Georgian - Liverpool: Final The Great Interior Design Challenge

In Britain, we have an amazing array of places we call home.

From thatched cottages and conversions

to terraced housing and tower blocks.

But when it comes to interior design,

we don't always make the best of the rooms we live in.

So, 24 amateur designers competed against each other, to show us

how it should be done.

I'm so annoyed!

It's been a spanner in the works.

They took on a variety of rooms. From kitchens, to bedrooms...

It's starting to look like a room! Hurrah!

..sitting rooms to dining rooms...

So this is the "ta-da" moment!

It's the final of the competition and only two designers remain.

Both have shown exceptional flair and creativity.

Now they're taking on a whole house each on the same street.

I'm just excited, it's such a big challenge but I'm ready for it.

I'm still pretty amazed that I'm here. I'm really properly nervous.

Deciding who has the talent to win are president elect

of the British Institute of Interior Design, Daniel Hopwood.

The standard of the finalists is very high, not only are

they very adaptable but they have a recognisable, sophisticated style.

And interior stylist and magazine journalist Sophie Robinson.

We've got two talented designers with very different skillsets.

They've worked so hard to be here, honing their skills on each

of the rounds, but now only one of them can design their way to victory

and come out as the winner of the Great Interior Design Challenge.

For their final challenge, our amateurs will each be redesigning

three rooms and a hallway in two Georgian houses in Liverpool.

Working in different houses to different briefs,

this is their most challenging project to date.

The architecture and the period might be a bit of a challenge.

The worst bit is the bit with the door in.

He's got a green cloth that I don't want, that's the problem.

They need to build, paint, sew and style

their way to prove their design is the best.

And the winner of the Great Interior Design Challenge is...

This imposing Georgian terrace was built in 1827, in what was

then the industrial outskirts of Liverpool, and after the fripperies

of the Regency period the decade before, represents a sober end to

the Georgian period that dominated British architecture for 120 years.

By the 19th century, Liverpool had become an international

trading hub, dealing with commodities such as salt

and tobacco and the cotton that fed the textile mills of Lancashire.

This terrace was built from the profits of industrialists,

shipbuilders, and merchants,

who turned to house building as a new business venture and created

these streets as much to make even more profit

as any love for urban living.

It's two of these houses our finalists are redesigning,

in their bid to win.

Our first finalist is 30-year-old Jordan who lives in south London

with partner Russell.

It feels amazing to get this far in the competition,

I always said from the start

I was in it to get to the final, and to actually be here is amazing.

Jordan's job is running a cafe, so designing interiors for real

clients for the first time has been a challenge.

I think I've worked so hard and harder each week.

To have come as close to this as I have is amazing

but I just want to go that extra mile now and cross that finish line.

He's tried lots of things in his life

and perhaps this could be the one,

and I think if he was to win this, it would

absolutely mean the world to him.

My family will be over the moon if I win,

it's the icing on the cake, isn't it?

-Also competing for the title is 41-year-old Sarah...

-Dad's in.

..who lives in West Sussex with her husband and three children.

It's pretty amazing to have made it to the final,

I feel like I've come a long way.

Sarah designs vintage homewares for a living,

but delivering an entire room scheme has tested her creativity.

You definitely feel like you've got to pull something extra out

of the bag. This is the final week, it can't just be nice or lovely

or sweet, it's got to be amazing and outstanding and eye-catching.

'She's worked incredibly hard. Sarah's had to run the house'

and look after the children as well as putting her back into this.

So, it's been chaos but she's done really well.

From a personal point of view, I can't even think about what it would

be like to win, it'd be fantastic

but that is a long way away.

Now both Sarah and Jordan have come to Liverpool for their final

design showdown.

Well, you two, you've got through to the final, the big one, well done!

You've worked so hard but we're going to ask a bit more of you -

you've got to work a little bit harder!

You've got three rooms and a hallway to do.

Exactly. I think you've probably

realised by now that we rather like what you do. So, confidence,

give us lots of style and more of what you're really talented at.

Yeah, we're particularly excited to see your designs,

we already think you're great designers but given the extra

rooms it really is an opportunity for you to show us your best.

The first home belongs to Andrew, Gaynor

and their two children, Rosie and Tom.

When we first moved in, I loved it.

It was very blank and lots of space for us to do what we wanted

but we haven't got round to it.

We filled the house with our stuff basically,

put some pictures up, I think

that's the token concession to home improvement, really, in three years.

Before the designers start,

the judges want to see the potential of each house.

My first impression is this is quite a neat, standard-sized hallway.

Yeah, well, actually, they're quite narrow but that's what they always

were like, just a passing through room really and they've got

radiator cupboards which are taking a lot of the width up too.

I notice they've got a little bit of originality

which are the corbels up here.

What's really super about the Georgian period is all those

decorative elements weren't decorative, they were doing a job.

Hiding the movement that's going between the two plains from the

beam and the wall, and if there's any cracking, you won't see it.

You could really go for it as it's not like you have to stare and look at it.

It's an opportunity for our designers to do something, maybe, quite daring.

The house has had many changes over the years,

so many original features have been lost.

The first thing that hits me about this room is it feels very tall,

the proportions feel quite out.

That's because all the mouldings are missing, the cornice,

the picture rail, it just feels a bit sad.

So all those period features that unfortunately have been

ripped out of this property has actually just really affected

the whole general proportion and feel of this space.

Exactly, but it's not too difficult to put them all back.

I think the real challenge for the designer in this room is to

really stamp on an element of design and personality in this room

and make it a space you really want to hang out in.

The designer will also be taking on a plain guest

bedroom-cum-playroom on the first floor.

