Modern Riverside 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.

Oh, no! I'm panicking!

GLASS SMASHES

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

Across three knockout episodes,

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

Oh, why isn't easy?

I just like to do things properly.

Oh, that's wonderful!

Judging them, two industry experts - Daniel Hopwood...

To make it through to the final four,

they will have to impress with every inch of their designs.

..and Sophie Robinson.

These designs really do need to be outstanding.

They'll be scrutinising presentation skills...

-That's not the way to present 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.

Last time, three designers battled to impress the judges.

They said they want a bit of quirky but not too wacky.

-I don't think this is wacky.

-It's looking a little bonkers.

-One went home. Two of them made it through.

-I'm proud of it.

I put a lot of effort into it.

It is a total transformation.

Now things are getting even tougher.

This time, our amateurs will be tackling an attic bedroom

each in two riverside properties in Marlow.

It's a clash of experience versus raw talent...

Sarah - she is such a class act.

Her cool, calm nature shows in every inch of her accomplished schemes.

Jamie is full of youthful creativity,

but surprisingly sophisticated.

-..as the designers fight...

-Aargh!

-..to please their homeowners...

-I am worried!

-..and impress the judges.

-There's all of that going on in the walls.

It's going to feel a bit hectic.

Whoa! That looks a lot brighter than it should be.

It's not beautiful and it's almost useful.

I'm absolutely done.

There's only one quarterfinal place up for grabs.

The designer going through is...

First up, the location for this epic design battle may look pretty,

but the unusual rooms won't be a pleasure cruise.

These houses beside the river in picturesque Marlow do look rather

strange with their angular roof and their white weatherboarding.

They were built in the 1960s -

a decade that can be unfairly knocked for its architecture

but, actually, it was a brilliantly inventive time

when the way in which we lived was radically rethought.

Now, our designers have to be equally inventive as they transform

a bedroom each.

Headboard - that's going to be MDF and then the front's going to be the scaffolding boards.

The designers have been working on a brief from their homeowners

for the past week.

One step away from the quarterfinals, which is

absolutely mind-blowing.

They have a small team including a builder and a decorator...

Paint it all white.

I'll mask is all off and then you paint the yellow in the putty

-and then come back and paint that one.

-No problem.

-Yeah?

..and just £1,000 and three days to complete their transformations.

Competition's definitely getting tougher and I'm up against my buddy

Jamie this time, so I'm bittersweet, but we're both in it to win it.

Where to start?

The first designer battling for a quarterfinal place

is 41-year-old garden designer Sarah.

Sarah consistently delivers competent, cohesive schemes,

but she's had two traditional briefs.

This time, I'm wondering how she's going to handle a different look.

Before Sarah started work, her attic room was boysy and bland,

which Sophie and Daniel checked out before work began.

Looking at it right now, the layout isn't that bad,

but it does just look a little bit boring.

It actually looks a bit like a teenager's room.

-This room needs to go onto the next level.

-Sarah's designing for Jay.

He's away travelling at the moment but wants a more grown-up,

masculine bedroom when he returns to the family home.

It's almost like creating a studio flat, if you like.

It needs to be his sleeping space, somewhere to work

and then probably to have some friends round, too.

But the difficulty with Sarah is she's a real vintage girl.

This guy wants bachelor pad.

Yes, we really want to see Sarah deliver a very contemporary look.

Sarah's take on contemporary?

A yellow putty and black colour palette in jagged blocks.

The room will be dominated by an ambitious wardrobe,

shelf and desk unit.

This brief is not really my style.

My style is more eclectic, so I'm stepping out of my comfort zones.

In Jay's absence, Sarah had to get her ideas past

Mum and Dad, Lynne and John, and impress Sophie and Daniel who, once

again, will be judging how well each designer presents their schemes.

The yellow's going to wrap around the back section of the wall

and then this putty colour is going to come up

and across the top of the bed to create a kind of visual canopy.

I think he'll love this yellow.

The putty colour doesn't leap out at me.

So, that's a base palette that's going to soften everything else

-and allow it to be a bit more graphic in other ways.

-Yeah.

So I think it's quite important to keep that.

So I've actually found this amazing tape which is a magnetic black tape.

-So it means that you can stick up postcards.

-What a nice idea.

She also plans to feature accessories

inspired by a love of travel.

-The accent colours that I'm using are blacks...

-OK.

-..tan, leather, denim...

-Yeah.

..and also elements of fabrics from around the world.

These are fabrics I would never think of using myself but,

to him, hopefully, that will be cool and modern.

I'm so excited about Sarah's scheme,

because not only has she moved away from her classic, vintage look,

but she's created something really new

and exciting with all these sort of different angles,

which are going to change the perspective of that room.

-You do love a bit of a jaunty angle, don't you?

-Oh, I do!

I know, I can tell! But, you know, at the same time,

it is a bedroom and my concern is there's all of that

going on in the walls, it's going to feel a bit hectic.

With work well under way, it isn't the jaunty angles in question.

The putty colour's not quite what I imagine.

It's murky.

I think we have to suspend judgment.

Well, they won't have to wait long as, with the walls now washed,

Sarah's masking out shapes ready for the colours.

-Does that look straight?

-Yeah, that's a straight line.

There are more lines and angles across Sarah's ambitious shelving,

desk and wardrobe unit, which will cover the entire back wall.

From the back, you can see large timbers either side of the wardrobe.

-We're going to box the wardrobe in.

-Yeah.

So what we've got to do is get all this stuff upstairs.

Oh, don't look at me!

THEY LAUGH

Next up is 21-year-old Jamie - a sales assistant from County Durham.

Jamie doesn't always take into consideration

the needs of his client or the demands of the space.

This time, he's really got to get those right.

Yeah, out of my comfort zone. Feel a bit scared with this one.

