Almshouses - Southwark 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!

Haven't upholstered cat beds before!

It's 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 amateurs are redesigning one room each

in three Georgian almshouses built in the mid-1700s.

Each of our designers will be working on a living room

to very different briefs.

We are running behind, yet again.

I think there are things that I know are problematic.

It will be up to the judges

to decide who will go through to the next round.

God, that sideboard painted looks like an old sideboard painted!

She shouldn't have lost that battle, in my opinion.

The designer going through to the quarterfinals is...

I'm in the heart of Southwark in south-east London.

In the early 18th century,

all this would have been marsh lands and gardens.

And the only real landmark would have been St Paul's Cathedral,

just across the Thames.

Now it's dwarfed by all these modern buildings.

London's a constantly evolving city.

There are buildings going up all the time, as you can hear.

But there is a little survivor, tucked away just over there.

These are Hopton's Almshouses.

In the 18th century, it was a fashion for rich men

to secure their place in Heaven through generous acts of charity.

In 1742, this patch of land was purchased with trust money

left by wealthy benefactor Charles Hopton

with the express aim of housing poor, decayed men of the parish.

The original residents were retired watermen, gardeners and fishermen -

the kind of people who once worked on the Thames, just over there.

Today, the Almshouses are still run as a charity.

Now, three are getting a new-look living room

from our amateur designers.

'So I think that would be great - to transform someone's space,

'and them actually really love it.

'I think my style is quite quirky.'

In a way, I'm seeing it as, like, updated granny chic.

'A career in interior design would just be a dream come true, really.'

I would say my style is contemporary and sumptuous,

cosy, but a space that you can really live in.

'It is interiors'

that really makes me tick. And to be able to have

that as a profession, for me, that would be the ultimate dream.

I'd say my style was eclectic. Going against the grain is so important.

They'll be working for their first-ever clients.

Each designer will have £1,000 and 48 hours spread over three days

to transform their room.

The first sitting room is in an apartment on the upper floor,

lived in by cycling fanatic Nigel

who, after a long stretch of homelessness,

moved here three years ago.

Having a home is basically what it was all about for me,

somewhere I could call home at last.

Nigel works as a bicycle mechanic.

He wants his room to be dual purpose -

part bike workshop, part living room.

I just want to make it more like home.

I want this place to be a living room that's lived in and loved.

And at the moment, I think the room lacks a bit of love.

Judges Sophie and Daniel need to see the room's potential

before the designer gets started.

Loads of stuff in here, isn't there?

I mean, I can't imagine, as a living space, this is terribly relaxing.

The room hasn't been designed for the purpose in any way, has it?

-No, but it's a tiny room.

-Clearly, something's been boxed in here.

Big lump of an old fireplace.

On this floor, this would have just had a tiny little fireplace

where you brought the cinders up in a big pan and dropped them

into a little grate at the front. You probably see them in bedrooms.

You never had a fire. You just had this old sort of cinder glow.

But there is one charming original feature.

We have the original sash windows.

Sash is a great design

cos it creates great ventilation through a room.

Cos if you slide them up towards each other, it comes...

The air comes in from the bottom and out through the top.

That's why they work well.

Sash windows originate in the late 17th century

but it's in Georgian architecture that they've become commonplace

and they're the only original feature left in this room.

So the brief here is to create a comfortable living area

but then also allow him to work on his bicycle repairs.

And so that's really a great example of how our designer is going

to have to really listen to the client.

Taking on Nigel's living room is father-of-two Neil from Brighton.

The designers have been working on their clients' briefs for a week

but this will be the first time they'll meet in person.

Shall I talk you through some of the ideas that I've had?

-Yeah, please do. Yeah.

-OK.

Daniel and Sophie will be judging the designers' presentations by

looking at how well they put forward their design, forge a relationship

with their client and how adaptable they are to their clients' needs.

I mean, I know, obviously, you know,

you've got your own bicycle repair shop and you're really into cycling.

So particularly, I was thinking something like the Tour de France,

taking some of those colours as, like, a really good highlight colour,

almost a really, really light grey for the walls

but running this sort of like a yellow rail running through.

It's probably just going to be a line, like,

a nod to a finishing line.

-Yeah.

-I'm going to put some shelving into that alcove,

hopefully, recycling some old doors so it'll have a bit of character.

Yeah, yeah.

I know it mentioned in your brief that you'd really like

-to go to a wooden floor.

-It'd be an improvement.

And then I'm going to try and house these bike wheels,

-maybe on a racking system.

-Yeah.

Neil's bicycle-themed design is going down well with his client.

But Nigel's not giving him completely free rein.

I might repaint this in another colour.

I'm going to think about spraying it grey.

-Over my dead body! All right?

-What, this?

-Yeah, this.

-You don't want me to colour it?

-I don't want to colour it.

-I want it as it is. I like natural.

-OK.

-I'm a natural man.

-OK.

Well, maybe I can just... I think it'll be fine.

I've got another one, hopefully, that's going to sit with it

-so I'll keep that natural as well.

-Yeah.

It might pox up the colour design and stuff like that.

I'm glad I asked you about that. If I'd just painted it...

The other thing I was thinking - how do you feel about having

-some bike parts used to create bits of furniture?

-Excellent.

