Word on The Block: Week 8

Well Blockheads, our teams are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with only 4 weeks left before A-Day (Auction Day). This week was guest bedroom week, plus redo week for the challenge, with the team given the chance to redo one of their rooms that the judges think needs some improvement. 

Week 8 - Guest Bedroom and Redo Week

 

Source: The Block Official YouTube

 

Norm and Jess had the hardest challenge when it came to moving their fireplace. The reason it was smack bang in the middle of the room was completely for safety reasons, otherwise it would have been more towards the window and nicely sectioning off the area. After much debate, the Queenslanders finally decide to move it over the corner across the room, closing off the entry way to their bedroom and creating a fireproof wall. If you recall during living and dining room week (mind drawing a blank? Read the recap here), installing the fireplace was a complete nightmare for Norm, requiring scaffold and brute strength to install the chimney and fireplace. There’s no smooth sailing this time around either. First Norm destroys the $8000 piece of marble that’s used to insulate the floor from the heat of the fire and then it took over two hours to install the new ceiling beam that would support the fireplace - due to length issues. The beam needs to handle the weight of the entire system so they use a hardwood beam, which saves them time. There is no time to have a steel beam manufactured to specifications.

But the hard work literally paid off for them, as they won the redo room challenge. Excellent job spirit couple! Off to the actual room they need to do for the week, and they really pleased the judges, and even turned Shaynna Blaze around with their sophisticated and welcoming guest bedroom. However the lack of functional reading lighting brought them down this week.

Source: The Block Official YouTube

 

Courtney and Hans had to redo their master bedroom. The judges felt it was a large waste of space, with a useless hallway and small seating area.  Everything needed to be a bit grander. Did they amp up the grand factor? Well….not really. Actually I’m not quite sure what they thought adding a lounge and a different table would do to help elevate the room. Changing a few bits and pieces of furniture certainly didn’t impress Shaynna Blaze come judgement time, and Courtney’s lack of confidence shows. There’s simply no impact so the room issues that gave them low scores weren’t improved.

Come second guest bedroom, unfortunately the very small size of the room makes the entire space seemed squished in. The living spaces are very spacious and airy, but the bedroom seems to simply exist because they need a second bedroom.  Perhaps they should have taken some of the space from the master bedroom to make this second bedroom a touch larger, changing from too much space to a comfortable amount.

 

Source: The Block Official YouTube

 

Sara and Hayden somehow managed to finish redoing their first guest room and the second guest bedroom between their elevated bickering. Their re-do room looks improved with a seating area and a new bedhead. Unfortunately there’s way too much going on for Shaynna to give them the win, with too many textures on the bed clashing with the furniture in the room. They’ve squeezed in a wardrobe so now the bedside lamp prevents the door from opening easily. Shaynna and Darren both believe the New South Wales couple have tried too hard to make the space luxurious and it almost looked a bit too old fashioned for their target market. Faux fur blankets don’t make a bed look rich.

Source: The Block Official YouTube

 

Kerrie and Spence got lucky in having to only re-style their living and dining room for the re-do challenge. Shaynna adored the new styling Kerrie did, giving the place some quirky and personality. The styling of their second guest room however seemed lacklustre to Shaynna, yet spot on for Darren.  When is it enough Shaynna?! Besides the styling, Shaynna did love the wardrobes and the orientation of the bed made the bedroom feel larger than it actually was. You can see very clearly that planning is Kerrie and Spence’s big advantage. The fact that they have planned everything to the letter, including trades and budgets, gave them the opportunity to add an extra room. Their tiny study just might have made them a contender against the penthouses, and enough edge to do even better than apartments 4 and 5.

Bianca and Carla were in serious trouble in the money department. So much so they might not have enough money to pay their trades. They survived the week though by winning the domain challenge, giving them much needed cash flow. They had to redo their first guest room, the room that made their apartment look like a bachelor pad bruh. Removing the horrid feature wall and adding the vent made a huge improvement, and removed the masculinity of the space.

There was no display of money woes though with the second guest room. They absolutely wowed the judges, with its soft tones and complimenting textures, luxurious wardrobes and innovative lighting. With vast amounts and storage space and a small desk area, the netballers showed they understood their buyer’s character, being on technology all day and needing a spot for laptops and briefcases. The netballers broke their bridesmaid curse, snagging a well deserved win this week.

 

Here’s all the equipment the girls used to make the build easy:

• Cordless hammer drill with dust extraction unit to fasten items in place with minimal dust
• Industrial vacuum cleaner to keep things clean
• 500mm exhaust fan with ducting to keep dust under control
• Tarps to keep things covered during construction
• Hand trolley to help move heavy items around
• Scaffold to reach high areas safely

As always, keep your tools sharp and your hard hats on Blockheads!