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00:00While building a dream house is for some,
00:08This is brilliant!
00:09This is where we're up to.
00:11Many others are transforming existing homes.
00:14Got it. Got it.
00:17Smashing down walls, ripping out kitchens and digging up gardens.
00:23Oh, there you go.
00:25As they reimagine their homes as places to live, work and thrive.
00:30It's gonna be a bathhouse.
00:32Why not, eh?
00:33Bathrooms are the hardest thing to renovate.
00:35I'll go turn that off.
00:37Come on.
00:39I'm gonna die before we move into this house.
00:42I'm Anthony Burke, a professor of architecture.
00:46And I'm interior designer Yasmeen Janine.
00:50And in each episode of this new series of Grand Designs Transformations,
00:54Every single person has kind of said, you're crazy.
00:57We follow the makeover masterminds behind two very different projects.
01:02I do question the stupidity of doing something like this.
01:06Okay.
01:07This is good.
01:10David!
01:13In this episode, I travel to rural Victoria to meet a single dad with a million things on the go.
01:20Do you need another project in your life?
01:22I definitely do not.
01:23With a vision to turn his decrepit Aussie shed.
01:27This is gonna take forever.
01:29Into a zen Japanese bathhouse.
01:32Oi!
01:33With endless possibilities.
01:35Maybe it's what I need to entice a woman into my life.
01:39Just hurry up and finish it, shouldn't I?
01:41Oh.
01:42And I'm in Brisbane.
01:44This really is massive.
01:47Where two high flyers.
01:49We're here in Istanbul to look at some sinks for our bathrooms.
01:54Take off on a unique journey.
01:56We're bringing Turkish cultural elements into a Queenslander home.
02:00We're creating a Turkish Queenslander dream home.
02:03The colours are exactly the colours from the mosque.
02:06But will it be a fusion of confusion?
02:10I feel like it is too much Turkish perhaps.
02:13Why?
02:14I'm a little bit freaking out about that.
02:28Go and have a beautiful picnic where it all began.
02:32You want to?
02:33Yeah.
02:34Do you remember?
02:35Brisbane based Kristi and Oz's love story began eight years ago.
02:39In a pretty mystical way.
02:41I saw a psychic who told me I was going to meet a man who would be of Middle Eastern descent.
02:47And that he would be a doctor but not medical.
02:50So Kristi went online and boom!
02:53A Turkish born doctor of philosophy.
02:56And a week later we came to where we are right now and had our first date.
03:00It was a great date.
03:01I had prepared a big picnic basket.
03:03Beautiful roses.
03:04Oh very Turkish.
03:05Yeah.
03:06Little roses.
03:07We're a modern blended family.
03:09So two children from my first marriage.
03:11Can I have a little try?
03:12Oh thank you Floyd.
03:13Oh boy.
03:14And our child Floyd who is six.
03:17Really really good.
03:18It sort of tastes like the rice pudding you make.
03:19Like the rosewood.
03:20So that's the Turkish almond thing.
03:21Yeah.
03:22These days Kristi and Oz work together.
03:23So you're going to Dubai.
03:24That is great.
03:25In their thriving beauty spa, wellness and supplements business.
03:37Their other big project, creating their dream family home.
03:41Oz through COVID missed Turkey and wasn't able to get back.
03:45And I said to Oz, I feel like we can surround you with the Turkish culture at home beautifully
03:51and bring them together.
03:53Creating a Turkish Queenslander dream home.
03:56A Turkish inspired Queenslander.
03:59Yep.
04:00You heard right.
04:01And that's going to create our own unique story.
04:05And here's their starting point.
04:07A grand 100 year old weatherboard beauty that Kristi and Oz bought for $3.5 million in 2022.
04:15In the well-heeled Brisbane suburb of Hendra.
04:18It was that typical Queenslander where it's quite dark inside.
04:21The special thing about Queenslanders, if you bring them to life, they're magical.
04:27In readiness for her magical cross-cultural transformation, the old single storey house was raised 3.2 metres
04:36to add a level underneath and an extension out the back.
04:41The goal is to bring two cultures together and create a story of our life.
04:46And I feel like everybody should be excited about it.
04:50Well, I'm excited.
04:53Or is that just nerves?
04:55Because how they work all the intense colour, detailed ornamentation and dramatic features
05:00of Turkish architecture into the equivalent of a very pretty weatherboard box is very perplexing indeed.
05:07Is that a tower I can see?
05:10Welcome to our new home, yes?
05:16Incredible.
05:17I mean, not a lot of Australian homes have a portico.
05:23No.
05:24This is quite unusual for the area.
05:26Yes.
05:27Doesn't feel super Queenslander.
05:28Mm-hmm.
05:29Does it to you?
05:30I feel like there are strong Queenslander elements.
05:33We wanted to be really respectful of the street.
05:36The street has some incredible Queensland homes.
05:38So we wanted that soft touch that you knew there was something different but the true reveal is once you walk in the house.
05:44Right.
05:45And you'll definitely feel the Turkish feel.
05:46Yeah.
05:47So this is a really unconventional entry.
05:51Now, where did the inspiration come from this?
