‘I hate it. Get this mic off me’: The most iconic Changing Rooms transformations

We take a look at some of the most unforgettable moments on the show ahead of its return

(BBC)

Changing Rooms, one of the most iconic TV shows of the 90s, is returning to our screens on Wednesday 18 August with original host Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Naked Attraction’s Anna Richardson.

The popular series, which sees neighbours swapping houses to redesign a room, has resulted in some impressive transformations, as well as numerous unforgettable disasters. The show first aired in 1996 and ended in 2004 after 17 series.

Previously broadcast on the BBC, the reboot will air on Channel 4 and will have the homeowners working with either Bowe or new designers Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead to renovate a room in one another’s houses.

According to Channel 4, the designers’ “bold and opposing styles” will ensure that “each transformation will be spectacular, innovative and unexpected”.

We take a look at some of the most memorable and indeed, unexpected, transformations in the original series:

Smashing teapots

Designer Linda Barker installed a set of hanging shelves to display a prized teapot collection (BBC/Changing Rooms)

Arguably the most unforgettable moment on Changing Rooms took place in a 2000 episode of the show, when interior designers Linda Barker and carpenter Andy Kane created a set of suspended shelves to display a prized teapot collection worth more than £6,000.

The doomed collection belonged to a woman named Clodagh, who lived in London. The entire set of shelves collapsed overnight, taking all the teapots to the ground with it.

Barker later said in an interview that it was “definitely the worst moment” of the show for her, adding that it was probably the worst moment of “any designer on Changing Rooms”.

(BBC/Changing Rooms)

Clodagh, now 75, told the Guardian she still does not “feel very good about” Barker.

“On the very rare occasions she’s on television now, when I do see her, she’s still very bouncy, and I just don’t think she earned the bounce,” she said.

Fur real?

A room transformation that involved eye hooks in a bed frame, a brown fur bedspread and elevated champagne buckets (BBC/Changing Rooms)

One couple had the misfortune of having their master bedroom transformed into what the designers called a “sensual, sexy room” – though it was anything but.

The bedspread was brown and furry, which the owner declared was “horrible”, and was in stark contrast with the pastel lilac curtains and white floorboards. But perhaps strangest of all was the bed frame, which features rows of hooks surrounding the mattress.

(BBC/Changing Rooms)

Who could forget the elevated champagne buckets instead of bedside tables and the sculpture of disembodied buttocks to finish off the room?

Full circle

A homeowner’s plain living room before going on Changing Rooms (BBC/Changing Rooms)

A homeowner in Doncaster was subjected to a living room makeover, which designers decided to dedicate to a single shape: the circle.

The original room looked quite normal, if a bit plain, but the end result saw circles painted on the walls, the fireplace transformed into a circular cubbyhole with a round fishbowl placed in the middle, a circular chandelier and circular coffee tables with more circles on top of them.

A circular transformation on Changing Rooms (BBC/Changing Rooms)

The designers also added two silver rubber rings as part of the decor for good measure.

Somehow, the owner appeared to enjoy the room and said: “Am I in the same room? This is amazing.”

‘Mediterranean love nest’

A couple’s bedroom prior to a makeover by Changing Rooms (BBC/Changing Rooms)

Another memorable episode involved an ordinary-looking bedroom being transformed into a “Mediterranean love nest”, featuring two Greek nude sculptures carved out of MDF boards that flanked a four-poster bed.

The room, which belonged to Aidan Ruff and his wife Helen, also featured numerous candles arranged on the floor in front of the bed, which looking back was probably a fire hazard.

Two Greek nude sculptures carved out of MDF board flank a four-poster bed in a room makeover by Changing Rooms (BBC/Changing Rooms)

According to the Guardian, Ruff and his wife loved the room transformation and did not change it for six years. They also kept the statues, albeit not in the bedroom – the Greek nudes have been relocated outside a shed that they built to be a tortoise sanctuary in their garden.

White-out

An ordinary-looking living room before Changing Rooms transformed it (BBC/Changing Rooms)

In one of the episodes, the designers wanted to explore what an all-white room would look like and thought an unsuspecting homeowner’s living room would be the perfect place to experiment.

The original room looked rather cosy, with yellow walls, a green armchair and dark wood furniture. But the redecoration revealed white walls, white furniture, white fluffy cushions, and even what appeared to be painted white logs in the fireplace, which was also painted completely white.

An all-white room makeover (BBC/Changing Rooms)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the owner reacted by saying: “I hate it. Get this mic off me.”

Cherub dreams

A couple’s bedroom before a Changing Rooms makeover (BBC/Changing Rooms)

Taking inspiration from the angels, one bedroom got the heavenly treatment, or so the designers thought.

The room was redecorated to be a romantic retreat for a couple away from their children, and featured a candle chandelier and roses along the mantelpiece amid a blue and white theme.

However, it was the giant cherubs playing Cupid printed on the blinds and duvet cover that stole the show.

Cupic cherubs adorn the newly transformed bedroom (BBC/Changing Rooms)

Upon the reveal, the owner could only say: “What a change. Crikey.”