Perhaps with good reason as his room started off uber-colourful

and uber-cluttered.

I tell you what's really banging me in the face in this room,

is the colour. I mean, wow!

This homeowner has gone for it but it's not really working, is it?

And I think rule of thumb is maybe just go for

three colours as your main story. You can always add more.

Jamie's client is university student Betty,

who wanted a hippy chic bedroom with colours inspired by

an Indian sari and plenty of practical storage.

Designing wardrobes in a tight space like this isn't going to be easy.

And while the brief might sound like lots of fun,

this sort of like bohemian multicoloured look, making

that feel quite sophisticated and coherent is going to be really hard.

Hoping he'd pick the right mix of ethnic colours,

Jamie's using pink, blue, mint green and a bright and paler orange.

With Betty at university,

it was up to mum Chrissie to sign off the design.

This is the colour that I've got for the main back wall, and that's

also going to follow through

and kind of going to this wall with the door.

-OK.

-The actual headboard that I'm going to be doing is a storage

headboard, and this is the wood that I'm going to be using.

-It's kind of distressed pink.

-Yeah, that's lovely.

-That's probably a favourite colour.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Um, I wanted to pick a lighter colour for the bottom wall

-over there, which is where the seating area's going to be.

-Um...

-I'm not so sure about this colour here.

-Right.

But then, as long as you just bear in mind that the

overall is going to be that very rich Indian sari, vibrant colour.

-Yeah.

-This is a very good colour. This is very...

-The teal?

-Yeah.

So with the sort of accessories and the cushions and the throws,

that's what I want to be bringing that colour. Um...

Jamie may not have got all his shades spot-on

but he's out to impress with his wardrobe built into the eaves

and innovative headboard storage.

So, the bed's staying in the same place.

The depth is going to be about the thickness of kind

of a scaffolding board and there's going to be

-the dug-outs in the side for the shoes to be kept.

-That's interesting.

The wardrobe's actually going to be sitting in that back corner there.

-I just thought that was the best position within the room to kind of access.

-It's really tricky.

I think you've done really well to interpret the brief as you have.

-As long as it stays bright, the richness is really important.

-Yeah.

I think Jamie's come up with a very interesting

choice of colours but I'm not sure they're quite the right tone.

They're what I call sort of sorbet shades

and this homeowner wanted something which was a lot more

kind of ethnic - those lovely rich Indian colours.

And I don't think those colours have got enough energy.

I don't know. I just feel stupid.

I think I got the colours right,

just not the intensity of the colours.

I went too kind of pale with certain ones.

With the current scheme very bright Jamie's decorator also has

concerns about his paler shades.

The colours are really vivid.

I know.

Yeah, and it's going to be a good three or four coats just to

-neutralise it, just to blank it all out before we add colour.

-Right.

With half the day gone both designers are up against it,

but the judges need to give them feedback on their presentations.

It's now the third time they've pitched and Sophie

and Daniel's expectations are higher than ever.

The first one I came last,

the second one I came last, and this one I've come last. No.

I know it didn't go very good so I just wasn't very confident

in it and I think that definitely showed.

We'll see what they say.

I've done a lot more this time. If that wasn't good enough, what is?

With a quarterfinal place at stake the designers will be ranked,

which will count in the judges' final deliberation.

Overall, we'd like to say that we think you got a lovely

rapport with both of your homeowners.

Jamie, I love the fact that you created all these samples.

For example, the crochet pieces and the ruffles.

They really help the homeowner imagine what you want to do.

But I don't feel that your presentations have moved on very much.

I think if you had rendered those drawings that would've been

a vast improvement.

You had a really complicated design to communicate to your homeowner

and the sketch that you made really helps see that room in 3D.

It was excellent.

However, we felt like you just lost a bit of soul in your presentation.

There was no touchy-feely. It was all a bit ironed-out,

flat board, lost a sense of creativity.

So, balancing on what you did well and not so well, we're going

to put...

..Sarah in first place. Which means, Jamie, you came second.

Pumped. I'm feeling good.

They were quite right, it needed more texture

which is why I brought along the fabric and the belt

because I thought that would bring that in.

But, obviously, they want it stapled to the board instead.

I'm not saying what I'm thinking.

I went over the brief and every time it's gone wrong.

Rachel won first. Lily won last time.

I'd like to win but I think after this briefing

it's knocked my confidence a little tiny bit.

Erm...

Both amateur designers are busy transforming rooms

they hope will be anything but run-of-the-mill.

-That is a brilliant colour.

-Yes, I like it.

Perhaps divining inspiration from the development's past life.

I love the crisp white lines of these 1960s buildings.

Although they are strikingly Modernist,

they seem to sit very well on the riverside setting probably because

the architects have referred in their design

to the history of the site.

There's been a mill here on the river

since medieval times harnessing the power of the Thames.

And the weather-boarding and the jagged roofline,

the pitched roofs, seem to refer to the buildings that once stood here.

While these houses reference a past, they also embodied

the optimism of the 1960s.

In 1957, the Prime Minister told us all that we'd never had it so good

and homes like these were built for the aspiring professional classes

with their TVs, their fridges and their cars, and had in-built garages

that took up almost the whole of the ground floor.

You need to get right up to the top.

It's lofty space however our amateurs are contending with.

In Jamie's attic room, the pale orange is being tested

on the wall whilst he's trying to work out how to make a new beanbag.

What I did plan to do is take the cover off the original one

and just cut the same shapes as is currently there

and just cut them out of this fabric and sew them back together.

Creating a new cover using the old one as a template

could have worked. However...

You can't take the cover off because the beans are just inside.

They're not in a separate bag. It would just be a mess.

Jamie's inexperience is showing through.

18 minutes later, he's got a plan.

Ditch the template and make a bag from scratch.