05:53Well, last year we went on our first family holiday to Turkey and we went to Cappadocia being that underground city.
06:00And we felt how can we bring that underground feeling where you go through a tunnel and then you get the reveal.
06:05Which is what's just happened.
06:07Yeah.
06:08I mean, this is huge.
06:09This is the living area or this is the kitchen?
06:11Yeah, this is the kitchen living area, like your indoor-outdoor type vibe.
06:14There's only five of you, isn't there?
06:16Yes.
06:17Does this not feel too much for that?
06:19No, I think it feels really good.
06:21It feels really good to have some space.
06:23I mean, everywhere I look though, I just see expanse.
06:28When the scaffold is peeled away, the classic Queenslander facade of weatherboards and wooden windows will be revealed,
06:36with the Turkish Tower luring you in to savour the charms beyond.
06:42Entry through the portico leads to another surprise.
06:47An arched tunnel transporting you into a vast living area and opulent kitchen,
06:52including intricate custom gold doors, into the butler's pantry.
06:57Tying it together, elaborate European oak parquet flooring.
07:02Across in the original section of the house, more gold doors lead into a formal living and dining room,
07:08where backlit blue onyx panels, a stone commonly used in Turkey, make a dramatic statement.
07:18On the second floor, the tower's true purpose emerges, as handcrafted stained glass doors lead into a magical light-filled library,
07:28with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
07:31There'll be a rumpus room, five bedrooms each with their own ensuite, glistening in colourful glass mosaic tiles and Turkish arched niches.
07:40Including Christie and Oz's, that will be more like a hammam-style bathhouse.
07:46It's a project dripping in detail, hopefully coming together to create an Australian-Turkish delight.
07:56This is the small master suite, no doubt. Oh my God.
08:00It hasn't disappointed. It's huge, like everything else in this house.
08:04Yeah, we definitely wanted our own little escape.
08:06With massive houses, it doesn't just end at the build. You've got to fit them out, you've got to make them feel cosy.
08:12Yeah.
08:13How much is this all going to cost?
08:14We're working towards a budget of 2.5.
08:17So how many more months until you can see the finish line?
08:21Nine months.
08:22Nine months. And how long have you been at it for?
08:24Approaching eight, nine months, yeah.
08:26What would it mean to you if you knew that you pulled off this magnificent but very hard task?
08:31I'd love to see Oz be really happy and have that connection to his home.
08:40This project is not only big, it's also extremely detailed.
08:46It's success will depend on the Queenslander and Turkish elements complementing each other subtly rather than competing for attention.
08:56I don't feel like it's subtle at all right now.
09:00If they don't get that blend just right, then they're going to lose out on the best of both worlds.
09:06And what a shame that would be.
09:09With only nine months to finish, builder Shane Petty is fully braced for a hectic time ahead.
09:22The Turkish element to the home is quite new to me.
09:26I mean, I haven't been to Turkey, but to bring it into a traditional Queenslander, yeah, it's certainly going to be a challenge to make the two work together.
09:39But that's not the only difficulty.
09:42Christine and Oz are very busy with their work, so the main thing is just trying to keep on top of all the changes and anything that arises, just try and get on to it straight away.
09:53This house will be chock-a-block full of costly custom-made features.
09:58Come around here. You're going in to shame first.
10:02Like the windows that speak loudly to the Turkish aesthetic.
10:05Coming to you, Jacko.
10:07So today we've got arched clear glass windows going in this library area.
10:12Fingers free. You can come with me another five there.
10:16You push that top into me, please, Jackson.
10:19This house, it is a significant house on a significant block.
10:24Yeah, it's not going to be a walk in the park, that's for sure.
10:30Walking every step of the way with Shane is interior designer Lisa Allward.
10:37The builder certainly has a lot of detail that he has to work through.
10:41With the plans, I think we've got about 123 pages.
10:47This is the biggest house that we've had to deal with so far.
10:52There's eight bathrooms and every bathroom is different.
10:56There's hundreds of tiles.
10:58Every bathroom has got the Turkish-inspired niche.
11:02Tiny mosaics, beautiful fans of marble.
11:06This job is like nothing else, I think, that we'll see in Brisbane for a while.
11:12More than 1,500 kilometres south in Victoria, another crafty project is underway.
11:23Although this one's on a different scale.
11:26Greg Hatton, a landscaper and furniture maker, was born to create.
11:33As a child, there was always that desire to make.
11:40Yeah, you'd make your own tree houses and bunkers or billy carts.
11:45So, where did life take the young billy cart maker?
11:49On a quest to salvage a 121-year-old butter factory in the postcard pretty Victorian town of Newstead,
11:59two hours northwest of Melbourne.
12:02I stumbled across this place, put in an offer and they accidentally accepted it
12:08and I was like, oh, shit, what have I done?
12:10What had he done indeed?
12:17Taking a towering red brick block of a building set on 3,000 square metres
12:23and reimagining it into a warm family home and part-time wedding venue
12:28was not for the faint-hearted.
12:31A heap of work went into the place.
12:33You know, insulation in a building that's designed to be cold,
12:36whatever screamed loudest at you got the attention.
