This Week House Rules undertook a challenge when the teams brought the Hamptons into Mel and Dave’s Gold Coast home.
| House Rules | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rule 1 | Transport us to The Hamptons | ||||||
| Rule 2 | Bring in blue with a twist of lemon | ||||||
| Rule 3 | Find a key vintage piece for every room | ||||||
| Rule 4 | Build in a handy dining nook | ||||||
| Rule 5 | Wrap our walls wifh wainscoting | ||||||
| Bonus Room Rule | Give us a Cape Cod dining deck | ||||||
After 7 days the house was complete and the judges delivered their verdivt.
Josh and Brandon: (Hallway, ensuite and sitting room)
· Hallway: It was a “great space.” Drew said: “We have some terrible entries, and this certainly isn’t one of them.”
· Ensuite: Wendy said it was a “bi-polar room,” as half the room was great and the other half was not. LLB: “It obviously is not working.”
· Sitting room: LLB was not impressed: “It’s like a downward spiral. It’s like a vortex into total, and utter, dull hideousness. It looks as if it’s the corner of a little old peoples’ home where little old people come to die.”
Score 17/30
Toad and Mandy: (Kitchen, Westin’s bedroom and bonus room)
· Kitchen: It was a winner! LLB loved the dark blue island bench: “Well done Toad and Mandy.”
· Westin’s bedroom: LLB hated the pirate-themed bedroom and the hand-made sails Toad had made for the bed: “I thought they [handmade pieces] were ‘foot-made’ they’re so bad.”
· Bonus room (Cape Cod-themed front deck): LLB thought it looked like “a nest of dried, arid twigs” that needed some more “slick” textures. The brickwork Toad and Mandy left exposed really “irked” Drew. He said “it needed to be rendered or sheeted in something,” to give it the ‘Cape Cod’ feel.
Score 17/30
Jess and Jared: (Powder room and lounge room)
· Powder room: All the judges loved it; the tiled wallpaper was a hit.
· Lounge room: The judges were very impressed and loved the wallpaper pattern. Wendy said it was “perfect,” and that the marble “fireplace is great.” LLB said: “It feels like a summer holiday. It’s quite surfy, but posh at the same time.”
Score 18/30
Leigh and Kristie: (Main bathroom and Billy’s bedroom)
· Main bathroom: The combined bath and shower was hit and miss. Drew: “Someone’s left a bath in the shower…besides that I’m really loving what they’ve done in here. I think it’s really subtle.”
· Billy’s bedroom: LLB said it was merely “a trolley dash” to “buy anything that’s got a dinosaur on it and throw it into a space.” Wendy agreed and said: “[They] need to spend some more time planning [their] spaces.” Overall LLB said the VIC team had to lift their game because all he’s getting is “a faint fizzle of damp squid.”
Score 16/30
Kim and Michelle: (Mudroom and master bedroom)
· Mudroom: LLB was amazed: “The only mud that’s allowed in here is the mud from Buckingham Palace.” Wendy said: “This is the stuff of mudroom dreams… they’ve made it all the things that make the Hamptons so desirable.”
· Master bedroom: Wendy liked it and thought the wainscoting was “lovely.” Drew liked that the team had made a built-in seat for a “space within a space.” LLB disagreed and said it was “a rather capricious use of space… there is no sense of design here at all.” Overall he thought it was a “drab non-event.”
Score 20/30
Chiara and David: (Laundry, hallway and dining room nook)
· Laundry: Drew thought the splashback was “fun,” and labelled LLB “not fun” for disagreeing. LLB said to Drew: “Unfortunately I was cursed with good taste from birth, unlike you obviously, who was cursed with ‘fun’… what I think they’ve [Chiara and David] done is taken very decent cabinetry and I think made an ugly room.”
· Hallway: The judges thought the wallpaper was a bad choice for an uneven ceiling. Drew: “Once you have all those steps in the ceiling and you can’t run the pattern through fluently, then don’t do it.”
