GIDC - Ep. 3 Scottish (faux) castle
The first design-off took place last night: doggie day carer Holly and ex-textiles salesman Frankie battled it out for a place in the quarter-finals. They previously worked tricky rooms in a modernist former leisure centre in south London and in a weatherboard cottage in Kent.
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Episode 3 finds architectural historian Tom Dyckoff all excited about revealing the secrets behind the facade of the beautiful Scottish castle that is to be the challenge for the remaining two contestants.
Episode 3 Location: Pitfour Castle, Perthshire Scotland
Style: Scottish Castle - or is it?
Era: 1800s
Clearly, there is a budget in making #TheGreatInterioDesignChallenge because our presenter is borrowing from Daniel Hopwood's colourful wardrobe from Episode 2. All is not as it seems with the castle, which turns out to be a refined Georgian stately home.
First up, the judges visit Holly's challenge room, a living/dining room that seems to have just too much furtniture in it.
Sophie Robinson comments: "Good interior designers bring a level of originality and creativity to the project that goes that little bit further than the brief".
Holly decides to reign in her inner diva and goes for understated elegance. The owners reactions is motivating. The wife gasped and could not contain her excitement. Surely this is good?
Meanwhile, Sophie and Daniel watch from the side and all I want to do is scream: "COME ON DANIEL, SURELY YOU CAN SMILE ONCE!" Precious moment: at 6:02 and 6:32 minutes into the episode with Daniel raising an eyebrow for just a second. And you thought it was plain sailing Holly?
Here's Holly's room before and after. Not overly decorative, elegant indeed but with a mix of rustic in there with the duck egg distressed chairs and table.
Frankie's room is a stage asking for drama with its high ceilings, fireplace and wonderful windows. The brief he receives is steampunk, retro and industrial altogether. Say again? Frankie is determined to follow the brief and so adds wood panel and marble effect wallpaper, steampunk details and copper piping as well as including vintage antlers and, because this is Frankie, handmade retro style cushions with large piping.
"You want it, I'm gonna give it to you!"
You cannot blame me for warming up to Frankie. He is great at sewing (the yellow piping on the blue cushions was enough to make me want to buy them there and then) and he is humble. He's got a great dressing up style too so he does look the part!
His mood board is great (is that an IKEA Vidstrup rug on the floor?), the room looks less daunting with the wallpaper on, he's put a lot of effort, I mean, he really could be the next big thing! But he should have painted that door another colour and added some more light features in the room. I also feel that the fireplace is just the odd one out in this room, why not turn the sofe to face there?
Between the two, the room most transformed was Frankie's again. He also won the presentation and upcycling challenge. So it came as no surprise that he also won the overall challenge on the day and is the first to go through the Quarter finals!
See you for episode 4! Watch Episode 3 on BBC iplayer here.
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