Art Deco - Beckenham 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, we're asking 24 amateur designers who believe

they've got what it takes to be the next big thing in interiors

to show us how it should be done.

We'll travel across the country and through the ages,

to Victorian avenues, Art Deco cul-de-sacs

and Regency squares.

Each time, three would-be designers take on similar rooms

in three neighbouring homes.

I don't really hate it, but I'm not sure.

I haven't upholstered cat beds before.

This is going really well.

Across eight heats, they'll compete for a place in the quarterfinals.

Judging them are designer and president elect of

the British Institute of Interior Design, Daniel Hopwood.

The really great designers have a level of flexibility

and they can work round a client,

and yet give them a lot of style.

And interior stylist and magazine journalist

Sophie Robinson.

What I'm looking for in this competition is designers

who have a high level of creativity.

Now it's their imaginations and design skills

that'll determine who'll come out on top.

This time, our amateur designers will be putting their own

spin on an unusual room in three 1930s Art Deco houses.

The rooms may be similar, but each designer's clients

have very different demands.

I think Catherine and Roy are really going to like it.

If you keep putting gold in things, I'm going to think

I'm going to get a gold room.

I know I don't really want a gold room.

But only one of our amateurs can go

through to the next round of the competition.

What happened here?

I'm looking at that, but... Hmm, don't get it.

That room's ready to be photographed and put in a magazine.

They have come to a decision

about which designer shows the most potential.

This cinema in Beckenham, Kent,

was designed by the architect Robert Cromie

and opened in 1930.

It's got all of the details you associate with

classic Art Deco styling -

the bold geometric shapes, the sensuous lines

and the kind of eclectic decoration that mixes

Aztec style with neoclassicism.

But the influence of Art Deco reached far wider

than the cinema of the time.

This is Park Langley,

the 3,000-acre suburb of Bromley.

Most of the 1,500 homes here are suitably conservative,

but there are some rare exceptions.

These five houses were built in 1934,

and to a new cinema-loving generation

they must have seemed like the glamorous other-worldly homes

they'd seen on the silver screen.

The white box-like architecture with its intersecting vertical

and horizontal lines and its

geometric shapes echoes the work of Cubist artists.

Each of these houses has a unique space,

which is quintessentially Art Deco.

Wrapped in glass, these sunrooms were designed

so occupants could bathe in light and enjoy the view.

And it's this unusual room

that our three amateur designers now have the opportunity to transform.

I enjoy making my own

house environment really beautiful to live in.

For me, I think it's just very much I've found my creative outlet.

I don't sing or dance or play music or anything like that.

I'm not even particularly very good at art.

And it's totally different to anything that I do at work,

or being a mother or something like that.

But it's part of me.

'I would say that I'm quite a practical individual.'

I've got a degree in textile design for furnishings.

So I can do upholstery, I can sew, I can paint.

I'm from quite a creative family of musicians and dressmakers

and decorators and builders.

I've decided now that I'm not meant to do anything else.

That is it, I'm supposed to be an interior designer.

'At the moment, I'm a greetings card designer.'

I'm a really kind of all-round creative person,

so my love for interior design has

built from studying a degree in illustration.

Growing up in North Devon,

always down by the beach, going for walks,

and that's really inspired me in my work.

My style is that kind of costal vintage with

a little modern twist on it.

They've never worked professionally before.

Now they have £1,000 and 48 hours spread over three days

to transform a room each.

The first Art Deco house belongs to Catherine and Roy

and is a testament to their seven years of meticulous restoration.

We really love the style and architecture and the furniture,

so we really wanted to translate that into our own home.

Having two young children running around, it would be nice to

have a grown-up space that we can kind of talk about our day and...

Yeah, bit of fun, bit wild, but true to the theme of Art Deco,

then we're up for it.

Before the designer gets started, the judges want

to explore the challenges of each sunroom.

Sweet little space!

And windows all the way round, too.

Because sun was a new concept in the '30s.

It started with Coco Chanel.

She went to a holiday down to the South of France,

came back to Paris with a tan and everybody thought,

"Ooh, this is a new thing."

And then everybody started sunbathing.

Right. So, whereas before, interiors were quite dark,

with heavy dressings, dark colours,

this is a whole new beginning, isn't it, to have these huge round

-panoramic windows?

-Embrace the light.

Also you have the horizontal that you see here,

which was part of that sort of

streamline fashion that was going on.

Everything looked like it was going 100mph,

even if it was still a house.

It's almost like a conservatory space.

You've got wrap-around views all the way round

and you don't want to disguise those.

The windows probably just need really simple, sleek,

even roller blinds that completely disappear, because actually it's the

minimal architectural detail in here which is so lovely.

And if you fuss that with lots of layers of fabrics,

you're going to kind of kill the effect.

But it's going to get hot as well, isn't it?

So there must be a bit of a challenge there.

The sunrooms were deigned to be used in

conjunction with the roof terrace, so our designers will work on both.

Oh, this is wonderful.

Oh, it's amazing!

How special to be able to go onto your roof

to look out over your garden.

From a design point of view, they make a lot of sense.

It's amazing how they didn't catch on more, actually.

I think the fear then was that they all leaked and that's changed.

Yeah, exactly. I can see they've had the whole roof done,

which has obviously been a great investment.

Now they've got to think about what they're going to put on top,

cos this isn't suitable for

laying furniture or anything. You would damage it.