· Dining room nook: LLB thought their cabinet statement piece was “deliberate, perverse, and irritating beyond belief.”
Score 14/30
Update May 22
Homeowners Dave and Mel returned to their house last night and there was good news all round.
Previously labelled as ‘the worst house on the best street’, Mel and Dave’s Hope Island home increased by $200,000 in value since the start of the renovation, according to Purplebricks local property expert. It was a ‘million-dollar makeover’ thanks to Toad and Mandy’s ‘Cape Cod’-themed deck (and bonus room) that looked over the water.
HOMEOWNER’S FEEDBACK:
Josh & Brandon: (Entry, ensuite and sitting room)
· Entry: Mel was “absolutely speechless… This team has transported us straight to the Hamptons.” Dave said the “wainscoting is perfect” but he didn’t see a twist of lemon.
· Ensuite: Mel had tears in her eyes, the room ticked all the house rules with “the Hamptons, lemon, vintage…it’s beautiful.”
· Sitting room: Dave’s only critique was that the room looked like it was for an elderly person. “I don’t feel like I’m retired yet and felt I was going to be a bit older sitting there,” he said.
Score 8/10
Toad & Mandy: (Kitchen, Westin’s bedroom and bonus room)
· Kitchen: There were some good features, but Dave was soon disappointed to see there was no lemon built into the kitchen, and no wainscoting either. Mel: “I just was hoping to walk in and see wainscoting all over it. I just felt that all your hard work was undone when the cabinets kind of stopped mid-way up the wall. In design and character, I feel it didn’t hit the brief.”
· Westin’s bedroom: Westin was very pleased with his pirate-themed room.
· Bonus room (Cape cod deck): They loved it. Mel said, “I got goosebumps walking out there. Mandy, your styling was on par… I can’t wait to sit out there and just enjoy the view.”
Score 6/10 they also got an extra 5 points for the bonus room deck.
Jess & Jared: (Loungeroom and powder room)
· Loungeroom: They loved the wallpaper. “It was very sophisticated and more tailored for Dave and I as opposed to the kids. But we liked that about it. It was still soft and welcoming.”
· Powder room: The chandelier was a hit, and the wallpaper looked “really classy”. Mel said: “This is grand Hamptons, this is fabulous.” But they were both unimpressed with the unfinished tiles. Mel: “You were very brave with all the wallpapers in the powder room. We think you nailed that glam-Hamptons. It’s just a shame some of the finishings in the end got you.”
score 7/10
Chiara & David: (Laundry, hallway and dining nook)
· Laundry: Mel: “I like this. Someone’s really thought this through. It’s got a lot of character.” Dave wasn’t sure of the bright yellow door but said “kudos for having a go with the grouted splashback.”
· Hallway: The finishes weren’t good. Dave thought the wainscoting panelling up the hallway was “terrific” but would have “left out” the striped wallpaper roof.
· Dining nook: Mel said: “It didn’t deliver for us… When we envisioned a handy dining nook it was something of a totally different vision. You created a bench, we thought it would be more like a booth. The way you had the table and the cabinet, there just wasn’t enough room.”
Score 4/10
Leigh & Kristie: (Billy’s bedroom and main bathroom)
· Billy’s bedroom: The painted dinosaur on the wall was the highlight of the room.
· Main bathroom: It was “wow”. Dave loved it and Mel was stoked with the bath. Although they both thought the tap to the sink was too high and their kids wouldn’t be able to reach them.
Score 8/10
Kim & Michelle: (Master bedroom and mudroom)
· Master bedroom: Mel thought it was “beautiful”. She loved the built-in seating area because “I always wanted areas for the boys, but now I’ve got my own area.”
· Mudroom: It was their “favourite room in the house… [the mudroom] was exceeding our expectations and we couldn’t fault it, literally couldn’t fault it.
Score 9/10
When all is said and done the leaderboard looks like this.
