Grand Designs

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Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Friday 3rd November 2017
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No you're not. It wouldn't be my choice, but that's the case for many, indeed most of the GDs, but that doesn't reduce the admiration for the achievement, the persistence, the unrelenting attantion to detail, and the resolve of the whole family.

Hell, I get pissed off with a job that I can't finish in a morning, or where I find out I have to go back to Homebase a second time.

greygoose

8,269 posts

196 months

Friday 3rd November 2017
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Chicken Chaser said:
BlueHave said:
I usually skip to the 'revisited' bit at the end of the episode to see a matured and lived in house at the end.

This guy has years to finish the project and he still hadn't finished when Kevin turned up a second time.

I'm not sure what the guy was hoping to achieve, it didn't look particularly impressive for a house that was 10 years in the making and still in progress.
I'm not sure we were watching the same programme! Everything was made by hand to fit. That's some achievement considering the amount of wood and size of the place. I think he was just a perfectionist on a budget who thought the pursuit of building was part of the experience.
Indeed, refreshing to have a happy couple who were content to build at their own pace with no money worries or timescales to hinder the process.

Pistom

4,978 posts

160 months

Friday 3rd November 2017
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This last GD revisited.

So what if he's still building it 10 years on. It's his hobby and one that the family got involved with too.

Not to my liking in most aspects but some of the detail was great.

Another one where I really liked the people too. I doubt any of them will suffer stress related illnesses.

Would love to see how he gets on in the next 10 years.

Adam B

27,271 posts

255 months

Friday 3rd November 2017
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LordHaveMurci said:
Am I alone in thinking that is a magnificent achievement & a truly beautiful house?

Like many, I thought they were mad to begin with, listening to Kevin I kind of understand their reasoning now & best of luck to them, far nicer than where we love & he can take pride of ownership in virtually all of it.
no you are not:
Planet Claire said:
That house is just beautiful and beats any of those modern glass boxes that we see so many of, hands down.
Me? magnificent achievement - yes. beautiful house - no
you couldn't help but admire the guys resolve and effort - some of it was lovely (the entrance hall, kitchen worktops, the vaulted ceiling) but I wasn't a fan of the exterior look (hobbit mansion is about right) and a lot of it was too kooky or lacked a consistent theme for my tastes - but then they were hippy eco-warrior types and so they wouldn't find my ideal house "beautiful" either

Lucas Ayde

3,567 posts

169 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Spectacular house.

Would love to see the finished article, or at least 'more' finished as it still seemed to be quite some way off completion (roof obviously far from done and quite a bit of interior at a very early stage).

Seemed to be largely a one-man effort (from the TV edit, anyway) but at least he wasn't stressed out. If he was going to devote time to getting the old place ready to use as a let to raise cash, surely he'd have been better focusing on it as from what I could see it still was 'under renovation. If they got it bringing in money, they could probably speed up the main build.

anonymous-user

55 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Adam B said:
Me? magnificent achievement - yes. beautiful house - no
you couldn't help but admire the guys resolve and effort - some of it was lovely (the entrance hall, kitchen worktops, the vaulted ceiling) but I wasn't a fan of the exterior look (hobbit mansion is about right) and a lot of it was too kooky or lacked a consistent theme for my tastes - but then they were hippy eco-warrior types and so they wouldn't find my ideal house "beautiful" either
I think that sums it up for me too.

A lovely family enjoying the process and probably learning much about themeselves and the environment they were in. A case of the journey being more important than the destination.

I have nothing but admiration for them and his skills.

Do I like the design and the finish, would I want to live there - no! But that takes nothing away from their achievement.

ChocolateFrog

25,485 posts

174 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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A great build. It worked because the whole family was on board.

It could have turned into a nightmare if the wife just wanted it finished ASAP.

I'd watch another revisit in say 5 years time.

FourWheelDrift

88,557 posts

285 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Grand Designs House of the Year just about to start on 4.

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Lovely word, vernacular smile

SydneyBridge

8,639 posts

159 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Had to Google that amazing first house..

https://www.themodernhouse.com/sales-list/st-anns-...

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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On the face of it, another classic modernist box?

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Unconventional how, or simply in the context of the site?

FredClogs

14,041 posts

162 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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They put that one on first for a reason, lovely job and all but hardly Grand or ground breaking.

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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I'm a sucker for these houses and I think that this is particularly lovely.

FredClogs

14,041 posts

162 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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The holiday cottage in the highlands was meh and the ikea showroom a bit pah...

dom9

8,090 posts

210 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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FredClogs said:
The holiday cottage in the highlands was meh and the ikea showroom a bit pah...
Agreed. Liked the Bath one, or the idea/ layout but I'm not sure how the Highlands place got shortlisted and I'm just not sure I understood how the Ikea showroom 'worked'.

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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Either of the two Northern ones for me pls

FredClogs

14,041 posts

162 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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The one in Kent will most likely be the scene of some sort of Agatha Christie style who done it, when either the gay son in law or his architect lover are found bludgeoned in the piano "space".
As a house and home it's just not going to work is it?

Bonefish Blues

26,832 posts

224 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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I couldn't warm to it at all. Clearly an absolutely massive budget, so yes, of course you can commission a billion roof tiles and procure the local materials to clad your cast concrete creation to ensure it is "vernacular"...

Beati Dogu

8,896 posts

140 months

Tuesday 7th November 2017
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I wasn't keen on any of them really. Same old garden shed meets 1950s public toilets, with hints of Nazi coastal fortification.

I bet the house in London gets strangers wandering in all the time to use the facilities.

The little Scottish shed was ruined by the red roof.

The big shed with the corner window had no eaves or gutters I noticed. So the copious rainfall on the roof will run straight down the walls and windows. Quite nice inside though and those views were lovely.