Shelley Craft: I’m Panicking

Usually by the end of the week, most couples are well on their way to finishing their bathrooms. But not this year! At least three of the couples are dragging their heels when it comes to waterproofing and tiling their main bathrooms. The worst offenders? Ronnie and Georgia - our so called reno experts.

“On the Friday, I was panicking during my walk-through,” Shelley Craft admits.

“They were having bets with Scotty, ‘Oh, a carton of beer if we finish early.’ And Scotty was saying to them, ‘You won’t finish early.’ It wasn't looking good”

Shelley and Scotty aren’t the only ones with their doubts. The Blockinator, Keith, is also on the warpath, believing their cocky attitude is set to get them in all sorts. Both he and Dan are convinced their lateness with waterproofing will snowball, and come back to bite them later in the week.

“House three is struggling,” he admits. “No way they will finish. I reckon the odds are 100 to one.”

But it wasn’t just the time line that was stressing out all those behind the scenes. Shelley admits she also has her doubts about some of the couple’s interior styling decisions, echoed by Domain editor Alice Stolz, who was along for the walk-through this year to access the houses for “suitability, continuity and flow, functionality, progress and budget.

Particularly troubling for them were some of the decisions of first time renovators, Hannah and Clint. Shelley and Alice say they were both shocked to find that the rookies had spent approximately half their Beaumont Tiling budget on the deluxe bathroom. Would their “huge risk, big bucks, lots of wow” strategy pay off?

“I knew at that point Hannah and Clint, although they were still powering ahead, they had spent something ridiculous, like $60k on tiles,” Shelley says. “So yeah, there were certainly some very nervous moments, in terms of from how far they had to go, how much they had already spent, and their styling.

“I was worried on all three fronts at that point.”

Will they have what it takes to bring it all together? Ronnie and Georgia - that carton might be on it’s way to Scotty sooner than you think.

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