Tackling this 1930s brief

is 39-year-old executive assistant, Louise.

Like all our designers, she's been working on her clients' brief

for a week, but this is the first time they'll meet in person.

Start with the room

and this is what I've come up with.

During her meeting with the homeowner,

Louise will be judged on her design, her interpersonal skills

and how adaptable she is to her clients' needs.

Now I know it's very important for you and your husband to have

a bar up here, so you can enjoy your evenings with a gin and tonic.

So we're going to build a curved bar that just comes into this space.

That's all going to be lovely black gloss on the top.

What's this here?

I know that you... Yes, I know that you like the Art Deco stencils.

-Yeah.

-So I'm hoping to put those up the stairs.

-Oh, great.

-And also this one here.

I'll put that round the edge of the bar.

What I'd really like to do is the green wall.

Absolutely, I love it.

Which I'm thinking of painting that kind of all emerald green.

-Fancy.

-Yeah.

And so I'm hoping that ticks the boxes.

Louise's Art Deco cocktail bar has been met with approval

and she plans to continue her green theme

outside with artificial grass on the terrace.

With the outdoor space, we're going to partially deck,

just in the front of the door here.

It is difficult, cos we never think...

I only had pictures, so everything's kind of in my head.

So now, being here now, I'll hope that we can have a little play around

and see where the best place to put things will be.

-DANIEL:

-Loving that emerald green, aren't you?

SOPHIE: Yeah, it's so brilliant. It's a really fashionable colour,

which I think is great for this family, because while

Catherine and Roy love Art Deco,

they are still quite a modern family

and they like to move their tastes on.

I think that colour will be really punchy.

I just hope she uses enough of it and doesn't just have

a skinny stripe on the chimney breast.

Louise now has three days,

£1,000 and the help of a builder

to turn her vision into a reality.

This is where the bar is going to be.

-Oh, right, yeah.

-Fitting onto this wall.

-OK.

I brought a big unit, a storage unit, that I think is going to fit

perfectly in there, but you're going to need to remove all the shelves.

-Right, so, let's get cracking.

-Yeah, no worries.

Louise has a bold plan to paint the main wall in

an Art Deco-inspired emerald green.

It's going to be nice, just what I wanted.

So, I think Catherine and Roy are really going to like it, as well.

Next door live Rachel and Sue,

whose sunroom was extended by previous owners.

While the glass walls have been lost, their floor space is larger.

It'll be for friends who come round and have drinks with us,

so I think keeping it light,

keeping it grown-up is exactly what we want.

We've had several holidays in South Beach in Miami, which is all

Art Deco, so we quite like the colour, quite like the style.

We don't want it to feel cluttered

and we don't want it to feel garish.

We want it to feel sophisticated.

Come and have a look, Sophie. Much bigger, isn't it?

-Completely different!

-I know what happened here.

It's now locally listed, this building.

But before that happened,

they managed to get away with extending up here.

There's a little bit of a terrace out there,

tiny, but that whole sunroom concept that the others have

and that lovely '20s, '30s feel has disappeared.

Sue and Rachel are up for quite a Miami Beach style.

So they're looking for something that's got

those lovely fresh colours - the pale pinks,

the pale greens, which are also very '30s, too.

Given the task of taking their sunroom

from Beckenham to Miami Beach is 26-year-old Amy from Bath.

OK. Hi, Rachel, hi, Sue.

I've kind of created some mood boards.

So those beautiful pistachios and the creams and lilacs.

And I kind of brought in more of a plummy colour

to give it a real sort of rich feel.

Well, I like the pastel colours.

-The pastel colours?

-These ones.

-Yeah.

-Because I like to play it safe.

-OK.

I'm not so keen on that, actually. It's so dark.

One of the things that we were really keen on is keeping the light.

We could maybe just do one section of a wall and have, like,

five mirrors and gold frames.

I quite like the concept of having a frame wall.

I'm not sure I was thinking of gold

in my Miami-feel beachy place at all.

Well, I've brought some Devonshire driftwood.

So, I thought I could make some shelving units out of driftwood.

-That sounds good.

-Bringing that beach theme back in.

And some beautiful palm plants.

Amy's scheme marries her signature Devon coast style

with an Art Deco chic.

Obviously, this beautiful Victorian bucket chair

with this damask pattern,

I'm going to fringe that with some gold fringing.

OK. Don't go too heavy on the gold.

-No?

-Would be my... I'm...

Yeah. For me, if you keep putting gold in things, I'm going

to think I'm going to get a gold room

and I don't think... Well, I know I don't really want a gold room.

I've got the confidence that it'll work

and that we can go through everything and it's going to...

You know, I want it to suit you.

SOPHIE: I'm not still completely sold

on the fact she gets Miami Beach style.

She's very young, and she's got a lot of enthusiasm

and actually I do think she's got some talent, but I don't think,

as we said, she understands the look.

AMY: From my mood boards,

maybe I didn't show enough of the beach theme,

but there is going to be a really kind of heavy beach theme in there,

with the Devonshire driftwood and the palms,

so it's going to be a really beautiful beach theme

running through with that Art Deco feel.

The final home belongs to Nigel and Heather,

whose sunroom is the smallest of the three.

It's currently used as Nigel's office,

but it's far from functional.

I have a computer up there and a printer

and do some work up there,

but it's not ideal, the way it's set up.

We don't really use it the way it should be.

It should be something that gives the house a real wow factor, but...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..somehow, it never happened.