I've got old frames and old bits of biz and old wheels.

-More than enough to keep you happy for the rest of your life!

-Oh, brilliant.

A really promising start.

Neil was really able to, like, get him on side and get him

really involved in the process.

But unfortunately, Neil is wanting to give him this slightly quirky,

funny, amusing space, where Nigel really needs something that's

very practical and is... In fact, it's going to be his first home.

He's going to live there.

Neil now has three days, the help of a builder and £1,000

to turn his vision into reality.

We're going to take this carpet up

and see what the floorboards are like.

There's loads to do, there's loads to do, there's loads to do,

but I guess we'll get it done.

It's fine. I'm not really stressy yet. Give me, like, two hours!

The second property is a one-up, one-down.

The downstairs room is slightly larger than the last living room

with a small kitchenette on the side.

Its home to jazz musician Shamus Dark.

The songs that I sing were mostly written in the 1930s and '40s

and at that time, of course,

it was the golden age of Hollywood and it was film noir.

They got all the fashions there

which I think are absolutely fantastic.

Shamus knows what he wants - a room with a Casablanca, film noir feel

that makes the most of his vintage pieces.

He also knows what he doesn't want.

No chintz, no pink and no chandeliers.

Thank you very much.

So, here we are in Shamus's house.

-It's got everything in it. Kitchen, living space, studio.

-Study.

-The lot. Library.

-He's actually planned it out quite nicely.

I can see, actually, that he's got this space working quite well.

And actually, the way that he's living in this space

is exactly the way that it has been for the last 250 years.

On this side here, would have been a big fireplace which would

have in fact been a range, or what's called a register, which would

have been cast iron and it would have a tiny little oven.

It'd keep the room warm.

It's almost sort of like... It's open-plan living in miniature.

So the challenge for our designer is to work within quite a small space

which has got lots of different areas.

So you've got to think about how all those will work together.

But also, not to lose sight of who Shamus is.

The guy's got style and we don't want to iron that style out, do we?

Given the task of transforming Shamus's multi-functional living room

is full-time carer Lorna.

This will be her first chance

to put her interior design diploma into practice.

-Welcome to my hovel!

-Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

This is hopefully putting all the pieces

and ideas together that I've got.

I'm really keen to use the things that you love

and hopefully, they will be incorporated in the design.

The oil lamps as well?

Yes. There's an eclectic amount of woods and textures.

I know they're from different eras.

Bit of Moroccan twist, a bit of film noir.

-Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

-So I'm thinking Casablanca.

Play it again, Sam!

We have! We've got a bit of a mix of various styles

but I believe it will work.

Lorna's mood board doesn't include a floor plan,

making the job of explaining her design to Shamus harder.

So how about the layout of the room?

For me, it would be pretty similar, not exactly.

We'll have a few twists on it, hopefully.

Just having slightly different angles

on the table and your seating.

I wasn't entirely clear on perhaps what she had in mind

in terms of the... Of moving stuff around.

I mean, I hope it's going to be all right.

Lorna had, on that mood board,

a couple of really quite interesting images

where I thought she pinpointed him exactly!

But actually, she didn't seem to ever really talk him through

what her ideas behind those images were.

The judges and Shamus may not be clear what Lorna's design

will actually look like,

but she seems confident in her vision for the room.

The picture of my design that I have in my head,

it will be quite eclectic and it will be a different...

All different styles.

A lot of things that may not actually go in style or trends

but they will go for Shamus.

So for me, it should go absolutely amazingly.

The third property is a 1950s addition

to the rest of the almshouses,

built slightly larger, for the site manager of Hopton's.

The living room is long and narrow, larger than Nigel's room

but around the same size as Shamus's.

Mum-of-one Deborah has lived and worked here for 12 years.

It's never felt like home.

I've come to realise that the walls are closing in on me

and there's just too much stuff.

I look forward to the day when I can spend more time in here

and feel comfortable in the space.

Well, first impressions is there's a lot of clutter.

But I think it all probably just needs editing a little bit.

There's obviously storage issues here.

This is an interesting house, this one, isn't it?

This is, in fact, an extension of the original building,

built in the 1950s, so, what, 200 years later?

And yet, they've built it on the outside

in the same style, which is,

I think, in the 1950s, quite interesting

because that time was a brave new world

and everybody was building new architecture.

There are some little details which I think is quite 1950s.

The bit that's jumping out at me is this parquet flooring.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-Parquet's back!

Everybody wants parquet and they've got it.

It's here and it's rather an expensive one.

What do you think about the room itself?

-Actually, it's quite long and narrow, isn't it?

-Yeah.

The TV is miles away from the sofa and then you've kind of got

this empty space in the middle with everything pushed to the sides.

-Yeah.

-A big challenge for this interior designer's going to be

to see through all this clutter

and make some sense of how this space is actually going to work.

Taking on Deborah's cluttered living room

is self-proclaimed perfectionist Jane from Kent.

So your brief was for a very relaxed,

warm, cosy, Moroccan-feeling living room.

For the layout of the room, I thought we'd move this sofa

to the other end of the room

and then move the television away from that space, basically,

and utilise the fireplace and the alcoves

and the shelving around it and make more of a feature of that.

I think we'll keep a sideboard. Maybe that could be upcycled.

