Grand Designs

[Voley]

Just caught up with the water tower episode - wow!

It wasn't a question of things going wrong, amazingly, but more about the lack of funds and labour which have hobbled the project. And it was still just a project - 5 years in the making and hardly anything to show for it.

But the finished house in Devon was absolutely amazing, though the owners had virtually 3 x the budget and probably an army of specialists building it; the project in Northampton was basically a one-man show with little previous experience.

I thought Kevin was rather unfair and harsh on them in his summary, so I'm glad he took them to the Devon house to show them a glimpse of what their finished house could look like. I hope he (if he's still alive and able) revisits them in 10 years' time and see if they've finished it, they deserve it if only for their ambition.

Yeah it's like a work of art inside but you can't live in it. The concrete that looks like wood is incredible but ... it's not a house.

 

[pbsmooth]

it was one of them where the episode gives you the idea they don't know what they're doing... but then it all comes together in the end... apart from this one it was just that they really didn't know what they were doing. I don't really get why their architect, who seemed to be the only professional involved in any way, didn't tell them there was no way they could do what they wanted to do in anywhere near the time or their budget. they didn't seem to actually have any money because they didn't get a mortgage!? very strange. admire their drive to do such a project but it was naive to the point where someone should have maybe intervened - they had kids!

 

[Derek S-H]

it was one of them where the episode gives you the idea they don't know what they're doing... but then it all comes together in the end... apart from this one it was just that they really didn't know what they were doing. I don't really get why their architect, who seemed to be the only professional involved in any way, didn't tell them there was no way they could do what they wanted to do in anywhere near the time or their budget. they didn't seem to actually have any money because they didn't get a mortgage!? very strange. admire their drive to do such a project but it was naive to the point where someone should have maybe intervened - they had kids!

I got the impression that that's almost what Kevin tried to do; that it was all just a grand folly on their part, not realistic and not achieveable.

But the finished Devon house for inspiration and motivation, plus the fact that he'd jacked in his job and that they did have money in the bank from the sale of their house, meant that the project could continue. The issue is whether it will ever be actually finished at the pace he was working at....

 

[pbsmooth]

I got the impression that that's almost what Kevin tried to do; that it was all just a grand folly on their part, not realistic and not achieveable.

But the finished Devon house for inspiration and motivation, plus the fact that he'd jacked in his job and that they did have money in the bank from the sale of their house, meant that the project could continue. The issue is whether it will ever be actually finished at the pace he was working at....

I don’t think they said where they were living at the end. Presumably moved in with family. It was like the lighthouse one but more likeable people and smaller scale. Could imagine a revisit and the couple aren’t together anymore

 

[Derek S-H]

Thread bump!

Finally caught up with the last episode - the one fetauring the couple and house from the very first show. And I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

I've always thought two things:

1. If I built my own home I'd never move out. After all that stress and work and effort and commitment, it would make no sense to me to then just sell it someone else who didn't have that connection. Of course, I won't be here one day, but I'd want it to be the last place I ever lived in.

2. It's not about the house being built, it's about what happens next; the life you build around it. I loved the fact that they'd created a forest around their home just as much as the house itself. Well, the house itself wasn't that memorable, but its location was, as was all the memories that lay within it. And their son seemed pretty sorted, too.

Annoyingly, they'd both aged remarkably well, but maybe that was partly down to the life they'd led as well as their personal values. I really liked them.

 

[pbsmooth]

Yeah, the view and the forest that appeared was incredible. I found it quite a melancholy watch - the family musing on the passing of time, perhaps their last big life event, then the kids growing up there, the realisation that they'd literally built the place where the kids would create all their memories etc etc. I think it was probably as they seemed like a nice couple and family that it seemed more emotional.