-DANIEL:

-It's a lot smaller than the last one.

Oh! Careful of that thing, as well.

-Oh, dear!

-Yeah.

And peach, as well. That's terrible, isn't it?

It's really bijou up here, isn't it?

It's tiny. There's not much space behind.

There's a load of suitcases behind here.

These houses don't have lofts.

That's one advantage of a pitched roof, you get to put...

Oh, yes, somewhere to put your cases!

I think there's a bit more of a challenge than the other one.

So, as I understand it, yeah, Nigel uses this as his office

in quite a serious way.

He's got oodles of filing and storage and that all has to stay.

And one of the key problems is just too much sunlight.

It's coming at you all round and when you're looking at a monitor,

if you've got the sun glaring in, it's a nightmare

So I think our designer has to really

address how to control that.

30-year-old Charmaine has a degree in textile design

and is eager to impress with her practical skills.

Homeowners Nigel and Heather want to deviate from Deco

and have asked for a 1950s theme.

So, what I have decided to do in here, in answer to your brief,

I hope, is what I like to call a retro corner.

We've got a beautiful retro-looking pendant lamp,

which I'm hoping isn't going to be in your way when you come in and out...

It's quite a low ceiling.

-And I've actually sourced for you this original 1950s desk.

-Wow.

I'm very proud of that.

And I'm hoping that's going to be our star piece.

I'm looking at this and thinking I have a computer,

I have a printer and, if it's all going to sit on the desk,

how much room am I going to have?

-Is it actually going to be practical?

-OK, OK.

So that's your concern.

We can definitely address that.

I am going to be making you some bespoke pelmets

to cover the blackout linen roller blinds.

They're going to be in sort of a gorgeous designer

retro sort of 1950s fabric.

-What about storage?

-This is just a floor plan of the space.

So I'm planning to put shelves actually just along

the chimney breast at the back, just here.

What, on this breast?

No, no. On the other side just there.

-OK.

-So we're going to put some shelving down there for you.

Charmaine's simple '50s scheme will spread through to the terrace.

I'm going to clean up all of your tiles for you.

Just as you come through the door here, we're going to

sort of have a nine-metre square area here.

-We'll put some lovely seating and some plants out there for you.

-OK.

Well... We shall see what we shall see.

SOPHIE: I think Charmaine gave a very reasonable presentation.

My concerns was that she had a lack of confidence.

There was a lot of, "I hope this is going to work."

Charmaine is in a competition,

so she's got to be the polished, elegant presenter

who is convincing about the design that she's

going to do in someone's house.

As Charmaine clears the clutter from the office, it's clear she's

not persuaded her clients on the choice of her furnishings.

I suppose my real concern is the desk was

designed in the '50s,

when you had a telephone and a pad of paper.

Now we've got a computer, a screen, printer.

Is there going to be enough room?

I don't know how practical it's going to be.

Work in all three sunrooms is under way, and,

as they rejuvenate these historic homes, it's easy to forget that,

80 years ago, these buildings were

the embodiment of cutting-edge design.

What we call Art Deco was part of a wider modernist movement

that infused everything from literature and art

to political thought and architecture.

It embraced machinery and technology,

offering a brighter future to people who,

100 years earlier, might have worked in agriculture

or the factories of the Industrial Revolution.

The modernist movement, propelled

by scientific and medical advances,

also celebrated health, fitness and gymnastics.

The sunroom epitomises this spirit.

The benefits of sunlight were now embraced by all,

and, in the sanatoriums of central Europe

that haunt modernist literature, the sun was even considered a cure.

Today, the sunrooms have altogether different functions and

it's up to our designers to

tailor-make the rooms for their clients.

Nigel uses this room as an office, so Charmaine has invested

a quarter of the total budget,

£250, on blinds to keep out the sun.

I am putting up some lovely roller blinds

and I would like for us to build a pelmet, actually,

just to go all the way around the room.

On this side and then, starting again going down here.

Outside, Charmaine is giving the roof terrace a face-lift,

with an acidic patio cleaner.

At £10, it's an effective way of rejuvenating tiles.

So, the moment of truth. Let's have a go.

Oh, wow, look at that.

A lot better than it was to begin with.

Unfortunately, it's not just Charmaine's hands getting dirty.

I've actually just noticed, all the grime and mess that we've been

sort of getting off the patio

is running down the side of the house.

I'm going to have to see about

cleaning that up.

Oh, my goodness! What a mess!

Until now, Charmaine's rented one-bedroom flat

in Harrow has been her only outlet to practise her design skills.

As a renter, I wasn't able to sort of go crazy

and put up wallpaper in here, which was what I would love to have done.

So, I actually took some wallpaper samples,

brought some inexpensive frames

and have created a really sort of great feature wall with my bed head.

So, I've been working really hard over the past two years,

doing internships.

But I think now is my time to really sort of make my mark

in the interior design industry.

I have this saying, actually, "Design, or die trying."

So, my dream now, really, is to be a working interior designer.

Despite her passion, this is her first ever client

and she has some doubts.

-SOPHIE:

-How do you feel it went after your briefing?

I was a bit nervous, cos they weren't jumping up and down.

But I'm confident that I can wow them with the finished product.

I was feeling concerned, cos he was getting a bit

nervous about his desk and I just wondered

if there's going to be another solution,

as opposed to the desk that you've got, which is

sort of neat and retro and lovely and to brief, but...

I'm actually sort of thinking...