What I'm actually thinking about doing now is taking the beans

out of that bag, so just putting the beans

directly into this one, which might be messy.

Jamie's youthful enthusiasm has got him through two rounds

of the competition

as the judges have been impressed by his creativity.

I want it to stand out, but I didn't want it to be too scary.

It's quite bohemian, as well.

What a transformation!

I like this sort of stencilling.

Almost looks like a Fair Isle jumper.

But he sometimes struggled with the fundamental rules

of interior design and spatial planning.

-So, the sofa is here, so it's kind of an L sofa.

-It's an L-shaped sofa.

What's on this wall?

It's going to be creative. It's going to be a herb wall,

grow your own herbs and fruit and veg on the wall.

You're going to be sitting at the sofa looking at a herb garden.

THEY LAUGH

Now you've seen the space, how are you finding the practicalities?

Going from last time and not measuring out where the sofa

was going to be and how it was going to work, I learned from that.

-You've got the wardrobe here, haven't you?

-Yes.

What it is, the wardrobe's going to have a back section

just for tubs, the front section will have hanging space and shelving.

Tell me about the headboard. You've got some interesting things going on on the headboard.

Yes. I wanted to make a statement headboard.

In the sides is storage for shoes.

-It's quite unusual to have shoe storage in your headboard.

-Yeah.

Also unusual, Jamie's choice of pastel colours

to answer a rich, ethnic brief.

Can I ask you how you came to choose the colours?

I know that orange is one of her favourite colours,

so I wanted to bring in different tones and shades of that one.

That's where I got the inspiration from.

And then the dark pinks and teals

are going to be in accessories and throws.

When you said, "Why are you painting that in the orange colour?"

He said, "Because the homeowner likes it." Wrong answer.

He should have said, "Because that orange is soft

"and is quite relaxing to the eye.

He hasn't sort of got that.

Whatever the reason, it seems Jamie is pleased with his choices.

-You like the colour, do you?

-Yeah. Do you not?

-Yeah. No. I love it.

No. I love it. Once we've got rid of that final bit of cerise

-it will be really sharp and really bright.

-Yeah.

While he's feeling positive, it's time to

get those polystyrene beans into his new bag.

Don't know if this is going to work.

He may be short on experience, but not on ingenuity

and has come up with a nifty invention to cut down on spillage.

-A paper-cup funnel.

-Do you know what?

What would be the worst thing that would happen?

HE LAUGHS

If like, when it gets judged,

someone jumped on it and it exploded!

I might have to put a sign on saying, "Do not use".

Sarah is also getting to grips with accessories.

She's trying to make a couple of cushions using an ethnic rug

she bought for £75.

Using normal material would be really easy to make a cushion,

but I have to be a bit more thoughtful about this one,

so that it looks right.

And luckily, look, they've put a stripe for me right down the middle of it.

The rug is thick so Sarah's sewing machine has got its work cut out,

especially as she is using denim as backing.

Wasn't sure if my sewing machine would go through a rug. But it did.

Perfect!

Are we done yet?

Sarah's not been resting on the job in previous rounds,

demonstrating to the judges she can deliver a strong look.

I couldn't resist a little bit of floral. Magic.

I really do feel like I'm standing in a country kitchen

which is what the brief was.

But she hasn't always hit the mark with her colour choices.

What a gorgeous colour. He's going to love that.

One green was nice but two greens working together? I don't know.

Yeah, it's a bit of a risky kind of strategy, isn't it?

I'm not going to be able to live with the ceilings in this colour.

There's a lot of shapes going on.

I can see you've been busy with the yellow tape already.

And you've selected a putty colour which the homeowners

don't seem to like. Where have you got with that?

The putty colour is a really great neutral.

What I didn't want to do in here

was have an '80s room. I wanted to soften it.

So, it's more of a blend because you've got putty

and what is the other colour that's going against it?

It's yellow. So, yellow and putty.

It's quite clever that she's using the colour to zone the space.

-Do you think it's going to work though?

-That yellow, I'm not sure.

It's the colour selection that is not winning me.

Sarah might be having second thoughts about the tone, as well.

That looks a lot brighter than it should be.

Redesigning awkward attic rooms in three days is tough enough,

but in this third round the judges are raising the stakes, surprising

the designers with a brand-new task they have no idea about whatsoever.

-The judges want to see you.

-OK. I wonder what that's about then.

It's time to put the pressure on

so we're going to set a junk-van challenge.

Now, we're getting an upcycle thing that we don't really have time for.

But, yeah, let's do this.

This new challenge is going to test their imaginations,

how well they think on their feet,

and shows what sort of interior designer they really are.

Inside this van we've got a whole heap of junk.

What we'd like you to do is design a one-off product.

It could be your signature piece

something that really sums up you and your style.

We really want you to play to your strengths

and we're going to give you 15 minutes to grab whatever you want.

Off you go.

Sophie and Daniel will simply be deciding

which designer comes up with the best stand-alone product.

-SARAH:

-Oh, that was crafty.

-SARAH:

-Just like being at a car boot.

The results will be critical in deciding who wins

the quarterfinal place.

That's quite good.

Jamie's junk-van booty includes a wooden stool and a suitcase.

I kind of picked out things that are kind of like myself,

but I can put together.

(I hope he's going to come up with something original,

(because we've seen the suitcase side tables before.)

I picked this for the wheels.

Sarah's haul consists of a hostess trolley,

a '70s pouf and some fabric.

It's a whole load of junk. I've got to turn it into something cool.

The judges have given them 90 minutes on day two

to transform their junk into a standout piece of product design.

I love going to a junk shop and finding things that people

don't want any more and kind of making them new again.

-So, it's kind of perfect. But I've got no ideas.

-All right, actually.

This is kind of what I like doing

is making things out of old junk.

