves, the wife and kids cut up lots of lambswool and used it to insulate the walls, etc. It looked like a lovely home in the end and was not on a stupidly large budget. Having had a look at the pictures again, actually it was also sparse and white with lots of glazing .

And why is it always 96% of the house for the grown-ups and all kids shoved into a tiny bedroom out of the way? I've lost count of the ones where the kids end up sharing a room in some vast building, while the parents have study, sauna, gym, bathroom each etc etc for their own benefit...

Great setting but the house looked like a gallery not a family home. Where was the little boy and all his stuff?
Thought it was all rather joyless and lacking in soul.

my favourite was a guy who built an eco house in the middle of the woods then in the catch up he was extending because he was now married with a baby on the way cant find links

sfxmum- this one

oh yes love that thanks

am a person of extremes either like this wood cottage or hyper modern but super eco
wish I had the opportunity and the cash to build

I think one of the most hated was the ponciness of Damien Hirst's partner boat and some faux period monstrosity a few seasons back

sfxmum that was my favourite too! It was most definitly a 'home' I thought it was so sad that one of the planning stipulations was that it must be destroyed when he left/died. Especially after he had a family. Could they not keep it in the family?

I loved that one too. My favourite was one out (I think) in the Cambridgeshire fens, the chap was a carpenter and did most of it himself. It was round and the central staircase was made out of a tree stump. Eccentric but beautiful and homely.

Last night's was a bit 'meh', I agree about their son, we didn't see anything of his room did we?

That was a fantasitc house and he was great. Didn't rmember the stipulation that it had to be destoyed when he left or died though, waht an awful waste and how very un eco-friendly...

I loved the eco house and the artists' retreat in Italy too. They were done with love.

Did anyone see the Scottish couple (ages ago) who took a lovely Victorian house and converted it into a modern open plan space. There were two room, a living/dining/kitchen room downstairs, then a wraught (sp?) iron staircase up to a bed/bathroom which was open to the downstairs. Only the toilet was sectioned off.

I remember thinking - I hope that she didn't accidently fall pregnant - it would be completely impossible with children. No privacy and the death-trap staircase. I don't even know where the guest were supposed to go. Or did they have no friends?

Is there not one that has been ongoing for years too and every few years, KM goes back to see if it has been completed yet? Can't remember anything else about it though.....