Yeah, I took a bit of a risk, which I'm a bit nervous about now,

but I'm sort of thinking on my toes as to whether or not...

-You can change things.

-Absolutely.

That's what it's all about, as well.

You know, we all do it, as designers.

We come up with a new idea, we have to adapt something.

To avoid disappointment,

maybe that desk is a thing you need to focus on.

And then, you can play games with the rest of it.

The designers must be creative with their £1,000 budget.

Artist Amy is upcycling a second-hand £50 ottoman

with purple emulsion and charity shop offcuts.

So, I got some beautiful, rich fabric swatches here,

which I'm planning to make a really lovely

patchwork for the top of the ottoman,

bringing in the kind of Miami feel of the kind of palm leaves.

And some of the richer purples and golds

for the kind of Art Deco theme.

It kind of brings in my sort of artistic side and just,

you know, having fun with fabrics and colours

and just really kind of going for it,

not being too precious.

Being creative is nothing new for Amy.

Her home heaves under the weight of her artistic endeavours.

The upcycling trend, it's really kind of grabbed my attention,

cos it's looking at something old, or something quite cheap that

you could really kind of renovate and make it really suit your home.

This is my frame wall.

It's quite an eclectic mix of vintage frames.

Some of my own artwork there.

And a decoupage mirror that I created.

I really like kind of having that mixture of styles.

Having that vintage, eclectic feel,

with a Devon coastal feel.

So you've got the new and the old mixing together.

I kind of just have that ability to make them work together.

And have the confidence to make them work, as well.

Amy may be a confident designer,

but her clients weren't sure about her purple and gold scheme.

I'm just upcycling some old mirrors.

Old mirror frames.

I'm going to spray a few gold.

So, I'm just about to kind of start on that, really.

-Hello, Amy. Lots of frames painted already.

-Yeah.

Well, this is for the frame wall for the feature wall in the room.

There is a little sort of nervousness from them about too much gold.

-SOPHIE:

-Yeah, I got that quite loud and clear.

-It was quite loud.

-That's the big message I'm hearing here.

It's got to be lighter and brighter.

Yes, we won't touch on that purple.

I did think... I thought I'd try it.

Which is a great idea,

to try and push people in a direction you think

they might not have explored before.

I just don't think they...

From what I was hearing, I don't think they want to go there.

This boho chicness, fabulous as it is,

we've got to just tweak it.

Tweak it, yeah. I completely agree.

Unlike Amy, Louise's emerald green and monochrome colour scheme

was a big hit with her Art Deco adoring client.

The green paint is looking so lovely.

I'm just going to keep going

until I sense that I've done enough green paint.

Back in her own home, Louise also thinks bold is beautiful.

I don't think people expect women to decorate in these very strong,

masculine interiors.

I definitely like really rich colours,

kind of quite dark, quite dramatic.

A little bit creepy.

I think there's something quite lovely about bugs,

and things like that.

I definitely find it a very calming and enjoyable activity.

I have no crafting skills.

I like to think that I can do painting and upholstery,

but I'm quite messy.

I've got it everywhere already.

But it's not just with the paintwork where the devil's in the detail.

I can see signs of green.

So, you've definitely been painting upstairs.

Yes, there's lots of green going on in my room.

Originally, it was just going to be one column

and I've decided to paint all the walls green.

-When you say we, was that you and Catherine?

-Me.

-Oh, just you? OK!

How do you think the presentation went? Were you pleased with it?

Well, yeah. I was, actually.

I think the only thing that I was nervous about

was the choice of fabric that I had picked out.

I have to admit, that was my one nervous moment, was that fabric.

Tell me why?

Well, I admit that it is a Mackintosh,

so it is slightly Arts and Crafts.

-It's very Arts and Crafts.

-I know, going into Art Deco.

But I came prepared with loads of fabric samples,

waiting for her to say, "Change the fabric." And she didn't.

So, yeah.

That fabric, it's not Art Deco, you know?

-No.

-Art Nouveau, maybe, on touches, but certainly not Deco.

-And, for me, kind of a little bit old-fashioned.

-Mmm.

The '30s Art Deco movement was anything but old-fashioned

and signalled a change in how some people lived their lives.

As the middle classes swelled,

many wanted to escape the crowded capital.

Garden suburbs were designed to mix the best of a city

with the countryside,

so covenants here stipulated that each plot be no less than

a quarter of an acre and be bordered not by fences,

but by hedges, to maintain their leafy environment.

These Art Deco houses might be on the same plots as their neighbours,

but their sleek design contrasts with

the surrounding 1930s semis, appealing to a new generation.

Most British Art Deco homes were concentrated in the Midlands

and the south-east, where new electrical and automotive

industries were attracting young people with comfortable employment.

Or they were built as coastal holiday homes,

lending a touch of '30s glamour to the British seaside.

But, there's no time for our designers to

enjoy their suburban surroundings.

It's already mid-afternoon

and Amy's under pressure to rethink her original colour scheme.

You're not painting any of the walls purple?

I don't think they want any of the walls that deep purple.

So, that's going to be now this sort of mint cream wall.

I think it's really important to take on the judges' feedback, definitely.

But it's cool. We've gone back to the lighter colours

and it's going to work really well.

But Amy is insistent there be

at least one wall that sticks to her original design.

We're kind of adding in a few of those deeper richer colours,

like the pistachio, but just in small sections of the walls.

