Chris Critiques The Block 2022 Redo Rooms Reveal and Guest Bedrooms Reveal

It was a tough one this week, figuring out the correct leaderboard order for The Block 2022 redo rooms and guest bedrooms reveal. Some of the teams’ guests spaces were stunning, while the redo rooms were wommmp wommmp. And then some were the opposite.

But I got there. Like a truffle-hunting pig, I waded through the muck and have discover some deliciousness. This is how the teams should have been ranked after they revealed their redo rooms and guest bedrooms this week:

1. Dylan and Jenny
2. Rachel and Ryan
3. Ankur and Sharon
4. Tom and Sarah Jane
5. Omar and Oz

Now allow me to explain why it should have gone this way, because you know I’m gonna give it to you straight.

Tom and Sarah Jane Tied for First

Just when I thought I’d worked through my tartan trauma across a few weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy, Tom and Sarah Jane had other plans for me. I must say though, of all the tartan terror this season, this pink version is the only one that’s acceptable. 

Do I like it? I do not. But from a purely design perspective, the items they placed alongside the wallpaper make it work far better than the blue version in the picnic-basket-bedroom. There’s a charm to this space, a feeling of nostalgia. Some whimsy.

If you’re into this kinda vibe, which clearly the judges are, it has a lot going for it. I enjoy the bed styling. I enjoy the bedside tables. The table lamps work rather well. 

I would have preferred a fabric bed to introduce some softness (and the bedside styling needs editing), but I can’t deny that this space fundamentally works. A designer hotel it is not though, let’s calm down with that.

The Redo Room Was Less Impressive

In examining the before and after pics of Tom and Sarah Jane’s redo room, I can’t say either version is successful. I don’t get an aspirational feel from this zone, even after the makeover. Placing a larger sofa in the room with a new TV unit and sheers isn’t enough to save this space.

That it came first is bonkers. 

The dining room is still giving me House of the Dragon vibes. This living room sofas are contemporary. The coffee tables are luxe. The sideboard is country. This room is more confused than Boomer men being asked to use pronouns.

Don’t get me wrong, the individual pieces are all rather delightful. The olive sofa, for example, I almost purchased for my own home last year. But together they don’t give me ‘country charm’ at all. This whole spaces reads as an inner-city apartment to my design eye.

Rachel and Ryan Tied for First

When I ask my design clients to let me put wallpaper in their rooms, this is the sort of wallpaper I mean, and Tom and Sarah Jane’s is the sort of wallpaper they think I mean. You can see why so many people are afraid to use wallpaper, can’t you?

The wallpaper design in this room though… good God! It evokes such a sense of calm and serenity. I encourage you all to apply it to your walls immediately. I can’t say I’ve seen many rooms that inspired me this series, but this guest bedroom is the exception.

The colour of the wardrobe doors alongside that wallpaper is everything. The warm accent tones are hubba hubba. The art is probably too large over the bed, and the shelf is indeed looking a little lonely, but they are minor issues that won’t take long to rectify.

The Redo Room Was Fine, But Not Phenomenal

The original guest bedroom from Rachel and Ryan was not a design crime to begin with. It’s not like it was a cheap brass bed in a room with blue tartan wallapaper (OK, I have got to let that go!). So the after, while lovely, wasn’t a huge departure from the original.

The four-poster bed is beautiful, and I’m glad they brought it in. The bed styling, great. The new bedsides, great. It’s all pretty great, it’s just not a dire-to-divine transformation. It’s more ‘conservative botox’ than it is Mickey Rourke’s facial work (do not Google image that!).

Changing the green wall behind the bed was important, though I’m still not sure they got the shade right. It works best if it’s a direct match or quite obviously different.

A subtle grey wallpaper behind the bed would have looked amazing instead. It then would have made their two guest bedrooms feel quite cohesive, with a grey and soft green palette across both.

Dylan and Jenny Came Third

I have to declare right here, right now, that Dylan and Jenny should have won this week. Their guest bedroom was miles better than Tom and Sarah Jane’s, and their redo room was better than both T&SJ and Rachel and Ryan. Am I wrong?

Let’s start with the guest bedroom, which evokes the same feeling of calm and serenity as Rachel and Ryan’s. It features a dreamy neutral backdrop (though packed with texture and interest) adorned with accents tones reminiscent of nature.

