Interior Design Masters - General Discussion

[TVbitch]

Hey @Aulty, since at least you and I will be watching, I made a thread for it, if you want to copy your comment to it! 

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/138534-big-interiors-battle/#comment-7970515

 

[Aulty]

That was a bit unexpected, if I am completely honest. After they showed the 3D version of the plans early in the episode I was not very taken with Monika's, but it did come together well and looked class didn't it? Considering the 'Insta Moment' 🤢 brief
I liked Jack's too, don't get me wrong, but agreed with the judges that it was over the top for a gastro pub. It looked like a trendy version of a Viennese coffee house.

I think I need a year now to recover from the phrase 'bringing the outside in'.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Aulty

[TVbitch]

Monika's looked okay, but really it was all about the huge statement piece bar and the rest was pretty average. I don't think we ever saw her do anything but sit on the floor with her copper leaf. Oh, and tear up again with doubt. The judges went on and on about how she blossomed into this totally confident designer, but I did not really see that. 

I liked Jack's space well enough, but again, nothing wowza. I did love the cat textile! I can't really remember anything anyone did this season, except maybe Jack's cloud mobile lighting in the kid's room. 

And, it goes without saying that I am devastated that it appears my builder boy is no longer with the show.

 

[Aulty]

@TVbitch your little builder eye candy has a good sense of humor on him. They are already casting for next year so I assume the new series can't be far off.

Edited February 16 by Aulty

[TVbitch]

Thanks so much @Aulty! Can't wait to see him!! ...if they are just now casting, guess it will be a while. 

[Aulty]

1 hour ago, TVbitch said:

Thanks so much @Aulty! Can't wait to see him!! ...if they are just now casting, guess it will be a while. 

AFAIK (aka what's on Wikipedia) this year is series 5 and they are already casting for series 6. Happy days!

[Aulty]

New series starts Tue March 12th. Yeooo!

[Aulty]

I HATED the brief. I like my hotel rooms functional and bright and not a cluttered scene from Alice in Wonderland. IF they had to consider the location and history, surely something sparse would've been called for.
On any other show they would've kept the girl who got the boot here to see her 'develop' only to drag a very inexperienced person along for a few episodes. Maybe she can reapply once she found her design-feet.

But we are only watching for Stuart, Pierce, Steve and the rest of the interior Pleasure Boys (IYKYK). So good to see them again. Although Stu with the shorter hair is a bit of a bummer.

[oldCJ]

Ben's Victorian traincar was one of the most amazing designs I have seen on this show. And I also loved Matt's, which is the only one I would want to stay in as a hotel room. The bright yellows and oranges and florals of most of the designs are not conducive to a space made for you to rest. 

I expected Sheree to go home. Not even having measurements for the builder was disrespectful in my opinion. I wonder about who was next on the list of potential designers and just barely missed out on the life-changing opportunity because the show gave the spot to her instead. Has there ever been someone who took the show as unseriously as she did? Alan's joke of her napping was probably not far off from the truth. 

The person I actually wanted to go home was Hannah. Who comes on a show for "novice designers" and immediately announces they are a professional interior designer? And then it becomes clear that she has no sense of design! Cutting the walls in half with paint, too many features, etc are all mistakes you would expect from a beginner. I was embarrassed for her as she tried to explain her signature style as "geometric." I hope she takes the judges' comments to heart. 

I never heard of the job "interior therapist" before. Like paint the walls, add some shelves, and now now your depression is cured?

The commode left me speechless. 

I do not know what to think about Francesca and big top circus stripes. Her room reminded me of Hildy from Trading Spaces. And her clothes reminded me of a clown at a kid's birthday party. I almost expected balloon animals strewn about her final design. 

I have to say though that most of the designs, even if I didn't particularly like them, were much better than a lot of the designs for rentals in previous series. No one painted all the walls black for one. 

[TVbitch]

When the designers came in, I was like, did they tell them to dress in costumes? I guess we have a couple "characters" this season. So glad they gave each designer their own room. It seems like last season was mostly team challenges, including the first one, so it was nice to see how they all work and think without any collaboration or influence.  