As the end of the day approaches,

Charmaine's builder has nearly finished making the pelmets -

a wooden frame, which will be covered in fabric

to hide the roller blind mechanism.

But upholstering will have to wait.

I'm feeling really nervous.

There's been a huge mess up with my fabric and it hasn't arrived.

So, the things I didn't want to have to do last-minute,

I'm going to have to.

And that is the sewing, the fabric and making it into the pelmet.

I kind of tend to work better under pressure, but to be honest,

I didn't want to have to do it like this at all.

I haven't seen what the other contestants are doing.

I've kind of being getting sneaky peeks over the top of the balcony,

but I don't know if they're as stressed as I am.

But I guess we'll soon see.

But, there's little sign of stress over the fence,

as Louise gets into the 1930s swing with a restorative break

in the setting sun.

I've painted a wall so far!

That's the main job. Painted the wall, put the furniture in now.

It's done.

I feel that everything is under control.

Although I don't really want to say that,

cos I expect it's going to turn round to bite me.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Day two, and the British weather is demonstrating why

the popularity of the sunroom waned.

After yesterday's sunny sabbatical,

Louise's spirits are suitably dampened.

Rain is causing a bit of a problem,

cos there's nowhere for us to do work outside.

We need the bar to be built, so that I can actually paint it,

and then we also need the decking laying.

So, this is payback for me

looking smug in the sun yesterday with a cup of tea.

SHE LAUGHS

SOPHIE: So, here we are on day two.

The weather is not on anybody's side.

It's absolutely bucketing it down,

and that isn't going to help our designers.

I know there was a lot of outside work planned for this morning,

especially in Louise's project.

All that decking and AstroTurf was scheduled to go down.

I was picking up from yesterday that they were quite

ahead of their time, it was all going to move quite nicely today.

But it's not going to, is it? They're going to get held back.

I'm still very concerned about Amy's design.

And I'm really concerned for Sue and Rachel.

I've just got a real sinking feeling that they're not going

to like it, and that's not the game we're playing here.

We want happy customers.

Fortunately, Amy has taken on board Sophie's advice

and finally seen the light.

Basically, we put a pistachio on there late afternoon yesterday

and kind of decided it was quite a muddy pistachio

and actually quite a heavy colour so painting that right over

and going for the cream and making it really light and beachy.

It's purely just slight colour changes.

When I say slight, quite dramatic colour changes

but I think it's all going to work together quite well.

Working to her

clients' brief, Louise plans to

create an Art Deco stencil to the bar.

The pre-cut kit cost her £25.

I am quite nervous about doing this

because I've never really done stencilling before

and I was hoping I was going to be able to put this off today.

But it's raining so it's the perfect job to be doing inside.

Unfortunately.

When stencilling it's essential not to overload the brush to

avoid paint seeping under the edges.

Something Louise is struggling with.

It's not going well at all.

As you can this is my first attempt, the paint's totally bleeding

but my hands are just so shaky.

I'm just really pleased that this is on paper and not on the wall.

Rubbish. What do you think?

It's not bad for a first attempt.

I don't want to do stencilling at all any more.

Outside Charmaine is taking advantage of a break

in the weather to restore one of the key pieces.

I'm just about to make over this vintage chair that I've sourced.

As you can see it's kind of rusty

and I have a really great tip actually for getting rid of rust.

If you just mix some sort of regular bicarbonate of soda with some

water and make it into a paste.

And then, once applied it should lift off all those

lose bits of rust with a little bit of elbow grease, of course.

For less than 50p of her £1,000 budget,

the paste lifts the surface rust ready for painting.

This tubular chair will be essential to her '50's theme, especially

as she's decided to change her

vintage desk for a glass alternative.

The desk I was going to use I changed.

This is what being a designer is all about.

Being creative and thinking on your toes.

Charmaine is trying hard

to tie in all the elements of her design.

Going to reupholster the arms

in the same fabric as what's going on the pelmet.

When it arrives.

-What's the news with the pelmet?

-We ordered it a few days ago but

there's been a bit of miscommunication at the fabric

company and it hasn't been dispatched

so I'm now actually not getting it until...

So it hasn't even been sent?

I'm not getting it till tomorrow so it's going to

be a bit of a push for me to sew that and upholster it.

I noticed you started using that punchy green, which has to tie

-in with the fabric.

-To make sense of it all.

-Exactly.

I am struggling to see how these colours are going to come

together without the fabric and actually,

to make a wrap-around pelmet, that's time consuming.

So I'm worried for her actually.

These three sunrooms all

vary in function and shape.

So the judges want a yard stick to measure the designer's creativity.

They've given them each an identical side table to up cycle

so it's in keeping with their scheme.

I found this lovely Art Deco-style mirror here

and what we're going to do is stick the mirror

-on top of the table.

-Reflecting 1930s Hollywood, mirror was the

material du jour of the Art Deco period and

is proving popular with our designers.

I've actually had a lovely piece of mirror cut to the same size

so I'm going to change this piece and put my own piece on there

and I'm going to be spray painting this a chrome colour.

I don't know if there's a lot of craft going into my up

cycling challenge so I hope that doesn't go against me.

While Louise and Charmaine have opted for quick fixes, Amy is

cutting into her schedule but not her budget with an artistic project.

For the upcycle project

I'm creating a decoupage of some pretty iconic Art Deco images

and some beautiful wallpapers and patterns.

So the first thing to do is to whack on your PVA.