So, weirdly, I'm not stressing. I'm quite excited.

With both designers talking the talk,

the judges' expectations will be high.

They'll see what they come up with later on.

It's the afternoon of day one

and there's a long way to go for both designers.

Are we all good?

Yeah, it's all good. Got the main frame going round.

-Yeah.

-So, just getting your uprights for the doors.

Then we'll start working on the shelves.

While Sarah's driving her team

to achieve her ambitious wardrobe design,

Jamie's sitting down on the job.

Need thousands of strips.

Thousands, thousands, thousands.

He's making a ruffled cushion by poking offcuts of material

through a piece of hessian.

So, once you've got them in,

it looks like a bow. Then you do them in rows.

Leaving a little bit of a gap, you can do the next row,

they'll kind of pull together and create the ruffle kind of texture.

First couple are really slow.

But once you've got a few in a row you fly with it.

Jamie's chilled-out vibe could be fleeting

as back home from university

to check on progress, his client, Betty.

It is kind of scary to think that she could disagree

with something that I've done.

Betty's mum was worried Jamie's chosen colours could be too pale.

If Betty agrees it could mean a complete rethink.

-I really like the green.

-Yeah, I really like the green.

And I like this colour, as well.

-I didn't think I would but I do.

-Good.

It seems Jamie needn't have worried.

-I'm so glad it's not bland, which it completely is the opposite.

-Good.

-Good. I'm pleased.

-I'm really excited.

-Yes. Good.

-I'm really excited.

'I feel over the moon with the reaction from Betty.'

That's one of the points that you need to do - please your homeowner.

That's certainly what I've done so, yeah, I'm really happy.

As day one draws to a close, both designers are feeling confident.

-I'm really happy. I'm happy with the way it's gone today.

-Yeah.

We've got masses done when I didn't think we would get that much done.

I think that's how I feel. Like, sometimes on the first day,

I haven't even got any paint on the walls.

While Jamie's had his colour scheme approved...

I feel really confident now.

I feel like I can kind of get through to the next stage.

..Sarah's still fretting about hers.

Whoa! That is insanely intense.

The yellow on my walls is a bit brighter than...

-You thought.

-..I envisaged.

Not that she's letting it dent her confidence.

Great day today. Think I'm going to go and have a glass of wine now.

Maybe a big pint.

The first day brought straight lines and an awful lot of bright paint.

But the designers still have lots to do to secure a quarterfinal place.

We've got to kind of just push ahead to be the winner.

I'm really excited today. Today is like the day

where you really start to see everything come together.

Sarah's contemporary room is a long way off a cool retreat, though,

and she's yet to convince anyone on her choice of colours,

including her decorator.

I wouldn't really put them together myself

but I'm sure it's going to look great at the end of the day.

HE LAUGHS

More worryingly, Sarah's homeowner still has serious doubts.

Not about the putty colour any more, but the bright yellow.

It's just the massive block of yellow.

It's very bright isn't it? It's strong.

-It's a brighter yellow than in my mind's eye.

-Yeah.

-It sees a bright yellow but it's a neon-y, acid-y yellow.

-Yeah.

As ever, unflappable Sarah isn't wavering.

-There's a huge block of the putty going up now...

-OK, excellent.

..so that's going to really calm it down.

-OK.

-You'll see lots of change today.

Also undergoing big change - Jamie's hippy-chic bedroom.

The second coat of mint green is going up while he's busy

outside priming scaffolding planks for his statement headboard.

I'm just giving them a coat of white paint before I put the intense

pink on, so when I distress them the whiteness comes through.

I'm excited now to get these done,

get them distressed, get them waxed, and then get them

onto the headboard and see.

Jamie is getting industrious and back in the day,

Marlow, too, was a centre of industry.

It's easy to forget how important the River Thames was

to the economy and history of towns like Marlow.

The town's wealth was literally built on it.

Water mills made anything from thimbles to paper

and the river would once have been lined with

the cottages of eelmen, wharfingers and bargees

before they were replaced by the grander homes

of the Victorians and the Georgians.

And you can see exactly why. It's not a bad life here on the river.

The mill on this spot was powered by so-called rushes.

There's one right here.

As the concentrated force of the river flowed through it,

it powered a water wheel, providing energy in the pre-electric times.

Most have now disappeared, but this one remains as a nod to the past.

As well as their room schemes the amateurs need to prove to the

judges their design abilities, turning junk from the back of a van

into something special.

This is going to be a time challenge.

We're giving them 90 minutes to see if they can keep their cool

under pressure, and yet, deliver a quality product.

Jamie picked an old suitcase and a wooden stool.

First idea that I've come up with

is creating a storage and seating area with this suitcase.

So, the back will be padded and covered

in this tie-dye fabric, and then the bottom,

I'm going to be using the excess scaffolding boards.

I don't know if I can win,

but this is something that I'll love and something that I will do.

Sarah decided to use a '70s pouf, a hostess trolley and leatherette.

Let's see if there's a way that we can take these feet off...

..and put them on the bottom of this.

And then cover the pouf...

..with leather...ette.

-Both designers have a basic craft box...

-I'm not impressed.

And their builders at their disposal.

-You want to fit it onto that stool?

-Yeah.

Jamie is cleverly using left over scaffolding boards to create

a seat in the suitcase while he hastily makes a cushion.

As you can tell, I haven't cut anything neat at all.

Literally rushed to get it done. Crazy things.

Jamie's come up with a brilliant idea.

He's got a multifunctional piece of furniture that's a stool,

a table and storage. He is CLEARLY out to impress.

I'm not used to upholstering 1970s poufs in leatherette.

It's going to be a rush.

Sarah has decided to keep things simple,

giving her pouf a face-lift and fitting wheels from her trolley.

