Watching the show on 7HD in Melbourne for the first time and it’s still in SD but the graphics are in HD.
Nancy and Daniel’s house is so small one wonders how 12 rooms were carved out of the limited space. Luke and Cody went over the top with metallic tiles in the bathroom, hopefully they will be rewarded by a high score.
It was good to see Rob instead of Rose going shopping for a change, but he had to control his temper and show more respect towards other teams.
I’m really loving this season. House Rules is a great little show.
While the judges and homeowners had different views during the first two renovations, they agreed on many things in the Sydney renovation and scored accordingly. So it was inevitable Luke and Cody fell back to earth with a thud after winning the past two renovations.
Brooke and Michelle paid the price for misjudging the size of the bathroom and Jonathan’s bedroom and finished last this week and last on progressive totals. They would need high scores from the next three rounds to continue in the competition.
Next up is Luke and Cody’s home in Dalby, Queensland. Will the other teams sleep in a tent like last season’s renovation in Geraldton?
I thought the judges scoring was really erratic this week - ridiculous that Luke and Cody were scored the same as Brooke and Michelle by the judges and Claire and Hagan were really harshly scored too, whilst Fil & Joe weren’t penalised at all for their poor lounge layout and head hitting entry.
Still hating the split zones - there is just no need for them and the finished product would be better if teams could deliver for example a full Master Suite.
Also I’m guessing the term “Crowded House Rules” really refers to small houses rather than houses full of kids (none have more than 2 or 3).
How long do these renovations actually take?
7 days
The renovations take 7 days but it starts on the afternoon of day 1 and finishes on the afternoon of day 8. I may be wrong, but do tradesmen work on Sundays? If not then contestants have only six days to renovate the house.
Seems to take them a day to look round the house, a days to argue over space, a day to demo and then in just 4 days they just do everything, including building extensions if necessary.
As Wendy and Joe inspected the walk-in wardrobe in tonight’s episode, I notice there was a framed ad for Henri Wintermans cigars. Are not cigars advertisements banned under the current tobacco laws?
The teams did a great job transforming Luke and Cody’s Dalby house. But I think the addition of a new deck is totally unnecessary, as teams already had trouble renovating their respective zones.
Claire and Hagan deservedly received perfect scores from the judges and the homeowners for their work on the kitchen/dining room and guest bedroom. Fil’s last minute ordering of new furniture for the living room did not pay off, the judges and the twins were pretty scathing of the setting.
Looks like “semi-finals” start on Wednesday 8 June (based on episode description) with an extended 1:45 hour episode (pushing Kiss BL to 9.15, if it is still in that timeslot by then).
The show would be much better if it just cut straight from 6 to 4 and then did the gardens before cutting to the final 2. The last phase just drags out far too long.
Rose and Rob’s love of retro style was shown in their house rules and the 1970s music used throughout this week’s episodes. Their rule of no white wall or wallpaper meant there would be lots of colours splashed throughout their house. The rules really tested Luke & Cody and Claire & Hagan (whom I think may be Gen Y?). Rose and Rob told News Corp and New Idea they finished their role in August (does it mean they made the grand final or were in Sydney with other eliminated teams? Time will tell) and moved to Brisbane few weeks later, after Rose’s grandmother Patricia fell ill.
These are the total team scores by my calculations going into the final renovation. Wonder what happens if more than one team has the bottom score which is very possible. Unless they have absolute shockers I think it is safe to assume Fil & Joe, Luke & Cody and Brooke & Michelle will go through.
Claire & Hagan - 105
Fil & Joe - 88
Luke & Cody - 88
Brooke & Michelle - 87
Rob & Rose - 84
Nancy & Daniel - 83
After previous week’s perfect 30/30, Claire and Hagan missed a golden opportunity last week to get high scores to stay in the competition, with their house to be renovated next. With only a 22 point lead from Nancy and Daniel, high scores of 8 or 9 could see Claire and Hagan eliminated. I wonder if the Victorian couple would score strategically for the reno, which would include adding a second storey to the house?
