Thatched Village The Great Interior Design Challenge

I'm constantly taken aback by the huge variety of property styles in Britain -

from characterful timber-framed cottages to grand townhouses.

But sometimes, the insides don't live up to the expectations on the outside.

So we've gathered together the most talented amateur interior designers

who think they could be the next big thing to show us how it's done.

But it's not as easy as it looks.

-Wahey!

-Crikey!

-I'm a bit stressed!

Across three knockout episodes,

a group of designers will compete for one place in finals week.

I'm feeling a bit like - argh!

Who built this?

I love it!

Judging them, two industry experts.

Daniel Hopwood...

What I'm looking for is talent that can be nurtured.

..and Sophie Robinson.

I want the designers to impress me with their creativity.

They'll be scrutinising presentation skills...

That's not the way to present to somebody.

..artistic flair...

-Have you ever seen that done before?

-No. It's weird.

..and how well they deliver their brief.

Pretty amazing transformation.

Absolutely beautiful.

In the finals, the best will face giants of the design world.

Oliver Heath...

Oh, my word!

..Orla Kiely...

It does look quite rough.

..and Kelly Hoppen.

I want perfection.

But only one can be crowned winner

of the Great Interior Design Challenge.

In this first-round heat,

four rooms in four period properties crying out for some fresh ideas.

Our amateurs will be updating a bedroom each

in the unusual thatched village of Briantspuddle in Dorset.

Each designer has their own distinctive style.

-Kind of mishmash.

-Mad Hatter.

-Clutter.

-Modern.

But working to a client's brief won't be straightforward.

I'm a bit worried now, because of the wallpaper situation.

It's a bit make-or-break in the room, really.

They'll need to impress to keep their place in the competition.

Ta-dah!

That's really not good enough.

It's not going to look bodged, is it?

Of the four amateur designers,

only three will make it through to the next round.

The designer going home this time...

..is...

Our rivals will be competing in Briantspuddle,

a typical chocolate-box English village,

but despite the olde worlde thatched roofs,

most of the houses are less than 100 years old.

Throughout the Victorian and Edwardian periods,

it was common for wealthy industrialists to build model communities for their workers.

In Dorset, though, one visionary built a rural version.

A series of farms were set up

employing Arts and Crafts architecture

and modern agricultural techniques.

Now these 20th-century workers' cottages are privately owned

and our designers have the task of updating a bedroom each

for their first-ever clients.

It'll come down here, won't it?

That's fine there.

The designers have been working on a brief from their homeowner for the past week.

Just feeling a bit nervous about the amount of work but other than that,

I'm pretty happy with the stuff I've designed.

Just really a couple of accent colours,

mainly the red and the yellow.

Quite a challenging brief but I'm going to wow 'em!

That's what I'm here for, to wow 'em!

They've got a small team to help them,

including a builder and a decorator.

I'm thinking about wallpapering this wall and this wall.

-Yeah, yeah, that'll be fine.

-There's a lot to do.

Um, I'm just hoping that I can, er, plan my time wisely.

They also have a budget of £1,000 and three days.

So we could always make some shelves and then paint them.

-OK, so we'll go through the drawings and um, let's get started.

-OK.

It's a nice brief and they seem like nice people and I...

I really hope I've got it right!

We'll take down that border and put a picture rail up.

First up is 42-year-old ex-visual merchandiser and mum of one, Sarah,

who lives in London.

I'm far too sentimental about inanimate objects

and I like to be surrounded by what a lot of people would call clutter.

The master bedroom Sarah's working in certainly wasn't cluttered -

although it was a little old-fashioned.

The judges checked out its potential before work started.

-Hmm! Interesting.

-Oh, I'm always worried when you say "interesting"!

Ha-ha!

This is all just a bit ironed-out at the moment, isn't it?

It's a great room to work on, though.

We've got lovely lead windows,

we've got even got a little bit of a beam going on there.

Sarah's homeowners have asked for a relaxing,

country-style master bedroom.

There is potential character in this room. It just needs...

Well, that's the key word. Potential.

I think there is a real opportunity to inject something new

and exciting to this...

-Yeah, new take on the country living.

-Yeah.

To maximise that potential, Sarah's planning a bold blue headboard

and Ottoman and a bright yellow floral wallpaper,

which she put to her homeowner Una to sign off before work began.

-Here is my design for your English countryside bedroom scheme.

-Yeah.

As well as approval from her client, Sarah must impress the judges, too,

as they will be ranking all the designers

on their presentation skills.

-You talked about something that was nice and warm and relaxing.

-Yeah.

-So I've chosen this wallpaper.

-Mm-hm.

-So that will go all the way round.

-All the way round?

-Yes.

I think it will just make the room look much more beautiful

if it goes all the way round.

My instinct would be to have at least one area of the wall

-a plain colour. Am I being picky?

-No, not at all. Er...

But I think that we should start,

and I think I'm going to work on convincing you.

I thought we'd paint just a very...the palest,

palest kind of pink

and then do the woodwork slightly darker.

That's a different one, is that.

-Yeah. It's just to give it a little bit of extra warmth.

-Yes.

-Let's see how it works out.

-Yes, exactly.

-It's different. It's different.

But then that's a good thing - something a bit different

-but is actually what you want.

-Yeah.

When it's finished, you'll think, "That's exactly what I wanted!"

-Yes, hopefully.

-Hopefully!

'It's granny chic and I love it!'

-I just don't think the homeowner's quite ready for that now.

-Mm.

She's definitely taking a gamble with that scheme.

With work underway in the room, Sarah's homeowner is still worried.

I have got reservations about the patterned wallpaper

on ALL the walls. I think it might be a bit too much.

As long as I keep her involved, I think she'll be fine.

I know it's the right thing to do in the room.