I'm actually not that impressed by Sarah's idea,

she's sticking wheels on a pouf and upholstering it in leather.

I was expecting something far more creative

and left-field thinking from her.

F, F, F, F, F, F, F.

Jamie's cushion might be finished,

but his inexperience is once more showing through.

-Johnny...

-Yeah?

-I know you're a builder,

-how would you stick that cushion to the back of that?

-How would I?

-Yeah.

-What, to the underside of the lid there?

-Yeah.

I don't really know, to tell you the truth.

I mean, you'd need to, I think, sew it in, somehow, I think.

I don't think I've hand-sewn anything in my life.

Haven't.

Her pouf upholstered,

the usually-confident Sarah is doubting herself.

God, it's knowing when to stop, isn't it?

Cos that's actually

really cute.

Maybe I will just do another leather detail around it.

Almost so it is bowed, that is what I'm going to do, that's clever.

Jamie is painting his scaffolding seat pink but the time is ticking

away fast and both designers are beginning to feel the strain.

Go under!

HE YELLS IN FRUSTRATION

This is cutting it really fine.

I am done.

How well they've done transforming their junk is an important part

of determining who will win a place in the quarterfinal

and at least one of the designers is worried.

It just looks the same as what it was - a heap of junk.

I'm stoked, I think it looks brilliant.

It looks so cute, it looks like a cake.

The judges will let the paint dry before deciding which product

is best later on.

Meanwhile, work hasn't stopped in the rooms.

In Sarah's contemporary scheme, the yellow and putty paint job is

finished but she's pushing her team, varnishing the ambitious wardrobe.

-HE SINGS:

-Happy, happy, joy, joy, happy, happy, joy, joy.

-I love painting...

-HE LAUGHS

With her new-found passion for upholstery,

Sarah is covering a chair she bought for just £12 from a car-boot sale.

I should have cut this before I sewed it but I was distracted.

It is not finished yet, but when it is finished, I think it will rock.

Jamie's room is rocking along, too.

The wardrobe carcass is in and his statement headboard is half built.

Meanwhile, he's trying out a new skill.

Block printing fabric with bleach and paint for another cushion cover.

So all I've got is a wooden block,

so I am literally going to roll a small amount of bleach onto that,

print it and then you can't see the effect straightaway

cos obviously it just takes the colour straight out.

I'll have to buy Chrissie some bleach.

-INTERVIEWER: Where have you got that from?

-The toilet.

It is a cost-effective way of creating pattern on the cheap.

Now, he just needs to sew it up.

HE LAUGHS

I've sewn it the wrong way.

It is a quick unpick and take two.

Right. And then now, I can cut all this excess fabric off,

turn it inside out and it will be a cushion cover.

It's worked out perfect.

I hear you've been trying out a new skill with some bleaching

and some blocks, is that right?

Yeah, it is the first time I've ever done it,

but researching into different cultures, how they print fabrics,

I found a really cool printing block which links in with clothing

that she has got in the room and fabrics

and I wanted to try it out and it has worked out really well.

You have been loading the room with colour

and each round, you have been getting bolder

and bolder with your use of pattern and colour.

Where's that come from?

Erm, I don't know, it is kind of scary, especially this one,

kind of bold, vibrant, putting mad colours together

and grouping them together,

making sure they work and not kind of just clash.

Clever, very clever.

Sarah is being rather clever, too,

making handles for her wardrobe from a leather belt and industrial bolts.

I wanted to do something quite masculine and industrial

so it was a perfect solution and these are brilliant,

brilliant bolts and I think that whole thing cost me about 50p.

Upstairs, her uber-modern yellow and putty paint job is finished

but it has been a concern for homeowner Lynne since day one.

I am worried. I'm worried that I may have been too bold with asking for

bright yellow and bright colours and maybe it is a little bit too bright.

If she's still unhappy now the putty has gone up, too,

Sarah might have to rethink and repaint.

I am worried. It's one of my main concerns, always,

that the homeowner loves it.

I don't want to do something that they are really going to hate

and is going to cause lots of upset, it's their home.

-Whoo!

-Hello.

-Hello.

Hey, I like it, I like-I like the putty colour.

SARAH LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-I didn't think...

-That's what I was hoping to hear.

-I really didn't think I would and I love you breaking up that.

-Yeah.

That is really cool, actually.

Encouraged, Sarah gets carried away.

And when it is dressed, you will see all the areas and how they all work.

This is really simple which means that we can go a bit more bonkers

on the other side.

"A bit more bonkers",

that is a bit worrying.

With her homeowner's fears allayed, more or less, Sarah makes a start on

her magnetic tape which she bought off the internet for around £20.

But laid-back Sarah is coming a bit unstuck.

Oh.

Whoopsie.

What are all those crazy shapes about?

It feels like you are being yanked - your eye - from one side

to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next

-cos it's quite like...

-HE MAKES EXPLODING NOISES

Yanked?

Was yanking not what you wanted?

No, I wanted a smooth flow around the room,

I wanted to connect each part of the room together by using that line.

So, it works, obviously, but maybe faster than I appreciated.

Jamie is working pretty fast, too.

His distressed pink scaffolding boards are finally ready

to be attached to the bedhead...

That's looking good.

..and he's growing ever more confident with his colour scheme.

It's a great set of colour that I think I have chosen

and Betty seems to like them so I have got something right.

Now Jamie's got colour on the walls, I have to admit,

it's looking rather good and I am surprised to say that

cos there's actually five bold colours all in one small room.

He doesn't understand the theory behind why they work.

I think it's cos they're all tonally similar.

He's been quite intuitive,

but it has paid off.

With his confidence on the up,

Jamie decides to get a sneaky peek of the competition.

What's that you're you sticking up - magnet?

-This is magnet tape.

