The Block 2021 garage and wine cellar reveals: Judges hand out one of the lowest scores in Block history
The overwhelming task of finishing the insides of The Block houses in one week has gotten the better of everyone. While some only struggled with execution in their garage, studies and wine cellars, others failed to finish.
Josh and Luke in particular, confuse and horrify Shaynna Blaze, Darren Palmer and Neale Whitaker with their messy and poorly planned spaces. This results in the twins receiving one of the lowest scores ever on The Block.
Surprisingly there’s no contestant drama, arguments or body corporate meetings the day before reveals. Instead it’s just a lot of painting, cleaning and styling.
There is one problem though, and that’s the Venetian plaster on the wall Josh and Luke have added to separate their living and dining rooms.
The plan was to have the finish blend into and match the space, but it’s turned out way too dark. And the twins can’t bring themselves to tell the plasterer how they really feel about it.
After the plasterer leaves, Luke considers painting over it and wonders how he’s going to break the news.
“I’m going to tell him Darren Palmer walked through and ripped it apart,” he says, not realising that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
Soon the cars are parked in the newly renovated garages and the wine is packed away in the cellars. Which means it’s time to visit Block Headquarters to hear Scott Cam read out the judges’ feedback.
Ronnie and Georgia
The judges love the theatrical way the Colorbond tilt garage door opens to Ronnie and Georgia‘s garage.
When they get into the garage they’re equally wowed by the wallpaper, which is a photo from the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race where Ford beat Ferrari. Storage also gets the tick of approval but the floor is a bit of a mess.
Next is the mud room, which is described as having Ronnie and Georgia’s trademark “supreme elegance”.
The study and guest bedroom gets praise from the judges for being a vital inclusion to put on the real estate brochure. Execution however, wasn’t up to standard, and more storage would’ve been good.
The biggest “wows” and gasps are saved for the stunning spiral staircase that connects the basement, main floor and mezzanine.
“It’s just so architecturally beautiful,” Shaynna says.
Down into the wine cellar, and Shaynna has been transported to France by the rustic looking brick flooring. “I’m in Provence,” she says.
Darren then praises the team for clever spending and planning with everything from an extra powder room, sink and dishwasher.
Mitch and Mark
In sharp contrast to Ronnie and Georgia’s garage, the judges are hit with a huge burst of colour when Mitch and Mark‘s garage door opens. It has a bright pink mural on one side and a yellow Ford Mustang (just for reveals).
“Take away the car away, take the art away and there ain’t much here,” Neale says.
Then the judges head up to the study and think it’s a clever use of void space above the garage.
Next it’s the remaining basement space, which for Mitch and Mark is more of a “flexible media room/ wine cellar/ wet bar”.
Apart from the couch, the judges don’t find much to like in the room.
“Visually it’s very, very cluttered,” Neale says.
Shaynna finds both the choice of carpet and the layout of the room odd. She wonders why the wine cabinet is far from the sink and benchtops.
Darren tries to find some positives, one of which is the air-conditioning.
“When you’re having to call out the air-conditioning as a positive you’re in trouble,” Neale tells him.
Tanya and Vito
First impressions are good at House 3 when the garage door opens sideways to show a vintage Ford inside. The judges are happy to see the garage floor has polished concrete unlike the other houses they’ve seen so far.
But the back of the garage is a waste of space according to the judges.
“That’s where Ronnie and Georgia had a study/bedroom,” Darren says.
The judges are concerned Tanya and Vito‘s house will be less enticing to buyers because it only has three bedrooms while the others all have four.
Shaynna, Darren and Neale then looked at the wine cellar, which turns out to be more of a games room.
“It is fun. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Neale says.
Darren loves the wine bar cabinetry which has the wine fridge built-in. His only negative was the flooring clashing with the timber on the stairs.
Josh and Luke
The judges’ feedback starts off positive. They think having a door within the garage door is clever, and they like the Grafico wallpaper featuring race tracks around the world. However, the rest of the space is unfinished.
To get to the fourth bedroom/study and wine cellar the judges have to walk through the living and dining room. Even though this space isn’t up for judging, Shaynna, Neale and Darren are stopped in their tracks, horrified by the mess and the Venetian plaster wall.
“What!?” Shaynna screams at the Venetian plaster wall.
Neale describes it as “beyond ugly”, while Shaynna calls it “appalling” and for Darren it’s “horrendous”.
Their attention then turns to the mess in the room and it’s safe to say the judges are offended.
“Where is the bloody respect?” Neale rages.
Back at Block HQ, Scotty admitted he wondered the same thing when he walked through that room today too.
“Did somebody empty a skip bin in there?” he jokes.
It wasn’t just about respect for the judges, they worry the mess plonked on top of furniture like the stunning handcrafted Christian Cole bench, could actually damage the beautiful pieces in the room.
“No damage. I’ve checked,” Luke claims.
Back to the judges and Darren is fuming.
“This is inexcusable. It’s a pigsty… we weren’t supposed to stop here but how do you walk past that?” he says.
The judges head over to the study/fourth bedroom and find there’s no relief there either.
It seems to look more like a study than a bedroom, especially because there is no bed at all, just a sofa. That means the twins can’t market the space as a four-bedroom house, which was the whole reason they switched their garage with the master bedroom in the original floor plan.
Shaynna, Darren and Neale are also baffled by the tiny en suite.
“You’re kidding me. The shower is right on the door line, and not only that you’ve got a vanity [right next to it], you can’t even open a [shower] door in here. It’s incomplete anyway,” Shaynna says.
“What an absolute disaster.”
Darren did not mince words with his next comment.
“There’s two words for this and one of them is ‘cluster’,” he says, admitting he’s in the mood to be “brutal”.
Finally the judges check out the wine cellar and they can’t help but notice dirt on the carpet and bench tops.
The wine bar has no plumbing, no fridge, excessive storage and carpet in an area where there will likely be lots of wine spills.
Neale thinks Josh and Luke missed an opportunity to save the home cinema space in the other half of the room.
“Nothing functions, it’s kind of useless,” Neale says.
The judges wonder if the twins have given up.
“I sort of feel like we’re in this festering pit of negativity in here,” Shaynna admits.
Kirsty and Jesse
The judges arrive at House 5 to find a garage door that perfectly matches the Hamptons look inside. The beach box mural is a hit, as is the generous storage nook with shelving.
Next up is the study, which has great lighting. However the judges could tell the budget was getting tight, with “just OK” styling.
There is also good real estate value in the study compared to the other houses the judges have been in.
“We have four bedrooms and a separate study. We don’t have a study/bedroom, we don’t have a study nook. It’s an actual study,” Shaynna says.
Moving on, the judges are excited to see the wine cellar because of the $100,000 worth of Gaggenau wine fridges they won, and they aren’t disappointed.
“Wow, that is magnificent,” Neale marvels.
Darren thinks the wine cellar is the perfect companion to the cinema room next to it.
And in news that will be music to Kirsty’s ears, Neale feels the room has the vibe of a “subterranean recording studio”.
Time for the judges’ scores.
- Ronnie and Georgia: 27
- Mitch and Mark: 23
- Tanya and Vito: 19.5
- Josh and Luke: 8
- Kirsty and Jesse: 26.5
Ronnie and Georgia win Garage, Study and Wine Cellar week.
There were no surprises to see Josh and Luke at the bottom of the ladder with one of the lowest scores in Block history, after the scathing comments they got from the judges.
They’re not happy but they’ll have to put those feelings aside to try to finish their house with just one week to go.
The last spaces for the Blockheads are front yards, front facades and any other room that isn’t complete. Let the chaos begin!
This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.
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