The wallpaper isn't Sarah's only worry, though.

This wall isn't quite as long as I thought it was.

The headboard she's designed will be too big for the space.

Rookie error! I misread the measurements I was given.

Fingers crossed, we can make it work and squeeze it all in.

We can break a little bit off the end.

-WHISPERS:

-I think we'll be fine.

-We'll make it look like we planned it all along.

-Yeah.

That's done. That's done. That's happening tomorrow.

The second designer is 31-year-old Rob -

a drummer-come-engineering manager from Hull.

My style is bonkers.

It's just oddball.

The room Rob is updating was a small and dull eaves bedroom.

This is actually quite a dark room with quite a small dormer window.

Not a lot of natural light in here.

Rob's homeowners have given a brief for a bohemian room

with global accents.

The homeowners want to show the things that they've picked up

on their travels.

The problem is, some of these are very brightly coloured,

like this batik.

And in dark rooms, those bright colours are very hard to make work.

But I think there's another danger zone here, too,

and that is that this look gets a bit theme-y.

Don't want it to look like a stall from Camden Market.

Steering clear of Camden, Rob plans to fulfil the bohemian brief

by repurposing old items into statement pieces.

Before work started,

he had to get sign-off from homeowners Margaret and Ian.

They'd asked to keep the walls white,

so Rob planned colourful accessories.

-Don't think that's too many colours competing there?

-Um...

I don't think there will be.

What I'm going to do is just pick up on a couple of accent colours

which, really, is these three up here -

the blue, more so it's going to be the red and gold,

-which I know is something you really wanted to bring into your theme.

-OK.

Rob also wants to transform their existing chest of drawers.

I plan to do it similar to the picture here

but actually clad it using some reclaimed wood

to try and give you a bit of my character in there as well

cos I like to make a lot of things like that.

And then, finally, I'm going to make for both of you

-your own bedside table and your own bedside light.

-Oh, lovely.

-And also change the main light that you've got.

-Brilliant. Excellent.

Brilliant.

And that is what I've got planned for you if you're OK with that

-and you're happy to let me run loose with it.

-It sounds mad and fun.

He's trying to inject the personality

and the design elements in the accessories, and actually,

he's really hands-on and coming up with some lovely product design.

But it just feels really cold - all those hot,

bouncy colours lost in a sea of white.

And with work well underway, Rob's getting the power tools out.

I always like to be as hands-on as I can, really.

And his hands start on a bedside light.

I just need to use one of my favourite tools - my angle grinder.

I've got a feeling my bedspread that I've ordered

is going to have to go cos it's £50.

The next designer is 27-year-old mum-of-two Angelica,

who lives in Leeds and works as a paint adviser for a DIY store.

As you can see, I use a lot of black in my own home.

I'm in love with patterns and prints, bold colours, modern.

The room Angelica is working in was a neutral and plain guest bedroom.

Rather cute little attic bedroom.

However, there are some big issues in this room.

For example, this woodchip on the walls,

they want it taking off but, frankly,

it's going to be a nightmare.

Angelica's brief is to create a hotel-chic room

with a touch of something extra.

Well, this room does have quite a lot of oddities

and I guess there's an opportunity to embrace that.

I mean, we've got these weird angles coming out here.

-The ceiling is rather peculiar.

-Exactly.

Odd it up, do it the sort of Arts and Crafts way

of not having anything that's symmetrical in the room.

Angelica has embraced the angles

with an A-frame shelving unit planned.

She's also using a mix of natural fabrics

and a muted colour scheme,

all of which she had to run past her homeowners, Campbell and Kate,

before work started.

I didn't want to go with any stronger colours.

I wanted to keep it quite fresh, not too in-your-face and not too...

-Busy.

-Yeah, too busy. Yeah.

-Right.

-So do you like the look of that so far?

-I do, actually.

-Yup?

-Yup.

-I want to try and put the bed in front of the window.

-Oh, right.

Simply just to open the space.

When you open the door at the minute, the bed being here,

I think it visually blocks you. That's the first thing that you see.

-It does, yeah.

-Yeah.

And you can't appreciate the unique shape of the room.

It's wonderful, actually. Never thought of turning a bed that way.

No. No, I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years!

Good. Go for that.

It's not very conventional,

to put the head of the bed under the window.

Exactly. But, at the same time,

she's doing this really quite funky shelving system.

We thought that was genius.

It also kind of mirrors the shape of that attic room as well.

Though, with work underway, it's not the shape of the walls

but what's on them that's giving Angelica her first headache.

-This woodchip.

-Yes.

-How long would it take to come off?

Apparently, it's plasterboard over here.

Trouble with stripping paper off of plasterboard

is that you can damage the plasterboard.

So it is just best to leave it, then, isn't it?

In my honest opinion, yeah.

She'll either need to stick with the dreaded woodchip

or find a clever way to cover it up.

What I'm thinking now -

if I add a textured wallpaper onto the bottom wall and this wall,

if that's going to work, but I've just got to rethink my budget,

what's going to have to go to be able to do that.

-So, it'll be, like, there.

-Yeah, that's perfect.

The final designer is 47-year-old textiles lecturer Lucy,

from Colchester.

My style is a kind of mishmash.

Colour, texture, shape,

all those elements become my interior design mantra.

Before she started work, Lucy's room was a drab teenage bedroom.

Well, this room is actually rather big.

Yeah, we've got a working area, dressing area

and also it's a bit empty in the middle.

So, actually, layout for this space is...

I actually think it'll be quite challenging.

Lucy's young client has asked for a futuristic chill-out room.

But I'm not quite sure how they're going to do

a really sort of futuristic look, which he wants, in this room.

Yeah, he has asked for something so cutting-edge. There's even quite

a lot of jazzy lighting requested for this scheme.