We also have some intriguing furniture pieces (the bedsides and lamps are insanely good) and a desk zone to boot – perfect for a guest to use or a teen to do homework from. It ticks the boxes in terms of looks and function, and it’s packed with buyer-appeal.

This is not a third place design. 

The Redo Room Was First-Place Material

Get rid of the creepy sponged walls: check. Eliminate the obvious Provincial cliches: check. Bring in furniture that feels modern: check. Add in accessories in tones that speak to the kitchen design: check to the check to the check, check, check.

What am I missing here, people? What about this room says third place? The cohesion between the three zones in this open plan space is amazing. It’s inviting, and aspirational, and comfortable, and modern. There’s not one pieces I don’t adore.

This nails the concept of soothing country styling. It’s not too on-the-nose, not too ultra-modern. It feels like home. I’m about to go full Karen and ask to speak to the manager over this scoring. Get The Block producers on the phone immediately!

The only thing I would change here is to remove the armchairs altogether and have the dining table sit behind the sofa.

Omar and Oz Came Fourth

I have to live in my truth now: I can’t find a lot I love about Omar and Oz’s guest bedroom. 

There’s too much chunky furniture, not enough softness, no art or mirror above the chest of drawers, a weird shelf across from the bed. The list goes on and on. There’s nothing homely or inviting about this room. It feels quite hard and brutal.

They also used the exact same artwork above the bed here as they did in the master bedroom, which feels lazy. And the wallpaper behind the bed doesn’t work either and brings coldness to the room.

The bed styling and the artwork are the only elements that are successful. I would feel inclined to start again with everything else in this space. 

The Redo Room Wasn’t a Success Either

The nook in their master bedroom was not cute to begin with. We all know it needed changing. It looked like a teenager’s study zone the first time around. But what it ended up as feels just as unsuccessful. It’s now a walk-to robe? A stand-at robe? A striptease zone?

The fretwork needed to go. As it stands, it gives an odd grandeur-type entrance to something. But the something doesn’t exist. It doesn’t go anywhere. It just sets the stage for a contemporary set of doors behind it that don’t open properly.

This is an example of when vintage and contemporary clash. The young and the old at complete odds with one another. This is Leonardo DiCaprio and women under 25; it don’t look right.

I agree with Neale on this one. Remove the lower portion of fretwork and this will look more successful. Though I still say the door to the room should have relocated to open into the nook zone, with a study desk built in or an armchair by the window.

Ankur and Sharon Came Last

Oh please! We all saw the blue tartan bedroom with the cheap brass bed didn’t we? (Sorry I can’t let it go yet!). And yet this is a horror we must divert our eyes from? This is a space to cringe over? This was a really tough critique for a room that didn’t deserve it. 

Tweak a few small elements and this is a really lovely space. Replace the pendant and take out the two chairs by the window and you’re done. It’s obvious the chairs don’t work in the room spatially. Like me trying to get into my pants post-Covid, they’re too large to fit.

The colour palette in the room is lovely. The feeling here is very soft and soothing. I don’t think it reads as a kids space or as guest room. It’s a completely versatile bedroom that a buyer can put their own stamp on.

You know I have no issues calling a room out if it deserves it. This is not one of those rooms.

Their Redo Room Was One of the Best of The Week

This is the third time I have to say it this season: Justice for Ankur and Sharon! I have ripped into many of their rooms, and with good reason. But this redo, I have to declare, is the second best of the week after Dylan and Jenny’s.

When you see the shot above of all three zones (kitchen, living and dining) they do make sense together. I don’t love the style, but I appreciate the cohesion. I enjoy the spatial planning. I give them points for grounding each room with a (admittedly ugly) pendant light. 

The mammoth mirror is a bit much. It’s dominating the room like parents who bring toddlers to the pub you were enjoying lunch at. And the art above the fireplace is completely unnecessary. But outside of that I’m actually on-board. This room finally feels pretty resolved.

What did you make of The Block 2022 Redo Rooms Reveal and the Guest Bedroom reveal? Drop me a comment below and let me know who you thought should have won this week.

Images for this post were supplied by The Block Shop. Check out Nine Now for more of The Block 2022 redo rooms reveal.