So what is the object of my indignation today? The tv show ¨Grand Designs¨
What is it with people who mortgage themselves to the hilt to build absolute monstrosities that have five bedrooms, three bathrooms, multiple living areas....and may be an older couple, a DINK couple, or MDATKs. What is it with big houses? A room to sew in, a room to read in, a room to watch TV in, a gym, a room for the occasional guest, a room for the formal lounge, a room for the formal dining dining table that gets used at Christmas time. A room for the childrens toys, a room for dirty clothes, a room to study in, and a spare room that just holds crap....and on this particular episode that I am watching the kitchen has two cooking hobs and THREE ovens. WTF? AAAAAND, they put all of that crap in for pure symmetry of the kitchen build!!!!!
Are big houses built just to hold peoples crap? Projected status symbol? Look at me and my money?
Having said that, I love Kevin McCloud and while I do not watch Grand Designs often, it does keep me entertained as to what people build, why they build and how they justify their mortgages and extravagance. Of course, in the back of my mind I am thinking heating, cooling, cleaning and financing.
...and after all that ranting it amuses me that one of the most popular episodes is Ben Laws house built from timbers sourced from the Prickly Nut Woods in West Sussex, England.
I have seen this episode multiple times and I am gobsmacked everytime I watch it. Ben Laws dedication to building a sustainable ethical house in a protected woods that he will never, ever be able to sell is inspiring. Despite this clause in his building permit, he continued to build a small organic soulful house for a mere 26,00 pounds. His lovely literally handcrafted home is gorgeous. Do yourself a favour and watch it.
Rant over.
Daff I hear you loud and clear. I saw it too and my thought process went some thing like "You have to be kidding me, wastefull stuck up, shallow fools" and that was after pleny of sleep for a week so I'd say thurs night Daff wason the money. Also I love that other episode too, what a great way to live.
ReplyDelete..and now that I have had a good nights sleep and Grand Designs is on in the background while I bake some bread and make stock concentrate, I am STILL marvelling at the extravagance of some people. Another huge house for MDATKs.
Delete650,000 pounds to build a house that the owners want to be sustainable and fit in with a country landscape. MADNESS.
Yes...Yes and YES! I am in love with Ben's home and his creativity. I also loved the episode that followed him up a few years down the track with a couple of kids in tow...but I would still like just a small wee little room for all that crap!!! lol I see a declutter on my near horizon :)
ReplyDeleteThe follow up episode was awesome! Ben´s house looked amazing, with a small extension for the little ones. It was still a family home but without all the excessive square meterage and ego.
DeleteI would love a house like Ben Law´s.
I hear you! I watch that show too and just marvel at the waste. But I haven't seen that episode! I'm going to go look it up.
ReplyDeleteIt is a must watch for the natural builder. This particular episode sparked an interest in natural home building. It is a divine little home, but not everyones cup of tea.
DeleteI also loved the episode featuring the mud brick home where they used old bottles to make a bathroom window?? They had volunteers come in and help with the build in exchange for meals...the food was a s good as the build!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of old bottles for windows! That would look fantastic and be sooo much cheaper than a custom made window.
DeleteLoved that too. The Chocolate Mill near Daylesford was built with straw bales and they have a magnificent bottle window! :)
Deletegreat post! We love watching Grand Designs. It seems to me that the episodes fall into two categories - the ridiculously large and expensive houses and the clever sustainable houses. I like to watch both, the first category to laugh and make fun of the stupid people wasting all their money on concrete monsters, and the second category for inspiration. I couldn't believe the one a few weeks ago that excavated a basement below the water table just to install a dance floor....
ReplyDeleteDon´t get me wrong I LOVE the show, but it really can be like watching a train wreck sometimes.
DeleteI HAVE to watch that episode!!! A dance floor?
I love the small elegant sustainable house, although they are few and far between these days on Grand Designs. I guess they aren´t ¨Grand¨ enough.
Farmer liz, I shook my head too at the dance-floor episode!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy learning about different building concepts watching Grand Designs, like the episode that highlighted the building codes of a far northern European country that demanded high insulation so with thick snow blanketing their world they only needed a small amount of heating. Imagine if we did something similar in Australia? Never having to tip-toe over freezing cold winter tiles or seeking shelter in an air-conditioned mall during the summer!
But the show also seems to focus on an awful lot of big white boxes for frightening amounts of money! Daffodil, I completely agree with your post-nights madness!
I, too, love seeing how other countries build with varying climates in mind.
DeleteWe love our little straw bale house, it is serving us well in summer with just the one ceiling fan in the living area. We have just ordered in a very small wood heater that we can also cook with for winter.
YAY!
It's not just grand designs, it's all the ordinary people I have known (secretaries etc) who get engaged then promptly put a deposit on a five bedroom house. why why why why why???? in debt forever, spend all saturday cleaning. a very reasonable rant it seems to me!!
ReplyDeleteOh Alison, I know. It is all about the bigger is better, rather than clever design. I hate housework. In our little two bedroom house, cleaning takes no time. We have less clutter, less stuff to make mess with and less time being a slave to cleaning the house and keeping it clean.
ReplyDeleteI shudder to think of the amount of debt that some people take on in order to have one of these huge houses.... then heating it, cooling it...redecorating it when it is no longer ¨in trend¨
I think bigger house make the family members spend less time together. I can't imagined myself cleaning a big house with hyperactive kids give me headache.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Malay-Kad-Girl. Everyone isolates in their own little space and they don´t engage in conversation. There is reduced opportunity to work on being a family.
DeleteAs a child I shared a room with my sister in our small cosy family home. There were no secrets, we shared everything and we still get on really well now. She lives in another state these days, so we only get to talk on the phone. But when we do talk, our phone calls go on for hours. In fact HH knows when I am talking to my sister because I sound like a giggling teenager again.
I love Grand Designs overall but agree about the huge monstrosities. I much prefer the ones that show good sustainable, environmentally sound designs. I also get amused by the "we couldn't possibly stretch our budget any higher" comments part way through and then by the end they have often spent 100's of 1000's of Pounds over the budget! Really! Where does that money come from!
ReplyDeleteI know! What is it about building a financial monstrosities? Is it really all about ¨Look at me!¨? These are only houses, and not homes. There is so little lived in or liveable about some of them.
DeleteThe first Grand Designs Trev and I watched was a woman who designed a Georgian mansion and 46 truck loads of concrete were being poured. We ranted, we steamed, we shrieked at the skies. Then we watched the next week too. It's a great way to focus rage Daff :-)
ReplyDeleteP.S we hate the 'green' houses that are huge too, and despite their green designs have really missed the point.
Ahhh, yes the ¨green¨ card. That REALLY irritates me, and poor HH who has to listen to my rants!
DeleteI can´t help but rant about Grand Designs, but I also can´t help but watch.