And a children's bedroom on the second floor belonging to

nine-year-old Rosie.

So, being the final,

they've certainly got a big challenge ahead of them.

The finalist in charge of this first house is Jordan,

who's shown a flair for imaginative design.

In his heat, he played with paint techniques, blending

furniture into walls and added a dramatic mural and period panelling.

Next he went all-out to prove he could work with strong colours and

bold pattern, before winning his place in the final with a cutting

edge design using origami wallpaper, magnetic paint and geometric prints.

Now his challenge is to get some character into this Georgian home.

Are you ready for a little look?

We are, we are, very ready for a look!

Right, well, we'll start here...

He's been working on his homeowners' brief for a week,

but this is the first time they're meeting.

He starts with the hallway.

It's a massive statement as you walk through the door.

-I mean, the ceiling height's...

-First impression, isn't it?

Absolutely, and really soft, subtle colours with the heritage,

a darker green on the bottom and a paler one on the top.

The two radiator covers that you've got existing, I'm going to be

disguising those and doing two built-ins so there's somewhere

to hide all of your everyday junk, coats, things like that and a

nice little seat so you can pop your wellies on for a wintry day.

People will not want to go anywhere else apart from the hall,

we'll be having parties in the hallway.

He'll give the practical hallway a homely feel,

with soft green paint, panelling, and pictures.

A theme he'll continue in the currently featureless living room.

I know you were keen to get some architectural features

back into the house, so we're going full throttle here.

There's going to be a fireplace with some...

I have hand painted tiles for you.

I know you were keen on a sort of cornflower blue, which is

going to be going on the bottom half of the room,

and we're going to panel the entire room halfway around which,

hopefully, is going to look stunning as well.

A beautiful mural which is going onto the piano wall, which is

like a countryside scene, because I know you were

interested in that sort of country look, sort of heritage feel.

-Just what we wanted, so perfect!

-Fantastic!

-We love all those sort of Georgian colour palates...

-Yeah, me too.

The period details and blue scheme will create drama in the front room.

He has equally bold plans for the guest-cum-playroom.

It's going to be really restful and sort of peaceful at the same time,

it's going to be able to flip and be a great playroom for the kids.

And this is the sort of fabric and colours that I'm going to be using.

Stripes are obviously going to be vertical as well

so it's really going to make the most of that, really high ceilings,

and we're keeping the day bed that you have, these are going to

be supersized willow trees that are going to frame that. So, it's going

to feel quite ethereal and magical and fun for the kids but then...

Like Narnia?

Yeah, but then transformed into a really smart, restful guest room.

Not too shocking, I hope!

No, it's beautiful, that's really beautiful.

His stripy design for this rooms may have a fairy-tale feel,

but his most dramatic scheme will be in nine-year-old Rosie's bedroom.

I know she loves purples, and pinks.

We've got an amazing wallpaper which is going onto one wall, which again

is hand printed and I've got a chair that I'm going to be upholstering.

I'm going to be building a little wardrobe in there

and a new desk. I've got some really interesting ideas with

some floating book shelves, I'll keep that as a bit of a surprise

maybe for later, cos I know she's a bit of a bookworm.

-Oh, she certainly is.

-Yes.

A room that she can grow into a little bit as well.

They're lovely, she's going to love this.

You have managed to do a whole pile of things

-I would never have thought of doing.

-I'm very excited, thank you.

-Fabulous!

-Amazing!

Jordan is a true showman, not only in his style

but also in his presentation.

He tapped into the heritage of the Georgian period

and putting in some sense of authenticity back into the home,

they loved it!

Yeah, but I am a little bit concerned we're seeing panel,

which he's done before, we've seen the tableaus on the wall.

It's part of his repertoire, I know, but I'm hoping we're not getting

a repeat because I want to see something new from him this time.

For the final, both designers have 72 hours spread across four days,

£4,400, two builders and a decorator to complete their designs.

Yeah, I think it's going to look amazing if we can pull it off...

-When we pull it off!

-Of course we can.

And they can bring support from home,

so Jordan's brought partner Russell.

It's so much to take on board that, yeah, if I stop

and think too much about it, I think I might fall over.

Our second Georgian house is home to Tracy, Jim

and their three young children.

Our house at the moment is many styles, actually,

each room has a character of its own.

There's lots of different things going on in the house, I think.

If the designer can capture elements of Jim

and I, then I will be very pleased.

Now this is a grand hallway, is it not?

I'm just seeing original features everywhere I look in here.

And this is classic of this period, having the square in the corners.

And up on the top there

they might have put plates or little busts and things.

But in terms of design, you need to think about quite cost effective

solutions for big hallways. Well, any hallway, really.

Because hallways also require a lot of practical solutions.

This is a busy family, young kids,

we can already see it takes a lot of knocks.

So you probably want to veer away from expensive wall coverings

or designer paints because they need touching up.

Normally, I'd use fabric backed wallpapers in a hallway,

they usually work quite well.

And what an elegant room this is. Packed with original features,

typical of Georgian houses.

During the time of window tax,

if you went over seven windows, you started paying high tax.

So instead of having lots of windows they just used to make them bigger.

Actually, just looking over here, they've got the original shutters.

How stunning is that?

The two upstairs rooms to be redesigned are a sparse

guest room occasionally used by visiting grandparents,

and nine-year-old Charlie's plain white bedroom.

And I've spotted something that would intimidate any interior

designer - a huge stack of very stylish interior design books.

So, I think the biggest challenge is meeting the client's expectations.

Taking on the challenge is vintage homewares designer Sarah.

