27 Comments

  1. i havent really been watching but i do hope they good a great job for the homeowner (name escapes me) and her daughter.

  2. It’s weird that it’s dragged on for such a long time, yet they skipped a few rounds that were in the last few seasons.

    By this point, I’ve well and truly jumped over to the attractive ninjas, so I’m good either way.

    • Yes I miss the round where they redo a zone in their own house which is always interesting.
      Totally understand your ship jump Windsong. I’m loving Ninja Warrior as well.

  3. Well, I watched the reveal episodes now, couldn’t be bothered to watch more. Will do the same with The Block (which starts August 5 according to Facebook). Bu I hope Block will be a bit more creative.

    Btw, is it just me or does Mel look a bit like Chloe’s (MCA) older sister? Same bad hair.

    Overall, most of the stuff they do is The Block from last year or the years before (that rose wallpaper in 50 Shades of Grey lady’s bedroom).
    And what is it with the overuse of that ugly lamp? -> https://www.beaconlighting.com.au/paris-5-light-chandelier-in-chrome-and-black-1.html
    Mandy and Toad are the only team I liked from the beginning, thankfully the nastiest team got the boot first. At least they sometimes show some really nice ideas, hope they win.

    And the editor seems to have one playlist with like 5 songs (Cellar Door seems to be the favourite this year).

    • I hadn’t noticed Mel’s resemblence to Chloe from MKR but I have often thought Mel and Dave do look quite brother and sister-like.

  4. It is a pity that Toad and Mandy have turned a bit narky this week. They are still lovely, but it is likely that they have been told to get a bit more competitive.

    I like this week’s reno far more than the usual pick-a-charity and renovate their tired facilities. The charities probably deserve it more, but somehow this feels more like it fits with the show’s premise better.

    Does anyone ever choose bench seating eating nooks any more? Mel and Dave had no choice this week after being left with a postage stamp dining room, but bench seats are a pain in general. And how come the wallpaper in the hall is dark blue grey – it seems so dull against the teal that was asked for. I also think that the pink gold wallpaper with the “tan” paint is a terrible clash. Not surprising that David and Chiara love it, with their poor colour choices and preference for bling. Not sure about the flowers in Koa’s room – could be slammed or loved by the judges. Same with the multi rugs on the deck.

    Turns out the aturim/attruim/atrium is not an atrium at all, just a small paved area between the buildings. Where are the lush tropical palms, rainforest feel?

    Looks like the front facade required no decisions from T&M at all. Just a spruce up by the tradies according to the predetermined plan. Funny seeing Toad take the time to nail in one slat.

    I think the extra space gained by the extension has been wasted. The kitchen layout is very weird, and I hope Chelsea is not a keen cook because this is like a kitchen in a holiday hire apartment – just good for heating up ready made meals. And why put the laundry in the kitchen, especially when you have a baby. So much better to extend the floor area to include the deck and have decent sized kitchen, dining and lounge. Looks like the ensuite is weirdly oversized again.

    Not sure who I want to go after this – T&M or D&C. Either would be fine, as long as Mel and Dave stay.

  5. Zhee, totally agree about the music. It has irritated me this season because the reveals include extended montages of the rooms backed by this music. I don’t mind more time to look at the zones, but the music is not my taste, and seems chosen to create an emotion in the viewer.

  6. The extension is not functional. Tiny kitchen, buggar all storage, the laundry should be pantry, atrium should be the laundry. I saw no dishwasher, no cupboard for brooms, ironing board etc, lounge area is tiny, bench seating with windows for backrests should be outlawed, safety anyone… with a baby in the house. This waz 2 eps spliced together, the before/during/after was shown when owner walked through and again for judges walkthrough. Pathetic.

    • On safety , the staircase had no rails/ bannister to hang onto whilst texting and carrying a kid around. Quite steep, probably best suited to a young family of….mountain goats.

  7. Can anyone tell me if the bonus room was pass or fail? Recording cut out on the ad break just before! I am dreading the answer, but either way it is the nail in the coffin for the bonus room concept – too much riding on a subjective judgement, when there was a substantial difference between the two teams on the basic scores.

