Tag: house rules

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House Rules RENO ADDICT

Post House Rules Reveal chat with contestants Lisa and Adam

“I felt really in control walking up to the house,” explains Lisa. “I thought my emotions were in check. But when you open that door and you see all the effort that’s gone into the last seven days… it’s an incredibly humbling experience. An overwhelming feeling that’s for sure.”

adam and lisa
Adam and Lisa

On Monday night’s episode of House Rules we saw the completion of Lisa and Adam’s renovation. With a house that had some challenging house rules – they wanted a wow statement in every room and the walls dressed up with wallpaper and mirrors – the Victorian home had the possibility of turning into a clashing nightmare. But lucky for homeowners Lisa and Adam, they were ecstatic with the final results.

South Australia’s Bomber and Mel took out their first win, scoring the highest for their kitchen and entry, a zone that Lisa and Adam scored an eight out of ten for.

adam and lisa
Before: Kitchen

“The kitchen was certainly my favourite,” says Lisa. “We went from having a horrible kitchen, with mice popping in and out of our oven, to this phenomenal open plan kitchen. The kitchen definitely has my heart.”

adam lisa
After: Kitchen

Having now been living in their newly renovated home for a month, they didn’t get to enjoy their house until after the show’s completion. “You just walk through the house for the scoring and then you’re off again,” explains Adam. “I was absolutely devastated, I said to the producers can’t I just sleep here the one night? You literally just get a couple of hours to look through.”

For Adam, a builder by trade, the experience of putting his house reno into someone else’s hands was a surreal experience: “It was stressful, I wouldn’t say the week was relaxing. We stayed in a beautiful place but unfortunately at the back of our minds was the fact that we had basic strangers doing up our house and we had no idea what was going to happen. It was very strange, very surreal.”

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Yet, if it hadn’t been for Lisa they wouldn’t have been there in the first place, with her applying for the show behind Adam’s back (something he’s now very thankful for!)

“We had been in the home for two years and all our money had gone into the home,” says Lisa. “We were money and time poor so that was my driving force behind applying. I may have lived to regret it, who goes on one of these shows with absolutely no experience? But it’s been an incredible journey that’s for sure.”

Tune in tonight at 7:30 as the teams continue in Tasmania, for what promises to be the toughest reno yet!

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House Rules

Interview: House Rules judge Joe Snell

Have you been watching the second series of House Rules? We chat to judge Joe Snell about why he loves the show’s format and why you should tune in.

The biggest single reason House Rules is so watchable is simple, says Sydney architect Joe. “It is their own home! This is the essence of the show and is what makes it so compelling. At the end of the day, you can’t dispute that these teams are completely invested in their own home, both financially and emotionally. My absolute favourite part is the natural joy that the teams feel when the homeowners thank them for what they have done and express how it has affected their lives. This is amazing particularly when, in the context of the show, they are ardent competitors. It is lovely to see this basic humanity.”

Joe Snell

The show took a while to get into its stride and attract viewers last year, but Joe, who once worked as a real estate agent, thinks this was simply because it was a new format and people didn’t know whether to commit to another reno show. “I wasn’t surprised by its eventual popularity because it is a well made show by some seriously smart and passionate people.”

If you’re still not sold on why you should tune in, Joe, 36, says: “Imagine the hopes and dreams you have for the renovation of your own, or eventual, home. Then imagine putting those renovating hopes and dreams in someone else’s hands – your competitors’ hands. Then put all that into hyperdrive! Lastly, every team comes out a winner with a renovated home, and one team with the ultimate prize of their mortgage paid off!”

Well, when you put it like that…

This year, there’s a big change in that the judges give their feedback to the teams personally. “This means much better communication and hopefully means that they see that we are being constructive and trying to help them achieve a better result.” Sounds like added tension to me, which always makes for good viewing!

What many people seem to like about the show is that it is real people making over real homes. But there’s no doubt the fact that they’re making over each other’s homes which adds the spice, and potential for upset as well as delight. “One of the most interesting aspects is the interpretation of the house rules laid down by the homeowners. Styles and intentions are interpreted in many different ways – some valid and some not so valid. Further to this is the difference between the judges’ and the homeowners’ opinions as they both score each renovation. We are sometimes not impressed, and then the homeowners come in and absolutely love it!”

Joe Snell

The father-of-two hopes to be a constructive judge and remembers how hard it was to have his own work critiqued in his uni days. “After a while though, you realised that the criticism was directed at your work – so that you could improve it next time – and not at you personally. This is one of the biggest things the teams have to overcome, as it is most likely a new experience for them. So my criticism — if any — is directed at the work and is intended to help the teams improve!”

