Grand Designs

[stavros]

My research suggests that what you're talking about is some sort of GD spin off, "House of the Year". I'm not sure how it differs as I haven't watched it - clashes with The Apprentice - but is it worth seeking out on 4OD?

 

[oneflewover]

-Just watched this one https://onthewight.com/grand-designs-isle-of-wight-house-photos-stunning/

"scrimped and saved and really struggled to get the last 500k of the £3.3million it cost"

Was it wrong of me to hope they went bust and ended up living in an empty windowless shell?

 

[hash tag]

Typical first world problems of grand designs.
Was this classic really 2001? A lovely couple with a wreck of a cottage on a hill top in Wales. They forught the weather, foot n mouth, fought for money Grand Designs - On Demand - All 4
Another real one, more recently was the Irish farmer who built a home out of 4 transport containers.

 

[stavros]

Has anyone been watching the new series? I quite liked the hillside one in the first episode. The North London one last week was a bit less exciting. Tonight is "a shed fanatic" in County Down.

 

[stavros]

That was definitely the best of the three so far. I could certainly live in that. They fucked up a little bit by having another kid without (I think) the extra bedroom, but even so.

 

[quiet guy]

Wow that was a fantastically designed property. Loved the interior wood and the brick supports. With the level of detail and finishing I'm sure they didn't get much change out of £1m.

 

[Idaho]

I liked the materials and the setting. The people were really weird. I think that it was well over a million.

 

[stavros]

Meh. They, and especially he seemed very subservient to the architect.

 

[scifisam]

The one on More 4 tonight, Matt and Sophie in Sussex, was really cool - lots of secret passages for the kids and aft features like a bookcase that swivels into another room (Kevin calls it a Scooby Doo bookcase). Much more imaginative and enjoyable to live in than most of these homes.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Via

 

[stavros]

How about cliché-ed McCloud scepticism? That usually crops up.

 

[ringo]

Last night's was different, in that the couple had kids who were at the extreme end of allergic to everything and created a great home made almost entirely from materials which did not contain dodgy chemicals, toxic glue particles etc, right down to the smallest detail.

The only thing they didn't explain was why they didn't just move out of London, the most polluted area in Britain, I'd have thought.

 

[hash tag]

Lots of issues and cliches again last night. £760,000 to buy a bit of someones garden. £500,000 budget. Very limited access so a race against time with the borrowed access they have.
Im thinking they stayed in London area because thats where they both have jobs. She owns a gallery and he a fitness company.

 

[ringo]

Im thinking they stayed in London area because thats where they both have jobs. She owns a gallery and he a fitness company.

Yep I'm sure, but I think it made the whole venture utterly pointless. As soon as the kids walk out the door to go to school they're back to square one.
If they were that bothered they should have moved to Scotland. Up a mountain.

 

[scifisam]

Yep I'm sure, but I think it made the whole venture utterly pointless. As soon as the kids walk out the door to go to school they're back to square one.
If they were that bothered they should have moved to Scotland. Up a mountain.

Might be a trifle difficult to do that if it means both of them giving up work.

 

[ringo]

Might be a trifle difficult to do that if it means both of them giving up work.

Yes I was being facetious about the mountain. Guildford then.

 

[scifisam]

Yes I was being facetious about the mountain.

Yeah, it's more the moving very far away from their jobs thing that's the issue, not how steep the gradient of their land is. Though obvs that is an issue when building a house.

 

[ringo]

Yeah, it's more the moving very far away from their jobs thing that's the issue, not how steep the gradient of their land is. Though obvs that is an issue when building a house.

Norfolk. Very flat

 

[hash tag]

Norfolk would not be good for the children as there are lots of farming folk up there spraying lots of insecticides and such like.

 

[ringo]

Norfolk would not be good for the children as there are lots of farming folk up there spraying lots of insecticides and such like.

Finland has the cleanest air in the world. They should move to Finland.

 

[trashpony]

I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice

 

[ringo]

I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice

Yes, I found the whole thing very worthy but quite bizarre, which is why I've been joking about it today. A huge, monumental effort and really sincere faces saying we're just doing everything for the kids, but seeming to miss out a few very fundamental and quite obvious things which would make a lot more sense.
Of course we don't know what medical/care history they've had, no doubt they've looked into it all, but it just seemed like they were pinning their hopes on something which probably won't make that much difference.
If it was my kids I'd have found a way to leave London, but that's a bit judgemental, not knowing them.

 

[hash tag]

I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice

Oh why use the NHS when we can go private, we can easily afford it darling.

 

[hash tag]

We need a follow up on the children in 6 months to see how they are doing.

 

[stavros]

We need a follow up on the children in 6 months to see how they are doing.

They do the occasional revisits, where they show a condensed version of the original show before devoting the last quarter to Kev going back to see them.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Finland has the cleanest air in the world.

This is true.
When I came back to Ireland from Finland it felt like I was breathing soup.

 

[scifisam]

Yes, I found the whole thing very worthy but quite bizarre, which is why I've been joking about it today. A huge, monumental effort and really sincere faces saying we're just doing everything for the kids, but seeming to miss out a few very fundamental and quite obvious things which would make a lot more sense.
Of course we don't know what medical/care history they've had, no doubt they've looked into it all, but it just seemed like they were pinning their hopes on something which probably won't make that much difference.
If it was my kids I'd have found a way to leave London, but that's a bit judgemental, not knowing them.

TBF I don't have access to live TV atm so haven't actually seen it I'm responding more in theory.

But if their jobs are in London, or they have other reasons to need to stay there, then moving isn't necessarily a good idea. Some of the suburbs are terrible when it comes to allergies because they have lots of agriculture pollutants as well as some of the city ones, so are actually worse than inner London. Other cities where they might be able to relocate their jobs would have the same issues. They don't sound like the kind of couple who could realistically relocate to the countryside and still have both parents have a career. So which of them should have to give it all up to restart it again when the kids are grown?

Also IME you can build up immunity to local allergens via repeated exposure, so their kids might be better with the crap in their area of London than elsewhere.

 

[hash tag]

Returning to Norfolk as an example Two pest exterminators found dead after suspected 'chemical spill'

 

[stavros]

As a structure, I quite liked the house.

 

[stavros]

Kevin's Grandest Design starts tonight, seemingly looking back on the best bits of the last twenty years.

It may or may not feature McCloud Monologues.