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The Block living and dining room reveals are always something to look forward to and after a hectic week with the normal bickering, conspiracy theories, and exhausted contestants, judgement day arrived. There was mixed feedback from the judges on the rooms. Neale Whitaker was back and awarded the first score of 10 for the series to Leah and Ash. If the contestants had known Neale was back this week, they would have all raced out and bought floor lamps, as the lack of ambient lighting is a huge minus for him!
Final Scores:
House 2, Leah and Ash: 29 points (including a perfect 10 from Neale) - 1st
House 5, Eliza and Liberty: 27 points - 2nd
House 3, Kristy and Brett: 25.5 points - =3rd
House 4, Steph and Gian: 25.5 points - =3rd
House 1, Kyle and Leslie: 20 points - 4th
THE BLOCK WINNING LIVING & DINING – LEAH & ASH
They were very excited to receive the first perfect score of the series and their first outright win! They did win the downstairs bathroom week by playing their bonus gnome card! They had a huge week with a $10,000 win for being voted Best on Block, $5,000 for a blacksmithing challenge and the room reveal win last week – they’ve got an impressive extra $35,000 in their bank account which nearly covered their spend of $38,209.
Their rooms were colourful, with some brave, and some might say risky, styling choices, however, the judges were impressed but thought they could have had a larger dining table for the space.
ELIZA & LIBERTY
Coming second this week with their best result yet, was a huge confidence boost for the sisters. They struggled to complete their living dining area which was the largest of the houses and only put “tools down” on the final siren! Their central fireplace makes it hard to place furniture in the room and may not appeal to everyone, but they did well with a spend of $37,706.
Neale thought it was a "perfect, elegant, contemporary dining space", while Darren agreed and thought it was one of the most sophisticated rooms the girls had delivered, and Shaynna commented, “I’m actually blown away”.
KRISTY & BRETT
The pressure was considerably less for these two this week, as they changed the configuration of their floor plan and only delivered their living space, spending $23,325. This is the first of two planned living rooms, and it impressed the judges with its soft and sophisticated colour palette. Neale was disappointed by the lack of ambient lighting as he was with spaces of other contestants, but that’s easy for them to fix.
Kritsy was delighted with the comments on the colour palette as she has plans to continue it through the rest of the home.
STEPH & GIAN
Wow – they certainly went overboard with their styling this week – and it was noted by the judges. Both Neale and Shaynna thought it had been over-styled with too many unnecessary decorative items, making it look more like a retail space than a home. They could have saved some of the $31,739 spend by holding back on some of the styling pieces!
Steph & Gian also made a dubious call about swapping the kitchen and dining spaces, creating a lot of bickering between the couple and also making the floor plan the talking point of the judges. Darren and Neale agreed to reserve judgment until the kitchen was revealed and they could put the spaces into perspective.
Upon hearing the judges’ comments, Steph confidently said “It will all make sense when kitchen week happens”.
KYLE & LESLIE
Their rooms were elegant, sophisticated, carefully finished and beautifully styled, but unfortunately small! For a 4-bedroom home. We spied a few of our coffee table books, cushions and decorative pieces which suited their rooms perfectly.
Despite Dan’s suggestions, their plan to save time and money by not removing a wall to make a larger and more open space may have backfired. Their bespoke dining table was too large for the space.
"It's a beautifully styled and built disaster," finishes Neale. "It's the Titanic for them if they don't get this right,
this could actually lose them the auction," Shaynna says, and Darren suggests finding some solutions.
Kyle and Leslie were despondent upon hearing the judges’ feedback and wondered how they could afford to rectify the issues after already spending $31,560 on the rooms.
Get The Look
So, with a few regrets on choices and missed opportunities along the way, the teams have hit the halfway mark and will now undertake master bedrooms and walk-in robes. Let’s hope they all heed the judges’ feedback and plan their rooms accordingly to maximise buyer appeal.
Photography by David Cook. All products available through The Block Shop.
