Episode 5 ~ Holiday Lodges
The five aspiring interior designers competing for the ‘life changing contract’ of doing up a bar in a posh London hotel were despatched east this week, with the challenge of making over two Holiday Lodges in the Lincolnshire Wolds (for ‘holiday lodge’, imagine ‘straight line of slightly posh static caravans with a bolted on terrace’). Lovely views, but not exactly screaming luxury.
Luxury Holiday Lodges on the Lincolnshire Wolds
Ju and Nicki were tasked with making their lodge appeal to a ‘mature couple’, whilst Frank, Kyle and Cassie’s brief was to turn their lodge into a ‘sophisticated place that would appeal to the 30+ girly-weekend-away market’. Frank and Cassie in the same team? What could possibly go wrong?
Ju and Nicki work on their design
Ju and Nicki worked well together; easily agreeing on how to makeover the communal areas, and on a common theme for the two bedrooms. The producers tried to inject some fake tension by implying that they had been too ambitious and might not finish in time, but none of the viewers were fooled.
Kyle (centre) tries to keep the peace between Frank and Cassie
Frank, Cassie and Kyle were also harmony personified, agreeing on colours, themes, design, etc………..just kidding! Despite Cassie falling slap bang into the target demographic, Frank decided to ignore her suggestions of ‘girly’ and ‘glam’ - to be honest, after having seen the nightmare of her Victorian bloomers themed hotel room makeover in a previous edition I can’t really blame him. Instead Frank’s brainwave was to completely ignore the rural setting and gorgeous countryside views and go for a ‘Poundland Hamptons Beach House’ vibe, featuring loud blue wallpaper, and a white sofa (the cleaners are going to love that). Mild-mannered Kyle was stuck between the warring designers, and absolutely hated having to referee between the two opposing views – where’s VAR when you need it? His solution was basically to agree with everything Frank said – which turned out to be The Wrong Call when it came to the lighting, leading to Frank painting a lampshade for FOUR HOURS, only to discard it on the grounds it looked awful (it did).
Frank painting his light fitting.....
Guest Judge joining Michelle Ogundehin this week was Abigail Ahern, who was very keen on ‘texture’ (she may have mentioned this once or twice), and who turned out to be less than impressed with Team Kyle, Cassie and Frank, stating that their design revealed ‘lots of opinions and no real concept’. She was keener on Ju and Nicki’s lodge – which did look much better, with the main focal point being the gorgeous view outside and everything in the lodge designed to enhance that. Not that the cleaners would be overly keen on them either – it was way over-dressed, with hats, books, and baskets adorning every surface and hanging from every wall.
Hamptons Beach House courtesy of Team Frank, Cassie & Kyle
Unsurprisingly it was the team of three who were selected to appear on the Sofa of Doom, with Frank and Kyle getting the majority of the criticism. Frank is tv gold, so it was inevitable that mild-mannered monotone Kyle would get the push, although he had the last laugh by refusing to cry on camera. The right choice? Personally I’d have eliminated Cassie weeks ago (which probably means she will end up winning the thing).
Kyle refusing to cry on the Sofa of Doom
Next week: restaurant makeovers!