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This week the teams had to present the bathroom for the children’s rooms and had the opportunity to redo one of the rooms that received negative comments from the judges. Some teams worked hard on their redo rooms, but one team certainly missed an opportunity and incurred the wrath of the judges, which was reflected in their scores this week.
Final Scores:
1st - House 5: Eliza and Liberty with 27.5 points
2nd - House 2: Leah and Ash with 27 points
3rd - House 4: Steph and Gian with 26 points
4th - House 1: Kyle and Leslie with 23.5 points
5th - House 3: Kristy and Brett with 18.5 points
ELIZA & LIBERTY
This week, Eliza and Liberty had a surprise win over Leah and Ash, by just half a point. Their redo room was their studio which was really a bit of a disaster when first presented to the judges. "Marty Fox said he would rather have seen an empty room than what we had done with it," Liberty remembered.
They decided to swap the wallpaper for a more glamorous option, mount the TV on a different wall, add a cabinet and a (sofa bed) couch, plus tweak the desk and kitchenette but still allow for a multi-functional, versatile space. "It can be repurposed for whatever you wish," said Liberty. The girls have come a long way since then and their redo met with much more positive comments.
When the judges walked into the redo room, they only had positive remarks. "Awesome," Darren said, while Shaynna added: "I feel such a sense of relief right now!" Praise was given for hiding the microwave and moving the TV, with Darren stating, "They've done a great job." "This is a poolside cabana of dreams," Darren said. "It's one of those things that will help them sell this house. "It's like a hero sale shot." The girls’ sense of relief was almost as big as their smiles on hearing the feedback.
The rest of their $28,664 spend this week was on their kids bathroom.
Upon walking into the room, which was bathed in light from the huge skylight, Darren needed only one word, "Boom." "How good is that floor?" Shaynna beamed. Back at Block HQ, Scotty told the girls that Neale had described it as, "jumbo terrazzo. It's fabulous." "We have green, terracotta, dusty mint, brass... they got it," Darren enthused. "Then you have that contrast of the terrazzo floor. Looking at the rooftops, you have the terracotta there... so it's this beautiful connection to the exterior and it feels really welcoming and joyful," she added.
Neale did not agree - "I'm not loving this bathroom," he said. He thought the styling let them down and hated the “childlike” elements thrown in to identify it as a children’s bathroom.
Shaynna, meanwhile, was full of praise for the sisters. "They've matched the switch covers to the tiles, which I'm really happy about," she said. "It means they've been listening."
Back at Block HQ, Scotty told the girls that the room delivered "layout, functionality and execution," "For them, this bathroom is a standout today," he said.
LEAH & ASH
Originally the judges didn't like the styling or the layout of their working-from-home room and panned the couple for not tweaking their floor plan to accommodate a fourth bedroom instead.
The comment from judge Marty Fox, "We're in a family area, it's quite a big risk to take." influenced their choice for their redo room. Leah and Ash were adamant that they wanted to keep their very expensive fireplace, add wardrobes, a bed and two chairs. They also wanted to extend the height of the doors and change the floorboard to carpet, which ate into their $26,118 spend this week, but it was money well spent according to the judges.
Shaynna was delighted to see the couple had kept their original marble fireplace. "The amount of money in that fireplace, but it just looks stunning, it makes this quite grand," she complimented the feature. The judges originally thought that the space couldn't be successfully converted into a bedroom but were glad to be proven wrong. "We were steadfast that this was the wrong choice for the room. This is absolutely supposed to be a bedroom – I hate to say I told you so!" Darren laughed.
After delivering plenty of bold and colourful rooms, Neale was shocked when he walked into their final bathroom. It was predominately a mix of calming greys and white, with pops of darker colour and different textures. "I think I was expecting to step into something that was a little more saturated and a little bit more playful," Neale said. "It's not a criticism but just surprised that this is so muted." Shaynna was deeply in love with the bathroom and didn’t hold back with her praise. "I love the choice of layout, I love the tiles!" she beamed. "It feels so elegant and so designer."
The judges couldn’t agree over Leah and Ash's choice of basin. Neale likened them to "public drinking fountains", but Darren “loved them”, Shaynna was concerned about their functionality. These minor dislikes didn’t seem to influence the scores.
STEPH & GIAN
With an extra $100 in prize money over the last 2 weeks, they certainly had cash to splash and did not hold back with a whopping spend of $55,930.
Their redo room was their master ensuite, which was originally likened to a quarantine facility by the judges. "The judges' feedback for that room was quite strong," explained Gian. The room had a floor plan that the judges thought was problematic, so they decided to move the vanities to the other side, add Venetian plaster, a bench under the windows and a blind to soften the space. The planned layout made a lot more sense and the execution of it took up a lot of their spend this week.