Throughout the competition, she's used her craft skills,

stencilling, upholstering and painting her way through her

heat in a traditional Edwardian bedroom.

She brought more creative, handmade ideas to a sitting

room in a country cottage, with a woodland design with modern edge.

Before securing her place in the final with a bolder look,

introducing wallpaper and bright colours to a Victorian dining room.

The judges want to see more versatility from Sarah, and

with the house already in good order,

it'll be tough to make her mark.

We're going to start with the hallway, I know first

impressions are important and I thought bold, simple...

I know you said you wanted some welcoming colours.

-Yes.

-The lovely, dark colour...

-Indeed.

..and then a stripe above that

and then the whole of the rest of the hallway in this colour here.

I like that idea.

The three tones of grey will soften the black

and white chequerboard floor, while she's aiming for a more

dramatic look in the front sitting and dining room.

You're after something quite gentlemanly and clubby.

I know that you said you were interested in thinking

about a snooker table that could be metamorphic for a dining table.

I have actually found one that has ball and claw feet.

This one's quite unusual and it comes with slats that go over

the top to turn it into a very straightforward dining table.

-Oh, wonderful!

-I am thinking about putting glass into your shelving

so your beautiful collection of books can just sing out

and it can be all about the books in there.

Colour-wise, now I know you've said you'd like some grey...

I was hoping that I could persuade you with some olive green.

No, no, that would actually have been my second choice.

Mixing traditional with modern elements like a copper light

and glass shelving is a tried and tested look for Sarah,

but her plans for Charlie's bedroom are a radical departure.

What I would like to do is run a stripe around his room,

like the go-faster stripes.

That is the green here.

This is the green. I'm very, very fond of apple green.

-If we took it up a stage...

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Yeah.

-I'll go and get that mixed, not a problem, we can sort that out.

Would that be all right? Could you address that?

-Yes, that's absolutely fine.

-I love apple green.

I've thought about making a bunk bed that is sort of a cabin bed,

has some shelving inside it...

Ooh, lovely!

..and that, I was hoping to paint the interiors green as well

and leave all the outsides white.

A rug, I love old things and I make a lot of stuff out of vintage

materials, and I've made some pebbles that I'm going to sew

together into a lovely textured big pebble rug.

This sounds exciting!

The look will be modern, with a green stripe dominating

the room from floor to ceiling, and a slide for toy cars.

But she's back on more familiar territory in the guest room.

-I've had a blue moment.

-You're having a blue moment.

Now this is a fantastic Georgian drawing room blue, which is bold.

Now I don't know how you feel about that?

-Go for it!

-Really?

Absolutely, go for it!

And I would like if possible to run shelving all the way around the

room and I have some Shaker-style pegs that I'd like to put a run

in around the room so that you can hang towels, your guests can hang

up their clothes and it's something that it's not a wardrobe, it's

not taking up space in the room but it's there for whatever you need it.

-Very excited!

-I'm absolutely amazed that you've let us into your home and

I feel the full weight of it on my shoulders, so I'm going to really...

-I think you'll deliver.

-I hope so!

Tracy and Jim know what they like, they've got really good taste.

They think it's going to be fun to bring in a new designer.

But Tracy's already pointed out, she already knows what colour she likes, she knows what design she likes

and she's going to push Sarah all the way.

She's got a client who wants to be tested, let's say.

So I'm just hoping she'll go for it and just grabs it.

Along with her two builders and decorator,

Sarah's brought along best friend Maxine.

The plan is to take out the bottom cupboard and the rest of in here

is just a paint down and it's going to this olive green.

The biggest challenge I have here is the house has got such

fantastic things in it and the homeowners have got such

great taste that it is just so important not

to put anything past their door that is anything other than fantastic.

So that might have to come out.

Both houses are being packed up

and stripped back in preparation for their brand-new schemes.

Sorry, Barbie!

With four designs each, the finalists are under pressure.

So, judges, what are the challenges for the final?

The architecture and the period might be a bit of a challenge,

wouldn't you say, Sophie?

Yes, especially in Tracy and Jim's house.

They've got a very grand house, lots of original period features.

So, in one way, it's a gift for Sarah because it's a beautiful

house already but I think the challenge for her is going to

be having happy clients because they've got quite high expectations.

Gaynor and Andrew have a very simple home, everything's been

ripped out, so it's kind of a white box, really, and in terms of the

brief, they didn't give much away. They want something simple, elegant,

classic and they've got Jordan coming in to design it for them!

Yeah, they didn't realise they'd get a little bit of pizzazz.

To add the pizzazz in his guest-cum-playroom,

Jordan's decorator is measuring out stripes.

For his traditional scheme in the front room,

he's adding period details.

So far, so good. No breakages, which is good!

Oh, hang on, spoke too soon.

One, one out of 60's not bad.

The tiles will make up the centre of the fireplace.

This is the back plate for the fireplace. Obviously,

the surround's going to be there and the fire basket will sit here.

He's bought a £5 pack of basic bathroom tiles,

and is hand-painting them with glass paint.

I've only painted about half of them so, yeah, I've got a few more to do.

It dries pretty quickly but I've got a second blue layer to put on.

So, there's going to be two colours.

I find it quite relaxing.

In Sarah's guest room, best friend Maxine

is painting the walls bold blue.

While in the hallway a runner is fitted.

It looks good, doesn't it? Thank you so much.

For her gentlemen's club themed front room,

the main focus is a second-hand snooker table.

One, two, three!

The table cost £275.

She plans to change the baize top, but there's a problem.

I started off trying to get hold of orange baize

and then I think it was out of stock so we went for sage green

and then the courier's lost it.

He's got a green cloth that I don't want, that's the problem.