-Sounds a bit dangerous in an old thatched cottage, doesn't it?

-SOPHIE LAUGHS

Lucy's dangerous design

includes a stark black and blue colour scheme,

with metal-effect wallpaper and a futuristic bed,

which she had to get approval for from 15-year-old Nat

and his mum, Sarah, earlier on.

-The bed sits inside a box that's upholstered in black denim.

-OK.

-And then it's got lights underneath it, like this, that you wanted.

-Wow.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Then I'm going to paint the floor black, floorboards.

-OK.

-Right.

-If they're good enough, take the carpet up

-and make you this rug...

-OK, yeah.

-..that sits under the bed.

-Yeah.

-Is that the design for the rug?

-Yeah, sort of.

-I mean, it may alter a little bit.

-OK.

-But you like it?

-Yeah, no, I really like it.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah.

-Good.

-Exciting.

Great.

She's painting his floor black,

she's hovering the bed with blue lights,

I mean, it's a really rocking design.

Yeah, exactly. And as for the brief, she went beyond it.

With such an ambitious design, Lucy's cracking on apace,

painting all the existing oak furniture.

The plan with this is to get an undercoat on it

and then paint it a dark grey.

With so much to do, she needs to be organised and efficient.

Oh, why am I painting the top?

The desk is going on top of this.

Oh, well.

The judges have watched all four designers

present their ideas to their clients.

-You want this to actually follow the pitch of the roof or...?

-Yeah.

And, now they've all got stuck into their workloads,

they're calling them together

for a surprise first round of judging.

-Sarah, the judges would like to see you.

-OK.

-Do you know why they want to see you?

-No.

I wonder why. Do you think I'm being sent home in disgrace?

At this stage, they're judging not the designs themselves,

but how skilfully they presented them.

With just three places in the next round,

where they're ranked now really matters.

Now, designers, a little surprise for you.

We're actually going to judge you on how able you were

to present your projects.

Their ability to articulate ideas, their mood boards

and their drawings will all count.

Angelica, we thought your boards were beautifully drawn out

and very, very thoughtful.

But you had two boards -

professional designers would have known

to have shown the practical board first.

Sarah, I'm rather excited about the use of that wallpaper

on all four walls, but your client wasn't so sure.

And I don't think you nailed it with her, so be careful of that, OK?

Lucy, we thought you did a super presentation.

It was clear to me what that room's going to look like,

what's going where, you know, you really sold it.

Rob, wonderful details, but there was nothing on that board

which created an image of what you want to do with that space.

Now, the best...

-..is you, Lucy, well done.

-Oh!

Thank you.

Second place...

..is Angelica.

Third place...

..is Rob.

SARAH SIGHS

Fourth, is Sarah.

I'm feeling a bit deflated, but I have to just, kind of,

move on and pick myself up and not weep in a corner.

I've got too much to do to do that!

Reminded there is a second-round place at stake,

the designers get straight back to work on their rooms.

My plan is to actually use the workings of a clock in the tin

to make a little feature piece for them.

It's not the first time this village has seen significant reinvention.

Briantspuddle was originally a sleepy hamlet

until a certain Ernest Debenham arrived.

Turning his back on his family's department store business,

Debenhams in London,

in 1914 he bought up 10,000 acres of Dorset countryside,

with a vision to turn it into a self-sufficient community

using the very latest cutting-edge Edwardian farming methods.

The output of the farm was incredibly varied,

with livestock, crops, beehives, even a worm farm.

This was the dairy ring, designed in a circle to maximise efficiency.

The horses and carts would queue up here

to collect produce from the central building.

The workforce accommodation was strictly divided,

with herdsmen over here and dairymaids over there.

Intermingling was frowned upon.

In fact, any unmarried pregnant women were banished from the estate.

Hoping to save herself from being banished,

Sarah is forging ahead with her English countryside design.

Her ottoman has been constructed

and the walls are being prepped for papering.

But the wallpaper isn't the only thing

her homeowner's having doubts about.

I would like the picture rail to be white, rather than the darker pink.

We can definitely have a look at it.

Sarah has just one chance to get this room right.

At home, she takes a much more trial-and-error approach.

I don't subscribe to the school of thought that once you've done...

"I've done the house."

You've never done the house, it's always a work in progress.

It's like, you know, cutting your hair. It's just hair, it grows.

Stop getting so wound up about it, it's just paint.

It's just wallpaper. If it looks rubbish, just paint over it.

She failed to win her client round in the presentation,

so Sarah still has persuading to do over details,

like the pink woodwork.

Once it's against this, it's essentially white.

-Oh, right, yes, that's better than I thought.

-So, actually, it's... Yeah.

-So, we happy?

-Yes, I'm happy.

-Good, good.

I'm really pleased.

Angelica's hotel chic scheme depends on a sleek, uniform finish.

And she's come up with an idea to banish the woodchip.

What we're going to do is, we're going to sand back the woodchip.

Just so it's a smoother finish.

She'll then use lining paper to perfect the look.

But with delivery not due until tomorrow,

it could jeopardise her schedule.

At home in Leeds, sleek hotel chic is a look she knows well.

My partner takes me to nice hotels, which I love,

because I can get inspiration from that

and introduce it and recreate it in my own home.

I've used these cushions to give it a pop of colour.

This lamp, I bought it just simply because of the base.

Mustard's on trend at the moment.

It is about being trendy and being out there

and getting, you know, the wow factor.

It's not going to look bodged, is it?

To be honest, if it was me, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

-And just given it a new fresh lick of paint...

-Just painted it.

..and put in some other things that distract the eye from it.

A few doors down, Rob is doing just that.

His bohemian bedroom is having a fresh lick of paint.