You could paint it, you know.

But it encourages me. This is the thing. Look at the top of it.

It encourages me to do that. That's what I want to get away from!

-OK. So you want clear surfaces?

-I do.

I absolutely want to be able to walk into a room and be able to breathe.

I'm looking forward to actually getting it cleared.

-You've got a challenge, that's for sure!

-Thank you.

It's going to take two days to clear it, though!

We flagged up, straightaway,

that we felt it was quite a long and narrow room

and the layout was going to have to work hard to address that problem.

I don't see she's really thought that out. In fact,

she has just flipped the layout.

The other thing that I feel's quite important, given how much stuff

is in that room, I mean, she still is going to need

a fair bit of storage,

and all I can see in that plan is just using that sideboard.

I would imagine that, actually, during the building process,

she's extremely organised,

she's ticking all the boxes and she's going to go for it.

-Take the chair.

-It's quite heavy.

-OK?

-Jane is single-minded when it comes to clearing Deborah's clutter.

But her client still needs some persuading.

I just thought this can go in and I thought, oh, I don't know.

-You could float candles in there.

-No, you can't.

-It's chipped.

-No.

-It's my natural instinct.

-You're a hoarder. What about this?

-Huh?

Um... I just bought that!

Work is under way, but there's a lot to do before the amateurs

bring their new-look designs to these historic buildings.

At 260 years old, Hopton's is a youngster.

The oldest surviving almshouses in the UK are in Worcester

and they were built more than 1,000 years ago.

Then, as now, almshouses provided accommodation for those in need

and they're still home to some 35,000 people across the UK.

The traditional three-sided open quadrangle design of these houses

was designed to create a sense of security

and safety from the outside world.

And right at the centre, there was usually a chapel.

These were normally set up by church institutions

and they wanted to remind the residents of the importance of God.

Here, though, there was a parish church just around the corner,

so it made it unnecessary.

Instead, the quad was left empty for a garden,

and a fountain was situated in the middle

where the residents could draw water.

Inside, the buildings have been reconfigured many times over the years.

Neil has the smallest room to redesign

but the most difficult brief -

to include a workshop and a living room.

With a budget of only £1,000,

he needs to make the most of what's on offer.

Unable to afford a new floor, he's decided to strip back

the original floorboards.

Yeah, we had a bit of a quandary on the floorboards.

I think a few of them had been patched up.

Historically, some are uneven.

We're just worried that it's going to take time

to obviously get rid of all the nails and then sand them.

Sanding a floor is a time-consuming job.

Even a room this size will take several hours.

In preparation, you need to remove or bang in any protruding nails

with a nail punch so that they don't damage the sanding machine.

To achieve her Casablanca-style design,

Lorna wants to paint the walls in Shamus's room a light grey.

But to avoid the paint bubbling or appearing patchy,

she has to wash away years of tobacco stains

using an alkaline product called sugar soap. A tedious job!

Finish will actually look better in the end.

That's really important to me, to be able to get a good finish,

something that Shamus is pleased with.

At her home in Birmingham, Lorna likes to get a good finish

on all the old pieces of furniture she lovingly restores.

It's really important to me to recycle

and re-use anything that we have.

Hopefully, not to be of a disposable mindset.

This is the piece I really like.

It was actually sourced from a garage and it was in the rain,

underneath drainpipes.

I ended up taking it and treated it with oil and brought it back to life

and I didn't realise that there was the detail on the handles

as much as there was because that was all full of mud and everything.

It actually feels good to be able to say that this is mine

and I have this and I made this and there is a reason for it.

Lorna had to give up a job in retail to take care of her grandmother.

But now she wants to change direction.

My children said, "Come on. You need to follow, you know, your dreams.

"You need to follow your passions

"and go and do doing something about it."

So I was prompted by them.

I enrolled into an academy

and then I qualified last year for becoming an interior designer.

Despite her training, Lorna's never worked with a client before.

A lack of experience meant she didn't have a room plan

to show Shamus, only her mood board of images.

-Hi, Lorna.

-Hi.

Did you look for your inspiration from a specific sort of '40s,

-'50s time?

-Yeah. '40s, '50s, as well as Moroccan.

They're very different styles, but I believe that it will work.

-I'm curious cos I'm looking at fusion going on here.

-Yes.

A lot of fusion.

Time will tell if Lorna can make her mix of different styles work

or if fusion will become confusion.

For her Moroccan sitting room,

Jane's builder is painting the walls pale grey.

With only £1,000, the designers must make their money stretch.

So Jane is upcycling Deborah's cabinet,

sanding off the layers of old varnish.

'We were going to replace the handles but given that there's 10 of them,'

and the budget won't allow for too many more things,

we think we're going to try and work with those.

As a mum of two young boys and a part-time events co-ordinator,

Jane's used to multi-tasking.

So I work two days a week and the rest of the time

I'm running round after two very active boys,

ferrying them to football, tennis.

'But now that Thomas is now at school, I've got time for...

'to do something that I really enjoy, so I think it's just something'

that's inbuilt and something that I really love and want to pursue.

Jane has renovated a series of family homes

where her eye for perfection is clear to see.

I can stand in a room for about 15 minutes, just staring into space,

while I visualise what's going to be in there.