There is a cloth here but it's the wrong colour and I've

designed around a whole room around having a sage green snooker table.

It's a total nightmare because we were hoping for it to

be in scheme with the rest of the room but it looks like it's

now going to be green, which is a bit disappointing.

It's not the only issue with her design.

None of the glass shelves fit in here,

because it's an old house and all the walls are different shapes.

I've reordered the glass and it's going to be turning up

at midday on Monday which is really late because we finish at two.

So if the glass doesn't fit, we are going to have empty cupboards

and no books in here, which is a total nightmare.

Things are going well with Jordan as the hallway walls are prepped

and guest room ceiling painted, so he gets on reupholstering

a second-hand £10 chair with off-cuts of material.

This is for Rosie's room, I'm going to be making a nice little

reading corner with this beautiful chair

and some floating book shelves.

So you staple the fabric in first, into that hole, which is why

it's quite tricky because you're basically having to go all

the way round, then you put the foam, then another piece on top.

You basically have to place it in place and staple around,

and then you glue the ribbon trim here, just over all the rough edges,

so it really finishes it off quite beautifully.

There you go!

It's the end of day one.

It hasn't been perfect, the snooker table is a disaster.

Half my budget is going in this room

and it needs to look really good and I'm really disappointed.

We've got two whole days, it's got some way to go at the moment.

It's the start of the second day and the final's well under way.

Jordan's managed to start some of his tile detailing but Sarah's still painting.

There's still clearly a long, long way to go.

I'd really like it to feel like it's,

we're going to nail this, OK? Fab, thanks ever so much.

For his stripy design in the guest-cum-playroom,

the walls are fiddly.

I'm loving the stripes in here, and the ceiling's been painted

already which looks fantastic, so that's great.

That's quite time consuming so it's good to get that on the way as well.

While the decorator carries on,

Jordan's adding period detail to the front room.

It says in my brief they would like a panelled wall.

One there, one in there, one there.

We're steaming ahead in here now, the dado rail has gone up

and the fireplace is in, which is really exciting.

We're going to carry on with the panelling and then move on

and finish the painting in here hopefully by the end of today.

After her slow start yesterday,

Sarah's taking control in her guest room.

Clean the skirting, make the bed cover,

check the bed in sideways and finish the door.

-Boy's room...

-So the desk I'm thinking is in here...

..and front room.

How's that paint? Is it?

Yeah, that's perfect.

To enhance her gentlemen's club look,

Sarah plans to create a bespoke industrial light fitting.

What I was thinking about is making a copper frame, a rectangle,

a bit like the old-fashioned snooker light but then seeing

if I can get some bulbs to drop out of it, so six bulbs and I

know you can get the filament bulbs that look really old-fashioned.

Basically I've got some copper piping, and what I would like

to do is feed some wires through and have three bulbs on each side.

Do you want a solid core cable running through?

-You tell me.

-Great.

I need a jigsaw puzzle to get somebody to go and put back together, if that's all right.

I'm sure this will work,

how hard can it be to make a bespoke industrial light on a tight budget?

The fittings and electrician to wire it will cost £200.

Jordan's also out and about creating something

personal for his design in the hallway.

I've got some frames that I'm going to put up in the hallway,

in quite a formal formation, and I just wanted to do some

sketches of some sort of local landmarks, really.

To create something that's special and individual to them

is really nice.

These Georgian Liverpool streets owe their existence to the rich

businessmen of the day.

Edward Falkner, who bought and developed the square,

is something of a local legend.

At the tender age of 28, he became high sheriff of Liverpool.

And, a decade later, reacting to the imminent threat of French attack,

it's said that he rallied 1,000 men in just an hour to defend the port.

As a result, the French got scared off,

and Falkner became a national hero.

It's wonderful to potter round these streets and still see the marks of the past.

This end of Falkner Street still retains its Georgian cobbles

and what remains of the old Edwardian tram lines that

once whooshed down the hill to the city.

Back at the houses on top of the hill, work continues.

I'm just trying to have a catch up with what's going on here,

looks like it had one coat in here, so this is looking lovely.

There's been a second coat on the blue up in the top bedroom,

that's great, and painted all round the top of the door

so that looks really cool, that's nice.

Walls and floor are done in Charlie's bedroom

and that's the big build going on for that at the moment.

Charlie's already white bedroom will be repainted for a modern

look with '60s-style furniture.

Basically it's that shape...

We were asked to put in a bespoke bunk bed but with the time

and the resources we have available, we've bought in a frame so we know

that it's safe and we don't have to worry about that side of things.

It's easier to build so obviously we've got the bars in here,

and this bit is very cabiny inside.

Sarah originally trained as a chef,

but now wants to use her creative skills as an interior designer.

So, Sarah, how much do you really want to win the competition?

Such a loaded question, isn't it?

I think you rise to a challenge

and I think anybody at this stage is going to want to win.

So whether you win or whether you lose, do you think you'll go on in interior design?

I can't imagine stopping this, I love it.

I think just lack of confidence makes you doubt yourself

sometimes, so that's quite tough sometimes.

Do you feel a bit more confident now?

Honestly....

At Jordan's, he's running the project with precision.

We're going great guns, everybody's jumped into the sitting room

so we can get this one pretty much signed off hopefully today

so that then the guys can move on into the hall

because we've got a hell of a lot to do there.

Up in Rosie's room,

the decoration and wallpapering's pretty much done up there.

Organised Jordan has pursued various careers.

He trained as an actor, ran a market stall and has a coffee shop.

But now he wants to use his artistic skills.

I really want to win, it is a competition and I'm in it to

win it, so I've hopefully pulled out all the stops and time will tell.