The chest of drawers is being transformed

with scaffolding planks he bought for just under £50.

And he's creating a new bedside light out of something old.

Got this from a local charity shop.

It's got a nice finish to it, it's a nice little jar

that would double up as a nice little lampshade as well.

Rob believes his passion for repurposing

will set him apart from the competition.

One man's junk is another man's treasure

and that's one of my beliefs.

Our dining table, it's an old cottage door,

complete with the letterbox hole as well.

I like the juxtaposition of different things.

Old with new, damaged with working.

If you've got something boring in your house, get it out.

But in his bohemian scheme,

Rob didn't persuade his client to change the off-white walls,

so he's relying on designing products to deliver impact.

OK, so when that's nice and tight,

that should just sit roundabout there, like that.

You know, we are looking for designers who are individual,

can put their own twist on it. Can you make us love white room schemes?

That would be a challenge.

In Lucy's futuristic chill-pad bedroom,

everything is changing.

Yeah, that's lovely.

Most of the furniture has had a coat of black paint.

The new bedframe has been built and Lucy's already onto the next stage.

I'm wadding the bedframe, ready to upholster it with the denim.

-LAUGHING:

-Like a sleigh. Like Santa's sleigh, isn't it?

Covered in snow.

This isn't the first time Lucy's decorated for a teenage boy.

She has two of her own at home.

Sometimes the children and my husband are a bit like,

"Oh, God, what's she done now?"

Her sons are often her reluctant guinea pigs.

It's pretty chaotic.

You go away for a little bit and you come back

and you'd have a new painting on the wall.

Like, when I went away, came back and this was here.

Not through consent, but just cos she can't stop doing her job.

Believe it or not, I'd love to live in a minimalist...

monastery or something.

Away from all this clutter and madness.

-Lucy, this project is steaming ahead!

-Hello! Yes.

I'm slightly ad hoc, normally.

I was going to say, I think it is quite chaotic, isn't it?

We've got a wardrobe that's half built,

but it's already got the topcoat on.

-THEY LAUGH

-Exactly.

-There's no real method...

But this is probably the most organised I've been.

As well as the room schemes,

there's a big surprise in store for all the designers.

Sophie and Daniel want to compare their creativity,

by getting them to upcycle the same item in just 24 hours.

And, fittingly for an old dairy, it's a vintage milk crate.

Rob, I've got a surprise challenge for you here.

This is an old milk crate...

..and you've got 24 hours to turn this into something

which is either a one-off piece or something that suits the room.

Completely redesign it, reinvent it, using your creativity.

-Good luck.

-Right, OK.

They need to use their milk crates to design and create

an inspired new product that fits with their scheme.

How well they do will feed into the judges' decision

on who leaves the competition.

The only way to make it any different is going to be to cut it.

It's the sort of thing that maybe lends itself quite nicely

to being stood on its end and used as a side table.

Possibly put it on the wall as storage.

Smash it up completely and use the wood.

No ideas whatsoever.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm going to need to pull out all the stops on this one, aren't I?

The judges will see their ideas later on.

Time is running out on their stressful first day.

-It's been a learning curve, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Steep, very steep.

-Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Really steep.

-So steep.

The hard work is far from over.

I wish I'd got a coat on the floor tonight,

but that'll have to happen tomorrow night.

I'm a bit worried now, just simply because of the wallpaper situation.

And there are still battles to be won.

I really don't want to go out,

so I need to just do that last bit of convincing

that the wallpaper everywhere is the way to go.

I'm not naturally competitive,

but maybe now's the time to find that inner will of iron.

It's the start of the second day.

We've seen beds constructed, woodchip walls sanded,

ottoman upholstery and scaffolding planks given a new use.

But the hard work for our designers is far from over.

By the end of tomorrow, one of them will be out of the competition.

Generally apprehensive about the day, just so much to do.

I'm going to be cracking on with a lot of the bigger items today.

This morning we are going to have to wait for the wallpaper to arrive,

so it is going to put us back a bit.

I'm feeling really good, I had a good night's sleep.

You know, the only way is up.

# Ta-da! #

I'm quite pleased with that.

Work in Lucy's futuristic chill pad is at full speed from the off.

Her £63-a-roll, metal-effect wallpaper's going up,

her shelving constructed and a new desk fitted.

Well done!

Super sexy.

Love it.

She's making some futuristic wall art on lining paper.

What I'm trying to do, I think,

is get it really dark in the middle and fade out.

So it's a bit like a bike wheel planet.

Whoo! Lovely.

I hear you've got two boys.

What do they think of your ambitions of interior design?

They're really supportive. They put a good luck card in my bag saying,

"You can do it, like you always do," or something, which is really sweet.

Have you experimented on them?

-Oh, not literally their bodies, no, but their rooms.

-Their bedrooms.

In Rob's bohemian room, the painting's almost finished.

Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, that's nice.

Rob's builder is making the window box,

while he's busy on another bedside light, this time, made from books.

You want to make sure the hole cutter

doesn't grab on the fabric of the book cover.

It's a nice, clean finish.

Right, OK, great. There you have it.

And the bulb, obviously, is just going to sit into the top of there.

But if Rob's bohemian bedroom is going to impress the judges,

it will need to be more than just a collection of quirky products.

Tell me how all those lovely ideas that you've got,

how are they going to tie together?

I think, predominantly, the red is, hopefully,

what's going to tie this scheme together.

He thinks he's going to do it with a few shades of red.

I'm really not convinced.

In her English countryside bedroom,

Sarah's started making soft furnishings.

For a first attempt, it's not bad,

apart from the fact that I've just realised I've left a pin in.

Her wallpaper's going up, even though her homeowner

has yet to agree to having it on all four walls.

Probably going to need about another two or three rolls.