That guy was nuts to put the picture of the smoking woman up. Was it someone famous? I didn't recognize her. But in any case, you would not have any relief from looking at it in such a small room. I don't really need my tiny hotel room to be a "destination space." 

And yes, of course, @Aulty, I had a tiny heartbreak over Stu's haircut. 🤣

[oldCJ]

The right team won. It ticked all the boxes. In my opinion, Domnall saved Hannah, though. Her design was circles, circles and more circles. Matt’s ceiling lighting idea sounded good but the end result was a little amateurish to me. I was not as impressed as Sophie at construction paper leaves. The fabric, wallpaper, and artwork all being homemade by Domnall does make me wonder how much you can make at home and bring in. He spent hours and hours creating most of the room outside of the days allotted. 

The right person went home. The wall colors had nothing to do with nature or animals, the floor was cheap vinyl and unfinished looking otherwise, and there was no evidence she was against the boat that she happily carried in and got into laughing. It is strange she did not use any blue on the floor to indicate the river story, but she was laser focused on a bright, and unnatural especially for a zoo room about conserving wildlife, color aesthetic.  

I am surprised Jess made such a small circle bench and boring benches against the wall. And that she tried to do it all with no help. Her wave benches could have had an impact if she let people help her more.

Madagascar was so childish. It was like a muppet theatre where kids graffitied the walls with marker. How durable are those buttons? And how annoying are they going to be once a presentation starts or kids are at the tables working on something. None of it felt well thought out. But of the three rooms, Madagascar had by far the best outdoor signage.

Edited March 27 by oldCJ
wrong name fixed

[TVbitch]

I hated all those "leaves" on the ceiling. I would feel like I was being eaten by some felty venus flytrap everyday. 

The boat was pretty random, and maybe a couple kids can get in and play. That is not going to go over well. And no way are they using that sail as a screen! 

[Aulty]

Is the french guy sponsored by the transport lobby? Trains, boats, what's next? I bet its something Concorde would be on brand for him. It was interesting though that Michelle told the lass, who eventually left, that she had to get on board with the idea when its usually the person who came up with the stupid idea who gets the flogging.

Right team won, right person went home.
India and Madagascar, apart from the poor design and, frankly, awful drawings/writing (but then, Domnal apparently is a professional graphic designer, his posters and prints were class!), looked half empty. Brazil looked like it had enough furniture, and the tables were a good size.

[Aulty]

I agree with all the judging decisions this week. I wonder if Matt will be this year's Jack and if he can keep delivering in bigger spaces. Domnal is my favourite at the moment, but I agree that he needs to back up his print making with more spacial designing. Anthony is hit and miss.

While Ben's clothing style is slowly growing on me, it's the opposite with the heavily themed rooms. Roisin's chairs are fugly, and the trellises not properly aligning was the first thing that popped into my head when they unloaded them from the van.

[oldCJ]

The right person won and the right pair went home. But to be honest, I didn’t even remember Anthony being on the show but he pulled it out. Matt is still killing it. I like Domnhall got called out for relying on his graphic skills. 

Finally the “professional interior designer” was put out of her misery. Had to laugh when she said she wasn’t going to paint circles on the wall because that’s been done so she instead cut circles into every piece of wood and made semicircles on the walls. I do feel bad she injured her hand at some point. I hope it wasn’t from inattentive stapling. 

I appreciated that Francesca did take on Michelle’s comments. But her room looked large only because she had a teeny table. The original rooms had twelve chairs around the tables and most designers used ten to twelve. But she had four chairs and a bench for two or maybe three if they squeeze in.

I always wonder how many of the designers’ rooms get taken apart and remodeled immediately after the show. Like the caravan episode when the owner hated them all. 

[oldCJ]

 

Cafe Redesigns 

Mind-boggling that Francesca stayed over Domnhall. Maybe he should have tried fake crying to save himself like she did. Francesca was the person who made the benches too high, who used the godawful cork that Michelle disliked and who was just as responsible for the tiny chairs as he was. “I went and found matching ones” means she not only was in complete agreement on the chairs but she is the one who made sure all the chairs were those chairs. And no, designing a bench the height of a table is not a “rookie” error. 