It's just a passion, really.

It's something that I'm really interested in.

So this is Charlie's room,

At the moment, I've got the luxury of it being the way I want it,

but I should think, in a few years' time,

there'll be posters and nasty bedspreads

and all sorts in here, but this is how I would ideally decorate

a children's room.

I just wanted to kind of create a boutique-y, hotel-y type feeling.

So, I'm definitely a perfectionist.

And true to form,

she wants a perfect finish for Deborah's cabinet.

We're going to do a couple of layers of undercoat

and then put the satinwood on top.

Acrylic satinwood paint gives a matt finish without a glossy shine.

Oh, my word. Bright.

She wants bright colours but not everywhere,

so the best thing to do is to do it with furniture.

-Anyway, we can but try.

-Bringing a new look to this old cabinet

is costing Jane little more than time and £12 worth of paint.

She's obviously gone away and talked to Deborah

and talked her round into up-cycling that sideboard,

got her on board with the bright colours and accessories,

so that's really encouraging to see.

-So, it's all moving in the right direction for Jane.

-Really?

Really? Do you think so?

God, that sideboard painted looks like an old sideboard painted.

I don't think it does anything for me.

So the sander's here.

It's sort of like a royal visit from the sander,

and now we can get on and do the floor.

But the uneven floorboards immediately take their toll

and disaster strikes.

The two heads of the screws that hold that on have sheared off,

I think because the floor's so uneven.

It's not great really, but I think maybe some of the more crafty things

that I think I was just logically going to do later,

I'm going to start doing some of those now.

The home Neil shares with his wife and two daughters in Brighton

is a shrine to his finds and improvisations.

It's trying to work on clever ideas, or coming up with a way

to use something in a different way.

I've got two girls and this is their room.

I really like this idea,

because we really needed to have handles for this wardrobe,

and then sort of just had one of those good moments

where you're like, "Oh, we can use those old cotton reels."

I just kept all the old cotton on, so they add a little pop of colour

and also so you can really see what they are.

His creative side had an early outlet.

The first thing I can remember where I was interested in interior design

was asking my mum and dad if I could paint like a Cure album sleeve

on a bit of my bedroom, which just must have looked horrific

because my mum and dad had, like, that awful textured wallpaper.

For his latest creation, he's making bicycle art,

wrapping one of Nigel's old bike frames in Japanese washi tape.

Washi is a hardwearing, patterned and coloured masking tape

made from bamboo, rice, hemp or wheat.

I am really loving Japanese washi tape at the moment

and I think everything I do, I'm just like,

"We could put washi tape on that."

It's the end of day one.

Lorna's painting her room,

but she's now doubting her colour choice.

It's not as light as I wanted it to be.

I think what's happening is, it's reflecting that colour.

Yeah, but you're looking at the darker areas here, yes?

Yeah... I'm looking everywhere.

So I've actually sourced another colour.

It's not really what I need this late in the day.

Lorna's change of mind means she must work into the night.

After a busy first day,

all the rooms are prepped, apart from Neil's floor.

But on the crucial second day,

they should be really moving on with their designs.

Well, it's sort of like this yellow flex...

The designers have a lot to do,

and with a budget of only £1,000, they must remain focused.

Neil set out a clear vision for a Tour de France themed room.

But he's become distracted, opening up the fireplace,

creating a problem he'll have to solve.

I think there are things that I know are problematic.

I've got to source a fire surround and sort out that fire.

Hopefully it'll be easy, but it might not be, there might not be anything I like.

So there's things that I don't really know are going to work out till we do them.

You instruct and I'll follow.

Jane's vision to create a clutter-free, modern,

Moroccan living room is on course.

But her client Deborah has a major concern.

I just want a little chat, just to see where we're going with...

-I've got a couple of questions really.

-Yeah, no, definitely.

Jane's design lacked storage

and while Deborah wanted to scale back the clutter in her room,

she's now getting cold feet.

I was hoping maybe we would put some kind of,

almost like a children's toy box around the perimeter.

-Certainly two sides, facing the room, with a lift up.

-Yes.

So you can put all that stuff back, but it's hidden.

-So I think there can be a lot of improvements.

-OK.

Now I'm really... Just a complete change.

OK. So, now we need to think of more storage.

This morning, Lorna feels back on track

but her last-minute change of paint colour

means her schedule is behind.

I'm feeling that I can deliver the vision today of the design

if all the elements come together,

like the floor, the kitchen cupboards.

The work schedule that I have is - AM will be...

Thank you, Shamus.

Sorry.

-There's Shamus.

-I was earwigging.

No chandeliers, all right? No chandeliers.

No chandeliers, Shamus. No nightmares this morning.

Like Shamus, the original occupants of Hopton's were male.

If a man married, he had to seek permission from the trustees

for his wife to live with him.

Once he died, his wife would have to move out.

But other terms were more generous.

In 1752, the original residents were not only give accommodation

but also £6 a year and a single chaldron of coal,

about 1,400 kilos or the weight of a sports car.

In return, they has to stick to a strict set of rules.

They could be fined for swearing, resorting to ale houses,

or for railing bitter or uncharitable speech.

No uncharitable speech from Neil, as his floor sander is back in action,

so he decides to leave his builder to it and go shopping.