But, not for the first time, Sarah's got her sums wrong.

'OK, so, as I thought, I'm short of wallpaper.'

But by hook or by crook, I am going to get some more.

No hold-ups in Lucy's room, where she's full steam ahead,

pulling up the flooring to make way for a rug...

which she's making herself from grey and blue carpet.

I suppose, this work's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle,

you cut out the bits of carpet, butt them together

and then use the tape to stick them together.

The rug and bedframe are going into position,

even though she's yet to paint the floor.

-What concerns me, is you've got a whole floor to paint tonight.

-Mm-hm.

And you've got to actually get everything out of this room, right?

-And then bring it all back in...

-No, no, no, I'm going to paint round it.

-Round the rug?

-Yeah, rather than try and do the whole lot.

They will not be impressed if she starts cutting corners

and I'm beginning to think that maybe that's what's happening.

That's really not good enough.

There's been no cutting corners for Angelica.

Her lining paper has finally arrived.

The next five minutes is going to be really intense.

She's hoping it's been worth the wait

and will create the slick finish she wants in her hotel chic scheme.

Hopefully it goes up and you can't see any bumps through it.

It seems her gamble has paid off.

Oh, I'm so relieved that I can use this wallpaper,

cos now I can complete the look that I wanted to achieve.

It's so subtle and it's going to look beautiful.

The designers haven't just got the task

of transforming a room in three days,

they've also got just 24 hours to come up with

an innovative piece of product design using a vintage milk crate.

How creative they are will affect who goes through to the next round.

I'm going to have to be a bit inventive

and not go down an obvious route.

Sarah's going all-out to impress, completely repurposing her crate.

So, this is a bit like a piano stool.

I always wanted to give her something

a bit more luxurious to sit on.

But would you really want to sit on an old crate?

It doesn't sound comfortable to me.

And panicking will slow me down, so I'm just going to keep going.

True to form, Rob's right at home with this challenge.

The piece that they gave me plays perfectly with the room.

I've got an idea for what I'm going to do,

bedside table with some casters on.

He's got a real eye for the detail.

He's embellishing it with industrial casters and a scaffold plank on top.

I think it could look really cool.

But a bedside table? It's not really going to set the world on fire.

Lucy plans to send her crate into the 22nd century.

I'm going to upcycle this into a TV unit.

It's, kind of, going to look like a bit of futuristic rubbish,

like in a sci-fi film or something.

Trying to fit a vintage crate into a futuristic scheme

sounds a bit difficult to me.

But she's getting out the silver spray paint

and that just, quite frankly, sounds tacky.

Oh, look. Yeah, love it, good.

While Angelica's making a table.

OK, so what I want to do with this

is I want to create, like, a corner unit.

So I want to take the front piece off

and then create some kind of top for it.

-No problem.

-Perfect.

-OK.

Angelica's idea for her milk crate shows a real lack of ambition.

-Oh, amazing.

-Is that it?

-Yeah.

She's just got her builder to stick a top on it

and it doesn't even match in.

The judges have seen all four milk crate upcycles,

but the real test will be how well they integrate

into the finished designs.

Sophie and Daniel will have to reserve final judgment

until the schemes are complete.

-You know what I would like?

-Uh-huh?

-So there's an angle across here.

-Yeah?

From subtle to dramatic,

our designers are trying to marry practicality and style.

And Briantspuddle itself is a great example of how to make this work.

Now, these cottages may look olde-worlde

with their thatched roofs and their whitewashed walls,

but if you take a closer look,

you can see these walls are made out of breezeblocks.

Like this one here, made from gravel.

The whole estate was constructed like this, with an eye to the past,

but also an eye on the architectural trends of the present.

Inside, too, there are some ingenious design features.

The herdsmen's house was designed for 15 grown men to share - imagine!

But it's got wonderful details, like this open staircase,

which makes a cramped space feel much larger than it actually is.

In fact, once you start looking,

you can see signs of the history wherever you look.

Like the door to the living room, which is peppered with little holes

from when the herdsmen used to play darts.

Rob is planning to leave his mark in his bohemian bedroom

with lots of repurposed products.

Like the £10 suitcase he's turning into a bedside table.

These are the legs I'm going to be using,

which are just taken from an old coffee table.

Yeah, lovely. That's perfect, that.

You're a practical man. You have a pencil in your pocket -

-that tells me you're a practical man.

-Always have a pencil, yeah.

I hate seeing waste, so I just love challenging myself mentally

as to what I can come up with.

The weirder, the better, sometimes, as well.

Steering clear of weird or recycled, Angelica's opted for brand-new

to get the serene, chic look she's after.

It looks amazing, it looks exactly how I wanted it.

The colour's perfect.

While her new carpet's being fitted,

she pops next door to check out the competition.

-Wow!

-Come in. What do you think?

-This looks amazing.

Well, I'm kind of gunning for the wallpaper to go everywhere.

-Yeah, I love it.

-To go all the way round.

-It's so fresh, isn't it?

Sarah's room, it's absolutely beautiful,

and it's really bold and vibrant.

So I'm just questioning myself,

whether I've actually pushed myself enough with the brief.

Her brief was hotel chic with an adventurous edge.

And she's not the only one wondering if she's playing it too safe.

The homeowners have asked for something that's going to impress,

but I'm not seeing it.

It doesn't pack much punch.

Around the halfway point,

the designers have to show their work in progress to their clients.

-Hiya.

-Hi, there, how's it going?

-Wow.

-Yeah, good, yeah. We're good.

-Oh, my goodness.

-We're getting there, yeah.

It's a big moment for all of them.

Any doubts raised now could throw their projects off course.

There's another topcoat to go on top.

-Sure, it won't be rough and ready, it'll be smooth.

-Sure.

-I've never been used to coloured ceilings.