-Cool. Are you having things hanging off it?

I've got some magnets to go on it.

That's so cool and I love how it's black in there.

Yeah, it needed some black. Grrr.

-Manly.

-It is the stressful part now.

Well, for me it is. Looks like you're nearly finished.

I'm doing all right, it is my poor builder I am worried about,

-who's on the point of exhaustion.

-JAMIE LAUGHS

Oh, It looks amazing.

It's somewhere that I would want to have as a bedroom and...

Yeah, I'm scared now.

Sarah's room has rattled Jamie but both amateurs are aiming high with

their designs, an ethos shared by the architect of this development.

The 1960s were the era of the tower block and the skyscraper

and these homes do have a touch of the high-rise about them,

but here, it is mostly about trying to maximise

the space inside on a very, very tight spot

and giving great views from the top, over the river,

both, great selling points to those aspiring buyers,

hoping to better themselves in this age of upward social mobility.

Back in 1967, these properties sold for £17,000 a pop,

far from small fry at the time,

but, at least, thrown in at that price was a mooring for every house.

When they were built, the vision behind developments like these -

exclusive ones - was to give families a high standard of living,

an easy life, but also to foster a sense of community

so communal gardens like these were provided,

very typical of the era, but also reflecting

the belief at the time that young families might have wanted

big gardens but they no longer had the time to look after them.

Time isn't in abundance for our designers either

but Sarah is powering on with new light fittings.

This is going to come from that ceiling fitting up there and then

the cable is going to come down the wall and fit to the wall down there.

She's designed a tropical leaf shape and had it cut out in Perspex.

With the help of a suitable shop-bought fitting,

Sarah has created a bespoke light for £30.

Fabulous.

-It's nearly the end of day two.

-Things are coming together.

The wardrobe has now been painted. It's had two coats on the main side.

I just want to get the door sorted now,

so they can put straight on tomorrow

and I need to finish the textured cushion

and other than that, I think we...

It is going good.

A quarterfinal place is at stake and both amateurs want to be there.

I'm tired but I'm relieved and I am happy.

I'm really enjoying it now, I don't want to go home.

Well, I want to go home, but I don't want to go HOME, home.

-JAMIE:

-Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?

Either way I'm going to be excited,

but, obviously, I'd prefer me to get through.

But, yeah, just wait and see.

Whatever happens happens for a reason.

It's the start of day three,

and our two amateurs can't afford to let up for a moment

if they want to win a place in the quarterfinals.

Morning!

I've woken up this morning a little bit bleary, but...

I'm going to kill it today.

SHE LAUGHS

-JAMIE:

-I think now, getting through to this stage,

I'm believing in myself more,

and believing that I could win this competition.

At the end of the day, Sophie and Daniel will scrutinise

the rooms for creativity, quality of finish

and how well the brief is met

to decide who will stay and who will go.

We're so close to the quarterfinals,

and I really do want to get there to show kind of more skills

and more design ideas that I have.

I'm super planned,

super organised,

super Sarah.

In Sarah's room, the ambitious wardrobe is nearly done,

but she's got yet more work for her builder - her bedside table.

It's got a shelf going across it. Supposed to be at this level,

but I think I'd quite like to bring that one a bit higher.

-And then that's all done and you can just...

-OK, so I do that next?

-Yes, I think so.

-And then, do the door, yeah?

-Yeah.

Meanwhile, Sarah's having another sticky moment with magnetic tape.

Never use adhesive magnetic tape again.

SHE LAUGHS

Now, Sarah - there's a lot of faffing going in on in that room.

Well, she's still got quite a lot of the build to do. There are bedside tables to make.

What it is is a very, very ambitious project.

Well, you wanted her to become more contemporary. Do you think she's gone a bit too far?

She could never go too far for contemporary with me.

I just LOVE it.

Jamie has got his work cut out for him -

quite literally, as once again, he's stencilling.

I actually hate stencilling.

It's just an easy way to add pattern to something.

It's not something I would use personally,

but I think it just works within the scheme that I've been doing.

If I get through, I'm not going to use it again.

HE LAUGHS

Extra storage was on the brief, and he knows

he needs to prove to the judges he can nail the spatial planning.

-Well, that's where the door's going to come to. About there.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, that'll be fine.

-Yeah?

-Maybe along a little few centimetres.

-That way, yeah?

Now, you've had misgivings about Jamie,

about the practicality of his designs

and the functionality of them. Is he solving them this time?

He's having a really good stab at it.

He's got an absolutely massive wardrobe in the corner of the room.

The headboard's in there now which is going to add extra storage, too.

So, I think he is answering the brief.

We're yet to see it all come together,

and I think with creating this look,

it is so in the dressing and the accessories,

so that's what I'm holding out for.

Dressing these attic rooms is easier said than done, though.

Have you ever tried moving a mattress yourself?

Why are there so many stairs?

The designers' three-day challenge is almost over.

Oh, that's lovely.

Sarah started strongly,

as she was deemed the best when it came to presenting her ideas.

Now, Sophie and Daniel must decide who coped best under pressure

designing something out of a load of old junk.

There is nothing more I could have done in 90 minutes.

It's well made, it's really well upcycled,

it's cool.

I'd have that in my house any day of the week.

It's amazing to think that I could get to the quarterfinals.

A win here could secure Jamie his place.

So, judges, what a challenge.

Making silk purses out of sow's ears - I don't fancy it myself.

This is Sarah's. She hasn't actually done a lot -

she's just sort of put a strap of leatherette around a vintage pouffe

and some hostess trolley wheels on the bottom.

-But it's all about the simplicity.

-Oh, is it?

-Yes.

I could see you in a pair of Capri pants sitting on that,

-looking very chic.

-OK, well, let's try that, shall we?

-Whooa!

-Whoo!

-OK!