12:39And that challenges the exciting bit, that's where the fun starts.
12:44It started and never stopped,
12:46turning the butter factory into a wonderland for daughters Hazel and Minnie.
12:52You've got to have some playfulness about stuff.
12:55My motivation was just to make this joyful place for kids to hang out in.
13:00Woo!
13:02Woo-hey!
13:04For Greg, though, it hasn't all been fun and games
13:07after his relationship with the girl's mum ended a few years back.
13:12What has helped is jumping on the tools and getting creative.
13:16We get the roof done first, then finish battening out the sides here.
13:20Yeah.
13:21Trouble is, not much is getting finished.
13:23So why aren't we finishing this thing?
13:26Well, we are.
13:28Are you helping?
13:29It's taken a while.
13:30The challenge at the moment with anything is, you know,
13:32trying to free up enough time and or money to do anything.
13:37Can you put that clamp on?
13:39Yep.
13:40The obvious solution, no more projects.
13:45But then Greg's not one for obvious solutions,
13:48and he's got a cracker on the boil,
13:51giving this 120-year-old tumble-down shed a whole new lease on life.
13:56The main feature here is not so much the shed,
13:59but the tree that you'd look at from the shed.
14:03The tree I get, the shed, there's a lot of work to do.
14:06What is it going to be?
14:08It's going to be a bathhouse.
14:10Why not, eh?
14:11Why not?
14:12Yeah.
14:13Exactly.
14:14Like, I'm not real smart, but I can lift heavy things.
14:16So I'm constantly sore.
14:19I'm not getting any younger.
14:20Yeah.
14:21This is going to be my medicine.
14:22So, first thing is, you've got to put a window in that wall,
14:24so you can see the tree.
14:25No, the wall will become a drawbridge.
14:27Oh, of course it will be!
14:29But before a drawbridge or anything else is created,
14:34a stockpile of junk needs to be cleared out,
14:36ready for the 120-year-old shed's reimagining.
14:40Then the shed needs major structural work,
14:44starting by strengthening the rafters to prop up the sagging roof.
14:49Next, the bowed walls will be pulled back in,
14:51so it doesn't collapse mid-bath.
14:54There'll be a rustic shower made from recycled materials
14:58and a two-person Japanese-style Ofuro timber bath
15:02with heating generated from an external wood burner.
15:06Furnishings and adornments will be minimal
15:09with the Game of Thrones-style drawbridge
15:12cranking open for the bather to drink in the view
15:15of that magnificent 500-year-old red gum.
15:19How much money is this going to take to do this?
15:22Well, I haven't really got any, so as minimal as possible.
15:26So I'm thinking sort of five to ten grand,
15:28but hopefully around the five.
15:29There is quite a bit to do.
15:31Well, the tricky bit with this is it's moved,
15:33so the back corner's fallen away, the roof's sunk in the middle.
15:35So how long is this all going to take you to do?
15:39Well, I have optimistic timelines of six to eight weeks,
15:43but, you know, that could double.
15:46Do you need another project in your life?
15:48I definitely do not need another project.
15:50Like, what are you doing?
15:51What are you doing?
15:52But, um, people ask what's in the back shed
15:55and you open the door and it's a disgrace.
15:58If it was a complete antithesis of that,
16:02then you've won.
16:03It's a win.
16:04Yeah.
16:05Greg's like the Willy Wonka of crazy creations,
16:11but he's going to need some big magic indeed
16:14if he can convert this rusty old shed 50 metres from the house
16:18into an inviting and relaxing oasis,
16:21especially once the outside temperature plummets below zero.
16:25Then there's the issue of Greg's endless to-do list.
16:28He's got a business to run, cubbies to build and kids to look after.
16:32Let's just hope the old shed doesn't fall down
16:34before he gets it finished.
16:39Alright, so the plan is we need to clean out the shed.
16:43Turns out just getting it started is difficult enough.
16:47Oh, my God, there's so much junk in here.
16:50This is going to take forever.
16:52Forever!
16:54Before any of the structural work can begin,
16:57decades worth of Greg's to-do projects need to be sorted.
17:01But, yeah, there's some good stuff here.
17:04Ooh!
17:05What have they got?
17:07Yeah, it's pretty good.
17:08Outdoor shower, perhaps.
17:10Keep, definitely keep.
17:11Or inside shower.
17:13There's some cups.
17:14Yeah, they look alright.
17:16These chairs need a bit of love, but we can keep them.
17:18One thing that has to go, a not-so-friendly possum sleeping rough in the back corner.
17:26He's like sleeping vertically.
17:29What a goose.
17:31Things sure move at a leisurely pace around here.
17:35Hey!
17:36I'm starting to get an insight into why everything takes so long.
17:41Oh!
17:51Back up north, the scaffolding is off Christie and Oz's Turkish Queenslander,
17:56with the neighbours having a bit of a sticky.
18:00Everyone's having a look when they walk past now, that's for sure.
18:06Externally-wise, we're going pretty good.
18:09Internally, there's certainly a few things that are getting a bit pressing.
18:15It's a unique home outside and in.
18:18Many of the features being custom-made with lengthy lead times.
