Interior Design

I'm so glad Sarah won. I think Jordan turned out to be a bit of a one trick pony although like Tegan I loved the hall. That little girl is likely to have nightmares with those weird purple shapes all over the room

Wasn't sure about the statue of Mary in Sarah's hall. I hope she doesn't mind having a few coats and scarves flung over her.

Those tiles looked Delft-like from a distance. What a clever trick. I preferred Jordan's designs to Sarah's overall, but she has some great design ideas (except for the bobble rug - harrumph!)

Ooh I liked the bobble rug. Didn't like either front room, but liked Sarah's bedrooms the best. Going out to get some light grey paint to do some tired pine picture frames tomorrow.

I liked Jordan's rooms best, as I didn't like any of Sarah's rooms [this time.]
Thought the hall was amazing and the living room calm and inviting. They both deserve to go and do well in interior designing though. Have really enjoyed the programme.

I didn't like the little girls bedroom; I'm sure those shapes would have given me nightmares when I was a child [actually they'd give me nightmares now]. That wooden ramp for the cars to go down was brilliant [can see it being in the shops soon].

I want to paint the large pine frame of the mirror on our brick chimney breast but DH has put his foot down - he just doesn't get painted wood or the fact that I'm a lady who loves to paint!! He'd be quite happy to live in a house that looks like a second hand furniture shop

Sooooooo, I've been slowly darkening it using Jacobean Oak wood dye and linseed oil. He hasn't noticed and it no longer looks a bit like pine.

The series has definitely made me want to try out some new ideas around my home!

Yes, I liked the car ramp idea. Described it to my daughter and she's going to get something set up in my grandsons' playroom, instead of those silly Hot Wheels tracks that won't stay in place against the wall.

I've finally managed to turn the spare bedroom into a craft room for myself, where I can put all of my ideas [they tend to clutter up the living room ]. Showed my daughter some of them yesterday and she seemed quite impressed. Haven't started going through my 'collection' in the loft yet [which includes an old 'Brooke Bond' metal wall thingy which we 'rescued' years ago]. I just wish I could sew; as it is I have to pay people to sew things for me.

I would love to go on an upholstery course as we have two wing armchairs which belonged to my mother and were hardly ever used. They are button backed so need a professional touch (or some expert tuition) DH has covered all our dining room chairs and he's a dab hand with a staple gun so it could be a joint effort!

merlotgran worth looking on you tube for tips on DIY projects.

I've had a quick look, Agus and found a very boring American one so I'll have a trawl and see if I can find a better one. A video would be a great help combined with a good book.

Good luck. Hope you find something

Disaster Designs is the name of the design company that the big guy [who got eliminated] has set up. The shop in the next village will have some of his stuff in the shop next week.

..just looked at the website; sounds as if Disaster Designs sell things by lots of different disigners [altough I still got the impression that it was his company]. The lady in the shop had her photo taken with him so it's definately him.

It's back! Last nights winner was a worthy one. It's a good job I'm working on the house now, because, if I wasn't I'd have to start anyway! What I don't understand about a lot of design programmes [Grand Designs is probably the worst] is that people often design bedrooms with lots of windows that don't have curtain or have very flimsy ones, and I always have to sleep in a dark room. Tonight will be the design programme followed by Peaky Blinders and then Detectorists. Hurrah!

I liked the design that won last night apart from the orange and black. I picked the wrong one on Tuesday night though. The judge said it was too safe

I've just picked up the book of the first series from the library. It's packed full of ideas, case studies and designs so I'm looking forward to getting some inspiration for our annexe. It will be the first time I've been able to design, convert and decorate from scratch. Very exciting but I've got to watch every penny as we're on a tight budget!!

I've just bought an old writing bureau from a charity shop; not a nice one but a 1930's dark wood not particularly well made one, and I'm tryng to decide how to paint it. I've always wanted a writing bureau but haven't got room for a large one. I thought the room that the shabby chic lady did was nice bur far too empty and, given that the owner had a dog that little table with the floor length tablecloth looked like an accident waiting to happen [and would have grubby marks along the base]. I've decided that my garage needs clearing out [it's full of my ex husbands bike bits and lathes] because I need space for my projects. I wish I could sew, though . And I'm still searching for a cheap sourse of crates; more and more people are selling them but, at a price. I want to do a wall unit of crates [like they do in some National Trust shops].

The trouble is once things become trendy the prices rocket. When I think of all the potato chitting boxes, pallets and crates we burned years ago. They'd be worth a fortune now.

I think the standard is higher this series but I was disappointed when the lad who did a very tasteful design of a spare room two nights ago got knocked out....Not edgy enough

I was interested to see how one of the women got on with painting the fabric on a wing armchair last night. I fancy having a go at this because I have a similar armchair in much better condition but looking dated and shabby. I've nothing to lose really because it will end up at the tip if I don't do something.

Anyone familiar with Annie Sloan's chalk paint? I've been looking at her tutorials on YouTube and can't wait to get cracking!!

Much as I'm thoroughly enjoying this series I think the judges have made some strange decisions. That cloud lampshade was weird [and a dust trap] for a boys room and, as for the dinosaur drawer handles with the pointed tails..what on earth was the woman thinking of?? And those weird pom poms on that footstool last night . I hated that room. The tiger skin rug would just move around [and trip people up]. But those blue and white tiles in the other house were amazing. I do hope that man wins the series. The stapled on fabric on the childrens wardrobe would last 5 minutes with my grandchildren. Homebase [I think] are now selling similar paint to Annie Sloan Stuff and is probably a lot cheaper. I bought the Annie Sloan brushes which were horribly expensive but I think the paint and wax goes on better and you use less. I sometimes use small rollers with the paint, though. I agree that the young lad should have gone through the other night; his room was a bit empty on the one wall, but he was very professional. I do find it odd though, the way they rip carpets up [especially in bedrooms or in houses with small children]. I did that in my computer room and I'm now trying to find a way to get a carpet back in as the wood is just splintering.

I can understand having to have a budget, but sometimes it seems overambitious to try to a for example living room including carpet, furniture etc some of it must be too cheap.

And I find it hard to believe it's done in three days. Didn't they find woodworm the other night in some floorboards that had to be treated?

They covered it up with a rug and said it was going to be treated after the judging, Tegan

How come it never rains when they're working out in the garden?

I'm not concentrating am I . With so many more contestants this time round I'm getting them all mixed up. I'm still bothered about all the strange light bulbs hanging around in a lot of rooms. And, nice as it looked, I wasn't sure about the safety of that big 'E' in one boys bedroom the other night; again not something I'd want in a childs room. I'm going to paint a tiny chest of drawers while I'm watching tonights programme.