The Block 2018: Three bedroom trends that are past their use-by date

Last week on The Block, the contestants tackled the all-important master bedroom. With some impressive floor plans – Courtney and Hans had a whopping 65-square-metre room – the couples worked hard to ramp up the luxury in these multimillion-dollar apartments.

After a rough few weeks, and some sound advice from Shaynna Blaze, Hayden and Sara managed to impress all three judges and take out the win with their art deco-inspired bedroom.

While some trends reigned supreme in the master suites (did someone say “velvet”), others were clearly past their use-by date.

Here are three bedroom trends that need to disappear. Forever.

Generic artwork

The days of badly chosen, generic artwork are well and truly over. Both Courtney and Hans, and Hayden and Sara, discovered that choosing a piece based on a colour palette and without meaning was a bad decision.

“It’s an artwork that doesn’t speak to the room,” Shaynna about Hayden and Sara’s choice of artwork. Neale Whitaker agreed, saying: “It’s a little generic.”

When it came to Courtney and Hans’ choice, Neale didn’t hold back, calling it “the worst piece of art I’ve ever seen on The Block.”

• Related: The biggest mistakes when designing an en suite
• Related: Ronnie and Georgia’s advice to Block contestants
• Related: What to know about designing a guest bedroom

Sara Chamberlain of The Real Estate Stylist says that choosing the right artwork for the bedroom is a task that shouldn’t be undertaken lightly.

“It’s the most personal and private room of your house so you have to like it,” she says. “Choose a piece that means something to you.”

A bedroom should be a sanctuary within a home; it’s a place of rest and relaxation. With this in mind, stylist Emma Blomfield warns against choosing anything jarring and suggests avoiding “bright, blaring colours”.

All white bedrooms

Scandi-minimalism is not over, but the all-white room is.

Kerrie and Spence came under fire this week for their “hospital-like” master bedroom. Upon entering the room, Neale said “I want a little bit of va va voom … I’m opening double doors and it’s a white room.”

Colour and concept manager at Haymes Paint, Wendy Rennie, agrees that white isn’t always right for the bedroom.

“I think it is safe to say bedrooms are the place where people are more adventurous and creative with colour. While we still see a lot of neutral and white bedrooms, there is a strong shift towards the use of darker colours such as navy, olive, deep reds and burgundy.”

Hayden and Sara and Bianca and Carla clearly got the colour memo: they both opted for colour over all-white walls, much to the joy of the judges.

Rennie predicts that this is something we’ll see continuing into 2019.

“I’m seeing the use of beautiful soft greens, which create a sense of calm and tranquillity,” she says. “The other popular trend is using deep, rich tones in burgundy and rust with pink toned nudes to create warmth, a comfortable haven away from the outside world.”

Televisions

There are many reasons why televisions have no place in the bedroom. Some argue it makes getting a restful sleep difficult, while others worry that it spells the death of romantic relationships.

When it comes to adding a television to the bedroom, Chamberlain is firm. “Never, ever, ever. Absolutely no way.”

Norm and Jess’s decision to add a TV proved to be a mistake. The judges were unimpressed with the couple’s placement of a TV in front of their bed, with Neale saying it resembled a “Gold Class cinema seat” and made the room all about the TV.

However, Bianca and Carla escaped such criticism by using one of Samsung’s new frame televisions, and setting it to an artwork instead of a flat black screen. Shaynna called it “beautiful” and Neale commended its versatility. “That’s clever. That allows you the luxury of television in bed, should you want it, but when you’re not watching it, it becomes an artwork”, he said.

Blomfield is a bit more generous and believes adding a television is a personal decision, however, she is careful to point out that placement is very important.

“Try not to make the TV the focal point in the room. [Place] it off to the side or, better yet, install a mirrored TV so when the TV is off it looks like a mirror.”