Best and Worst Design Moments from The Block 2022 Sheds Reveal

The Block 2022 sheds have been revealed, and we’re almost at the finish line.  It’s certainly felt like a long season. Not as long as an hour of The Real Love Boat feels, but lengthy nonetheless. 

A really tough one to score this week, I must admit. From zones that looked nice but functioned terribly, to zones that were unfinished, to an office that thought it was a kitchen… it was a lot to process. I got there in the end though.

Here’s my running order of the teams that did best to worst this week with their sheds:

1. Tom and Sarah Jane 
2. Rachel and Ryan
3. Dylan and Jenny
4. Ankur and Sharon
5. Omar and Oz (let me explain)

Hit the critiques for The Block 2022 sheds below and then let me know in the comments if you agree or not. And if you missed last’s weeks truth bombs, read the redo room recap here.

Tom and Sarah Jane Came First

I felt the same sense of confusion as the twins did when they walked into Tom and Sarah Jane’s shed. What on earth is that big black box? Is it Jodie Foster in Panic Room 2? An ATM on steroids? A petite S&M punishment dungeon? 

Once I knew it was a wine fridge I was slightly won over. Put it on Airbnb and I’ll stay inside it over a long weekend. My love for Savvy B aside though, it’s an eyesore that doesn’t work in the space. 

If they wanted a wine zone in here, which I’m all for, they needed to take the idea much further. Making it a darker space with more wine, a table and chairs, mood lighting and a kitchenette would have done the trick.

As it stands, it’s a media room with a lonely barrel behind it that requires you to do the full Sharon Stone to be able to sit at it. Honestly, whoever thought wine barrels as tables was a good idea needs a good talking to.

The Media Room Idea Was a Good One

As was mentioned during judging, the home is five bedrooms with only one living space. And so in the shed, a media room was a smart idea. The issue is that there are too many functions being crammed into one space. 

I would have forgone the wine vibes altogether and made this a larger, proper media room. But what they have done in here looks nice. The sofa selection was a good one. It’s a light and bright vibe which feels soothing and easy on the eye.

A sofa bed wouldn’t have gone astray in this zone though. Perhaps this could be an extra area to sleep guests. From a functional perspective that ticks more boxes than a wine barrel.

I feel the same way about all five sheds, actually. Having them as guest suites would have been great. I’ll take sleeping on this sofa over the blue tartan wallpaper bedroom any day.

There are Obvious Issues with the Office Upstairs

Don’t get me wrong, we love the visual. Clean lines, beautiful skylights, stunning flooring and soft carpet; what’s not to love, right? But then we start to think about actually using this room and things fall apart.

For starters, computer monitors cannot work on those desktops. The angle of the ceiling would mean the monitors would sit about 5cm from the front of the desk. And so to me, that deems both desks completely useless. A buyer would have to rip them out.

The skylights, though gorgeous, require the person sitting at the desk to lather on SPF900 and wear ski goggle sunnies to work all day at them. Unless they close over. Then I take it all back. But if they don’t, we again have looks prioritised over function.

But if we’re judging solely on looks, it’s delightful.

Rachel and Ryan Came Second

One end of Rachel and Ryan’s shed is divine. Walking into the space and seeing the brick tile with all of those bottles lined up on it, and lit up on it, is beyond. I want it all and I want it now. 

But, I have issues with this as well. I know, I have more issues than Woman’s Day, but they must be raised. One of them is the barrel. Again with the barrel! There needs to be at least a six seater table here to sit and drink wine at. The current setup is unusable.

I also take issue with the fireplace. Is it even needed at all? The glossy base of it is terrible, and combined with the two rugs, it’s quite the visual headache. 

Not having a sink or dishwasher here is also a fail in my eyes. It doesn’t matter how close you are to a kitchen, there will be spills. And to not have a sink and tap to help on that front is a mistake.

There Are Positives, But It’s Still Functionally Off

I enjoy the wallpaper, I enjoy the flooring, I enjoy the sofa and I enjoy what’s going to be an amazing view out those windows. Like with Tom and Sarah Jane’s, this space has a lot going for it looks-wise. But the functions they gave the room are unsuccessful.

I look at the image above and I can’t help but feel I want to work from home here. To not include an office in a five bedroom home, post-Covid, is just insane. 