He and fellow judge Wendy Moore, editor of Home Beautiful, make a good combo, with Joe saying he has learned a lot from her. “Wendy is such an experienced editor. She spends a huge amount of time thinking about styles and design for a massive audience every week, while as an architect, I tend to focus on one design and one client at a time, admittedly over a number of projects. We come from completely different backgrounds, with very different training, yet we still work in the same industry and this can only mean that together we have a richer conversation about the different aspects of design and people’s homes.”

Watch House Rules tonight at 7.30pm on Seven.

Stay tuned for Olivia’s weekly interviews with the contestants from this week.

House Rules is on at 6.30pm on Sundays and 7.30pm on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays.

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Competitions House Rules Interviews

Host Johanna Griggs tells us what to expect from this series of House Rules and why she’d never be a contestant!

Host Joh Griggs

The gaping hole that The Block left in my life has officially been filled, with last night seeing the premiere of the second series of House Rules.

house rules candy ryan
The house of NSW contestants Candy and Ryan

The episode got straight into the renovations, with the first house on the chopping block belonging to NSW couple Candy and Ryan.

“You can expect a lot of chaos in this first house,” host Johanna Griggs tells Interiors Addict. “It was funny but I found when shooting the contestants kept saying: ‘I can’t believe this is a week, we thought it was a TV week!’ They were really under the pump, even the ones with trade backgrounds; they just found it so overwhelming. It’s so far from their comfort zones.”

Straight up, there are a few differences in the show’s format compared to last year’s series, with Johanna saying they needed to throw a few curveballs, because all the teams had watched the first series: “They just arrived a bit savvier this year, so we had to mix it up a bit. I think the biggest change you’ll see will be at judging time, as this series we have the judges in the studio. We just found last year that because the contestants never saw them face-to-face, it was very easy for them to dismiss the judges’ comments. But this time round they’re standing two metres away and that adds a really interesting dimension.”

Host Joh Griggs
Host Joh Griggs

Johanna in her own right is quite the renovation expert, running a construction company with builder husband Todd Huggins, and of course hosting Better Homes and Gardens, but she still doesn’t fancy herself as a House Rules contestant. “I think it’s a brilliant concept and I love that no one goes home a loser but I could not do it,” she says. “My husband and I would kill each other on camera! We wouldn’t make the 7.30pm time slot, we wouldn’t be allowed, our language would deteriorate too quickly!”

Even though Johanna and her husband work well together in the real world, she is quick to say that the show is nothing like a traditional construction site: “It’s not a normal building site, it’s everything exaggerated a thousand fold. You’re condensing a three-to-six month renovation into one. You’ve got 50 tradies on site, five other teams, you’ve got cameras in your face and you have one week where you have to get all your supplies, all your furnishings, everything delivered and all your tradies organised.”

With the next episode on tonight at 8pm, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next. I’ve already found a favourite in Adam. That man is just so smiley, but only time will tell if he and partner Lisa are a good prediction for winners.

For more information.

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Designers House Rules RENO ADDICT

New series of House Rules starts tonight on 7

For those suffering from The Block withdrawals, fear not. The second series of last year’s hit reality renovating show House Rules, starts tonight (Wednesday 30 April) on 7.

Architect and House Rules judge Joe Snell
Architect and House Rules judge Joe Snell

Get ready to see six new teams from around Australia go on a ride of a lifetime, putting their homes on the line and skills to the test, as they battle it out to become mortgage free. Together, they’ll travel the country, hand over the keys to their homes and leave their competition rivals to transform every room in their house.

With host Johanna Griggs at the helm again this year, six brave teams will gamble with the most important possession in their lives. Designer Carolyn Burns-McCrave and build supervisor Chester Drife will be overseeing the teams, who have just a week to completely transform each home. Guided by just five House Rules, the teams will each be given a designated zone in the house to work on and they must draw on all their creative talents, determination and strategy to achieve the most stunning transformations.

Two expert judges – architect Joe Snell and Home Beautiful magazine editor Wendy Moore – will score each team’s renovation. But the last word will go to the homeowners. Without knowing who was responsible for each zone, they will score them all. Will they love or loathe what they see?

Scores will be revealed at Homebase, where eliminations will also take place. And in the final, the last two teams will face off for the chance to walk away with their entire mortgage paid off in full.

I only got into the show at the end of the last series but wish I’d watched more of it as I found the concept really interesting. Will you be watching?

More info.

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Interiors Addict

Decluttering and styling with budget queen Michelle from House Rules

House Rules contestants Michelle and Steve

By Michelle Ball

I’ve loved decluttering and styling since I can remember, so I thought I’d share my top tips on these 2 topics. I hope they help you!

House Rules contestants Michelle and Steve
House Rules contestants Michelle and Steve

Decluttering

I am not, and have never been a hoarder. I believe in the principal of letting go of excess, and as you do, even more beautiful things come into your home. In saying this, when we had to let go of all our belongings as part of the competition on House Rules and give them all to the Salvation Army, it was difficult for me. We boxed up all our photo albums and personal belongings, then any furniture in the house, including rugs, went.

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