18:22Like the doors Christie and Oz want created, after a visit to one of Turkey's most sacred mosques.
18:30I just remember being in the Hagia Sophia.
18:33There were these beautiful gold doors, and almost like an internal cage.
18:37And it caught my eye.
18:39And I thought, that's not something that's very common in Australia.
18:42And we thought, how can we incorporate that into the house?
18:46It is real gold, because I actually looked into that when we were there.
18:49Uh-huh, right.
18:50Clearly, we're not going to be doing real gold in our house.
18:52We're not?
18:53No.
18:54Well, we should try.
18:56But gold doors are just the beginning.
18:59Christie and Oz also fell in love with the mosque's spectacular stained glass.
19:04Oh, how stunning.
19:06Inspiration for $50,000 worth of doors and windows.
19:11OK, so here's the design for the library.
19:14Wow.
19:15You know, that colour.
19:17Yeah.
19:18The colours are exactly the colours from the mosque.
19:22Oh, it's beautiful.
19:24And with seven panels being commissioned, lead light craftsman Julian Podmore has his work cut out.
19:31Still got a long way to go.
19:33Lots of work to do yet.
19:35We'll be using Swarovski crystals.
19:40It's not your typical small residential project for sure.
19:46On this $2.5 million build, the meticulous detailing is everywhere.
19:54The eight bathrooms alone being laid with thousands upon thousands of glass mosaic tiles.
20:01When it's all grounded in silicon, the pattern just flows around the room without breaking off.
20:08As with all these bathrooms, you know, a lot of planning makes for a better job at the end, so...
20:14That all takes time and money.
20:17Lots of it.
20:18And with Christie and Oz's wellness business also growing by the day, the pressure is mounting as fast as the bills.
20:26We went into this renovation well and truly before we knew what would be unfolding with the business.
20:33And now the business is ramping up and we've got all this travel ahead of us.
20:37In the last six months, we've had to set up all of our manufacturing over in the US.
20:40That takes a lot of our own personal cash in to grow the business.
20:46So I feel like there are going to be some hard decisions.
20:50We've definitely taken on a beast across it all.
20:53So really we're just in survival.
20:55You just go day by day.
20:56Speaking of survival, back down in Newstead, Victoria, Greg's shed cum bathhouse is about to undergo some life-saving surgery with the help of mates Paxton and Wolfman.
21:17The foundations have moved considerably.
21:20The walls have spread and the roof has sagged, so there's a bit of work in that.
21:24The idea is to retain as much of the character as possible, but just strengthen it so it doesn't go splat on my head when I'm in the bath.
21:32OK.
21:33With temporary straps and struts in place to shore up the framework, this old shed's getting a new set of bones.
21:40Now we've got to chuck some colour tyres in.
21:44You good?
21:45It can come to me a bit if it needs to.
21:48You happy?
21:49Yeah, I'm happy there, I think.
21:50The biggest problem with this one is not enough colour tyres in the first place.
21:56So it colour tyres is timber that is linking pairs of rafters together to stop them spreading.
22:02And the few that it had had let go, so then the weight of roof pushes down and the rafters end up pushing the walls out.
22:12It looks much prettier with them in.
22:13Excellent.
22:16Next...
22:20..a little bit of gentle persuasion to square up the walls.
22:24Wee, that's got it.
22:26Fingers crossed it holds.
22:28We should take the straps down.
22:29Mm.
22:30A big test.
22:32See if it goes splat.
22:34That didn't move at all.
22:39That didn't move.
22:40That's perfect.
22:41Unreal.
22:42There's no weight on that at all.
22:44Lovely.
22:45So we've done that very well.
22:48Yeah.
22:49That looks a bit better.
22:50That's much better.
22:52It's certainly a step in the right direction.
22:55Feels like we're going to actually make some progress now.
22:58Next phase is probably, well, we probably need to build a bath.
23:01That's, you know, high on the agenda.
23:05Some Japanese wooden baths, or or furrows, cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
23:10But Greg has lucked upon a giant 160-year-old log lying prone on a friend's property that he's hoping is cedar.
23:20It's a rare find and could save him thousands.
23:23There it is.
23:25The plan is to chop some of this up and make a bath.
23:30Milling the wood will be expensive, costing about $1,000 of his $5,000 to $10,000 project budget.
23:40So he's hoping this trailer load will yield enough.
23:44It's just a matter of finding enough clear grain timber without any knots.
23:48You know, I'm a little bit nervous about it.
23:51Greg.
23:53How goes it?
23:55Nervous, because where there's a knot, there's a potential leak.
23:58Timber miller Liam Rattan is on the case.
24:03I think this would be a good one.
24:05And this is pretty clear as well.
24:21Smells amazing.
24:23Definitely a cedar.
24:25Yeah.
24:28There we go.
24:29So we take the pick out of the next few logs to make sure we miss the knots.
24:33The main thing.
24:34You think between the four quarters there'll be enough boards?
24:36Yeah, maybe.
24:38Hopefully within that, there's enough. Fingers crossed.
24:42Greg in Newstead and Christie and Oz in Brisbane are working at completely different scales in terms of budget and size.