Spread it on nice and sort of thickly for that first layer

just to get a bit of texture.

Right on to the corner. Line that right up...

-Whack the PVA right over the top.

-The traditional technique of

decoupage uses upward of 30 layers of varnish.

But with limited time a good glug of PVA glue will do the same job.

So this PVA will obviously dry completely clear.

Of course, Amy can't resist a little of her favourite colour.

I'm basically using this really fine gold powder

instead of the gold leaf stuff.

I can kind of control it a bit more as in it's not going to be as heavy

as gold leaf.

Still on the clients' no-go list, the gold might be a gamble.

But the rest of Amy's room now sticks to the clients' brief.

These colours are much more, for me,

Miami beach house than the purples and the golds

and pistachio which was quite a muddy green.

-Yes.

-We talked about ice cream shades. Are you finding this

brief really hard?

I'm not finding it hard, just conflicting.

In my heart I would have loved to have

gone for the complete beach hut style,

you know? I'm from Devon, I love the beach

that's why I brought all the drift wood up with me.

That's a different beach. The only driftwood in Miami are

people who have fallen out of casinos, you know?

But I'm getting you want to put in that boho chic into here.

I think that's my flair

and I think that's always going to come into something.

She's got some great ideas, she's very creative

and I wouldn't want her creativity to be quelled.

She just doesn't understand the rules

so I suppose that's where,

for me, I'm just not sure how this is going to work out.

She might just pull it off. You never know.

Amy's quirky style might be a gamble,

but she's in good company.

Even the original designers of these homes were stepping

out of the suburban comfort zone.

Architects knew they were taking risks with their modern

designs so hedged their bets to accommodate more restrained tastes.

One 1934 catalogue claimed

this house can also be a erected in red brick with a pitched

roof without detriment to the plans and with equally pleasing results.

It's the little details that make Art Deco so desirable today.

Like the little keystone detail up there on the parapet.

That kind of jazz, Aztec style that was all the rage in the 1930s.

I love the porch, cut away in a triangular shape,

almost like a status symbol to show off how much space

they could waste on a porch like that.

All these houses are built with white painted concrete or

snowcrete, designed to reflect the sun and keep it cool inside, though,

of course, in coal-powered 1930s Britain

it went a fetching shade of grey.

They still have to be painted every two years to keep it looking

pristine.

Inside, however, the white walls have been replaced with

mint green, punchy limes and bold emerald.

But there's still so much to do as tomorrow the judges will

decide which designer shows the most potential to go through to the

next round.

Charmaine is using click-together plastic decking at

£12 per square metre.

But worried about her budget, she makes a decision.

If I stop my decking there I've got £15

more budget to play with there so I can get me some plants.

Amy meanwhile is up cycling furniture with her trademark colour.

Adding a little gold back in as it was too heavy with that purple.

And Louise is painting her Art Deco style cocktail bar in glossy

black, imitating 1930s fashion for dark lacquer.

Obviously now we're into the last few hours

so I just need to make sure that any jobs that do need doing,

we just keep doing, one after the other and there's no kind of hanging

around with nothing to do.

Aware of time and budget, Louise has bought

some furniture online, such as her £75 drinks cabinet.

-Love it. Just fits lovely in that space.

-Perfect.

-Really nice.

As the sun starts to set,

Charmaine's pelmet fabric still hasn't arrived.

Thankfully she does have the fabric to make her retro cushions.

That's finished, I'm just going to trim off the excess fabric,

take the pins out and then put a cushion in and it's done.

Quick tip, if you want to get your corners nice and sharp

when you turn it inside out,

what you want to do is cut across the point on the opposite side

and you'll see when we turn that inside out its nice and sharp.

All you need to do is just get a pin and literally pop those out

and you get those lovely sharp corners.

And that's it, the cushion is finished.

The day has finally come when our designers will finish up and the

homeowners will get to see their rooms.

The judges will take their views into account

when deciding who to send through to the quarterfinals.

I nerved with fears of failure.

Yes.

As the designers arrive,

one is particularly happy to see a last-minute delivery of fabric.

Oh, my God. It's here. Thank goodness for that.

Right, Stuart, we can get on with our pelmets.

-I'm going to get cracking with that now, OK?

-Now the challenge is on,

not only to finish on time but to pad and upholster the pelmets

to a standard that will impress the judges.

I hate this under pressure.

With just a few hours to go,

Amy's patchwork for the ottoman has hit a snag.

All I need to do is get the bobbing threaded.

I don't know if you know how to do that. That all I...

-That's all I need.

-Luckily her client comes to the rescue.

It's working now so we should be OK.

In Louise's room the cocktail bar

is being built, but she's dropped

some elements of her original design.

There's a few things we had to leave off.

We've not had a chance to do the stencilling.

Which is a shame because that would look quite good

just there but I think the bar looks great anyway.

Wish we got a bit more

-but it's still fine.

-Running out of time on the tricky stencilling

means she's wasted

the £25 they cost.

But there's still more to do.

Ah! Where are we?

-I want this one clean.

-I'll get some sandpaper.

-So that is that one.

All three designers are working up to the wire.

Louise still needs to update a Victorian side table

she bought for £20.

I realised last night that I haven't actually done anything with

this table.

What I want to do with it is just to kind of Art Deco it up

-a little bit.

-She's giving it a monochrome look with black

emulsion picking out the angular edges.

But in the rush to get things finished,

the finish is being rushed.