We're looking for a fire surround and an old door,

like, hopefully, an old Victorian panelled door

that we're then going to chop up and make into shelves.

Who knows if it will work.

Neil's in his element at a salvage yard.

With a background designing shop displays,

he has an eye for details.

Well, in a way I was thinking to just buy a fire surround,

but now I'm thinking, can we just get a fireplace that would just drop

into that hole in the wall because that would be amazing.

But then, yeah, I don't know I've got enough money to do that.

There's just so much stuff here, I need to just have a quick recce,

get a handle on what there actually is

because they've just got tons and tons of stuff.

It is amazing.

Without a clear plan, Neil's busking it.

I don't have the budget to buy a fire surround and a door to cut up,

so I'm going to go with a slightly different idea

and go for a fireplace and then use an old floorboard.

I don't mind, I like having to change your mind.

It's sort of the nature of the beast.

Neil comes away with some old floorboards and a cast-iron Art Nouveau fireplace for £50.

At the almshouses, Jane has been thrown

by her client's storage concerns.

-I had a quite interesting chat with Deborah this morning.

-Right.

She wanted a few changes.

She just desperately wants us to get some more storage in.

Storage is a really key element in a design. I think you can do

the most beautifully designed room, but if the client then brings in

all their knick-knacks, it can completely kill it.

So, I see there are two clear routes where you can go.

One is to actually give the client,

I'd say, rule of thumb, 30% more storage than they think they need,

so they've got added space in which to grow and expand into

because you do end up buying more books and magazines.

So that's one way to look at it.

The other way to go is to actually really give them quite mean amounts

of storage with very shallow shelving, or shallow cupboards,

so they can't stuff loads of stuff that gets lost at the back.

So what you don't want to do is just shift the problem

-from one place to another.

-No, definitely. OK.

Lorna's open-plan room presents its own challenges.

To make her £1,000 budget go further, she's decided to give

the kitchen a facelift by simply re-fitting new doors to the cabinet.

This low cost trick comes to no more than £200

and makes a vast difference to the overall look.

But so far, the doors have not arrived.

Time's been blown out the window. It's held me up quite a bit today.

This stuff was supposed to be here in the morning,

so we are running behind yet again.

Lorna's lack of a clear plan earlier has had a knock-on effect.

Now her builder is behind schedule making the alcove cupboards.

But Lorna is blessed with Shamus's high-quality furniture,

meaning she hasn't had to buy new items.

I mean, I'm loving what changes you've done on his kitchen table.

Interesting you're using linseed oil as well.

I mean, it's a good way of polishing up.

-I know some people actually mix it with other things as well, don't they?

-Yes.

-Vinegar, I believe.

Sometimes a bit of beeswax, mix it all together.

I've done beeswax before, but it brings up a different finish,

to be honest, and I wanted a distressed look.

I'm trying to age it.

Beeswax is good for protecting and polishing hardwoods

but for a weathered look, Lorna's using linseed oil,

which soaks into the wood and brings out the grain.

And I think also what's been quite successful

is painting the black underneath.

It's actually making the wood look more alive.

For the cost of £5 for a pot of linseed oil and a £10 can

of black emulsion, Lorna has transformed the table.

The black was actually to try and bring the theme of a period,

because Shamus is really quite happy with '30s, '40s and '50s type furniture.

So, you know, sort of late '50s, early '60s.

That was the dark woods, the blacks and stuff like that.

I've been left very confused about the period

that Lorna's trying to replicate.

You know, she started off talking about film noir and '30s and '40s.

And then were talking about '50s kitchen tables,

'60s, so she's gone for almost a whole half a century.

Neil is back and fitting his new period fireplace.

It's just not the right period.

I wasn't expecting to see an Art Nouveau piece or a fireplace in here like that.

I think that Neil has done the right thing.

There was a chimney breast here and it was just screaming out for a fire surround.

If you live in a period building with its fireplace stripped out,

do you really need to put something like that back?

It's a bit like a face losing its nose.

It would be a bit sad so, yes, I think he's done the right thing.

If you don't have that, if you live in a modern building

and you put something in like this, it would just look awful.

Neil's Tour de France theme includes a painted yellow stripe around the room.

It will be the height of a dado or chair rail,

a Victorian wooden strip designed to protect the walls

from the backs of chairs.

I want to see him start that yellow line around the wall

because it's not going to be easy as he thinks.

If he doesn't get that line straight, it will look really toshed out and messy and amateur.

Right. The sideboard is going to go there.

Then I might put that chair that I've got in there up there

and then bring those two Moroccan benches in.

It's late afternoon on the second day.

Tomorrow is the deadline for all three designers

and there is still a lot of work to do.

But Jane is already moving furniture back in

so that she can perfect her layout.

Hey, how is it going?

We thought we would bring some of the furniture in to get an idea of

the space because Deborah wanted some more storage.

It's not clear how Jane is planning to solve the storage issue,

but Sophie has some pointers for other ways to maximise the sense of space.

I noticed you've gone for quite a cool, light colour on the walls.

I think that's an excellent choice. That will help open up this space.

And another piece I'm really glad to see is a huge mirror,

-and where do you plan to hang that?

