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

this is the one

My one I mean, not the one you're talking about Fimbo.

I just caught the very end of last night's episode and found myself thinking, wtf was that plank of wood thing sticking out the side of a window, and secondly, would love to know, where do these smug young couples get all their money from? (second question also applies to Relocation, Relocation couples).

Oh yes I saw that plank too and wondered what it was (want paying much attention throuhgout as the episode left me cold).
Perhaps someone can enlighten us Doc...

that trap door in the bedroom on last night prog looked lethal. how on earth did that get passed by building regs??

I was wondering about that plank too...maybe it had something to do with maintaining original features? it looked like it was maybe used as part of a hoist or something when it was a mill.

the whole episode left me cold too. plus they didn't give a flying fig about carbon footprints, and there absolutely nothing 'family home' about it at all! I bet they shunt their baby off in the north wing somewhere... I was left with an urge to go in while they're out and knock their perfectly aligned pictures askew and messily re-arrange their fruit bowl...

Can't find anything about the one I am thinking of from years ago.

Does anyone remember the couple who were trying to make a home out of a boat and they had to move into it because they had nowhere else to go and it wasn't finished? She was Chinese iirc and the boat was moored in Kent somewhere and their boat neighbours got annoyed with them and they were told to move?

I'd live there given half a chnace

Often wonder about the privacy in houses with huge expanses of glass. Ok they are usually in a big garden but the thought of slobbing out in front of TV in sweatpants with no make up on eating masses of chocolate and anyone sneaking up outside in the dark. Actually the thought of anyone sneaking up in the dark and being able to see your entire life and possession laid out. Or am I particularly paranoid?
And yes what about privacy with the mezzanines.
Seen a few where the living space is massive and double height and all that, as has been said but the bedrooms are tiny and have weeny windows.
Does anyone remember the woman who had to have TWO enormous and trendy cookers because everything had to symetrical?

this one!

I would love to know how much last night's ended up costing. How do people fund these things? £60k for groundworks and £26k for a bat home, without even blinking.

Pushchair the cooker woman was that the one in the old violin factory? They had huge probs with a party wall?

Can't remember.

I spent my waking hours last night (quite a few - am 37 weeks pregnant) trying to work out how they did all the work for £440k + 10%. About 5am I came to the conclusion that they must have spent more than that.

And if all that did cost £480k, the cost of our proposed small kitchen extension and new kitchen seems WAY too high.

And the calmness with which they dealt with the whole project....I'm already booking docs appts to get tranquilisers for our extension - and it's months away (and may never happen). Maybe if you have money then the worries seem trivial.

My favourite was the one in the highlands that looked out over the mouth of the river. It was like an upside down boat inside and the guy had to sand all the woodwork himself.

That one was lovely.

Do you not think its strange though, in each of these shows, the women always fall pregnant - I think it might have something to do with Kevin (and his 'jaunty hat')

They probably had to take down about fifteen stairgates from that steel walk way/staircase before the cameras came.

Love grand designs but the building last night was awful, there was no flow, and it was sharp and uncomfortable, tbh not sure the olive tree really constitutes a 'winter garden' OH FFS HOW UP THEIR BUM WERE THEY!

More money than sense and if it came to £400K + 10% then I am a monkeys aunt.

I love the ones who work on the projects and you can see the enthusiasm and excitement, last night all I could detect was coldness and nonchalance (sp?)

I felt that last night's couple didn't live there actually. One day it'll be a fabulous gallery I bet!

I loved the eco house in the woods too and thought it was great that he had finally married and had a family too because he seemed like such a solitary man.

I ended up having really weird dreams about buliding a house after watching it last night!

It is funny we caught an old location the other night and it was from 2000, the couple were lovely looking for a bigger place and a genuine family home, it was a refreshing change.

The clients have changed an awful lot!

The old violin factory was on a repeat channel this week. They spent 1.9 million pounds on their house - 1.9 MILLION!!!! Although he was a banker and she was an architect, so let's just hope they're managing the mortgage repayments in this climate.

The best house ever was the eco one, without a doubt. So many of them are just glass and steel blocks that look more like visitor centres or offices than houses. Devoid of soul or warmth, and nothing particularly grand other than the price.

Last night's one was weird - and no sign of Jacob until the very end. The only concession to the wee chap was a padded insert on one of their (ergonomically designed, no doubt cost a pretty penny) dining chairs. All the glass and gaps everywhere looked like an accident waiting to happen. And did anyone else pick up the bit where she was showing Kevin the wall they could move across the corridor outside the bedroom to stop the baby's cries getting into their room? Eek - someone tell me she WAS joking!

Watched it for the first time in a couple of years and was laughing cos Kevin is exactly the same. Head wobbling, asks a question then his eyes seem to rove all about the person's face and of course HATES the house, says they will NEVER get it done in time........then at the end when he's walking around the finished article, he decides he loves it after all.

Seemed to end up a pretty expensive house considering their neighbours house was only about 10 feet away.
Was anything said about the other house? Noticed they kept angling the camera so you didn't see it.

I'd love to set my DS loose in there with a pot of sudocrem - he he he, all that glass, he would have a field day!!

paolosgirl- I caught that about blocking out the baby's crying, too. did make me go a bit as well

They've had a couple that were cool. Over the entire duration of the show.

But for the most part, they're about ponces with seemingly endless amounts of money and not a speck of common sense.

Was that their neighbours house Choco? Oops - I told DH that the whole 'space' (that's another thing that really annoys me - why can't they just call it a room??) was theirs. I thought there was the orginal bit plus the modern extension at the back?

Here, The building on the right isn't attached at all. Was that theirs too? I assumed that it was their neighbours.