You've got this far, do you think whether you win or whether you don't win,

do you think your future still lies in interior design?

I hope so, I really hope so, yeah. I think to have come this far,

I've been through the entire process, essentially.

So win or lose now, it's definitely the way forward for me, I hope.

For Sarah's Shaker-style blue guest room, she's getting crafty.

This is the kind of dye that you normally would put a whole

load of fabric in a pot with this in it.

I'm going to use it just like it's a watercolour paint

and there's four different colours of blue here and I might just

mix a few together to make, see if I can make one more different one.

Adding salt to the mix will set the dye so that colours won't run when washed.

It's lovely to make handmade stuff because you know that there's only

one of a kind so you're putting something unique

into the house, and also it is a very cheap way of making something

hopefully beautiful without having to pay huge amounts of money for it.

You're not going for fabric paint because with fabric paint

you'd get quite a different effect, wouldn't you?

Yeah, I'm trying to make something that's more like a watercolour,

to get stuff that flows and it's a bit more translucent.

Yeah, and you get these imperfections,

-but I think that's what makes it so charming.

-I'm hoping they add to it.

Sarah's signature vintage look is a world away from the cutting edge

design these houses were built to.

When these homes were built in the early 19th century,

they were at the forefront of luxury and design for housing.

Land this close to the centre of Liverpool was scarce and expensive,

so the terrace was the most efficient way of packing them in.

But Liverpool's success as a port had consequences for property growth.

As shipping exploded, timber was diverted from house building to ship building,

and brick became far more commonplace as a building material.

Cottoning onto this in 1784,

the government introduced a tax on the total number of bricks used in

a home, but one step ahead, the wily builders simply increased the size

of the bricks they used so they didn't have to use quite so many.

With all the features done in Jordan's front room,

there's just the mural left to do,

and in the guest-cum-playroom, the stripy walls are also nearly there.

I rather like this stripe, it's almost like a Regency stripe, in fact.

Yes, I'd like to do a little modern twist on that.

Brilliant, and I can see the modern twist goes even

further by going over the skirting board.

Absolutely, it would have been amazing if the room had coving.

I would've liked to have painted over that as well but unfortunately not.

Then what happens on the ceiling? You've painted it dark!

Which is quite an unusual thing. Is there a reason behind that?

Ceiling heights are so high in here

and I thought it'd be quite nice to have that feeling a bit more cosy.

In Rosie's room, his bold purple

and green scheme is taking shape, so he can start on details.

Yeah, so I would say the first one,

if I'm just imagining I'm a nine-year-old girl.

That's it, I'll step back and you hold, yeah, I think that's lovely.

-Yeah? Should I go with that then?

-Go with it.

The floating book shelves will be made from an old book fixed to a wall bracket.

There's too many heights, isn't it,

-because you've got the chair arm and then you've got that...

-No, I like it.

It's the end of day two and Sarah's copper light still needs work.

The builder's put some holes in here for the flex but I think what

would be really handy is to try and feed just one line of wire all the

-way round. Does that sound like you might be able to do that tonight?

-Yeah, I'll take it home.

I really appreciate it, really appreciate it.

Things are coming together nicely. The majority of stuff

and all the painting really needs to get finished tomorrow

because we can't have all the furnishing moving round, there's so

many people in the house and so much displaced furniture that we just

need to have everything finished tomorrow night in terms of painting.

All the build stuff's done in here now, just got to finish

painting this fireplace, and then we've got the mural to go up which

I'm actually going to do last thing because I don't want any scuffs or

paint on that, but apart from that, touch wood, it's going quite well.

Day three, and both designers are halfway through the competition, but

with a hallway and three rooms to complete, there's no time to rest.

There's one day left.

With just under £4,500 to spend on so many rooms, it's a huge task.

It's the start of day three and we've had a really slow, quiet

start because Tracy and Jim are still in bed.

Sarah's quietly giving a new look to an old rug with ten pounds of felt.

So what I've done is I've got little circles of vintage blanket

and just sewn round the edge of it and stuffed it with sheep's wool.

So you've got these lovely woolly pebbles.

I'm going to sew them really tightly together

so they really feel like there's one solid piece of it

and then it should be like a lovely stuffed pebble rug.

It's one element of her ultra-modern design for the boy's bedroom.

It is one nasty little cycle of painting

and getting things dirty and then painting again.

I want to get the whole room whited out completely

and then plan where we're going to put the stripes.

The continuous green stripe will be the main colour in the room,

but Sarah's also dialling up the fun factor.

This is what I would like to have in my bedroom if I was seven, a little chute.

Because I know my boys love to race their cars down stuff

and they particularly love it when they crash.

So hopefully there'll be a little platform here

and he can race it down and then the desk is going underneath

so there'll be a little platform for the cars to arrive down on.

It's a lot to do.

In Jordan's hallway, he's turned his attention to the storage.

It's basically two upstands, this side's going to be split in half exactly,

this half's going to have a door.

Pigeon holes there.

Yeah, so that's just hooks.

I just want it to look like two cupboard doors.

The traditional front room is on schedule,

ready for the dramatic mural to be hung.

You said the mural is dark from that corner...

-That's upside down.

-Is it?

-Yeah, it's that.

Ground, tree, sky.

-HE LAUGHS

-OK, no probs.

I'm really excited to see the mural going up, I mean, it's blown

up to such a scale that you can really see all the brush strokes

in there, it adds some great texture and it really grounds the space.

Jordan's £325 mural comes in pre-printed panels.

It's a trick he used in a previous round to give a period feel.

