The Block 2024 Guest Bedroom Reveals: The Good, The Bad and The OMG

I have a lot to say about The Block 2024 guest bedroom reveals this week. I get passionate about bedrooms, so I’ve gone deep. I’ve also tackled how things could be improved in some of the rooms, because while a few were solid, there were choices made that held them back.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or on TLC’s Facebook or Instagram. I like to think I represent design from a real-world perspective, and often echo what you might be saying about the reveals at home. But I’m always happy to be challenged, so let me know your take.

Scroll on as we take a look at The Block guest bedrooms, and help me answer life’s eternal question… when will there be a locally-made show on TV where professionals take on a home reno? Surely a charity season with five designer-and-builder teams would be a hit.

Kristian and Mimi Came First

I agree that this is the best room of the week, but there are issues we need to discuss.

Cohesion is the first component. Kristian and Mimi’s main bathroom last week featured large format grey tiles, bronze tapware and blue feature tiles. This bedroom bears no resemblance to that space. Rooms in a home should have what every couple on Love Is Blind is glaringly missing: a legitimate connection.

The paneling behind the bed is not enough to unite the spaces. It’s like a random stranger on Ancestry.com who shares three per cent of your DNA and wants to connect. It’s a no thank you, twice removed half-great-uncle Rodney from Wales.

The paneling itself doesn’t quite work for me either. It does feel over-designed and throws off the balance of the room. I’d like to have seen a half-height timber panel headboard that ran the width of the room with a feature wall above it in the green from the bed frame.

Big Ideas, Just In Need of a Tweak

I do commend these guys for thinking outside the box. The off-kilter timber paneling was a nice thought. And overall, it combined with the green tone in the bed, with the sheer curtains and carpet… it all makes for a rather calming, inviting guest bedroom. Colour palette and materials used get my full approval.

Although I’m not sold on the paneling, moving the pendant light to the left of the room, and ditching the pot of dead sticks would have made it feel balance and resolved. The room is too right-side heavy. The pendant switch wired through the headboard would have worked better also – in black to match the robe door handles.

The wardrobe is a winner, although the shelving facing the door giving the entire room the cold shoulder is an odd choice. It’s going to be the first thing you see when you walk past the room with the door open. Like societies focus on WAG culture… I don’t understand.

Worthy of the win overall though.

Courtney and Grant Came Second

I’m just going to say it: I’m not into kids rooms on The Block. The entire premise of the show is to sell for profit. To hope your buyer has two kids under the age of 10 who like mint green arches above their bed is a choice. It makes your market narrower than rhinoplasties of the 1980s.

The tone of the green itself is too harsh. I don’t mind the concept (love teams who dare to be different), but the colour palette is off. The green is not replicated in any of the decorative elements in an obvious way either, so it leaves the big green arch sitting there alone.

I understand the sheer curtains have a green tinge to them, but it doesn’t work for me. And they’re pooling on the floor. There’s no greater crime than sheer curtains pooling on the floor. And I have to disagree with the judges; this could not easily be turned into an adult room without a major foundational rework.

Good Ideas, But Not Successfully Executed

With the green components removed, there’s now a connection stylistically between this guest bedroom and their bathroom from last week. We do indeed have cohesion going on if we paint out that green arch and replace the sheers. 

The two beds I take issue with though. Traditionally when you set up a room like this with two singles, the bedside table goes between them. As it stands, the gap between the beds is so minimal you may as well push them together. Which begs the question, why bother doing two seperate beds at all?

The ceiling lights were a nice idea. The concept was for them to drop from the ceiling to replicate clouds. Sadly though, they’re not the right lights and not the right drop. They needed to be softer in material (paper or fabric) and staggered at different heights more obviously to achieve the whimsy Courtney and Grant were hoping for.

Jesse and Paige Came Third

I know what you’re thinking: the striped wallpaper in Jesse and Paige’s bedroom is too much. But it’s actually not the issue in the room. It’s the number of elements competing for your attention that’s the problem. It’s a bit of a visually jarring space, when it could have been a calming oasis.

With wallpaper this intense, everything else needed to be quiet (like children should be when I’m at a pub). As it is, the intensity of black bedside tables, rattan bed frame, wall sconces and duck artwork all need to be turned down significantly (like the energy levels of children when I’m at a pub).

