In the last chance for the House Rules teams to score points and keep their place in the competition, they pull out all stops to wow the judges with 4 incredible back yard zones.
It was a battle to the end in Tweed Heads with the renovation of Kim and Michelle’s backyard. Hot-headed couple Chiara and David put their heart and soul in a private oasis for Kim to escape to and competitive couple Mel and Dave created an incredible makeover of the dated pool and went wild in a creepy crawly kid’s play area.
Each team is determined to stay in the competition so are working harder than ever physically, whilst pushing their design skills to the limit.
In Adelaide, Josh and Brandon grappled with the design rules set by Jess and Jared but after researching finally worked to channel the New York High Line to create a beautiful zone alongside Toad and Mandy’s impressive pop up pizza bar.
Tweed Heads NSW – Kim and Michelle’s home
Rules:
1. Help us chill with a Balinese backyard
2. Use the colours of a sunset
3. Create a private oasis off the master suite
4. Go wild with a play area for the kids
5. Choose your zone
Zone 1: Chiara and David – entertaining area and private retret
Self-confessed Bali lovers Chiara and David embraced the “chill Balinese” and “colours of a sunset” rules wholeheartedly to create a bamboo-lined sanctuary for Kim, including a show-stopping full sized freestanding bathtub positioned to overlook the Tweed Valley. LLB called is “one of the best things they have ever done.”
Mosaic tiles surrounded the luxurious tub and were repeated as a feature wall – which David laid himself whilst Chiara painted the entire back of the house in their zone in a colour that the judges found a little washed out – and unfortunately described as “insipid” by Wendy.
In the adjacent entertaining area, the judges were impressed with the large shade umbrella – something that has been sadly lacking in all of the outdoor zones so far.
Chiara and David hit the house rules of sunset colours in their scheme in the eyes of the judges and LLB in particular admired the heart they put into their design, calling them “thoughtful and passionate and sexy about design with really, really good architecture,” and he awarded them a ten out of ten. “You wear your hearts on your sleeve,” he said. “I love you.”
Wendy and Drew both awarded Chiara and David a nine giving them a total of 28/30.
Zone 2: Mel and Dave – Pool and kids’ play area
Mel and Dave took on 2/3 of the garden over another two levels dropping away down the sloping backyard of Kim and Michelle’s property. Both challenging to makeover due to their orientation and access, Mel and Dave rose to the challenge by enclosing an entire rock retaining wall in timber with Drew described as “architectural… with such strong shapes”. The risk to embed railway sleepers into the concrete aggregate paid off as all of the judges loved the result and felt it provided a wonderful entrance to the pool area.
In the kids play area on the lowest level, Wendy said “I really like this!” Mel and Dave’s treatment of the rock wall here was inspired – to use it as a rock-climbing area and attach climbing holds and ropes across the entire wall as very successful. The way in which they tackled the difficultly of the long, narrow space, impressed the judges, who liked how they situated the cubby house in the centre and the swings at the furthest end. Wendy noted the possibilities for this layout to grow with the children, suggesting that as they got older they could replace the hopscotch stones with a fire pit and swings with a swinging chair.
LLB noted the continuity of colour language between the two spaces, calling it a, “cohesive sense of design,” despite the vastly different decorating treatments.
LLB awarded Mel and Dave a ten also, and altogether they scored a total of 27/30 for their zone from the judges.
West Beach, SA – Jess and Jared’s home
Rules:
1. Style a NY high-line entertaining area
2. Bring the Bronx down the side
3. Make a cool pop up pizza joint
4. Add attitude with sculptures and art
5. Choose your zone
Zone 1: Josh and Brandon
In Jess and Jared’s backyard Josh and Brandon outdid themselves with their incredible carpentry skills to create an entertaining deck and curved seating area for a fire pit. LLB said it was, “so contemporary, so fantastic but fundamentally flawed,” due to their layout positioning the deck in full sun and the fire pit in the shade.
Whilst all of the judges loved the idea of the train tracks to answer the House Rules of “Style a NY high-line entertaining area”, they felt Josh and Brandon took it too literally and though beautifully executed, it served no function.
The brothers scored a total of 19/30 from the judges.
Zone 2: Toad and Mandy
Toad and Mandy took on the pop up pizza join and the side of the house, which has its own rule of “bring the Bronx down the side”. They enlisted the help of a local artist to create an edgy mural which all of the judges thought was great, particularly in terms of it being confined to the size passage, rather than encroaching on the rest of the space.
LLB was particularly impressed with the thought and design that went into the positioning of the telegraph poles with festoon lighting.
It was the pop up pizza bar that ultimately stole the judges’ hearts however, with Toad and Mandy’s decision to retain half of the old shed to turn it into a prep area and servery alongside the pizza oven and outdoor seating area an overwhelming success. Quirky signage, recycled brick paving and a practical layout including an authentic pizza oven hand built by Toad that Wendy said, “Was the first time [she] had seen executed perfectly.”
It worked beautifully together with Mandy’s reclaimed and black-painted palette table set together with modern bench seating, which even Drew gave his tick of approval for.
Wendy couldn’t find fault with either the design or execution of the zone and said Toad and Mandy made redoing an entire garden in four days look easy, giving them a 10. LLB also gave them a 10, saying their efforts were “inspirational” and with even Drew awarded them a nine, their total score from the judges came to 29/30.
All teams now await scores from homeowners Kim and Michelle in Tweed Heads and Jess and Jarod in Adelaide, to see who will be top three on the leaderboard. The bottom three teams will be eliminated from the competition.
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