24:53But what they've both got in common is creating new identities for old buildings.
24:59And that is not easy to get right.
25:03Whether it's Greg's shed or whether it's Oz and Christie's Queenslander, they're both working with the original timber bones.
25:10They're sort of trying to update the personality and the purpose, I guess, changing the character of the place.
25:14So we've come to the Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill to see how architect John Allway and landscapers Prandium Studio have taken this humble early 1900s weatherboard workers cottage.
25:28Well, I'm definitely getting the Japanese vibes here.
25:31Well, what on earth gave it away, Professor Burke? The paper lantern or the fact it's all black?
25:36To create an understated and elegant architectural fusion called Niwa House from the Japanese garden.
25:44So, Japanese on the outside, but very clearly Queenslander on the inside.
25:51Very clearly Queenslander. I can see the wide boards in here, the breezeways above the doors, classic Queensland kind of material palette.
25:59You could be standing in a nicely done up sort of turn of the century place.
26:03Feels Queensland, but that's amazing. Look at that courtyard.
26:07It's right in the middle of the house, opens everything up and that green, your eyes just can't help but go boom right down to the backyard.
26:14Situated between the original old cottage and the new step-down kitchen dining extension beyond,
26:24the Japanese style courtyard is wrapped in a fine bronze mesh for insect and weather protection.
26:31And having Australian natives in the courtyard rather than any kind of, you know, mimicking of a Japanese landscape means we definitely know where we are.
26:40We're here in Australia, we're here in Brisbane.
26:41Because even though these are Australian natives, there's this weepiness to them like the Japanese maples.
26:48And I think that's just so beautifully expressed in this instance.
26:51The minimalist Japanese aesthetic filters throughout the house.
26:55Three bedrooms and a study tucked behind black painted VJ boards, the Japanese of furrow bath, screens and slatted timber everywhere.
27:08Then down to the new extension, which adds just 30 square metres to the original floor plan.
27:15All of that is really good design, but it doesn't feel overdone. It just feels simple and calm. I think that's the sign of a good design when you walk into a place and you feel it rather than you see it.
27:29That goes back to unconventional planning. This is not a typical way that you would treat a Queenslander.
27:36Yeah. And that's what makes it special.
27:38Yeah. The subtlety of the finishes here is also something worth embracing.
27:43Yeah. And I think with Oz and Christie, they're getting so hung up on the finishes.
27:50How much Turkish things can I pack in one place?
27:54Yeah. And forgetting about what it feels like to walk into a Turkish planned home.
27:59Yeah. And that's what's maybe getting a bit lost.
28:02Yeah. With Oz and Christie.
28:03Well, definitely for Greg, you know, he has a thousand ideas a second.
28:07I think his issue is going to be, how do I bring all of them into one simple expression of what it is to have that bath in his little shed in exactly the right spot to kind of bring it all back to those fundamentals.
28:21Like Oz and Christie too, they're thinking about way too many things.
28:26Yeah. So I guess the take out here is a little bit less. It's actually a bit more.
28:30It's definitely more.
28:38Back in the land of extravagance, where more is more, the final panes have been fitted in Christie and Oz's very pricey stained glass windows.
28:50And with six months to go, the panels are on site, ready to be installed.
28:55You know, obviously everyone's been waiting on this for a long time and been a lot of work going into it.
29:01So it's a good milestone.
29:03Inspiration from all around the world.
29:05And yeah, it looks amazing. Christie and Oz will love this.
29:08They'll cherish this forever.
29:10With the stained glass in, another custom feature is underway.
29:17Their version of the ancient gold doors from the Hagia Sophia are being brought to life thanks to modern technology.
29:26Ten gold doors from the kitchen to the main bedroom are being 3D laser cut by a specialist company in Melbourne costing a hefty $75,000.
29:38We wanted to sort of really pay homage to this design and try and replicate it as close to as possible.
29:44It's not something that we would sell off the shelf. It is a very custom design.
29:51It's not hard to see where the money's going on this $2.5 million project.
29:57Today, designers Lisa and Julia need to lock in the critical finishes and furniture that will tie this bold Turkish meets Queenslander experiment together.
30:07We've got a decoration budget that we wanted to sort of discuss.
30:11Yeah.
30:12So it's all of the furniture.
30:13Decoration.
30:14All of the sock furnishings.
30:15As in, oh, this is what the furniture would cost.
30:17Yes.
30:18Yeah.
30:19It's OK.
30:20Put to the end.
30:22Holy shwang.
30:24Holy shwang.
30:25You've got a lot of rooms.
30:27We'll come back to you tomorrow on our budget.
30:30I think the level of detail feels a little bit overwhelming, and there are some stressful parts.
30:36You're trying to work through budgets.
30:41I'm a bit worried for Kristi and Oz.
30:43With the budget under pressure, I can understand their stress.
30:48But maybe it's an opportunity to scale back their ambitions.
30:52There it is.
30:53To create a more restrained outcome.
30:57In every corner of this build, you're trying to bring in this beautiful tradition from your heritage.
31:02Yeah.
31:03And it's that palace.
31:04I mean, are there elements that you've had installed to date where you're like, oh, not sure about that?