-It's nice to look at, but it's not very useful.

What about Jamie's? Let's look at Jamie's.

Well, I had high hopes for this,

-because this is a multifunctional piece of furniture.

-Oh, really?

He is trying to offer storage, a seat...

This is trying too hard.

Oh, I like his ambition.

Do the Sophie test.

-Well, I'm not falling over, so it's more practical than that.

-So, you can sit on it.

-But I'm not going to lean back.

-I've got to be behind it.

-It's not beautiful, and it's almost useful.

-Mm.

Come on, Sophie, you're not going to have that in your own home.

The judges are divided,

but they have to come to a unanimous decision.

So, out of the pair of them, who's won?

-This is the best product design, isn't it, overall?

-I'm with you.

-Think it's probably going to be Sarah.

-I think Sarah, too.

Sarah won, but it was a close-run thing,

and quite frankly, neither of them impressed us that much.

It'll come down to the all-important room reveals,

and Sarah's time is almost up.

Doesn't matter how organised you are,

it's always rushed to the end.

She's spent her £1,000 budget

delivering a masculine, minimal look...

Perfect.

..for Jay, who's away travelling.

Little nod to the travel.

After clashing with his mum Lynn over colour choices,

will the final look win her a place in the quarterfinal?

That's me done.

Went really well.

Went REALLY well, actually.

I love it.

Sarah's brief was to create a cool, contemporary, masculine retreat.

Three days ago, the room was bland and boyish.

Now Sarah has created a minimal, modern bachelor pad.

In her bid for contemporary, she's zoned the room

with layered shades of yellow and putty,

uniting them with a magnetic graphic line.

She's designed a desk and storage unit,

and created a seating area with an upcycled chair.

She has completed the look with handmade ethnic cushions,

and a bespoke tropical plant light.

Think I've nailed the brief.

It's cool.

-Pretty amazing transformation.

-They asked for impact...

-And you have it here.

-Yes!

-Wow.

-In buckets, actually.

Is this fulfilling your angle quota? Cos they are everywhere in here.

-Yeah, this is right up my boulevard, as they say.

-THEY LAUGH

Because it's really clever and it's really unexpected,

and the angles are actually not just there for decoration,

-they're cleverly zoning this space.

-Exactly.

What they're doing is creating an atmosphere over the bed

that's warming it up here,

and also the little seating area that we've got in the corner.

And at the same time, those lines are making your eyes move around

the room and are fighting against the apex of the roof really nicely.

-But look, this is a bedroom.

-Mm-hm.

-It's somewhere to come and relax.

-Jump in.

-Can I jump in?

-Yeah, why not?

-Ooh. I like it.

-It's pretty jazzy.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Oh, you like it.

I like the perspective.

OK, but look this way, and I'm just seeing sort of black lines

and yellow blocks streaking everywhere.

It needs softening off.

I mean, my criticism is, maybe this is over-stylised.

I know. But you can never be over-stylised.

THEY LAUGH

Important to the judges' decision is what the client thinks of the room.

You're always a bit trepidatious.

Not entirely sure what they're going to think of it.

Jay's mum and dad will give their verdict.

-Ooh, wow. Gosh.

-Oh, my word.

Wow, look at this.

-Oh, I love it. It's so minimal!

-THEY LAUGH

-You like the minimal look?

-Yeah, I do.

-Fantastic.

It was so cluttered before,

but looks really cool now, doesn't it?

-Great room. I think we should move in.

-HE LAUGHS

It's too cool for us. Far too cool for us.

And what do you think Jay will think?

He will love it. He really will love it.

I don't know what else to say. I'm wonderfully impressed.

Seriously, I really am, though.

THEY LAUGH

With his deadline fast approaching,

Jamie has got a lot of dressing to do.

I'm absolutely sweating.

Having spent more than half his budget on accessories...

The big dreamcatcher, which I don't know where it's... Ah.

Where's it gone?

He's relying on these finishing touches to create

the hippy-chic vibe.

She'll be sweating when she gets into bed.

There's, like, a million throws on it.

His client's mum, Chrissie, had serious reservations

about the richness of the scheme, so he must make sure

the overall look is spot-on if he's to become a quarterfinalist.

It's like cushion overload, isn't it?

HE LAUGHS

Craziness.

OK, I'm finished.

I'm loving the room, and it's absolutely incredible.

It's got quite a kind of cool vibe with it,

which is kind of what I wanted to bring.

Jamie's brief was to create a colourful, hippy chic bedroom.

Three days ago, the room had plenty of colour, but bordered on garish.

Now Jamie's created an Indian-sari inspired scheme,

contrasting orange, teal, pink and green.

He's added a wardrobe built into the eaves

and further storage in the headboard.

And in his bid for hippy,

he's made a beanbag and cushions,

while creating further mood with shop-bought items -

throws, wall hangings, dreamcatchers and a Moroccan lamp.

I'm always quite excited for the judging,

no matter whether it's negative or positive,

cos that's where you need to learn and kind of progress as a designer.

Oh, fantastic!

I was not expecting this.

He's got the mood and the lighting absolutely spot on.

-Well, I'm thinking I'm in Jaipur, not Marlow.

-SOPHIE LAUGHS

I want to go and have a look at the cupboard.

-I mean, it looks big enough for a small family to live in here.

-Yeah.

Oh, yes!

So that works, from a practical point of view,

-but it is just a bit of a box.

-Because he's painted it the bright colour, which works

with the whole scheme of things, but it draws your eyes to the weakest point in the room.

When, in fact, the bed head should be the centre of attention.

Yeah, that does look pretty cool, doesn't it?

Got loads of storage down here, and that is jolly useful.

So, a really multifunctional piece, that.

Now, there is something about pinning tie-dye bedspreads

to the ceiling that I just cannot allow.