I am puzzled with Rose and Rob’s scoring. They gave Brooke and Michelle only a 7 even though Rose said the ensuite was her favourite room, and a five to Claire and Hagan for the couple’s effort even though the WA couple loved the diagonal shagadelic tiles in the bathroom.
I notice two things at the show’s website today. There is a link to application for season 5. Does it mean the show has been renewed for 2017? Also, last night’s episode has been uploaded to the website even though it has not been shown in Sydney and Brisbane due to State of Origin. It will be interesting to see if TV ratings will be affected when people find out they can watch the episode right now.
As every year after a slow start the ratings have built and are fairly decent for Seven, so a fifth series is a no brainer. The death of renovation TV was greatly exaggerated - it was just The Block and Nine’s Scott Cam rip-off people were tired of.
I think though holding back this series to air in the usual slot rather than running two last year as originally planned has been the right move - even if it does mean at least one couple has already moved out of their renovated home in the year or so since it was actually done.
I have been catching up with renovation of Claire and Hagan’s house in Tootgarook (Joh mentioned the place at the start) in Mornington Peninsula. Their house is so small (kitchen, laundry, lounge and dining room into one) that even the addition of the second storey may not give them enough space.
You can see that the renovation was done 12 months ago in winter as they started and finished each working day in the dark. A bonus is that the house is located in a commercial zone so there is no noise curfew.
Not for the first time teams misinterpreted some of the house rules. Two examples: Luke and Cody wanted to have a long piece of corrugated iron in the dining room through the void to satisfy “choose an industrial palette” but Claire reckoned it was country style. Brooke and Michelle wanted the pipes exposed in the laundry to satisfy the “warehouse raw” rule only to have Carolyn telling Brooke the pipes carried raw sewage from the upstairs ensuite!
It was a clever idea to make hole in the wall between the children’s bedrooms as part of “Alice in Wonderland” theme so that the toddlers could crawl through.
Happy to see the back of Rose and Rob though did feel they were hard done by this week - the basic safety lapses should have been picked up during the week either by Caroline or tradies on site. That said it’s fair enough they finished last - I suspect they’ll be responsible for 2 or 3 of the fix up zones this week. Don’t understand how Brooke and Michelle ended up third though considering they failed to finish during at least three of the renos.
It’s the fix up challenge next and another elimination, so seems they have axed the extra 5th place challenge this year. I do think though the scores from the first 6 renos shouldn’t be wiped completely - would be fair if they gave 5 points for 1st place through to 1 for 5th just to give those who did better over the main process some sort of advantage.
Rose and Rob were sometimes too stubborn to listen to other teams’ views, which was part of the reason behind their elimination. They left their worst renovation effort until last. Had the WA team listened to Luke and Cody and installed a wall and/or door between the ensuite and the master bedroom, the couple might have got a higher score from the judges and homeowners, possibly tying the score with Claire and Hagan. Then a countback would have been needed to decide which team went through.
Luke and Cody became the second team this season to get a perfect score of 30/30 for their efforts, while Fil and Joe also received a high score for their renovation of Claire and Hagan’s kitchen and Matilda’s bedroom. They are the two teams to watch in the next phases of the competition.
According to the schedule, this week is 24 hour fix-up challenge and next week the gardens. However the show will air on Sunday-Tuesday next week. As garden renovation takes two days to broadcast, I am not sure what Seven has planned for next Tuesday.
It’ll be the second round of gardens with the result the following Sunday presumably. They have thankfully dropped the additional final five challenge which dragged the show out over a further week, though I’d be surprised if the final three challenge (usually charity related) doesn’t remain.
Is quite satisfying with House Rules how most years it is the least co-operative team that gets kicked out first. It’s no surprise how often Rose and Rob’s name came up with the fix up challenge - and really surprised Luke and Cody didn’t go for their zone considering they said they didn’t like the furniture in the porch and there was an issue with the bath which needed fixing.
Brooke and Michelle look destined to fail but Nancy and Daniel probably haven’t done themselves any favour - the fix up challenge does highlight the issue of split zones as often even the worst zone will include a room which need very little work.