Room to Improve (v2)

I would say its more for the kids, the garden is too small. Fine for toddlers, but when they start looking for trampolines and swings and so on, not great. Husband seemed a bit iffy about Dublin, passed the decision off as hers. So sounds like he'd be happy to go anywhere, and was not as pushy as it appeared to come across in the program. He seemed to have a strong connection to Sligo, so who knows in a few years.

I loved the idea of the stone tiles behind the coffee machine but did anyone else notice that the top row were mis-aligned? I'd be fuming if that happened to such a focal point of my renovation!

My one takeaway from the last episode was the cost of a planter - were they making it from gold? Think he was quoting €4k. You could easily make a wooden planter for around €200 - €300.

The other thing that infuriates me about RTI is that they are not happy to do things down the line. I know they need the shiny new finished house for the show, but it's unrealistic. It's better to do what you can now and then save to do the rest later, rather than overstretching with loans. I understand the logic behind putting the foundations for the shed in, but the shed/ outdoor room could have been left for later. Likewise, the trees / shrubs could be done at a later date, or better still, buy saplings for a fraction of the price and watch them grow.

I'm not sure if this is true, but I heard that all the swanky furniture is put in for the show and it doesn't belong to the owners. That always struck me with the show... the homeowners were often stretched beyond their budget but behold, they have a €2k armchair and €1k coffee table. I would prefer if we get to see the house as it is, rather than it being dressed by professionals with high-value rental pieces.

I couldn't figure out how they pulled that off. There were too many tiles to be from the single rock that he brought for cutting, and the size was off - the tiles looked too big to be from the rock they cut. They looked like shop-bought tiles but he was quite emotional about them, so I'm wrong or he should change his career to acting. Perhaps they had other larger rocks but they all looked very uniform.

I think there's some kind of reasonable middle ground to be had in fairness. A quick run through of the retrofit details and benefits would be informative and to be expected imo.

I certainly could have forgone the few minutes we lost seeing the 3 flutes in the kitchen and not a chef between them.

Got a screenshot: the grout line of the top row (above the shelf) is about half a centimetre further to the right of the rest of the run. Just a small detail but one that would set my OCD on edge!

Looking at the number of tiles they got, it certainly looks like Dermot brought a boot load of rocks to the stone masons rather than just the one we saw on-screen.

Maybe. That info is easily gotten online (I posted a link to it myself yesterday) but I suppose everyone wants everything spoon fed these days

Oh sorry I meant the information a reasonable person would like to know.

The insulation level in the attic. For the lamb of jesus

There's only 4 episodes. They could make each one a 2 parter and add the details in throughout.

Also, I'm starting to think Dermot is a grand scheme kinda man. Lots of broad strokes and not much detail. He only gets his vision as the build progresses. I think it's why he gets upset when the clients disagree. He's emotionally tied to it because he hasn't taken the time to step back and be objective.

I imagine Dermots whole schtick is a complete put on and well rehearsed. In fact I'd say he does a few takes of everything he says

Grand designs is what you want

houses that literally destroy lives

hundreds of thousands of pounds overruns

money gone

living in damp caravan in January

husband takes on the work himself

divorce

10 years from start to finish

but they look amazing when they are sold to the next buyer😀

Possibly they can't do something like that for contractual reasons.