With 4 episodes of HGTV Rock the Block released, I am already starting to morn the end. I loooooove this show. Episode 3 focused on the master bedroom and bath and Episode 4 focused on the basement. I think that the judges got both of them right but there were fireworks.
Episode 3 – Master Bedroom and Bath
It is no secret that I am always rooting for Nate and Jeremiah, and if it had just been a bathroom challenge they would have been the winner hands down. Separate vanities are always a plus and I still cannot get over those stone floors that they also used in the living room off the entry. Unfortunately, the bedroom with the full curtain wall was their downfall and sadly, I agree. It seems like a dust collector and did make the room feel small.
Mike and Alison won – they also won the kitchen challenge and it is starting to feel like it might be theirs to lose. The ombre tile with the associated grout really was a showstopper combined wth the brass hardware and one of Alison’s glam looks that I can get behind. Also, separate his and her closets are great – something that I have recently come to understand with our current home. The pairing of Alison and Mike with Mike really grounding some of the more too glam ideas.
The fireworks came at the end when Mika had a meltdown and basically said that they should have won. While I love her passion and hard work, it came off a bit like a kid who did not get a trophy at the end of the sports season. They enlarged the laundry which was not really even shared as part of the show and many felt that really added the most value.
What I saw was a boring, all-white bathroom with an open shower that would be really cold with only rain head shower heads and a blasé builder-grade looking design with continued use of terrible accessories – looking directly at that terrible palm tree thing above the bed and they used something similar in the bathroom of the basement challenge. They really need some design and styling help though they do have a great understanding of floorplan layout.
I think a smaller laundry can work for a family because who really folds the clothes in there anyway; you have to take them to the room where they will be put away to fold and hang and so as long as there is room to throw one load on top of a shelf it works for me especially when the trade-off is a bigger closet or bath. There were lots of people who commented on my last post that they thought Mika and Brian should have won which goes to show that design is definitely a subjective business.
Episode 4 – Basement
Finally, my boys Nate and Jerimiah took this one. They designed a fully self-contained 2 bedroom suite with one of the bedrooms having a murphy bed so that it could double as an office. I see this as a great option for in-laws with a full kitchen providing the ultimate functionality. The gas range was cited as a positive and a negative with some concern related to kids in the basement which makes sense.
They also used those gorgeous steel doors that they used in the family room upstairs which were reason alone for the win but no one mentioned how they would work with it being used as a bedroom – maybe some curtains from the bedroom challenge could be moved downstairs to cover these from the inside? Not sure why but these pictures really do not do it justice and there isn’t any image showing the kitchen area.
Mika and Brian pulled out all the flash adding a bowling alley to their basement as they were tired of being told that they were playing it safe. While it was cool, it is polarizing as some people would not want it and the judge was not sure how to value it from an appraisal perspective.
David and Tiffany went for it with color again and while I applaud their risk-taking – let’s just say there was too much blush. The cabinets were camouflaged into the walls!
Source for all images: HGTV