And this Georgian home needs some character despite being built around 200 years ago.

After the Great Fire of London in 1666,

the whole building industry was completely reformed to make

sure that such devastation never happened again.

For instance in 1774 the Building Act brought in recessed wooden sash windows behind brickwork

to stop spreading fire.

All homes had to conform to a similar size

on the outside in proportion to the width of the street and any

buildings that failed to comply were threatened with demolition.

Some thought this resulted in elegant uniformity,

while others thought it stiflingly dull.

Something neither of our finalists could be accused of in their designs.

This morning I was upstairs in Sarah's house

and looking at the guest bedroom and it was really impressive.

No, you're right, that room is looking absolutely gorgeous,

she's gone for a really strong, heavy colour

and that's where we see these designers really adding to

these houses. She's bringing in a lovely sense of colour and design

that's really going to transform that space.

But it's only paint yet, there's a lot of other things going on,

there's a lot of rushing around those rooms, there's a lot of business going on.

In Jordan's he's having to pump some character into that house,

but there's one thing I know - by golly, he's doing it.

My only concern is, is that right for this client and brief?

They wanted something quite simple and pared back from what

I read into it but they are getting the Jordan effect, it would appear.

It's maybe a bit pushy, maybe a little bit too much

but there's a lot of other things going on and I'm just quite

excited about what's going to be produced over the next 24 hours.

As Jordan's mural goes up in his period front room,

the tree branches have arrived for his stripy guest-cum-playroom.

I really wanted to make a feature of the day bed in here,

so it's going to look really enchanting and sort of whimsical

and magical for the kids when it's a playroom but also

against the stripes, the shapes and stuff are going to be beautiful.

It's something a bit out of the ordinary but it's going to look fab.

They cost £65 from an online foliage dealer,

but some jobs he's doing himself.

I'm just making a couple of cushions for the playroom,

in the same stripe that I've used for the curtains

and the mattress cover, so it's going to be a stripy mirage.

But next door, there's a problem.

There's a bit of an issue in the lounge

Why? Oh, God.

The wrong panel has been hung on the left side of the wall...

and it's been cut to fit the doorway.

Have we got the bit that came out of that?

I haven't got the bit for this because...

Oh, God.

Meanwhile, Sarah's front room is coming together.

I'm sorry to say I think it's got to go a bit higher.

Nice work, boys.

And her blue guest room is getting some Shaker-style pegs

and shelving installed.

But seeing the bold colour scheme, Sarah makes a bold decision.

This suddenly looks really like a kid's made it.

And I know it took seven hours but against this,

it looks like amateur land, doesn't it?

Back at Jordan's, he needs a solution for his mural.

Is that where...? If they were in the right sequence, is that where that piece is?

If it's the right...that's one, two, that's three.

What's the join like?

The worst bit is the bit with the door in, can I see that?

The mural is in four sections

and unfortunately we've just started with piece two as opposed to

piece one, so the doorway has been cut out.

He has kept that piece so he's just going to have to take it down,

move it along and there is going to be a join where the doorway was, but, you know what?

These things happen, it's a busy site, there's things happening

in all of the rooms all the time, so it's a mishap, it's going to be OK.

It's the evening of day three. Tomorrow is the final day.

It does feel like a mountain, I think it's...this is the big

final push, I can't believe how quickly today has gone.

Obviously I'd like to be further ahead than I am but we are where we

are and we've just got to keep going now and get across that finish line.

If it's just for me and I don't win, then that's fine.

I feel like I've gone all the way to the end and that's all I ever wanted.

But there's loads of people going, "Oh, yeah, come on, we want you to win,"

and my family and my children...

It's the crucial final day when one of our designers will be

crowned winner of the Great Interior Design Challenge.

But with just hours to go,

both designers still have major elements of their design to finish.

Central to Sarah's modern bedroom design is her continuous

green stripe across the floor, walls and ceiling.

I think one line, we find one fat line.

The line will also continue across the bed and window pane.

This is the film that, it's got some backing on it at the moment,

but it basically peels off and goes over this, just a little bit of the

window to make the green line appear to carry on, right through the room.

Putting storage into Jordan's hallway is still a way off.

But the fireplace is being finished in the period front room.

And the guest-cum-playroom is getting its final stripes.

I stayed quite late last night to get sort of all the big

jobs like painting and stuff done, so there's lots of things to

go up on the walls, I've still got to hang the curtains which

are quite heavy as well, so that's going to really change the space.

There's just a lot of fiddly jobs today which can trip you up,

so I'm trying to keep on top of them all.

Before I got here this morning I had some strong thoughts

about which way I was going to go, and I've just completely

changed my mind, I'm all over the place with this one, it's a toughie.

I can see that both the designers have put their heart

and soul into these rooms, I'm seeing colour, pattern,

clever, ingenious design, beautiful detail.

I think they're very evenly matched.

This is the first time experience.

Possibly not the best time to be doing something for the first time...

..when one's slightly nervous.

It's about to come together in here, hopefully. Does it fit, does it fit?

It fits.

It's a relief the shelves are here and they actually fit.

Jordan's bedrooms are nearly complete.

It's going to be phenomenal.

And he's onto finishing touches in the period front room.

Yeah, looks good.

But work in the hallway goes down to the wire.

It's insanely crazy.

We're all right, almost there, three rooms down, one to go.

-We're up against it!

-Quietly confident? Or a bit nervous?

Um, I'm feeling pretty good, actually, I think

it's looking fantastic.

The green stripe has dried in Sarah's modern bedroom and

a salvage yard find takes pride of place in the hall to welcome guests.

After four days, just under £4,500,

and fierce determination, our designers can do no more.

