Home & DesignSEP 29, 2020

25 Times The BBC Show 'Changing Rooms' Thought They Nailed Their Room Makeovers, But Now The Designs Look Dreadful

Mindaugas Balčiauskas and Liucija Adomaite

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There are many ways to renew your room. A trip to Ikea or a call to your mom are the most popular options. Other times, a new furry carpet will do the job. Rarely will you need some assistance from the outside world, and in that case, dad and Home Depot may be the only option.

But you never, ever entrust your room’s makeover to your neighbor. Below, we’ve got a fair amount of evidence to back up this claim. If you've ever heard of the BBC show Changing Rooms from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, and its American variation Trading Spaces, you’d know what it’s all about.

‘Cause swapping houses to redesign the room of the person next-door sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. From covering the floor in strips of silver tape to casually hanging birch trees from the ceiling, these are just a few examples of letting your neighbor think outside the box. And your room is the one getting the hit.

#1 Room Where They Painted It All White

Designer's explanation: "We thought it would be interesting to see what an all-white and an all-black room would be like."

Owner's review: "I hate it. Get this mic off me."

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169points

#2 "Touch Of Art" Bedroom

Designer's review: "It's quite a statement."

Owner's review: "Good grief."

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119points

#3 Room Decorated With The Designer's Actual Face

Designer's explanation: "I wanted to throw in an element of fun."

Owner's review: "How................random."

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112points

The cult makeover show Changing Rooms is remembered for some of the most disastrous transformations ever seen onscreen. It ran from 1996 to 2004, and it surely gave viewers a lot of material to chuckle at throughout those years.

One of the participants, Caroline Hicks, who opened the door to her newly renewed living room twenty years ago, had only one thing on her mind: “I mustn’t swear, I mustn’t swear, I mustn’t swear.” These scandalous revelations were made after a speedy renovation process that took only two days.

The show’s presenter, Carol Smillie, recalled that when runners went from house to house, she would roll white paint over their jeans so that contestants wouldn’t get any clues as to what color their room was being painted. “There were a whole lot of us, 20 or more, that you didn’t see on screen,” she told The Guardian.

#4 Bathroom Decorated With More Than 6,000 Flowers

Designer's explanation: "All rooms look great with flowers."

Owner's review: "There's so many."

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110points

#5 The Designer Mentioned An "All-Black" Room. Here Is The "All-Black" Office In The Other Couple's House

Presenter's explanation: "I knew they would be up for a dramatic change. I'm very, very proud of this room."

Owner's reaction: "It's [friggin] amazing."

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106points

#6 "Very Strong Black And White Themed" Room

Designer's review: "I think it is very classy."

Owner's review: "Bloody hell."

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95points

With so many “unhappy” room owners, it may come as a surprise that there were many members of the public who wanted to take part in the show. “Most people’s rooms that they asked us to change were in such dire straits, even a bit of paint was a vast improvement,” the producer Smillie said.

In reality, only the very first participants wouldn’t suspect what the makeovers were all about, but since the program ran almost 10 years, most of the entrants really knew what they were getting themselves into.

On rare occasions, the participants were genuinely happy with their room makeovers. Aidan Ruff from Northumberland, in fact, loved his renovated bedroom since the family were looking “to get a room done on the cheap.” The Changing Rooms redesign got Aidan so excited that he even described the result as a “Mediterranean love nest.”

#7 This Room, Apparently Inspired By Safari Adventures

Designer's explanation: "It just all fits together."

Owner's reaction: [screams] (clarification: in excitement)

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94points

#8 This Room That Was Decorated With 1,800 Cds. That's Cds On Every Single Part Of The Walls

Owner's reaction: "Oh cool" [the child]. "Ohhhhhh my god" [the parent].

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85points

#9 "Funky Family" Room

Designer's review: "We have to see how it looks at the end."

Owner's review: "Oh no, it's horrible."

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82points

But one disastrous incident has surely stuck with us to this day. In 2000, Clodagh, a woman from London, appeared on show and asked the producers to be super careful with her precious teapot collection worth £6,000. But the hosts hung a suspended shelf to house her pots and the construction collapsed.

The Guardian stated that the insurers reimbursed Clodagh, but she never risked having another collection since she “couldn’t bear it to happen all over again.”