Grand Designs
 

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[Closed] Grand Designs

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I liked the program as it concentrated on the building process and the struggle to get things done more than recent shows have.

Not sure of the outcome though, but I wouldn't live on a mews in West London if they gave me a golden pig the size of a double garage.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:07 am
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I agree. It was nice, after recent episodes, to follow a project that actually got somewhere.

That said, they were pimps masquerading as regular people.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:08 am
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750k to build a 1 million GBP mews, the basement was horrendous and left me wondering who would pay 1m GBP for that.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:10 am
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The bloke looked knackered at the end. I bet the build has shortened his life.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:10 am
 LoCo
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Damn worked late last night and missed it sounds amusing.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:11 am
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I noticed that they didn't interview the neighbours at the end either for their feedback on the whole process and finished product.
The plastic brickwork looked shite too.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:12 am
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those plastic bricks were naff.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:12 am
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It certainly was more interesting than other recent episodes that have become somewhat predictable.

Not sure about the end result (I wouldn't want to live in it) and Mrs Feet nearly spat her toast out when they showed the garden!


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:13 am
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those plastic bricks were naff.

Kev was quite sold on them, though. Mid-life crisis, perhaps, or maybe he's on the drink and couldn't give a ****.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:14 am
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It was great when they got planning planning permission and stuck it to that NIMBY chairwoman of the Mews housing committee.

"I am suspicious of your motives"
Eh? They just want to build a nice house to live in.

I hated the end result, but if that is what they wanted...

I think it would have been a bloody ball ache living there and having that going on outside your house for 2 years.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:14 am
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I would sooner live in the T4 they had.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:14 am
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It made me laugh when she went off on one about the shower room door. When we did our building work (Only £120k) I went off on one about a cracked tile. I'd been sleeping on an air bed in my brother in law's junk room for a couple of months though, and their dog had a habit of crapping on our duvet. 😯


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:15 am
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weird place once they'd finished it - massive kitchen space over the whole floor, with a small table to seat four. 😕

the basement is obviously to their taste but how often do they actual use any of it other than the seating area? 😆


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:15 am
 LoCo
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Plastic bricks, Nimby Chairwomen, have to watch this later 😀


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:16 am
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[i]those plastic bricks were naff.[/i]

and they 'laid' them in columns which was really odd too, given that it was supposed to match the other buildings on the street.

that woman was bonkers but he clearly loved her and was prepared to do anything she wanted.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:17 am
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Was the design brief for the interior "make it look like the Apple store"?


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:20 am
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I hate to say it, but my favourite bit was the pile-driver side-swiping another guy's garage bit.

Mrs Pimp desperately trying to keep it together: "It's not a disaster, it hasn't (quite) fallen down, we can deal with this, we can deal with this... sob...sob...sob."


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:21 am
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I was hoping the garage had some exotic sports car in 😈


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:23 am
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i only saw the last 20 mins, i'm going to have to revisit it to catch the earlier drama!


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:24 am
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I wasn't at all sure about the disco, do they have family disco evenings? The family that dances together, stays together?


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:27 am
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[stalker] Found it! W14 8EU [/stalker]

Google Earth shows trees and a bit of equipment.

Looking at the rest of the street (Bing Maps bird's eye view based stalking) it is a shame that the digger didn't hit a few more of them. It reminds me of some of the less desirable areas around Durban airport.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:33 am
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Was it me, or did they forget to sort out anywhere to park their car(s)?

That can't have pleased NIMBY woman!


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:37 am
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Good point. Unless they could leave them by the gate/door.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:39 am
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Oh I used to live nearish to there. Between Brook Green and Hooland Park so an expensive area though not sure about being that close to the railway and A3220.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:41 am
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I noticed that they didn't interview the neighbours at the end either for their feedback on the whole process and finished product.

I would have liked to have seen that too 🙂

Surprised me that they didn't make any provision for off-road parking given the location. Would have doubled the value of the property 😉

Has to be a 'stayer' for them; didn't offer a lot of flexibility to any prospective future buyers unless it was pretty much exactly what a new buyer wanted. Thought the guy came over pretty capable and very laid back (from what was shown). Complete build in about 9 months was pretty impressive.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:42 am
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I liked the garden, nice coloured walls


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:47 am
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Harry - you are obsessed / a little scary!


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:56 am
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Want to know where Ian is today and what colour socks he is wearing?


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 9:59 am
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I liked that they designed a house for them and not one that took too much consideration of future market value.

Overall I didn't like the interiors, too much odd lighting and stuff that was of no interest to me such as the dancefloor and wellness room but then it wasn't designed for me to live in. The overall use of the available space was pretty good though, they squeezed a lot of house into a small plot without detracting from the area.

I now want an under the garden workshop / bike store / den type thing.

Mrs developer was clearly bonkers though.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:14 am
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It has midlife crisis slapped all over it, who in the right mind wants a 16 seater gold chesterfield knock off sofa?

Even if you had 16 friends it ain't exactly going to be sociable.

Massive waste of cash and space for the sake of it and I haven't even started on the garden! JEESUS


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:22 am
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I now want an under the garden workshop / bike store / den type thing.

I had one built at the last house. It was most awesome.

[IMG] [/IMG]


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:23 am
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It was nice to see a project actually get finished.

The house was certainly to their tastes, Mrs Builder reminded me of the one that Jennifer Saunders played in Ab-fab, totalyl not on this planet.

I did like his reaction to door-gate, proper "if you don't like it then though as it's staying" and how she was wandering round with a vase of dried/artificial flowers in the middle of a building site 😆


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:33 am
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I did wonder that, as they seemed to be making a very effective dam across what was an undergroudn waterway where all the water was getting diverted to subsequently?

I can imagine everyone upstream of them getting subsidence problems as their foundations become waterlogged and also the ones downstream as theirs dry out.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:36 am
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I did wonder that, as they seemed to be making a very effective dam across what was an underground waterway where all the water was getting diverted to subsequently?

Seemed like a fantastic opportunity to have an indoor swimming pool was missed here.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:46 am
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I now want an under the garden workshop / bike store / den type thing.

I have one, known as the 'man cave', it even has a sign.


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:49 am
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wwaswas - Member
I did wonder that, as they seemed to be making a very effective dam across what was an undergroudn waterway where all the water was getting diverted to subsequently?

I can imagine everyone upstream of them getting subsidence problems as their foundations become waterlogged and also the ones downstream as theirs dry out.

Covered in section 4.11 of the planning document. 😉


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 10:55 am
 poly
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On reflection I suspect Mrs Nimby thought they were never going to live in it and turn it into a night club - becuase Mrs & Mrs Developer seemed to be the only people who thought it was quite normal to spend an extra 300k putting an underground "nightclub" in.

It did look like the sort of venue where Tommy Sheridan might get invited...


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 11:15 am
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I did wonder that, as they seemed to be making a very effective dam across what was an undergroudn waterway where all the water was getting diverted to subsequently?

I can imagine everyone upstream of them getting subsidence problems as their foundations become waterlogged and also the ones downstream as theirs dry out.

I would have thought that opening up that waterway would have created a flow that would seriously undermine foundations in the surrounding area?


 
Posted : 27/10/2011 12:18 pm