-I'm going to hang it up there

and, hopefully, it will throw some light across the room.

For me, I think you're missing a trick there. This is a very long,

narrow room and there is a way that you can make it feel a little wider.

I think by putting the mirror here, you are creating extra dimension

this way and also, you're reflecting more sunlight into a dark room.

OK. I will take your advice.

I have a confession to make. That chest of drawers -

I hated the idea of Jane painting it,

-but, actually, it looks really good.

-Oh, wow. She's won you round.

Well, especially because we convinced her

to put that green mirror above it,

and that green and that red will look really great together.

-It's a beautiful combination, isn't it?

-Yeah.

The judges may like it, but not everyone is convinced.

I don't get as much enjoyment seeing it there as I do there,

-to be perfectly honest with you.

-OK. Yes.

Explaining your design decisions to your client

is a crucial part of the job,

but Jane doesn't even try to talk Deborah around.

It's beautiful, and to have it there is kind of hiding it a bit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to look at it.

The rooms are starting to take shape,

but Lorna is still playing catch-up.

I'm pretty anxious at the moment. I'm really aware that I'm behind,

I'm really aware of time that we've got left.

The exterior of Shamus's house looks perfectly in line with other almshouses.

But there are telltale signs that not all is quite as it seems.

The brick work on this house is a completely different shade

to the brick work on this house.

This is because this house was completely rebuilt after it was hit

by an unexploded bomb during the London Blitz.

In late April 1941, seven of Hopton's houses were hit by bombs.

One of them fell right here where Shamus lives.

It didn't go off, but the house collapsed, miraculously leaving

the buildings on either side untouched. So after the war,

this house was rebuilt in the original Georgian style.

It fits perfectly with the look of the original build,

proving each generation appreciated the value

of these exteriors.

Inside, our three rooms vary slightly in function and shape

so the judges want a yardstick to measure the designers' creativity,

giving them each the same plain lamp to up-cycle

so it's in keeping with their scheme.

I want it to fit in with this Tour de France cycling theme,

so I'm just destroying this map of France.

Neil's approach to up-cycling his lamp is true to form.

I'm sort of just making it up slightly as I go along.

My approach to up-cycling is like the punk rock of interiors.

You know, because you don't have to read music, you don't have to play an instrument. You just do it.

Jane, meanwhile, is taking a much more measured approach.

So I'm simply drawing around the tin to make circle shapes,

which I'm then going to cut out and then they're simply going to be stuck on to the lampshade.

You know, you could do it with a map,

you could do it with some photographs you've printed off,

and it's an easy way to add a bit of colour and a bit of detail.

This is phase two of the lampshade.

The idea is to make the shade like a red polka dot

to be a bit of homage to the Tour de France shirt.

I don't think it's going to work.

Yeah, I'm going to have to have a rethink.

The lamp is the last thing on Lorna's to-do list.

Get the cupboard doors done,

get the shelves done, get the floor laid

and the kitchen cupboard doors.

So, I'm really apprehensive about finishing on time.

I think we are going to be sort of cutting it fine.

So now I'm going to draw dots on and just paint them in fabric paint...

This is awful. It's a big red splodge.

Just a slight change of plan.

This is going really well. Oh, God.

"How's the shade going?" It's here, this is it.

It's the end of the second day.

Tomorrow, Sophie and Daniel will decide which amateur designer

shows the most potential.

It's hard to say who's going to win frankly.

I think that Lorna's key to success is if she can distil

Shamus's sense of style.

At the moment, the only person I would hedge any bets on is Jane,

because she appears to be the only person at this stage

in the competition who is organised.

I'm looking for someone who's a bit more rebellious.

I'm sort of hoping Neil does that and pulls it off.

My sort of hunch with Neil is he's somebody who's

a very talented designer in the small pieces,

but are they all going to look like random elements scattered about

or is it going to be a cohesive scheme?

With the use of that yellow line.

-Is that all he's got to pull it all together?

-Yes.

Better be a good yellow line, that's all I say.

Today, the final designs will be finished and seen by the residents.

Their feedback to the judges will be crucial in determining

who goes through to the quarterfinal,

so, big day for everyone.

Jane is still contemplating where to hang the mirror.

So, we need to decide also where the mirror is going to go,

so I need to decide whether to go with Deborah's choice.

While Lorna is still struggling to get essential things finished.

I'm really aware of time

and the massive amount of things that we've got to do.

The kitchen doors have finally arrived,

so the race is on to fit them.

Neil is busy on finishing touches,

creating his own bicycle-themed items to dress the room.

I just bought one of this bike print but I'm just doing it with

fabric paint to do a repeat print on a couple of cushion covers.

And making an original piece of artwork for one wall.

I've just had this...a bit of a random idea that I could just make

some lettering out of wire that just says, "Tour de France".

I have never done that before.

I am a bit stressed about the yellow line

because I still haven't painted the yellow line.

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

the amateur designers have impressively risen to the challenge

to transform the rooms of three Georgian almshouses.

It will be up to Sophie and Daniel to decide which of them

has best fulfilled their client's brief.

Jane finishes with some time to spare.

-I think that's it. I think were done.

-Yeah.

Neil's not too far behind.

And Lorna is racing to the last.

The stool is outside. I'm going to get to it, get to it, get to it.