31:09The tunnel.
31:10I'm a little bit freaking out about that.
31:13Is it going to be too much?
31:15And out of curiosity, why do you think it might be too much?
31:18I feel like it is too much Turkish, perhaps.
31:20Right.
31:21It's a lot to think about.
31:22Well, the more you talk about it, the more I'm freaking out.
31:25Yeah.
31:32Way down south in Newstead, it's what's not happening on site, rather than what is, that's the problem.
31:39It's now six months into Greg's three-month schedule and, surprise, surprise, things are moving extremely slowly.
31:48So timeline-wise, I actually think my 12 weeks is probably right, but it's probably 12 weeks of work.
31:54It's not 12 weeks from start to finish.
31:57Obviously, life gets in the way at times.
32:00But there's no time like today.
32:04And Greg, with a little help from Wolfman, has a plan to get things rolling.
32:11Literally.
32:13While the shed's now structurally sound, its 120-year-old corrugated iron walls need some serious dewonking.
32:21And Wolfman has just the machine for the job.
32:25How old is this thing?
32:26It's a pretty handsome old thing.
32:28The late 1800s somewhere, probably.
32:31Yeah, well.
32:32Basically, all it does is put all the corrugations back to how they should be.
32:37All right.
32:38I like it.
32:39We'll give it a run.
32:41This one's been pretty stomped on.
32:44See how this one goes.
32:47What?
32:49And that's feeding through nicely.
32:52It's a fair old number of wines to get one sheet to.
32:56Yeah.
32:57It's time-consuming.
32:58Well, look at the pile.
32:59We've done four sheets.
33:00But worth every cent on Greg's 5-10k budget.
33:05That's if they can save more than they lose.
33:10I think we should give up on that one.
33:12That one, put that down as art.
33:15Because a bath in a draughty old shed doesn't sound that appealing to me.
33:23A month later, the irons still not back up.
33:29But Greg is starting to build the bath.
33:32I guess the trickiest thing with this process is, you know, how is the timber going to behave?
33:39Creating something which is watertight.
33:42And that's how it falls apart.
33:43The way it falls apart at the end, we'll find out.
33:55it's all hands on deck in a race to get the house finished.
34:00Well, not all hands.
34:04Kristi and Oz are overseas for seven weeks on business
34:07with a little buying trip to Turkey on the side.
34:10We're here in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar
34:12and we're here to look at some bowls,
34:15some sinks for our bathrooms.
34:18Back on site, Shane's worried.
34:22In Turkey, their main holes that they use in their vanity bowls are 50mm
34:27and in Australia we don't have many good plug-and-waste set-ups
34:32that suit a 50mm hole,
34:34so we were able to get through that we need the holes to be 40mm,
34:38so hopefully when they come they're what we ask for.
34:43Meanwhile, the Turkish fit-out powers on.
34:46Hopefully this doesn't make the bloopers real.
34:49Including $16,000 worth of blue onyx,
34:52which will become a backlit feature wall in the dining room.
34:56One, two, three.
35:00That's good, here we go.
35:01That's good, here we go.
35:02All 100 kilos of it,
35:05and everywhere you look,
35:07Turkish touches are coming to life.
35:11With the impressive gold doors finally on site.
35:17It's always good to say something that you've...
35:20Been waiting for some.
35:26The only thing is,
35:30all the feet in the hole will be built for it.
35:33Pull it back to you a little bit if you can.
35:41There you go.
35:43It's always good to say it go in and all work.
35:45Now two months over schedule,
35:55Builder Shane's feeling the pressure on all sides.
35:59He not only needs to get the house finished and the family in,
36:03he needs to move on to his next job.
36:06So it's a relief when the vanity bowls from Turkey arrive,
36:10as long as the plug-and-waste measures 40 millimetres.
36:14The first thing we notice,
36:15because it's the most important thing,
36:16is to measure the hole,
36:18and we've got about 50 mil hole there.
36:21In this one we're looking at about a 43 millimetre hole,
36:24so we can't drop a 50 mil plug-and-waste
36:28and then reduce it to a 40 mil under a sink.
36:31It has to remain 40 right through.
36:33Once again, not the ideal size that we're looking for.
36:37And that's not all.
36:39There is another issue.
36:40We are missing one.
36:43We don't know where it is.
36:46But there are bigger problems to come.
36:48Yeah, that wasn't the news I was hoping for today, mate, anyway.
36:52$60,000 worth of flooring
36:55that the supplier has deemed not up to standard.
36:58Our flooring, it's arrived in the port,
37:00it's just cleared customs
37:02and now it's sitting in a factory half an hour away
37:06and it's been rejected.
37:09The panels aren't square and the pattern doesn't line up.
37:13Yeah, it's not the news we want to hear this close to the end,
37:17that it's held up all the skirtings,
37:19it's held up all the painting downstairs.
37:21Essentially, we're back to square one with where the floor's at,
37:23so, yeah, not what we want to hear.
37:26No floor, no move.
37:29Shane needs to discuss alternatives fast with Christie and Oz.
37:34We advise that the number you have called
37:36is currently switched off or unavailable.
37:39It might be for another time.