Right, I am getting a little bit flustered this morning.

I've gone over the edges. It's not looking good.

See what I've done there.

It's all over the place.

Finally, Charmaine's pelmets go up

and the new glass desk arrives but there's a problem.

It is way too low.

It's way smaller than the other one. My goodness.

But with the help of two £5 trestle table legs,

Charmaine is back on track.

A bit pressed for time now but we knew it...

Amy is adding her finishing touches.

That's perfect. Some martini glasses and some liquor.

And finally the second-hand bar that she bought for less

than £50 takes centre stage.

With only £1,000 and just under three days,

the amateur designers have completely transformed these

sunrooms and terraces.

Oh, my God.

First up for the judges' scrutiny is Louise's design.

Her vision was to create a cocktail lounge

with an Art Deco style and colours.

Three days ago this room was all but abandoned,

housing old home office furniture and files.

Now it's been transformed

into a grown-up room with purpose in Art Deco green and monochrome.

She's built a bar as a central feature and has brought

period pieces of furniture to stand alongside.

She was able to bring in chairs from other rooms

but accessorised with home-made cushions.

Outside she stretched her budget to include black decking

and green artificial grass continuing the colour scheme.

-Martini, Dan?

-Oh, as always...

I have to say I'm loving that green, it's fantastic, isn't it?

It's a good, well-picked colour.

I really love the bar and this is very much what Catherine

and Roy were looking for, wasn't it?

One thing that I'm really disappointed not to see is

the stencilling on the front of here which

I was really looking forward to seeing actually.

Yeah. It would have pulled the black into that nicely.

This is the table that I gave the challenge to customise and

she's bought a very nice mirror, you know,

picking up with the Deco design again, isn't it?

That's as far as it goes for me.

It is a mirror on top of a table base.

You're not a cushion man, are you?

I like a cushion. We did feel that was a bit too...

I don't get that. Well, it's Mackintosh, isn't it?

Yes and it's very curly and floral, isn't it?

A bit feminine.

I just don't understand why she's put Victorian kitchen furniture here.

Is that what it is?

Yes. Yes, it is. It's Victorian turned legs painted black and white.

-Shall we have a look outside?

-Yeah.

I'm loving this idea of the black flooring.

Again, we've got the black and the green, tying in with the black

and the green inside, which is a great idea.

I think that's actually really clever.

How well they fulfilled the clients' brief is a key criteria on which

the amateur designers will be judged.

This will be the first time that Catherine will have seen her

room since it was finished.

Oh, wow.

Gosh, isn't it different? It feels really big.

You could go out on dates up here?

I love the contrast,

the black with the emerald green with the wallpaper.

It's very Deco. Really like that.

The cabinet could have been made for that space really.

It's not particularly Art Deco as I would see it

but it fits the space

and it's got the functionality of the

-storage, which is what we were after.

-Yeah.

Next is Charmaine's design for a 1950s inspired home office.

This room was impractical and chaotic,

a dumping ground for suitcases and general clutter...

Now it's a stylish study with a dose of retro elegance.

Charmaine's added a desk made of glass to give the illusion of space.

And delivered practical storage.

Functional blinds have been hung around the whole room,

trimmed with 1950s style fabric, tying in with the chair detail.

Outside she's kept changes minimal, cleaning up the tiles

and creating a low-maintenance seating area.

Oh, yes.

-It's fantastic.

-This has all come together at the end, hasn't it?

-Yes.

-It's a really poppy, bright colour.

Nearly sliced my head off with that damn thing.

-Don't know what she did that for.

-No.

I'm OK but Nigel might bump his head.

And actually all it needed was a little extension, little hook

and then it could have lit his desk for him.

-Table looks good.

-I'm so glad she went for the glass cos hasn't that

really lifted this whole area and it feels twice the size, doesn't it?

It's just trestle table with a glass top. It's great.

She has managed in her budget to get blinds all the way around.

The attention to detail is gorgeous. If you went to a

curtain-maker they would charge you a complete bomb for this.

What I like is the fact that the pelmet is patterned

and it does drag your eye right round, right round and it's

actually making me feel that this space is bigger than it actually is.

That's rather clever.

-I think we should have a look outside.

-OK.

-There you go. That bloody light.

-Yeah, that's not good.

A point gone on that light.

-She's not a garden designer then.

-No.

-What happened here?

I'm loving that but...

-Don't get it.

-This is the table. She sprayed the legs silver.

-Yeah.

Mirror was set inside.

I love that in there so I'm just going to focus on that for a second.

Keep looking in that direction and she will do very well.

I can see it from here.

-OK.

-Found your guitar.

-It's just a shame I can't play it.

It's not too much either because at the end of the day if you're

going to use it as an office it's no good having it so wild that

you end up with a headache.

It's a happy room. I think you're going to enjoy it.

I love this desk. I love this pelmet.

It's very cleaver because it's hidden.

-It works really well, doesn't it?

-Want to have a look outside?

I like the idea of this decking because you can wash it down.

It links in nicely with the inside as well.

It does.

Finally the judges assess Amy's design.

Her take on the Miami beach hut vibe married a coastal feel with

Art Deco flourishes.

Three days ago this modern extension was an uninspiring room with

little purpose.

Now it's a room designed for entertaining.

Amy adapted her original colour scheme to use

a pallet of summery sorbet shades.

While she stuck to her guns

using touches of purple and gold on unique upcycled furniture.