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

Her vision was to create

a contemporary, clutter-free living room with a Moroccan flavour.

Three days ago, this room was cluttered and cramped

and verging on the claustrophobic.

Jane has reconfigured the layout,

moving the sofa to the opposite end of the room,

revealing the feature fireplace.

She has installed some shelving in one alcove.

And up-cycled Deborah's old side cabinet.

And she's added colour through cushions and accessories.

-It feels like a completely different home, doesn't it?

-Yes.

And it does feel calming.

-Deborah wanted somewhere she could walk in...

-I feel calm.

The grey is very tranquil, isn't it?

The mirror - why did she let Deborah talk her into moving it there?

-I think that is a shame.

-Yes, it would have been better here.

I wonder if she really put forward a good argument?

I mean, we both gave her our expert advice on that.

Yes, she was wrong, we are right.

She should not have lost that battle, in my opinion.

And then the other big issue is the storage. I am not convinced

she has given Deborah an awful lot more storage,

considering most of the things on there are ornaments.

I'm with Jane on this one - don't give Deborah

storage because all she'll do is shove a load of rubbish in it.

The judges want to see what creativity

Jane bought to the task of up-cycling the lamp.

She's got some decoupage on here. She's trimmed it.

I'm just going to have a little look for her craftsmanship skills.

Beautiful finish.

Overall, I think it's calm, it's tasteful.

-It's a place that you'd like to be in and I like it.

-Yes.

This is the kind of room I can see photographed in a magazine.

It's well put together. She's accessorised really nicely.

I like her styling. I like the way she groups items.

I love the way she's grouped the family photographs on the wall.

-It looks very...professional.

-Yes.

How well they have fulfilled the client's brief

is a key criterion on which the amateur designers will be judged.

This will be the first time Deborah has seen her room since it was finished.

Well?

-Is it what you wanted?

-Oh, God. It's beautiful.

-Is it?

It's different, it's just ...

-Is it what you wanted? Is it what you asked for?

-It's really... Yes.

Do you have any concerns looking around?

Is there anything that you think, "Oh, not quite sure about that"?

If there was anything, it's just the concern of where everything else is going to go.

-So, there's a storage problem?

-There is.

-That's my only criticism.

-So, is this room you?

Yes, very much me. This is how I see myself relaxing.

So, this is Deborah.

Next is Neil's design

for a Tour de France-themed living room cum bike workshop.

Three days ago, Nigel's room was a jumble of bike parts

and mis-matched furniture, which lacked any homely feel.

Now it's a practical room with more defined seating and work areas.

He's enhanced the original sash windows with blinds.

Stripped back the wooden floorboards

and has even added a fireplace.

He's delivered useable storage for bike wheels and parts.

Added a cork map for personal photos

and used his creative skills to make original pieces from bicycle parts.

Nice. I love this. Tour de France.

It's very, very quirky, creative, arty.

The fact that he's sourced that really giant-sized designer light bulb,

so it creates that shadow is a really nice touch.

-It's gorgeous, isn't it? I think the floor's great.

-OK.

-What do you make of the yellow line?

-The yellow line.

Well, it does remind me of traffic wardens, I must admit, rather than

the Tour de France but it almost pulls it off,

but it needs a bit more oomph.

So, for example, the shelving there, which is very strong,

could've been repeated, even if it was just that one eye line,

because there's that saying, the eye needs to travel.

I really like what he did with the lamp.

He didn't really have a design for it.

He was exploring the materials as he went along and trying stuff out

and saying, "How does that look?"

That's a true designer's approach to doing something.

It's practical, it's got it all sorted.

This is going to change Nigel's life.

I do feel, slightly, like I'm in a shop.

-Nice shop.

-Nice shop, but a nice design shop.

-A pop-up shop in Shoreditch or somewhere.

-Yes.

-Yes.

So, if it's a shop, it isn't...

A home.

But is it homely enough for Nigel?

So...Nigel, has he got it right?

That's wonderful.

It's taken the whole place and turned it magically around.

I haven't stopped smiling since I walked in here.

When I got back from my last travel, I came back with four bags

and now I have a house, which I never have had for a long time.

Having the bare floorboards just...

reminds me of being out on the road, having...

the bare necessities that I need.

I've always wanted a home. I've always wanted a home...

and he's answered it.

-Man, you're getting me all emotional.

-That's good.

That shows that Neil has got it right.

Neil has got it right 110 times,

over and over and over again. He reflects what I feel.

Finally, the judges will assess Lorna's Casablanca-themed room.

Three days ago, it was a functioning but tired living room

with kitchenette, with a messy mix of music equipment and collectables.

Lorna undertook a lot of work,

building in bespoke cupboards...

reinvigorating Shamus's furniture

and updating the kitchen units.

She bought new handles for £25 to give a more traditional feel

and has repainted the entire room to brighten it up.

-Soaking it in.

-Yes.

Really nice.

Her attention to detail - all of these have been...

-I mean, this girl sanded...

-She's sanded everything.

-Everything!

I thought she was going to sand me at one point.

Luckily, not sanded his lovely chair.

There's knowing when to do it and when to leave it, which is nice.

And the colours that she's chosen in here have worked really well.

Greens are always very calming, we know that.

