Changing Rooms

I must admit, the idea behind Changing Rooms seems to be pretty sound - until you see them in action and realise that most of what they do is like a cheap fix, a lot of it is tacky and that some people have actually disliked the new look so much they've actually had to redecorate all over again. Carole Smillie, all teeth and smiles, introduces each half hour session where two couples - friends, neighbours or family - nominate a room in their home that the other (armed with a budget of £750 and a team of some of the most AWFUL interior designers known to man) will redecorate over the next 48 hours... These designers, two of whom - Anna Ryder-Richardson ...  Read the complete review

Back in the mid nineties this was must watch TV. I had totally forgotten about it until this weekend when I was clearing some books out and came across a changing rooms book I had been given for christmas one year. The idea of the programme was that two sets of friends would swap houses for a couple of days and with the help of a designer and "Handy Andy" they would redecorate one room in the house with a budget of £500. This would be no repainting of the wall from beige to mushroom - this would be painting the room bright red, puttling shutters on the windows, removing doors and making anything and everything taht you could possibly ...  Read the complete review

WHAT IS IT ABOUT: Two couples re-decorate each-other's houses with the help of cutting edge design experts such as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Hosted by Carol Smilie, the show more often than not changed an ordinary house into a hideous house, thanks to the MDF cutting skills of Handy Andy. The show was on the BBC and lasted half an hour. IS IT ANY GOOD: Dear oh dear, how the hell is this on Dooyoo? I mean, what a crappy yet ultimately addictive show this was. It was great for a few reasons: 1) There were some (and I mean SOME) good design tips on here - now before you shoot me down, there were occasional good ideas on how to spruce up a piece of ...  Read the complete review

Well...what can I say about Changing Rooms? A makeover show on the BBC. The presenters/decorators were Carol Smilie; Laurence Lewellynn-Bowen; Linda Barker; Handy-Andy Kane and a few others. The designers created some classy and memorable designs. However they were also guilty of creating some horrendous and revolting desings and many mishaps ensued. One of the most memorable mishaps was when a contestent wanted Linda to design and build some shelves for her valuable collection of Antique teapots. - What a BIG mistake! When they were finished the shelves looked lovely, but when the teapots were put on, the shelves suddenly gave way and all the reapots were runied. - Not ...  Read the complete review

I would never in a million years let the Changing Room team touch any of my rooms - not even the guinea pig's hutch. First of all, they must have a team of a hundred workers out of camera view for all the work to be completed in the time they state. Smiley Smiley Carole Smilley - what a silly woman, flitting from house to houre, and not really doing much except a stint on the sewing machine. And where do they get the paint colours from? Yuck! Last night's programme had some green-tinge paint on a wall, then they shoved some gold paper stuff on it, removed it to leave a beautiful marble effect - ha ha, it looked more like the contents ...  Read the complete review