The competition means everything to me, to have come this far,

my eyes are on the prize now, I want to win, I really do.

I'm so happy with the results. I think, you know,

it looks fantastic, it's so smart that I just hope they love it.

I'm very pleased with how the design has rolled out, but for all

the people who have helped me along the way and all the people who have looked after my children

or...helped me...

I'd love to win for them.

Now it's down to judges Sophie and Daniel to decide who will be

the winner of the Great Interior Design Challenge.

Jordan is first to be judged.

Four days ago this Georgian hallway was narrow

and cluttered with no character to speak of.

Now he's added practical storage, architectural details on the

walls, and given it a welcoming feel with a soft green colour scheme.

As well as his hand-drawn artwork.

I did not recognise this hallway,

this is the biggest transformation I've seen.

Absolutely, and he's just put the character all the way back in

and not just character but a massive level of practicality.

And on top of that, this is what I think is rather clever,

you can sit here and take your shoes off.

Absolutely ingenious bit of planning as you said,

and yet this is such a narrow hallway.

He's still kept it feeling quite spacious.

I think it really creates a very impressive welcome into this house.

Absolutely, and those pictures, I've seen Jordan do this before,

those are tiny images but he's done the big panels around the edge

and it really makes them look very special.

The living room was the ultimate blank canvass,

stripped of all original features with few home comforts.

Now it's been completely transformed.

Jordan has added a fire surround to act as a focal point, with

hand-painted tiles, panelling on the walls, a dramatic mural of a

countryside scene, and softened the whole scheme with a cornflower blue.

The first impression in this room is how much Jordan has achieved

with quite a restrictive budget.

And this room is very much on brief too, they wanted the heritage

of the house brought back in, but they also wanted it to look quite

calm and elegant, so from that point of view I think it's right on brief.

Although this blue has got a little bit too much energy in it for me

and if I'm looking at this wall here with this great faux oil painting,

I'm actually looking at that door in the corner rather than that.

Yeah, that colour just needed knocking back a bit didn't it?

Yeah, it just needed to be a bit dirtier.

Upstairs, the guest bedroom-cum-playroom was

a simple if cluttered white room.

Now it's had the full Jordan effect.

The greyish blue stripes completely surround the room on the walls,

curtains...and furniture.

He's painted the ceiling a dark shade to create a cosy feel,

and has added white tree branches to bring some fairy tale whimsy.

Wow, very dramatic, isn't it?!

It's dramatic yet there's a strange sense of peacefulness in this room.

Because of the colours, he's gone for these nice restful aqua greens.

And rather ingenious to have the stripes of the fabric, then go into the wall as well

and coming up again on that curtain on the left-hand side.

It's created like an illusion. I feel there's lots of visual tricks being played in here.

These are really fabulous, aren't they?

They add a magical feel because this is a playroom after all,

so it's nice that this does feel a little bit of fun but with

a dual purpose of also being a guest room, you want a grown-up edge too.

Nine-year-old Rosie had grown out of her bedroom, which was pink

and dominated by stripped pine units.

Now it's a room for her to grow into, with a bold

and fashionable colour scheme, practical but stylish storage,

as well as some quirky touches.

You know, this must be every little girl's dream bedroom, surely.

On the brief they wanted a little girl's room that would last

a few years and, actually, I think any trendy teenager wouldn't mind a room like this.

Where he's managed to make it more sophisticated is by using

this emerald green and I've noticed that even on the little teddy bear,

and it makes this room feel very sophisticated.

Part of the judges' decision is based on how much the homeowners like the designs,

which they're about to see complete for the first time.

-Wow, that's amazing, and the seat.

-It's good, isn't it?

That means we don't have to sit on the stairs any more to put our shoes on.

It doesn't actually look like our hallway.

-No, it doesn't.

-It is. Come into the front room.

We've got all these things that weren't in the room before!

Oh, I just think the colours are perfect, tiles.

I know, painted them all himself!

They are beautiful.

We wanted a cosy, warm room and before it was just dark and cold.

Oh, it's beautiful. It's girly and grown-up.

Floating books, they're really clever, aren't they?

I think she is going to love it because it's hers, isn't it?

It's going to be really special.

I hope you like stripes.

I love stripes, and we have trees in our house.

They are literally amazing.

I'm so glad we invited him to come and do it.

Next to be judged are Sarah's designs.

Four days ago this hallway was grand but plain,

lacking the sophistication the homeowners craved.

Now the dark grey lower wall is practical, while the lighter

tone above creates a sense of space, the stair runner has been updated,

and the side table, prints and statue bring some designer touches.

This was a beautiful grand Georgian hallway to begin with.

I like the way Sarah has just expanded on the theme.

She's kept that simplicity and addressed the original

architecture by just having these very broad stripes deepening

as it goes down to work better with this rather bright floor.

Here what she's done is she's created a focal point

in the hallway with the demilune

and the painting there and then dear Mary here on the right.

There's just some quirky bits of interest on something that's usually an ordinary thoroughfare.

The front room was an unused dining room which the owners wanted to be part work space, part sitting room.

Sarah has transformed it with a gentlemen's club theme.

She's added a snooker table with detachable top,

and traditional furniture, while giving the room edge with

floating glass shelves and bespoke copper light.

This is fun.

Having had the calm of the hallway

and coming in to the excitement of this, makes it quite special.

Well, this room had no purpose, and what Sarah has managed to do

is give this room a look, a games room, a gentlemen's club room.

It's a party room in which they can come and work every now and again.

But I do feel that maybe a little bit themed, you know,

like a gastro pub, over-staged rather than being real.

Although, you can look at some of the details.