-Yeah.

-They've always been white.

-Yeah.

That's going to be interesting for us.

Sarah promised her homeowner

a chance to review the wallpaper as it went up.

-It's interesting, Sarah.

-SARAH LAUGHS

She has enough paper now,

but still needs to convince her client that four walls of it

will deliver the calm, traditional bedroom she's hoping for.

I'm still very wary of...

I think, coming in and thinking, "Oh, overwhelmed with leaves

-"and trees and flowers and everything."

-Yes.

I appreciate your nervousness,

but it's a bit make-or-break in the room, really.

Once the room is fully dressed and has got all the things in it,

the wallpaper will go into the background.

My days are numbered if I don't manage to pull this off.

-Actually, I think that looks good there.

-Yeah.

Yeah, I do, that looks good there.

-That would look better there than plain.

-Yes.

-You've managed to convince me.

-Oh, good, good.

-OK.

Thank you, I feel like I want to kiss you.

Thank you!

Our designers rightly aim for rooms that will satisfy their clients.

-What do you think, about there?

-Yeah.

Full-on, huh?

HE LAUGHS

When Debenham designed this whole community,

high living standards and happy residents were his ambitions, too.

Workers' cottages came with a quarter of an acre, a pigpen,

even an orchard.

Now, Debenham wasn't being entirely philanthropic.

A well-housed workforce meant happy employees,

but it also increased production.

Debenham's experiment, alas, didn't last forever -

in 1929, the economic crash hit the countryside as much as the city.

And, by 1952, the entire estate had been disbanded.

But the buildings did survive.

Whether they were pigpens, cow parlours,

they've all been converted into rather imaginative private homes.

Debenham's dream may have faded,

but his vision still lives on in some form.

It's near the end of the second day.

I think having a padded headboard is a bit more kind of cocooning.

They all have a lot to do to keep their place in the competition.

Tomorrow, it's all guns blazing.

Well, they've been blazing plenty today,

but tomorrow we'll get some more guns and they'll blaze as well.

Really, really, really pleased.

And I just think that, once everything's in,

it's just going to look amazing.

I'm just trying to get the rest of the finishing touches

on the paint done, allow more time to dress the room tomorrow.

But, for Lucy, there's no end in sight.

I've got to de-staple it and sand it.

Then paint the floor.

It's the final day and our four designers,

they've only got a few more hours to go to impress the judges.

At the end of today, Sophie and Daniel will scrutinise each room

for coherence, quality and creativity,

before deciding who to eliminate from the competition.

Soon our four designers will become three.

I'm still in a good place.

Yesterday's good mood has carried on.

Today's going to be quite a battle to the finish.

I am a bit worried, just about getting everything finished.

After working late, ambitious Lucy is also feeling the pressure.

Last night, I didn't quite finish the floor,

so I did go home feeling a bit downhearted.

With the floor paint still drying,

work in her chill-pad bedroom is at a standstill.

So Lucy's forced into the garden to make some quirky door handles.

Just spraying these drumsticks.

I brought them with me, actually, to make hooks or doorknobs.

But they're not going to work like that, so we're going to

put them horizontally along the front of a drawer.

So you see them, silver against black.

Is she going to finish?

We always felt that that design was very ambitious.

It's going to be incredibly close.

It's not just Lucy who's falling behind.

Sarah's forgotten to paint the doors in her country cottage bedroom.

I was so focused on the wallpaper that I kind of just thought,

"Woodwork, paint, that's all done."

And, then, yeah.

It's not a disaster.

You know, it's not like the ceiling hadn't been done.

But anyway, c'est la vie.

The room is only wallpapered, there's nothing else in there.

And what a wallpaper it is. It's quite strong for a bedroom.

Yeah, really, um...vibrant?

-So nobody will be going to sleep!

-No.

In Rob's room, the chest of drawers has been transformed

with scaffold plank cladding.

It looks fantastic. Builder's done an absolutely excellent job.

And he's adding some of the red

he's promised will tie his bohemian travel scheme together.

I think once they're all done, they're all in the unit,

it's going to look fantastic.

I'm gutted to be leaving it here, really, I'd like to take it home.

His homeowners had quite a strong

and specific colour story that they wanted interpreted.

And we're yet to really see how he's going to bring the colour

into that room and actually help make it all hang together.

Worried her colour isn't impactful enough,

Angelica's decided a second coat of light blue will help.

Oh, it's worked really well.

Which she thinks has made all the difference.

I was a bit worried, previously,

just cos I thought I'd gone for too light a shade.

So I'm happy that it's got more of a contrast now

and it's worked really well.

How's Angelica's room shaping up?

It's looking smart,

but she's promised that she's going to deliver

this sort of high-impact effect.

You know, the real wow with the accessories

and we haven't seen any of those yet.

The finishing line is fast approaching.

Might make them a bit thicker.

The designers have had three days and £1,000 each to transform a room.

They've been judged on how well they present to their clients

and have had to think on their feet

to come up with an innovative design product,

which will be judged in their finished room.

For Angelica, time is running out.

Do you want to keep it in line with the door?

-Yeah, if you do it, like, central. That's fine, that's perfect.

-Yeah?

Yeah.

After battling so hard with the woodchip to get a sleek finish,

Angelica's now pulling together all the dressings

she hopes will make her hotel chic room stand out.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Thanks.

-Looks good, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It looks even better than I thought it was going to look.

I'm actually starting to think

that I might start doing light rooms in my own house.

Angelica's brief was to bring hotel chic to a guest bedroom.

Three days ago, it was an unremarkable and weary room.

Now, Angelica has created a serene new look.

She's covered the woodchip walls with lining paper

and painted them in pale tones.

She's changed the layout,

designed some A-framed shelving

and added cushions and accessories.