The grey as well... Grey is clever.

It's actually a very soft colour to use. It can be quite dingy

-if you're not careful, but she's warmed it up with the woods.

-Yes.

And it's stopped the woods feeling too orangey and hot, hasn't it?

Yes. She's cooled it down.

And actually helped the room feel bigger. Lamp.

-It's pretty neat. I like it.

-No, it's not neat, Dan.

There's dribbles of varnish all round the inside.

I can see bits of the fabric poking though.

I don't want you to come round my house.

I mean, the thing that screams out to me, OK, is those oil lamps

and all those nice bits and pieces on there are lovely,

but they're sitting on a Formica top.

It boils down to the lowest common denominator.

If you've got something really dreadful in a room

then everything else fails around it.

We can really commend her on how sensitive she's been

to Shamus's own personal style.

Has she improved his lifestyle? Yes, she has.

Shamus was never clear what he was getting from Lorna.

He's about to find out.

So this is the ta-da moment.

Oh, where am I? Do I live here?

-Pinch me, Tom. Pinch me.

-It's yours, it's yours.

What grabs your eye? What do you think?

The cupboards. Fantastic.

And the table, because Lorna has transformed it.

So, of all the residents,

you had the clearest idea of what you wanted.

Has it delivered? Is this what you wanted?

Oh, yes, definitely delivered, yes.

It think this was probably one of the most difficult things to do,

because it's my living space, it's my kitchen space

and it's my work space, so, from that point of view,

Lorna's done a magnificent job.

Jane, Lorna and Neil face an anxious wait.

The judges now have to decide which amateur has delivered

the best design and deserves a place

in the next round of the competition.

I would actually really like to go through to the quarterfinal,

because I think it would affirm my passion for interior design

and it would give me the next step,

level of confidence that I probably need.

Maybe I could win but I just need to think

I might not, so I don't feel gutted.

Finished on time. I'm really happy with it actually.

I hope it ticks all their boxes.

So let's go through them one by one. What do you think of Jane's?

It looked very together, very professional, very coherent.

I loved her sense of colour.

It's tasteful, it's elegant

but at the same time, there was nothing hitting you.

-It was by the textbook design.

-Right. What about Neil?

As an interior designer I think it's a risky process,

this winging it approach he has to design.

I wonder if he'd get unstuck.

-Dan, what did you think?

-He's a great inventor, he's a mad inventor,

but it's product design that he does. There's nothing cohesive about it.

How about Lorna's vintage room?

I was utterly confused how this eclectic period melange

was going to work. It worked better than I envisaged.

We all love Shamus's style and I think that actually created

more of a challenge for Lorna.

-Because Shamus's taste was so strong?

-Yes, exactly.

-How was she going to deal with that?

-Have you come to any conclusions?

I've got a head and heart argument raging on here.

-In my head...

-Go on.

-..it's Jane. She's obvious.

She's organised, she's through.

Lorna's done from the heart. She really wanted to succeed,

she wanted to give him a good service.

You can't not like Lorna.

I'm excited by Neil. I think he's an exciting designer.

I think he's original, but I wonder whether he's a one-trick pony

in this quirky modern, you know, slightly left, wacky look.

Enough debating. You know, there are three anxious designers out there.

-OK.

-We've got to put them out of their misery.

Who's going to go through to the quarterfinals?

Finally, the moment of truth.

Which two designers will be out of the competition

and which will be back for the next round?

Designers, you've all done truly amazingly well

and, most importantly, the clients were really impressed.

You're amateur designers, you only met your client for the first time three days ago.

This is completely new process for you and you've all really exceeded my expectations.

You've certainly improved the lifestyle of the people living in these almshouses as well.

These two have been at it like cats and dogs, arguing,

so it's been genuinely very, very close.

But...

only one of you can go through,

so the designer going through to the quarterfinal is...

-..Neil.

-Well done, Neil.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

'Really, really pleased for Neil.'

He's put a lot of work into it and didn't expect it at all

so it's gone to the right person.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

I'm obviously a little bit disappointed,

but it's been a really, really good experience.

Really good.

-Thank you.

-Well done! Congratulations!

-Thank you.

I can't believe that I've won actually.

-Really impressed.

-Thank you.

But it's brilliant

to have won and to be through to the next round.

Neil has that very, very rare commodity of an extreme talent

and creativity, and you can't let that one go.

I think Neil has been a very, very lucky boy today.

I think he was taking some chances.

He was winging it and my advice going forward would be

don't do that again. Have a plan.

Have a vision of what the finished room is going to look like.

Don't think in the detail, look at the bigger picture.

-Thanks a lot. Cheers.

-I want to give you a hug. You're bigger than me.

The historical and spatial constraints of these 18th century almshouses

have given our designers a tough old challenge,

but they've shown that through imagination and creativity,

they cannot only fulfil the brief,

but they can make a small space seem much larger.

For me, it's been fascinating to find out the history of these buildings

and to see how our designers can bring a modern touch

to buildings that are 250 years old.

Let's just hope their designs stand the test of time

as well as these buildings have.

Next time - 1930s semi-detached houses.

-That's too big.

-Done.

But nothing is straightforward in suburbia.

You could really let her down if you don't get it finished.

I'm so annoyed.