House Rules – nearly the semi-final

Sunday: An emotional reveal that will change Graeme and Mary’s life forever after a devastating house fire. After judges score this incredible renovation, one team will be eliminated from the competition.
Monday: The remaining four teams will tackle exterior renovations. With a place in the grand final up for grabs, teams face their toughest challenge yet.
Tuesday: The semifinals are off to a dramatic start when one contestant has a medical emergency and needs an ambulance



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13 Comments

  1. Do the older girls live there full time? I don’t have kids, but isn’t it a bit mean having the bubbas who live there full time banished to the basement? I reckon. They so cute too.

    • I thought they mentioned last week that they do, but i can’t be sure.
      i can’t believe the boys were saved, when the family storage room, had no storage!

      • I know. Set up. But, think the losers today had there property value doubled, I think. And it was barely livable, so reckon they’ve done well. Most of the other’s increased value around $100k. I have to wonder how much more than that actually went into each reno, cos if value input was less than equivalent to $100k commercial rates they all gonna fall apart me thinks.

  2. I like the boys but the scores given to them by the judges were too high based on that unfinished storage area as well as the very boring kid’s room. Seems like they focused all of their time on the bonus room which may have been smart because it was worth those 5 extra points and that saved them. They were lucky that 2 out of 3 judges passed it.

    • Oh yes, that bedroom was pathetic. That young girl did well to show such appreciation for such a dull box.

  3. And now we’re onto the gardens, where we rip out all the beautiful, natural trees, and put a bunch of furniture outside that’ll get ruined the second it rains.

    I was almost horrified when Shayn and Carly chainsawed that beautiful big old tree to mulch. “Mediterranean” must mean sun-stroke, I suppose.

    Tonight one of the brothers passes out in the heat and needs an ambulance. And we thought MKR was the most hazardous to the health of the contestants.

    • Wonder how Andy and Lisa will react to that tree being removed.
      S & C could have worked around the tree.

    • Now I have seen this ep, I agree with the tree removal. It was unattractive, had been allowed to grow without shape, and to try to prune it so that anyone could stand or sit under it would have made it looked butchered. If it had been a beautiful native with an attractive trunk and usable space underneath, then yes it should be kept. Obviously the council didn’t think it worth saving, and most councils are ultra-conservative about keeping trees.

      The question is, why aren’t any of the teams allowed to put a shade sail over their structures?

      • “The question is, why aren’t any of the teams allowed to put a shade sail over their structures?”

        I wonder if there’s some by-laws about that one. Maybe shade sails count as carport-like structures, and so councils don’t like them much? Or something like that?

  4. With all respect to the homeowners and their terrible misfortune, the final house was a total non-entity in House Rules terms. Not one zone had any of the team’s design style shown, it was all very display home bland.

    It is a known fact that architects favour design over practicality, but the decision to put the babies in the basement is beyond belief. I would even question putting one of the girls there given their current grief process. And two babies in one room – that is the stuff of nightmares for parents.

    Other silly things (IMO): the bar on the verandah (I question the safety of that, I would be removing it before worrying about the climbing wall, with a 2yo boy in the house); the climbing wall (not because it was there, but because it was badly executed); once again, a towel rail inside the shower; kitchen too big, not to give space to the ensuite (it was perfectly big enough), but to give more to the lounge room – far too small for a family of 6. There were some nice things (although everything was the same colour – it could have been done by one professional designer – even the artwork was all matching): I liked the bathroom and the ensuite, the boys room had some good ideas but would have been better in two rooms upstairs, the unpopular zone (hall, stairs etc) was clean and fresh with a few extra ideas to reduce the blandness (for wallpaper, that one wasn’t bad), kitchen was generic, I like the shiplap in the bedroom. I preferred the rejected dining table, and bench seats are a pain (both literally and figuratively). The girls’ rooms were both sub-par. The lounge was also generic, except for the hideous plastic coffee table.

    This reno seemed perfectly set up to eliminate the team who live too far away to continue. The drama about the window in the kitchen – why couldn’t it be taken out? No reason at all. The judging all chopped and edited to give praise to the teams to keep, and negative comments kept for A&K but edited out of other zones. Plus a clear story-arc to bring the boys down to size, and elevate Andy & Lisa to level with the pack.

    And, once again, the producers try to capitalise on their previous attempts to create villians out of Shayn & Carly. Fortunately, once again, these two classy people gave them very little to work with – so they just had to repeat the “there seems to be a clique” comment ad nauseum.

    Disappointed with the show at the moment. Reducing the nights has lost momentum, and using the filler feel-good reno ahead of time also killed the mood a bit. Blatant inconsistencies with judging in order to remove Alex and Katie, and “level” the teams. Too many rewards/help for the boys, which should have seen them romp it in this week (and yet they still couldn’t finish or please the judges).

    I am about to start watching the gardens and I hope the vibe of the show can be recaptured. Not sure if I can stand another two renos with the dancers, though. Ugh.

  5. Oh dear, HR has descended to the level of The Block. Such a pointless and irrelevant “challenge”. Or was it added so the boys could have enough money for their pizza oven?

    Either way, very boring television. Please can we have more of the actual work being shown, especially the rare moments when the contestants are doing it.

    • Ever since the flotilla of utes and vans parked outside of Toad’s house, I’ve assumed the tradies do nearly all the work and the contestants are just left to do a bit of shoddy painting, which cave people got together aeons ago..

      I was up for this essentially harmless show but have been helplessly sucked into the best of the best vortex of Ma$terchef or worse still, sport. Thanks for the coverage, Fijane.

      Mmm, plastic coffee table.What are we decorating here, a kindergarten?

      • This house was different even from the start of the series. I presume that it is because they can’t let the teams botch up a charity job, so the teams are given as little input as possible, even in the styling. I thought it was sus that Katie was so upset by the lack of styling in the kitchen when that should have been her decision. She was too good at that to have styled that sparsely if the choices had really been hers.

        Yep, plastic coffee table, and nary a mention by the judges. Clear evidence, imo.

        Unfortunately, despite several attempts, MChef hasn’t captured me at all. Maybe there is a sweet spot where you need to start watching, to become invested in the contestants – it you are too late, the moment passes.

        But, oh, the sport. Loving it, and the netball World Cup and Wimbledon still to come. My brother is on a sports-lover’s trip around the UK at the moment, his tastes also include horse racing (which I don’t consider a sport) and golf, so he is in heaven, zipping all over the place from one event to another.

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