She's used driftwood, palm wallpaper

and retro glassware to transport the room to 1930s Miami beach.

-Wow!

-Oh...it's fun.

-It's eclectic.

-It is eclectic.

That is quite a look.

We've seen that sort of look before that sort of collecting things and putting them

together and I think it's rather fun and it is beachy and relaxed.

She's got a really good eye for composition.

There's lots of different shapes

and it's a big enough collection to hold that wall.

Yes, it's almost like an oval, isn't it?

-But Deco it is not.

-No.

The little beach wood shelf is sweet and the bar at the back is good.

Their old sofa fits in quite well. Can I just do this?

I can't bear to see the labels.

It's so wrong. Apart from that, lovely.

Her dressing is very nice. In terms of styling it feels very homely in here.

It's like you're ready to go.

She's got a nice taste for nice quirky things. Quite boho.

It's just not what the brief was so I'm not sure what Rachael

and Susan are going to make of it.

-Hello! What do you make of your new room?

-I like it. I like the colours.

-I like the green.

-I'm glad we went with the bar.

I think there's a bit too much in here.

I'd probably take some items out.

Just to give it a less cluttered feel.

But the actual items themselves I quite like.

The bar looks great, actually.

Her inspiration came much more from hotels and bars rather than

the idea I had about creating the ambience of a beach hut.

But having said that, I really like the shelves. That works really well.

I like the way that created a beachy feel to the room. So I'm not

overly disappointed.

The judges have seen the rooms.

Now they have to decide which designer to put through to the

next round.

We didn't have time to do the stencil on the bar

and the paintwork could have been neater, things like that.

But the majority of stuff is in place and I think

it looks good so I'm pleased with that.

I think I'm in with a good chance.

Praying I'm in with a good chance.

Whether or not it's enough to get me through to the next round,

I don't know.

To be quite honest, I don't think I could have done better

in the time. I got everything done and yeah, I really enjoyed it.

So, judges, any highlights, any disasters?

It's been a little bit of a roller coaster, actually.

I think it's been a real challenge for our designers.

It's an unusual brief, isn't it?

Did the designers rise to the occasion?

Let's start with Charmaine. How did she do?

Her clients didn't want Art Deco, they wanted a

'50's retro look and she did achieve that.

I mean, she definitely didn't have them on board in the beginning

and clients are allowed to change their mind as well along the way

and you have to change with them.

And she did and I have to say I really commend her for that.

She turned it around very well.

But Charmaine's garden really let her down.

But that interior was just stunning.

-How about Louise?

-She's a talented designer. We've seen that, though.

She had such confidence and a stylish interior.

She picked this perfect emerald green.

So Deco and yet so now as well.

But then she messed wildly on the details. Her clients take their

Art Deco very seriously so the bar was high

and in that respect it was very challenging.

I mean there was a Victorian table painted in black and white.

She was like, she had one fantastic idea that's going along and

when you looked one way towards the room, towards the bar,

it was sleek and streamline and everything you expect Deco to

be, but then you turned around and it just fell to pieces.

Amy had a very different challenge because that room was enclosed,

it wasn't really as light filled as the other two.

No, it's not much of a sunroom really, is it?

It's just like an extra room on top.

They wanted that place to be a sort of fun cocktail bar.

Some confusion with the style I think, wasn't there, Sophie?

Some? Huge confusion with style.

The brief was Art Deco Miami and she went boudoir, vintage,

car boot sale, flea market chic.

I sort of liked Amy and I liked her style and I thought her style

was very cohesive and she got her clients on board.

So where are you too headed in your thinking?

I think going forward we've really got to look at who shows

the most promise.

Sound like you two have got a bit more thinking to do.

They're pretty close together, aren't they?

Very close, yes. Very close.

So, designers, it's a tough gig working to your first proper

brief but you've all grasped the nettle I think.

-Yes.

-I mean, from my point of view, I think Art Deco sunroom,

you know, it's very unusual.

But I think you all took it on and we're really impressed with

all of you. So, well done.

These two have been wrestling, they've been fighting it out,

it's been a really tough decision.

But they have come to a decision about which designer shows

the most potential to go through to the next round.

And that designer is...

Charmaine.

Ah!

It came down to the details and while we liked Louise's

bigger picture, she really fell at the last hurdle.

And Charmaine did swing it.

We just felt her scheme was tighter and more cohesive.

That room's ready to be photographed and put in a magazine.

It as such a beautiful, elegant piece of work.

It was all there, thoroughly thought through

and also it's a big surprise.

One thing I've enjoyed is I've never hated doing this room.

I've absolutely loved every second of it,

it's not put me off doing another room.

I'll probably go home and decorate to unwind.

Congratulations.

With interior design I want to see where I go with it.

Keep experimenting and you never know where this may lead, so yeah.

I'm so, so happy especially because of all the doubts

and the delays and things that I've had, I'm just so happy to have won.

This is definitely the next step towards my dream.

I'm just going to keep climbing.

The spirit of Art Deco is futuristic and even though it has

passed into design history, its clean white lines

still feel refreshing

compared to stuffy old middle England.

But this week's winner didn't just slavishly treat it as a piece of

vintage style from the past, she was true to that spirit.

She created something fresh, functional and contemporary.

Next time three living rooms in a London warehouse conversion.

-It's delightful space.

-It's like being on a ship, isn't it?

But there's some resistance to change.

It's very nice but it's not me.

I have a major problem with the wallpaper.