Really impressed by both the other teams and how well their design aesthetics came together. I would be thrilled to be the owners of those two cafes.

Edited April 3 by oldCJ

[Aulty]

I would've preferred Francesca getting the boot, but if that's really how the judging played out with Domnal on the attack from the word go, he shot himself in the foot.

Even if they attributed the chairs to him and think the extenders are unsuitable, he was at least trying to find a solution after they were stuck with a shitty purchase. Whereas there was no attempt made to rescue the bench (and I don't think it was just her not taking the cushion into account, they don't make that much of a difference). Maybe if she had noticed in time she would've put extenders on the tablelegs, lol.

The others did well and I was impressed that Ben was so much more pallatable this week - whether this was down to Anthony or taking note from his last time on the couch. He probably was itching to turn the cafe into a steam punk setpiece.

[Aulty]

Domnal would've done well in this challenge, shame he was such a bitter Betty last week. (Michelle explained on IG that the couch/judging goes on for a good while and we only get to see a bit in the episode, that F took responsibility for her mistakes but D didn't and was defensive throughout and that's why she sent him home).

Francesca, where to start, absolutely blew it this week. Everytime someone prances in with a Matisse inspired theme it ends up looking shite (imho because they don't scale up the shapes to the bigger specs of the room/flat and it ends up looking too squiggly). And the lightshades were fugly. I liked the blue entryway.
Absolutely the right choice to send her home and I doubt she and her on screen persona will be missed by many.

The others weren't perfect this week but had interesting elements. I agree with Michelle praising Ben's desk and divider combo but don't get why they singled out Matt's head board as not being easy for a tennant to take down and move to a new space. The head board was sectional, so I would argue that it actually would fit other rooms. Anthony's backsplash and panelling surely are much harder to reuse.

Personally, I thought that most workspaces were unsuitable, and an ergonimical nightmare, to seriously do more than a couple of emails, let alone work from home scenarios.

[Aulty]

That's one of the favourites for a spot in the finals gone. But the guest judge offered him a job (as per his IG) with her afterwards so that's a win.

It probably should've been Matt because his sand station was really unsuitable for a retail environment and I hated the moss boards (both of which the owner has removed since) Ben does well in team challenges when there is someone else to ground his grandiose ideas. Same for Roisin.

[TVbitch]

Wow, I don't think I've ever disagreed with the judges more. I got a headache from the winner's designs just looking at them! No way would I be able to relax in that crazy busy space. Way too loud and too much going on. Green and more green again. With pink! The judges seemed to struggle to come up with anything to say, but "the room really shows.... her confidence!" or crap like that. But as soon as Michelle teared up with her, I figured the fix would be in.

I do agree with some of their criticisms of the other room, but at least it was stylish and I would be fine staying in it for more than 5 minutes!  

And PS. Not enought Stuart this season!!!! 😂

 

[Aulty]

I wasn't surprised and somewhat in board. I don't get the faffing over Matt, who made some basic mistakes and ran out of time. Those lodges are modern on the outside, that grand baroque style was an odd choice. And on that budget, in small rooms and over 3 days it was always going to look unfinished/DIY.

Roisin, I get the criticism of her kitchen/living room, but the sleeping rooms would have gotten her praise with Dan and Sophie in die olden days too, Dan was always for going big with flowery wallpaper. They would've rooted for lace curtains. It is also in that Bridgerton aesthetic that is still popular (and there is a huge amount of product collabs for the new series). Plus, Roisin had Steve and Stu on her team!

There was a lot of criticism around Michelle and the judging this year, but apart from sending home Domnall over Francesca (who went the following week anyway and Domnall proved himself a sore loser on SM) was there really much she got wrong? She didn't want to kick Anthony out and, personally, I think Matt should have been sent packing for that sand pit but people would've cried over that as well.