    Also would have liked to have a score for each room, rather than each zone this week. It would have been fairer and more indicative of the patchy quality of the different areas. Feel vindicated about the guest bedroom – what a cluttered disaster with pink shiny wallpaper. Overall, I thought there were too many extra colours (in all zones) that clashed badly with the teal.

    The architects/house designers made a real mess of the design of this house. Many impracticalities for a house with a young child, important rooms too small or badly laid out, less important rooms given too much space. Feel a bit sorry for Chelsea, but I know she will overhaul a lot of the rooms and declutter back to something like she had before. Many of the “before” shots showed much better styling than the “after”.

    • The bonus room was a “fail” from Drew and a “pass” from the other two although they appeared to rubbish a lot of it during their inspection. I thought it was terrible – too much clutter, too many clashing rugs and cushions, no cover/roof over so all would be soaked when it rained and what does wet carpet smell like when wet? Overall, I thought the kitchen and dining area too small, and not overly impressed with much of the rest of the house. Mel and Dave, of course, are on top of the leader board due to the bonus room, and Chiara and David at the bottom and obviously going home but I didn’t wait to see them leave as I was so disgusted with the result.

    • Thanks so much. I was a bit scared when I first read it “was a fail from Drew…” but thankfully the other two were the other way. I didn’t realise they were going to get each judge to give a pass/fail.

      Even though I am happy with the result, I don’t think it a fair way to decide the final two. It is too easy for the result to be manipulated according to the wishes of the producers. Not transparent enough.

      Speaking generally, it was quite clear to me that David & Chiara’s zone was by far the weakest of the three. All the rooms had faults, but the other two teams had rooms that were good, as well as bad. D&C’s were all a fail in my opinion, and the scores with them four points behind the other two teams was quite indicative. Given that, even doing a bonus room was a waste of time and effort, and the space should have been incorporated into the indoor area of the house.

  8. Right on Daffydill. That deck was bloody ridiculous – a ‘dog’s breakfast. Surely practicality must be a major factor when scoring an area. Good luck getting all that shite inside before the rain comes! Poor interior design too. Had the opportunity to create a much bigger kitchen/dining area. Don’t know whether I can stand another minute looking at the ‘all teeth’, smug, arrogant faces of M & D.

    • M&D would have had no input whatsoever into whether the deck was covered or not. All that has to be decided weeks in advance, submitted through council, and then structural details prepared. All the outdoor areas have been the same, the teams have no say in the structural aspects eg the pool decks, retaining walls, other decking, the boat, the sloped timber wall, gazebos, verandahs etc.

      And none of the teams have paid any consideration to whether the outdoor furniture would be damaged outside, and none of the judges have called them out on it. So I wouldn’t expect them to worry about it now.

  9. Koa’s bed was not appropriate for her age, kitchen too small, dining room cramped, lack of pantry space, not enough storage in the laundry room and most of the storage not easily accessible, guest bedroom cramped, atrium was very lacking and could have been used as part of the inside of the house, deck was horrible with too much “stuff” and no shade or protection against the rain, too many different colors of bathroom hardware, and many items throughout the house neither coastal nor mid century modern. I liked the original living room better than the reno living room.
    When it came down to it I didn’t like most of what was done in the house. Just like the previous renos there was a live of overall flow and consistency.

    Didn’t care if it was Mel and Dave who left or David and Chiara because wasn’t a fan of either of them. I hope that Toad and Mandy are the winners.

    • Agree with most of your great summary, Smythe. I, too, liked the original living room better – T&M seemed determined to still bring in “pink” in the artwork, even though it clashed with all else. The kitchen looked OK (and quite restrained for D&C!) but the practicality was appalling, especially having the old-fashioned fridge in the pantry and the door opening over the shelves. Bench seats in dining rooms are awful, although D&M had little choice, at least they put cushions on it rather than sitting on bare wood. The grey wallpaper in the hall clashed with the requested colour scheme and made it dull. The atrium was no atrium at all. Out of all the rooms, the two bathrooms were best, and choosing the same cabinet (cue the fake “accusations” of copying) actually gave the house its only point of continuity.

