Finally - a win for Sara and Hayden
- 3 Sept 2018
And in an Insider Style exclusive, we have the inside word on what pursuaded them to stay. Here’s a hint: Sunday night’s win REALLY helped
We absolutely LOVED your main bedroom this week - and we’re so glad you didn’t leave! Tell us, though - just how close did you get to walking away?
So, when we heard what the judges had to say for the third week in a row with the negative comments after ensuite week, I actually did want to leave.
That’s understandable...
If Scotty had said to us, ‘Right, pack your bags,’ I would have said, ‘Sayonara - see ya later.’
That seems a bit drastic…
Look, we got a hammering. The first two weeks - OK. Come the third week, we were hopeful of some kind of positive feedback. But, really, the only positive feedback they had was ‘That bath is amazing.’ They had nothing nice to say about anything else, and it was really sad.
Did you think their criticism was warranted?
There was nothing constructive in their comments; nothing we could have taken from there, and said, ‘Right, now we have to change this, and this, and this,’ because it was just pure attack, attack, attack. And we just had to sit there and take it. It was really harsh.
I guess that would grind anyone down..
Like everyone, if you keep getting hammered, there is eventually going to be that time where you just break. And that was the pivotal moment in my Block experience, where I said, ‘If you keep doing this, then we are done.’ And I was going to walk out.
Did Hayden share your thoughts?
Hayden didn’t want to. He was very strong, and he was playing the supportive husband. But in the end, if something doesn’t make you happy, then why continue to keep doing it? By that stage, we were really missing [our daughter] Harlow. And I just felt, ‘Well, if this is what is going to happen to me on national TV, I would rather be enjoying the time watching my daughter grow up than being insulted.’
In the end, what made you stick out that extra week?
The reason we decided to give it an extra week was to see what Shaynna had to say.
And you obviously took a lot away from that...
Yeah. So, we thought we’d stick around for that interview or that meeting and see what they had to say. Then, we actually sat down with her, and we explained the direction we actually wanted to head in - because I don’t think anyone knew, or were privv enough, to our plans for our apartment. That’s why we were getting that bad backlash, because they didn’t realise the vision of what we wanted to create.
Which was what?
Well, I brought her my lookbook, and said we wanted to work with the heritage features of the building. Initially she said not to do that, but I think that every building deserves to be respected, especially if it’s an older-style building. We explained the passion and drive that we had for our apartment, and how we wanted to achieve it.
And you managed to do that with your main bedroom….
Yeah. And I think once she could see where we were going with it, she was like, ‘Right, this now makes sense.’
It’s great you got such good feedback for main bedroom, because you could argue that it’s much more important to get higher scores for rooms like that...
So, the main room that you want to get right is the master bedroom - you wouldn’t really be too concerned on a guest bedroom. I still think our ensuite is really stunning - amazing. And that is really the bathroom that counts. Main bathroom is main bathroom, but it’s the people that are going to purchase the apartment who really want to use it, and live that experience we created for them.
So really, you and Hayden have just had to weather those tough weeks, in the hope that we can all eventually see that you have a grand plan...
100 percent. It’s sad, because I am seeing everything being said - and even Scotty is taking the piss out of us in the commentary. But we want to respect the heritage of the building. It’s really a beautiful building, with a bit of a sordid history - but why wouldn’t you want to respect art deco?
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