Someone buying this home will forgo a wine room. They can get wine from their kitchen (they could have created a bar area in there, come to think of it). But they won’t forgo an office. And I don’t want my office to be in one of the bedrooms. 

I would have dedicated this entire zone to a home office with a seating area you could bring wine too and enjoy the view from.

Omar and Oz Came Third

Can I just say, I never watched Alisa and Lysandra’s season of The Block so knew very little of them prior to their guest judging this week. But they are an absolute scream! Thank God someone has the same level of raw honesty I do when it comes to design.

And the raw honesty here has to start with Omar and Oz’s artwork choices, as the twins pointed out. What in the name of little baby cheeses is that canvas art in the image above? Even Kath & Kim would deem it not tizzy enough for the good room. 

That aside, what else can really be judged here? I know it wasn’t Omar and Oz’s fault that the room wasn’t finished this week, but you can’t judge a space based on imagination alone. And how an unfinished room can score third place is beyond me.

What is In This Space Isn’t Exactly Mind-Blowing

The sofa I wouldn’t exactly call sexy. I don’t get a sense of comfort and coziness from it. The living zone in general doesn’t give me any feeling of curling up to watch a movie. 

I’m not crash hot on the unit under the TV either. The desk is too long for one person but too short for two. The lighting choices here are a bit cheap. And the weird elevated seating area is confusing. What are you meant to do at it?

If we are to use what we can see above and imagine the style direction carried out further, I’m not sure it’s heading in an epic direction worthy of third place.

I don’t know how to score the room this week, but I had to put them last because there’s pretty much nothing to judge here. I feel it’s unfair to score them above Dylan & Jenny and Ankur & Sharon though. What do you reckon?

Dylan and Jenny Came Fourth

Apologetic is how I would describe this space from Dylan and Jenny. Everything about it (apart from the stadium size TV) is kind of apologising for being there.

Here’s the office space… but not if you don’t want it to be. Here’s a bar… but it doesn’t have to be a bar. Here’s your cinema room… but we didn’t make it ‘cinema’ in case you want to make it something else. Everything about the room is shy and unsure of itself.

Buyers are like toddlers; they shouldn’t have to make decisions. You have to tell them what a space is. You have to lock in a function for the room and see it through so it blows people away. Sadly nothing here is doing that.

There are more commitment issues here than on an episode of MAFS.

The Office Zone is Completely Impractical

To call out some positives (because there are some), I love the sofa, rug, coffee table and artwork in the TV zone. They’re all very successful, look lovely, and will function well. So all is not lost.

But then we hit the office zone, and oh boy! What happened here? 

Like the judging panel on the Australian Idol reboot, nothing about it makes sense. The chairs: odd. The divider between them: strange. The inability for two people to work here and yet it being too small underneath the desk zone for one person: bonkers.

Dylan and Jenny got off lightly this week. This room is beyond undercooked. It’s rare if not completely blue.

Ankur and Sharon Came Last

OK, look, I actually appreciate the judges crawling under a desk to look for power points. But can we just ensure the same level of detail-checking is done in all rooms? See: the inability to sit a computer monitor on Tom and Sarah Jane’s office desks.

That said, I agree with everything that was brought up during judging about this shed. It’s fundamentally a bit of a shambles. The too-deep desk in concrete finish, the weird hole in the top of it, the lack of GPO’s; the office zone is completely unsuccessful.

What I do like about this room though is what they intended to do with it in terms of zoning. An office on one side, a sitting area on the other; that is a better plan than trying to pack in so many uses like many of the other team’s did.

It’s just a pity the confused office side was so dominant and impractical. 

The Sitting Zone Was Also Unsuccessful

In a zone like this, a TV is not imperative. You’re sitting on that sofa to enjoy the fireplace and take in the view. The odd TV on legs that looks like it’s going to come alive and run toward you is a strange inclusion. It looks very much like an afterthought.

I agree with the judges re the fireplace going where the TV was. It makes perfect sense that it sits in that corner to not block your view. But even so, that round concrete base is diabolical.

You’ll stub every toe, chip every nail, and possibly lose an entire foot on your first night there. It looks entirely dangerous. 

This was not a good week for Ankur and Sharon.

What did you make of The Block 2022 sheds reveal? Drop me a comment below and let me know what you thought.

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