That is so wrong. It's such a dated thing.

I mean, it's up there with, like, paper-ball lampshades and posters of Bob Marley.

Yeah, but this is the brief.

This is what this young lady wants to have in her room.

The end result is kind of better than I thought it was going to be,

so I'm just excited to see the homeowner's reactions now.

-Quite a transformation.

-Oh, my gosh.

Stunning.

It's stunning.

He's done so well.

Oh, I feel like I'm going to cry.

He's done so well. It just doesn't look like the same room.

-Why do you feel like you're going to cry?

-I think I was just so worried. I was thinking,

he's such a nice chap and I would hate it if I walk in and think,

"This is awful." It's just lovely.

Will daughter Betty love it as much?

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God, this is amazing!

My God.

It literally looks like a completely different room.

With both rooms scrutinised,

Sarah and Jamie can do no more.

-Well done.

-I'm happy.

-Happy, happy?

-Really happy. I love it.

They've grown close throughout the competition,

but now only one can make it through.

I can feel myself changing as a person,

and becoming me, I suppose, and more confident in my designs.

So, getting through to the final

and maybe winning it would be life-changing.

-It was good.

-Yeah, it is good.

I'll walk away a winner no matter what.

And Jamie, I'll champion him

the whole way if he gets through.

But, yeah, I do want to win.

So, judges, a third round.

You are going to pick a quarterfinalist,

so the stakes are pretty high, I guess.

Yeah, so we've got to be very careful who we choose.

Which of the two do you think are pulling forward?

They're both incredibly strong.

We wanted to see Sarah do something more contemporary,

a bit more modern - she totally has proved

that she can be versatile.

-It's quite an incredible scheme, isn't it?

-I loved it.

You know that I can't hide that at all. I find it very exciting.

Because it was intelligent design.

One area where I'm not sure she's progressing

quite so well is with her colour selections.

You know, her first project, she got those greens SO wrong.

And with this project, I feel that that very acidic yellow

wasn't the right choice for a bedroom.

It's not restful at all, really.

How do you think she coped with designing for a client she had never met?

I think she had a difficult balance, actually,

because she's also designing for the parents.

They're the guys who are here approving this brief,

and they've got a very particular sense of style

and aesthetic in their own home, too,

which is very clean, very minimal.

-What did they think?

-They really, really adored it.

-Good for them.

And they thought that their son would love it, as well,

and they couldn't really wait to get him into the room.

-Oh, wow.

-If he wasn't, you know, travelling around the world.

Jamie was asked for something that was almost kind of bohemian.

When I walked in there, it was quite a melange of different things. What did you think of it?

Well, I think when you're going to do this look,

you have got to go for it. More is more.

It's a complete kind of maximalist approach, isn't it?

It's maximalist, but you've got to be really careful how you do it,

too, cos it's not RANDOM.

I know that the homeowner had a go at doing this look previously,

and they just hadn't pulled it off at all. But Jamie did.

And what's quite interesting is not only did he pull it off,

but it was completely out of his field,

and I'm really impressed by that.

It seems like on each round he really pushes himself,

grapples with a very tough brief. When you remember Walthamstow,

-we had to put a living room in the kitchen.

-Yeah.

He's not had it easy at all, has he?

He's had some killer briefs, I have to admit.

And he's met the challenge every time.

And for someone who's 21, it is outstanding level of confidence.

Well, the homeowner loved it.

Loved the clashing colours and patterns and textures,

and really thought that Jamie had understood her daughter.

Well, it did feel so special in there.

He got the mood just right.

It seems like you've got two really strong designers

who have come on in leaps and bounds over the competition.

Exactly. They're so different from each other,

-and yet, so good, as well.

-Yeah, they're both seriously good.

The judges must now decide which designer shows the most potential

and deserves that quarterfinal place.

It's third-round stage, and next, it's the quarterfinals,

so these two are expecting an awful lot of you.

But, by golly, you two delivered this time.

And in really difficult rooms, as well.

I mean, loft rooms are a nightmare.

All those angles, to get a comprehensive scheme

and storage, as well - it's not easy.

But you guys nailed it.

And that's why it's been a tough time for us to make a decision,

because frankly, we think you're both extremely talented.

The designer going through

to the quarterfinals is...

Sarah.

Well done. You won!

That's incredible.

Still on a journey together,

and I want to know all about next time.

-Yeah, you're coming with me.

-Yeah, I would.

-In spirit.

-THEY LAUGH

I am a little bit gutted.

But over the moon that I've got this far in the competition.

Like, three rounds in,

two other amazing designers have gone.

Yeah, it could have been worse - I could have gone the first week.

Oh, my God.

-Do you like it?

-Well done! It's bloody beautiful!

-Thank you.

-I'm so happy that you like it.

-Oh, it's amazing.

-I love it.

-I don't know how you've done this.

-HE LAUGHS

I am completely heartbroken to have lost Jamie.

He is so talented.

So incredibly competent for somebody who's only 21.

But he does lack just that little bit of maturity.

But I know he's going to get it, and then he'll be a superstar.

It's completely changed my life, and I'm not just going to let it slip out of my hands.

I'm going to take this and kind of run with it,

and hopefully, in a couple of years, be an interior designer.

I'm so excited.

SHE LAUGHS

That was amazing. I feel awesome.

I really wanted to get through this one.

Feel like I'm just getting into my stride.

Quarterfinals!

I was blown away by Sarah's project.

It was totally contemporary, really forward-thinking,

and showed us something we hadn't seen before. And what's more,

it shows that she is versatile,

which is a key ingredient in staying in this competition.

Next time, in four self-build South London homes,

a brand-new set of wannabe designers fight it out...

-I don't think I've ever been this tired.

-Perfect.

..for just three places in the next round.

The designer going home is...