37:42In Newstead, there's also hold-ups, but for very different reasons,
37:58with Greg falling eight months past his deadline.
38:01One of my main goals of pursuing these little projects
38:05is to bring something back into my life, but, yeah,
38:08I do question sometimes the stupidity of doing something like this.
38:13Life's busy, but the list is endless.
38:16Running a wedding venue, got to pick up a cool room this afternoon,
38:19maintaining a garden at the top of Mount Macedon,
38:21cooking meals of an evening,
38:22a kitchen bench I'm making at the moment, chopping wood.
38:25Greg sounds like he needs a hot bath,
38:30especially with winter around the corner,
38:32but he'll need a heat source for that.
38:36Originally, Greg was using a wood fire until a lightbulb moment.
38:42I've got a great idea.
38:44Do you use a compost heap to heat your water?
38:48Well, this is the good gear.
38:51This is the vital ingredient, the wood chips.
38:53And the most exciting bit I've just noticed
38:55after shoveling or forking in here,
38:57you can see the steam coming off.
38:59It's cooking already.
39:01It's probably...
39:03Well, it's at least 30 degrees in there.
39:07So this process of the heat exchange
39:10from the heat of the composting wood chips
39:12to the water in the pipe,
39:14it's just basically using aerobic composting.
39:18So that is heat from the breakdown of the wood chips.
39:21So essentially it's really slow combustion.
39:26Get it up to 45, 50 degrees.
39:29Happy days.
39:30Let's hope so,
39:32because the shed's about to get very breezy.
39:35It's gone.
39:36Well, that's a decent-sized drawbridge opening.
39:42It's going to frame that tree nicely
39:45when we're sitting in the bath.
39:47And at what height do you want your drawbridge
39:49as high as we can have it?
39:51It's all about framing that tree
39:53when you're sitting in that position.
39:56In the bath.
39:58That's where the bath's going to be.
40:01Yeah, and that being nice and centred.
40:05This is what it's all about, being centred.
40:07Um...
40:13With the project pushing forward,
40:15there's a big-ticket item missing.
40:18Let's hope the bath won't fall apart
40:20when it's full of hot water.
40:22I've got an idea to put some brass plates
40:24on the sides where the screws are.
40:27It needs something to contrast the rusticness
40:30and add a little bit of bling.
40:32Bling in the rustic old shed?
40:35Well, that's a turn-up.
40:37But I am starting to see the vision
40:39to make this an enticing place to hang out.
40:42Greg just needs to stay focused to finish it.
40:47This is a sauna that I'd kind of envisaged
40:50to go next to my bathhouse.
40:53So now I've kind of dropped the ball on the bath for a minute,
40:57but I'm going to try to get this up and going.
41:01A sauna?
41:02Ah!
41:03For heaven's sake!
41:04Only heavy when you pick it up.
41:08So, yes, there is that multiple-option paralysis
41:11that kicks in from time to time.
41:13We just thought, what am I doing today?
41:15It's just a frickin' nightmare
41:17trying to get back on track again.
41:19It's probably going to be an eight-birth,
41:2220 with a party.
41:24Maybe it's what I need
41:26to entice a woman into my life.
41:29Just hurry up and finish it, shouldn't I?
41:31Oh!
41:41It's winter in Newstead.
41:50And, despite the chill,
41:53Greg's Wonka-esque wonderland
41:56is as enchanting as ever.
41:59But that familiar sound of work going on at the butter factory
42:07makes me sceptical about finding a finished bathhouse.
42:13Somehow I'm not surprised to see you up a ladder.
42:15Ah, he's back.
42:16G'day, mate. How you going?
42:17I'm well, yourself?
42:18You look very good up there,
42:19but you still haven't finished this thing.
42:21No, all good things take time.
42:23Yeah, fair enough.
42:24Come down and say hello.
42:28Good to see you.
42:29Good to see you too.
42:30So, bathhouse.
42:32From here it doesn't look like they've done much at all.
42:34No, all of that.
42:36Wait till you look inside.
42:37Uh-huh.
42:38You'll be a pleasant surprise, I promise.
42:40OK, right.
42:41You're keeping it secret, aren't you?
42:45This whole setting is looking more and more beautiful
42:49every time I visit.
42:51I mean, it's a very bucolic scene here, isn't it?
42:56If I had to paint a picture of an Australian landscape,
42:59it would look a lot like this.
43:03Yeah, it's kind of like a little poetic image of Australian farmland.
43:06Yeah.
43:10And then this is the jewel in the crown, right?
43:14It's not falling over now.
43:15OK, good to hear.
43:18It's got a little dip in it.
43:19Yeah, we don't want to take too much out.
43:21Yeah.
43:22That's the intention is it just looks like a shed
43:24and then once you step through the door,
43:26it is a bit of a surprise.
43:28I'm excited to show you.
43:29Yes, I want to see.
43:30Ta-da.
43:31Ta-da.
43:32Ta-da.
43:33This, this is amazing.
43:35This is truly magical.
43:36It's like you're standing in a galaxy.
43:37Yeah, it's a bit of a starry night effect, isn't it?