For example, over there, have you seen?

Brass lion heads with rings and then using them for the cues, love it!

For design details, it totally is top marks, isn't it?

I'm just seeing all her quirky little ideas like this

lighting that she came up with on a shoestring.

Absolutely brilliant.

Upstairs, the white box of a guest room needed

so much more personality.

Now its bold blue colour scheme and vintage feel is classic Sarah.

She's kept the floor and ceiling white, added Shaker-style pegs

and shelving, and bought in a colourful bedspread.

This is the guest bedroom

and I think if you were coming to stay for a weekend you'd feel

really made at home in a room like this, wouldn't you?

Absolutely, it's both very masculine and feminine,

and the way she's done that is by having a light floor,

pale ceiling that's been brought down to the shelf level, and then

just a stripe of that rich blue in the room, and she's pulled it off.

And what I'm loving is this shelf and peg rail, I think this is

a great idea for spare rooms, you don't want to clog up a room

with unnecessary wardrobes and chest of drawers. That is a really clever idea.

Nine-year-old Charlie's bedroom was plain and functional,

but lacked personality.

Sarah's gone all-out with a modern, original scheme,

with white walls and a green stripe across the entire room.

She's built a playful car slide into the wall,

made a cabin bed from basic flat pack furniture,

and added more colour with a handmade bobble rug.

Oh, it's so funky, isn't it?

What I'm liking about that is that Sarah is proving to us

that she doesn't do just vintage,

what she's touched on here is late '60s psychedelia design,

classic is the green stripe that goes through the room.

What I particularly love about it is the way the green goes over

the old Georgian mouldings in the sash window with the window film and just makes the space look so modern.

And she's proven that she can do a boy's bedroom.

I know that because I'd love one of these. Have you seen it?

Your new hall...

There's Mary, oh, my goodness!

Oh, my God.

Oh, what a clever, clever woman.

She's brought it all together, it is beautiful,

the old industrial really works with the traditional.

It's just us, isn't it?

Ta-da!

Oh, my goodness, this is incredible!

Little cave to crawl into there.

Isn't that just wonderful?

-Fantastic.

-I love it.

Oh, my goodness!

-It is fantastic!

-I'm lost for words, actually.

It's wonderful!

It's now a long wait for our designers, while the judges

decide who deserves to be named champion of the competition.

So, you two, it's the big one.

Let's start with Sarah.

Now you really wanted her to show her versatility, has she done that?

Absolutely, with two bedrooms beside each other, cheek by jowl

but completely different.

One really poppy and modern,

and the other with a very sort of solid, homely feel to it.

She's come through as somebody who designs vintage homewares.

She does that look very, very well but we're looking for her to

push the boundaries and I think she's shown that throughout

this competition, but particularly this week.

You could be quite afraid dealing with a house like that,

it's the perfect Georgian house so you'd honour it

and give it respect, but actually you just want to be a little

bit rock and roll with it too, and she did.

How about Jordan?

His rooms definitely make you go "Wow" when you walk in. What we were

looking for with him was for him to show that he can add some practical

considerations, really thinking about how people live in and use

the space, and he's really proved that he's taken that on board.

He's a showman, he's got great humour but he also

thinks about applying them to the needs of the people who live there.

This lovely family wanted to actually feel that they do live

in a Georgian house and he put all that character back, and more.

He put in style too.

Jordan's rooms are always innovative and daring and something new,

and there's always something in his schemes that I've never seen before.

Which is excellent.

How do you think the pair have evolved over the series?

Oh, it's been absolutely an amazing progression from their first

room to now practically doing a whole house.

Absolutely. Blimey, I really, really don't envy you two.

You've got quite a task.

24 amateur designers competed in eight heats.

And after quarterfinals and a semi, we were left with two of the best.

Now just one can win.

Well, you two, a big ask for the final.

Four rooms, you both must be exhausted.

We have so enjoyed watching your progress,

and if you carry on at this rate, you're without a doubt going

to have really successful careers in design.

I hope you come and join us lot as interior designers,

you both have a position in the professional world.

But these two have deliberated very long and hard,

and they've come to their decision.

And the winner...

..of the Great Interior Design Challenge is...

..Sarah.

-Well done, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Well deserved.

Thank you!

Aww!

-Thank you!

-Thank you.

I'm really proud of myself that I've never done this before and I can do it and I really enjoy it.

Every winner has to have a trophy and this is handmade...

It's handmade, I love it!

It's right up my street, thank you, that is amazing,

I'm totally overwhelmed.

I hope that this is just the beginning of something amazing.

Obviously I was disappointed, I've said all along that

I was in it to win it, but I've come as far as you can go in the

competition and at the end of the day there's two fantastic houses

there and the families are going to enjoy living in them, so I'm

sure I'm going to move on within this industry and make a name for myself.

Thank you so much, it really means a lot. Thank you.

That was a very, very difficult, almost emotional decision to be made.

Because I love them both and it was a hair's breadth, really.

-I hope you like it.

-What have you done to our lovely home?

Don't say that, I hope you like it!

We've found two of the most talented designers in the country, but

Sarah, she did have that something special at the end of the day.

I have just so enjoyed learning how to do this

and I think it'll be a fantastic opportunity that's waiting for me.

The British home is an astonishing thing, comes in all shapes

and sizes and all styles from Georgian to Brutalist,

from thatched cottage to tower block.

It's as varied as the people who live inside, but one thing's been

consistent throughout this series - the sheer creativity our designers

have shown, marrying this history with the sharpest of modern designs.

And that's the most astonishing thing of all about the British

home, the job is never done, it's continually being reinvented.