In the new series of The Great Interior Design Challenge, 27 talented amateur designers competed over 16 episodes, for a chance to win the coveted title.
Presenter and architectural historian Tom Dyckhoff oversaw proceedings, while judges – President of the British Institute of Interior Design, Daniel Hopwood and interior stylist and magazine journalist Sophie Robinson – decided who had the vision and the skill to be the next big thing in design.
In this series the competitors travelled the length and breadth of the country, and also though the ages – from medieval homes to contemporary eco blocks. To ensure a level playing field in each qualifying round, three wouldbe interior designers took on similar rooms in three neighbouring properties. They had three days, £1,000 and the help of a small team to interpret homeowners’ briefs and bring their designs to fruition.
The amateur designers came from all walks of life, and included a librarian, a college lecturer, a civil servant and a restaurant manager. All believed they had the skills and creativity required to make it in the world of interior design. But as the designers moved further along in the competition, the briefs and the rooms became increasingly challenging – and the judges’ expectations were higher than ever.
In the nine heats the amateurs redesigned rooms in a huge array of buildings: 17th-century cottages in the Cotswolds; 1920s beach huts in Poole; crooked bedrooms in medieval homes; terraced houses in the heart of London’s East End; colourful fishermen’s cottages in Brixham, Devon; neo-Georgian houses in Welwyn Garden City; 21st-century eco homes in Greater London; Dutchinfluenced cottages in Port Sunlight, Wales; and 1930s apartments built for the film stars of the day.
The nine heat winners then went through to the second round, where some transformed bedrooms in Kentish oast houses, others worked on front rooms in handsome Edwardian homes in Wimbledon, while the final group designed reception rooms on houseboats on the River Thames.
In the two quarter-final programmes, the designers faced their trickiest rooms yet – one group in doubleheight rooms in an Edwardian school conversion in London, and the other in a 1960s complex in Surrey.
The two winners from each of the quarter finals went through to the semi-final, where they all travelled to Scotland to design rooms in Edinburgh’s famous tenements. This time they had a bigger budget of £1,500, so the judge’s expectations were even higher.
For the final the two best amateurs battled it out in an elegant stately home in Cumbria. They had £4,000 and three rooms to transform in just four days. It was their toughest challenge yet, but one talented designer overcame the final hurdle to be crowned the champion of The Great Interior Design Challenge.