I hope they like it. Actually, I hope they love it.

I'm a little disappointed by her colour palette, if I'm honest.

-Mm-hm.

-For me, I think the colours are too subtle.

Yeah, she's played it safe.

But the bit that's clever is the way that she's done these shelves.

They kind of play to the funny shapes that are going on in here.

-Yeah, exactly.

-They almost celebrate it a little bit.

Then she's done a really brave thing,

-to move the bed into the window.

-Very brave.

I wasn't sure about that, what do you think?

Well, the reason she did it,

she said, because it'll give better circulation in the room.

-It does.

-She's right, absolutely, it does.

Now that the room is finished, Sophie and Daniel

can judge how well the upcycled milk crate fits the scheme.

It's been used as some sort of leg

in order to support the homeowner's treasured yacht.

It looks a bit makeshift to me. Like, "We need a bit of a table,

"let's plop something on this old milk crate."

Yeah, it needs to go one step further.

Now, she's certainly done hotel chic, but is it impressive?

Yeah, the question is, for us,

is this a five-star design or just a rather nice B&B?

How happy the homeowners are with their finished room

will inform the judges' decision.

I 100% want to go through to the next round.

I've learnt so much these last few days

and I just think that my next project could be even better.

They're about to see their new guest bedroom for the first time.

-My word.

-What do you think?

I can't believe it's the same room, it's absolutely spectacular.

-Well, you wanted a bit of hotel chic for your guests.

-It's beautiful.

-I think I'll move up here, actually.

-THEY LAUGH

-Is it better than your bedroom?

-Yes.

-Oh, yeah.

-You seem completely spellbound.

-It just looks so different, yes.

With his deadline fast approaching,

Rob is finally bringing all his repurposed objects together.

Yeah, I like that.

And adding the touches of colour he promised would unite his scheme.

Right, that is me...

..done.

I'm pleased that it's done, it's been quite an intense three days.

Rob's brief was to create a bright, bohemian master bedroom

that had hints of global travel.

Three days ago, it was a room with little character.

Now, Rob has kept the walls bright to showcase his bespoke pieces...

..like his repurposed suitcase bedside table...

..bedside lights...

..a new window box

and his revamped chest of drawers with red edging.

He's added more colour with soft furnishing and accessories.

To be honest,

I feel really good about the room that I've put together.

Hopefully the judges think the same.

These lights look very intriguing.

-We've got a lamp made out of a stack of books.

-Mm.

But the bit I really like is this chest of drawers,

which looks magnificent.

That red line around each drawer, it looks super.

You'd spend quite a bit of money for something like that in the shops.

Yeah, I think so. It's very classily done.

And same with the suitcase in the corner.

Ardent upcycler Rob should've been on safe ground

with his milk crate challenge.

But the question is, how well does it tie in with his scheme?

He's made it into a rather useful bedside table

with a bit of scaffolding plank on the top.

And it integrates very well into the room.

It's almost as if he'd actually found it himself.

But I think, when he's dressed this room, he's stood, probably,

about where I'm standing now and spread it out,

so when you walk in this room it looks really impressive.

But, frankly, if you look behind me, it's all really quite plain.

And he hasn't brought any of the colour up onto the walls.

-That would've been the place to do it.

-Mm.

His presentation was all about colour -

not quite enough of it in here for me.

I like to think I've fulfilled my brief, yeah.

So I'm really confident with what I've done.

-Come in.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Oh, my goodness, yes.

-It's your bedroom.

-It is just gorgeous.

-It cheers up the room.

It's absolutely gorgeous! Oh, my goodness me.

Is there anything that looks a bit odd

-or something you're not quite sure about?

-No.

Rob explained everything he was going to do

and I couldn't really visualise it.

-I thought, "Oh, sounds OK, sounds good."

-Yeah.

-It's amazing.

-Yeah.

Having fought her homeowners every step

to get her way with the wallpaper,

Sarah's racing to bring in the furniture and furnishings

she hopes will set it off perfectly.

I want to get the shelves up and get the furniture in.

I'd rather have the lights up.

In the last few minutes, she brings in a £5 modern cardboard lampshade.

Could I have a duster, please?

OK, finished.

I think it looks really pretty.

It is warm and it's cosy and it is relaxing.

It's a kind of "lose yourself in it" room.

Sarah's brief was for a calm, traditional

English countryside bedroom.

Three days ago, this room was tired and old-fashioned.

Now, Sarah has updated the room with her take on traditional.

She's wallpapered all four walls in a floral print...

..repositioned the bed and furniture...

..added blue highlights throughout,

as well as that modern lampshade.

I, personally, think it's a triumph.

Well, it definitely puts a smile on your face, this room, doesn't it?

-That's good, isn't it?

-Cheery is what I feel in here.

But this is a bedroom. This room was asked to be warm and relaxing.

I'm not feeling that at all. I do like the choice of colours.

I mean, I love the blues on this wall

and she's got some shelving on the other side, as well.

And, actually, the curtain

and the details on the headboard in that blue works very well.

Very modern light fitting - wasn't expecting that.

Is that a light fitting or is it just a cardboard box

-hanging from the ceiling?

-OK, you don't love that.

-Oh, no.

Well, not in this room, I think.

-Really not in this room, but really not anywhere, look at it.

-OK.

SHE LAUGHS

Sarah must hope they think her upcycled milk crate fits in better.

-Quite an interesting idea.

-I think that the thought is nice...

-Mm.

..to make this into a dressing table stool with somewhere to keep things.

I just think the way it's been executed is dreadful.

-This all looks a bit rushed.

-Mm.

My overall sum-up of this room, I think,

-is she's relied on this wallpaper too much.

-Mm.

I really, really hope the homeowner likes it.