  10. Wow, way too much clutter. I would go crazy in that house. Some elements were really nice, but all together was just a clutter-fuck. Especially the deck. Imagine it starts raining and you need 5 hours to rescue all of it from the rain…

    And how annoying is the intro of the judges? Pretty lame copy of the judges intro from The Block. Also the efforts to style blonde female judge like Shaynna fails on all levels. While I always think: Shaynna, it’s a bit too tight, she still manages to look stylish and she is a curvy woman. House Rules Shaynna same issue, but she looks more like Mariah Carey-presswurst… 🙁 They even copy the hair style and the make up. Sorry for body shaming, I feel bad about it, but wow, just put a woman in a dress that fits her body type, style and personality.

    And Joanna, is it just my monitor or does her blonde look too much like piss-yellow? :O

  11. I have finally caught up on house rules. I enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and agree with what you have all been saying about this latest reno.

    The atrium was pitiful imho-what happened to all those pics Dave took from the garden to draw inspiration from? Instead we got a few pots on a wall and as others have pointed out a wasted potential inside room. I have seen some beautiful gardens spaced in between old and new house zones, and done right they can add a lot to the feel of the house but this was not functional, not appealing and another opportunity to buy ugly wicker furtinure. I expected it to be an enclosed space at least.

    The deck was another wasted oportunity, and I found it amazing how the judges have such huge blind spots when it comes to some teams (e.g. Josh and Brandon got steam rolled for no shade structure over their deck but this deck, receiving some serious sun as well wasn’t a problem. Last week Toad and Mandy also had no protection over their portion of the yard which was also previously under cover (other than the pizza shed which noone is sitting it) but no faults to be seen there either.

    The woman at the store who said you can’t go wrong putting all colours and patterns together was desperately trying to get rid of that shit. I like colour but not that much. Looked shocking. Mould came to mind immediately. So too did the beautiful dining table Mel bought for the deck which would get absolutely wrecked outside. At least Wendy mentioned the issue of rain.

    I could tell which rooms Chelsea really liked (such as TM’s bathroom, Koa’s room, her room and maybe the entrance) but she was too polite to say wtf have you done to the rest of my house and how did you double the living space but somehow only manage 1m squared of laundry space?  And why is there a psych couch crammed in next to the guest bed? I thought the spare bedroom was the worst room in the house. Lawrence saying he’d never seen mid century modern with drag queen before made me laugh. I thought that metalic splashback in the kitchen would look vile but it made it look warm and was nice with the teal coloured cabinetry. Pity about the shitty layout. Really sad excuse for a dining zone. Would be so uncomfortable on that bench seating, esp. in the summer with the sun beating straight through those windows.

    And what no pizza oven or fire pit?!? Every other house got one.

    I’ll b interested to see what the final challenge is.

    • All true, CL. Maybe you were tongue-in-cheek, but re the backyard (pizza oven, fire pit) it looks like they said they couldn’t touch the backyard. So glad that they didn’t destroy Wayde’s beautiful landscaping work. Unfortunately, it will take lots of time and money for Chelsea to fix the layout of the house. But fortunately, chucking out a pile of unnecessary clutter won’t cost anything – she may even make some money with a garage sale. Psychiatrist’s couch going cheap, anyone?

      • Definitely being facetious on the pizza oven and fire pit. Was relieved they weren’t allowed to touch garden at all as it was beautiful. In fact was getting a bit nervous as to how close the extension was encroaching on it. Thank goodness they had the rule about preserving Wayde’s memory or I could see teams ripping that up too.
        Once again the clothes line was ripped out never to be seen again. Who needs a line?

        Lol, I can see her selling the psychistrist’s couch on gumtree as we speak…and maybe some of those ugly rugs (but they would probably be better off in the bin).

        If she is able to get a roof over the deck in the future or have it enclosed at all it could be a useful space. Maybe they could eat out there instead. Probably why Mel got such a nice outdoor dining table-to make up for inside.

  12. I agree, some of the before shots were far better than the after shots. And more wooden cabinets made into bathroom basins, what’s with that? Are they waterproof? I what proper bathroom cabinets. And once again my puppy cannot sleep in a cupboard in the middle of the house, he needs a full laundry with an exterior doggy door!!!
    They could make a bit of money selling all those cushions, maybe open a secondhand cushion shop.

    • I don’t think the bathroom cabinets were waterproof at all as they were bought at a furniture store, and doubt they coated them in any protective film either. That flimsy wood would be water damaged in no time.

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