Yes there’s a theme here. Why do people bring children to a pub? 

A horizontal mirror above the bed would help break up the wallpaper a lot. That way, when you walk into the room, the sheers are reflected and it helps evoke more serenity. There are more ways to make this room sing too, scroll on…

How It Could Be Taken Next-Level

If the bed was in a simple neutral fabric (or no headboard at all) it would help significantly. If the bedsides were a mid-toned brown timber, it would be a godsend too. And the duck artwork is rather beautiful, but it’s fighting with the wallpaper (as are the lights).

Outside of that, the room is nice. The sheer curtains and carpet are a successful combination. The wardrobes are inoffensive. The wainscoting is charming, and the bed styling is a winner. The bedside table styling didn’t follow my rules around styling a nightstand, but that’s not too hard a fix in the grand scheme of things.

Shaynna is right though; they’re only on week two and have every metallic known to man across both rooms. I feel the same way about the metallics here as I do about the creeps on Sister Wives; can you please just be wedded to one option!?

Ricky and Haydn Tied for Last

Let’s start on some positives. The colour palette in this room is incredibly successful. Soothing blues, crisp whites, dusty greys and oak timbers; it’s a classic for a reason. Ricky and Haydn made way better tonal choices here than they did in their bathroom last week, so I’ll give them props for that.

I also appreciate the wall-mounted lights above each bed. For me that does evoke bedtime-reading vibes and conjures up an emotional connected in a very subtle, inoffensive way.

Sadly that’s where the praise ends.

The beanbag on the floor looks like me the morning after a wine tour; grey, sad, lifeless and in need of beans. It facing a little unit with a games console on the top is not bedroom styling. And there are more issues than that to delve into…

Too Many Ingredients and Yet Still Undercooked

The bunk beds hitting you the moment you swing open the bedroom door is a really obvious issue. I don’t know how they couldn’t see this. The bunks absolutely should of been relocated to make the space feel more open. And they aren’t even oriented toward the TV.

Related: 20 of the best best bunk beds for kids rooms, for all budgets.

The dado rail was odd on just the one wall, as was the TV niche that’s way larger than the TV they installed. The wallpaper is really fun, but for a kids room in your own home, not one you’re trying to sell to the general public. If you’re doing a kids room in a home to sell, it really has to be a more refined than this. 

This isn’t a re-do room by any means. A few small changes will make it more appealing.

Kylie and Brad Tied for Last

I must tread carefully here, because my goal is always to critique rooms and never contestants themselves. But I am concerned about taste level. This guest bedroom, after last week’s bathroom, has me concerned for the future of the home overall.

And it’s not entirely the contestants fault. Imagine a show where amateurs with no design skills are recruited to carry out the job of professionals and then get roasted for it weekly when they predictably fail. Welcome to 20 seasons of The Block.

On the other hand, some couples have clearly done research, are creating mood boards, and have some vague style to grab onto and run with. I don’t think that’s happening with this team. So perhaps some blame must fall on them when it comes to overall vision for this home.

That, or I just can’t get on-board with the vision. Because thus far the design decisions are dated, feel cheap, and don’t inspire. I can’t even come up with a witty remark, I’m that lost.

Sadly There Are Almost No Redeemable Moments

There’s hard flooring and a ceiling fan. Those are the only two things I can praise. And cohesion, I guess. There is definitely a connection to their bathroom in this space. Do I enjoy these zones? No. If you did, then you’d definitely be in your element.

The terrazzo handles on the black wardrobe doors feel a bit Kmart. The LED plasterboard behind the bed is baffling and not attractive. The black ceiling lights, the wedged-in mirror, the shelf ‘styling’… the list goes on. I feel bad to say it, but this room feels like something you’d have seen on a 2010 season of The Block.

Like the Olympics, Kardashians, or anything involving the Royal Family… I don’t want to talk about it anymore. You know where this is heading… I need a (say it with me) Bex and a good lie down.

What did you make of The Block 2024 guest bedroom reveals? Drop me a comment below of hit the TLC Interiors Facebook or Instagram to let me know if you agree.

Images by David Cook Photography, courtesy of The Block Shop. For more info on The Block 2024 guest bedroom reveals, check out NineNow.