Here it is, come on in, Una.

-Oh.

-Your new bedroom.

-It couldn't be more different.

-First impressions?

It's lovely, yeah. I did have reservations about the wallpaper.

-Now, yeah, so what's your reaction?

-I think it's quite nice, but it's...

-Is it going to take a bit of getting used to?

-Yes.

I would, probably, have used it as a feature wall.

Last to finish, Lucy is racing to get everything completed.

# Hallelujah! #

Having been so ambitious with her design,

she needs to make sure she doesn't cut too many corners.

Just wondering whether to turn the duvet over to grey.

Right.

Lucy's brief was to create a futuristic chill pad,

perfect for a teenage boy.

Three days ago, this bedroom was bland and a little boring.

Not any more.

She's rearranged the layout,

painted all the furniture and the flooring black...

..used electric blue on the bookshelf and her handmade rug...

..added metal-effect wallpaper,

battery-operated LED lights under the bed

and made bike-wheel wall art.

Really, really pleased.

I suppose it's in the lap of the gods now, so just wait and see.

This room's got great impact, hasn't it?

She has done so much stuff.

A big challenge was getting this floor painted

and I think it looks really dramatic.

The black sets off all the lighting really well.

We've got this magical, back-lit bed, which looks like it's floating.

And I also like the way she's used colour,

because she's got these different blues going on.

There's a cobalt blue and there's this lighter blue.

Then, also on top of it, you've got angles everywhere.

Angles here, on the wardrobe, there, on the rug,

which she's made herself. She glued that together.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

And that really clever selection of wallpaper.

Has she been as clever with her milk crate upcycle,

integrating a vintage piece into the modern scheme?

I wondered how she was going to deal with an old-looking crate

in a futuristic room like this.

And that's rather good, cos it's stopped looking too ancient

and she's given it a modern edge.

-I think it looks naff.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I love it.

I think it's really cool.

It's been an audacious project and she's been really ambitious.

But, on closer inspection, everything has been a little rushed.

-Yeah.

-Cos this is looking a little rough around the edges.

-Yeah.

On that cupboard, it's a bit drippy.

I've thought about the fact if I had to go home today

and I think my main focus, at the moment,

is the fact that Nat likes it.

Oh, my God.

So nice.

HE LAUGHS What do you like best?

Literally everything.

-Does anything look not quite right?

-Not at all.

Nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm so pleased.

All the designers can do now is wait to find out

who the judges decide isn't worthy of a place in the second round.

I want to get through to the next round so badly.

Who knows whether I've done enough,

but I'd love to have another go, learn from the mistakes.

It is definitely something that I want to do for the rest of my life.

And I feel, now, confident enough to believe that I can actually do it.

I couldn't have done any more than I've done,

so if it's not right, then I won't be right for the next round.

What a beautiful village.

Have our designers risen to the challenge of its beauty?

They certainly have. I mean, we've seen some very interesting projects.

Did you like Angelica's room, did it deliver for you two?

She created these A-frame shelves,

which I think were really successful.

There were some disappointments, though.

I wasn't wowed, if I'm completely honest.

Well, I don't know what you two are talking about,

-the homeowner was wowed.

-Well, good for them.

I'm just looking for a little bit more.

So did Lucy deliver a futuristic chill pad?

Yeah, she delivered exactly what she said she was going to do.

But when you started to poke around a little bit in that room,

there's some shoddy finishes.

-The homeowners, mum and son, loved it.

-Cool.

-Brilliant.

What did you make of Sarah's room?

It is so great to see an amateur designer

who's got that much confidence to use a wallpaper like that

all the way around the room.

However, it's not a good choice for a bedroom.

The homeowner wasn't convinced really either.

Rob's clients wanted a bohemian bedroom

with elements of global travel - did you see that in it?

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in that room.

My concerns, though, he's a bit of a products guy,

but actually creating one big interior design scheme

didn't seem to be quite his skill.

So, did the homeowner like it, love it, what do you think?

They loved it!

So, you've got some favourites, I can tell,

but have you decided which three are going to go through?

Actually, not yet.

I think we've got a little bit more discussion to have.

A thatched cottage is so many people's idea of perfection,

but you four have proved

that traditional doesn't need to be conservative.

You've all created very individual and original interiors

for your homeowners to enjoy.

And you've all done it with passion and energy,

which, I have to say, we were both impressed by.

The judges have decided, though,

that the designer going home this time is...

..Sarah.

Oh.

Ah, well, never mind.

I feel really upset and really kind of gutted.

I had thought that, maybe, I could pull it out of the bag,

after the presentation, but I think...

I just got it wrong.

-Hey, hello.

-Hello.

-How are you?

When we start looking at the basics, how to create mood in a room,

she failed. And, for that reason,

she's not ready to go forward in this competition.

-Aw, do you like it?

-You've done such a wonderful job, yeah.

Thanks so much.

I'm just so excited, right about now.

I just can't wait to tell my family and friends.

Moving on, though, I know she has even more creativity in her

and I want to see it unleashed.

-Thank you so much.

-Aw, thank you. Oh, I so enjoyed it.

Really pleased, but surprised,

cos there was lots of drippy, unfinished bits.

I was far too ambitious.

If she can just rein it in a little bit,

get the quality a little bit higher,

then she'd really have legs in this competition.

-It is extraordinary.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

You've done a beautiful, beautiful job.

I feel great, yeah. I can't wait to do it all again.

He's got to remember, it's just not product design,

this is about interior design.

But I think with Rob we've got something unique -

the mad, creative, inventor.

Next time, Bath and a Georgian terrace.

-Where Angelica...

-Loads to be done.

-..Rob...

-Yes!

-..and Lucy...

-Come on!

..compete for just two places in the third round.

The designer going home is...