When the judges walked into the newly renovated room, Neale said: "Wow. It's very me, I love it!" They all loved the bench seat, Darren said: "I am just besotted with that, I love that so much. It's super, super functional. Brilliant!" he added.
They chose the same high-end marble they had used in their ensuite, Venetian plaster and soft green basins, to create another beautiful, calming bathroom. Shaynna thought the finishes were quite simple, but all contributed to a total look of "elevated luxury." "This beautiful marble again, the same soft green coloured vanity that we saw in the new ensuite, the texture in the tiles, the texture in the Venetian Plaster..." she continued. "This is glorious, isn't it?" said Darren as he took in the room. "I think that whole balance of these timber elements, and these woven elements and the sort of green colour and the natural stone, they're all so beautifully found. It's really, really impressive," he continued. "I love the materials, the palette, I love this grass artwork."
"I think it's the most luxurious kids' bathroom I've ever seen, that's for sure," agreed Neale. "But I guess, being sensible they've got an eye on when the kids are no longer kids and the bathroom will still service whoever's using it," Neale pointed out.
KYLE & LESLIE
Electing to redo their living and dining area, which was deemed far too small in the original room reveal, they also had to complete their home with a bathroom for the children’s rooms. Their spend of $23,898 seems quite reasonable to achieve everything they did this week.
When the judges entered the new living room, there were smiles all around. "I was here the week we judged this previously, and it felt so enclosed. Now it feels generous and open," Neale said, praising the curved wall feature. "This is the first time I feel the floorplan and the aesthetic come together," Shaynna said. It seems it is money and time well spent for a positive outcome and increases the size of their living spaces. It’s now more suited to a home of this size and comparable to the other houses.
Their bathroom, was compact but packed with all the features you need and a lot of storage. "I love the fact it's a small space and they've been able to fit a vanity, a bath, toilet and shower – so they've been able to fit everything in here..." commended Shaynna. Kyle and Leslie received great praise for their stunning skylight and the quality of their finishes, but Shaynna couldn’t see past the positioning of the toilet. "You open the door and if you're in that bedroom across the landing, and your door's open, you're looking straight at someone on the toilet," she said. "We're in Week 10, that shouldn't be happening."
"Basically, every inclusion here is absolutely spot on," Darren said. "It's just where it's put and it's the same issue that we've had over and over with Kyle and Leslie. They make great decisions and then put them in the wrong place."
Neale wasn’t blown away by the bathroom, he thought if the brief was to create a bathroom for young people, then it was moderately successful. "I would leave this bathroom and probably forget the details," he commented. "Other than the terrazzo tiles."
KRISTY & BRETT
Kristy and Brett have demonstrated their bathroom skills since their first one failed to wow the judges, with a win and a second place. They chose to redo their first bathroom and complete another one, so that should have made things easier with all the right tradespeople on site, BUT it became a failure of monumental proportions. By removing tiles, they compromised the waterproofing and did not have the time to rectify it – they did however have time to go to the football and turn in early whilst the other teams worked late into the night. Their lack of motivation this week was reflected in their results and their scores.
The judges were horrified when they opened the door of the redo bathroom – and quickly closed it again, before venturing into the building site!
"Well, what we've ended up with is a disaster," said Neale. "Because this is not the time in The Block is it where you want to be faced with an extra problem like this with just two weeks to go." Darren joked , "…if only they knew a good tiler?" "Please tell me he's not a tiler," said Neale. "He's a tiler," confirmed Darren. "You'd think a tiler would know not to pull tiles out of a shower that's been waterproofed without the ability to re-waterproof the whole room and the time to do it."
They spent $28,603 this week for one completed bathroom and one disaster.
Their children’s bathroom looked beautiful with lovely materials and details, but have we seen it before? Walking in, Darren said: "Well, if ain't broke, don't fix." He noticed that Kristy and Brett had replicated the same layout of their master ensuite in this bathroom – yes we have seen it before! "This layout worked really well in their master ensuite," he said. "It's exactly the same layout, except we have a bathtub in this one."
Unfortunately, while it looked good, there were a lot of things that remained unfinished for the reveal. The basin hadn’t been installed, the toilet and the sink weren't plumbed, and Neale tripped over an unfixed door stopper.
"I'm just sort of worried now that everything is completely unfinished," Neale said. "I'm certainly not going to touch anything because I'm worried that it's all going to come crashing down." "It's very insufficiently unfinished," Neale added. "It's so rushed. I mean look at the amount of dust on the floor and the walls. It hasn’t even been cleaned properly.
The judges summed up their thoughts by saying: "It hasn't been a great week for them, has it."
Well, that was an action-packed week, and next week it won’t be any easier for the teams with the reveal of backyard pools and spas. When teams move outside – they are at the mercy of the weather which always adds extra drama.
Photography by David Cook. All products available through The Block Shop.