43:38Yeah, it's a bit of a starry night effect, isn't it?
43:39So unexpected, so theatrical.
43:40You've done very little to all of this except to kind of help it stay up.
43:44A minimal intervention to make a maximal effect.
43:47Most importantly, it kind of sets up the ceremony.
43:48A minimal intervention to make a maximal effect.
43:52Most importantly, it kind of sets up the ceremony.
43:53And as with most ceremonies, there's an unveiling.
43:56The ceremony is very difficult, isn't it?
43:57It's so unexpected, so theatrical.
43:58You've done very little to all of this except to kind of help it stay up.
44:07A minimal intervention to make a maximal effect.
44:13Most importantly, it kind of sets up the ceremony.
44:18And as with most ceremonies, there's an unveiling.
44:22Oh, look at this.
44:25The bath commanding centre stage showcases Greg's artful carpentry skills.
44:32Does it hold water?
44:35We're not sure.
44:36I haven't tested it.
44:37Really?
44:38Well, there's no sunlight now.
44:39Well, the tap's behind you.
44:40Can we do it now?
44:41We might as well.
44:42We need to see if my compost hot water service works.
44:45Right, there's no turning back.
44:46Just leave that in there, yeah?
44:47Yep.
44:48The hot tap.
44:49Ready?
44:50Turn it on.
44:51Here we go.
44:56Oh, yeah, that's well warming.
44:57That's great.
44:58Any leaks your side?
44:59Let me have a look.
45:01No, no, we're all good, I reckon.
45:03Tick that box.
45:05So the drawbridge, is it working?
45:08Oh, look at that.
45:11You pull on that rope for action and push on your foot.
45:14Yep.
45:15When that counterweight hits the ground.
45:18Yep.
45:19This one will catch it.
45:22There we go.
45:24And there's that beautiful tree you promised us.
45:28There it is.
45:29Beautiful.
45:30That tree sits like your frame to photograph.
45:34Yeah, magic.
45:35You put it all together very beautifully.
45:37Yeah, this is the dream.
45:38And Greg dared to dream big.
45:44Just a few metres away, next to the plunge pool, the rustic gingerbread house sauna, with its
45:50hand axed shingles, is a little gem.
45:54So when I first met you about a year ago, you said eight weeks, Anthony.
45:59Yes.
46:00And it's a year ago.
46:01You just finished.
46:02What happened?
46:03I think if I committed eight weeks solid work to it, we would have gotten in the timeframe.
46:08Okay.
46:09And then the money side, you were going to spend $5,000 on all this?
46:12I did.
46:13And I reckon I pulled this section off for that easily.
46:16Yeah.
46:17But I've added a sauna.
46:18And I've definitely doubled my money on that.
46:20So in terms of doubling your budget and starting at five and ending at 10, it's probably not
46:24too bad.
46:25Not so bad.
46:26And you got doubled for that.
46:27So hey.
46:28Exactly.
46:29Yeah.
46:30Bang for your buck.
46:31I suppose the other thing about this, the bath itself is healing and it's why you've
46:34done this.
46:35Yeah.
46:36But this whole project, you know, it's came after a difficult breakup with a relationship.
46:39So it's been a bit of therapy really.
46:41Yeah.
46:42It's been quite restorative in that respect.
46:43Like for me, I just wanted to make something beautiful that I would use and the kids would
46:47use and that I'd be proud of as well.
46:50And yeah, I'm super happy with what I've achieved, to be honest.
46:53Yeah.
46:54So you should be super proud because it's a phenomenal outcome.
46:57Yeah.
46:59Yeah.
47:00In fact, I reckon Greg's bath house is a showstopper.
47:05A triumph in restraint, yet bursting with so much beauty.
47:10What do you reckon girls?
47:11Yeah.
47:12It's good.
47:13I like it.
47:14You like it?
47:15Yeah.
47:16Approved.
47:17Approved?
47:18Yeah.
47:19Yeah.
47:20Yeah.
47:21It's good.
47:22Yeah.
47:23Yeah.
47:24Yeah.
47:25Yeah.
47:26Yeah.
47:27Yeah.
47:29Yeah.
47:30Greg gets pulled back to the cubby
47:31and the million other jobs on his to-do list,
47:35at least now he can retreat to his own private wellness sanctuary
47:41to wash away his cares and soak in the calm.
47:49And to that, I say, bravo.
48:00Up in Brisbane,
48:11Christy's love letter in bricks, mortar and weatherboards
48:15to her husband, Oz, is finally finished.
48:19They've been in their Turkish Queenslander for just three nights,
48:23so I wonder what it feels like to call it home,
48:27albeit a very big, statement-sized home.
48:33Oof, there's nothing subtle about that.
48:38From here, it's not screaming turkey,
48:41but it is shouting, look at me.
48:57Hi!
48:59Christy knows, look at this!
49:00Welcome!
49:01You've done it!
49:02You did it!
49:03We're here, in the portico!
49:04This is huge.
49:05When I walked up here, I kind of forgot how big it was,
49:08and now I'm standing here, it feels like a hotel, I've got to say.
49:11Like, who has an entrance like this?
49:12I know, it's beautiful.
49:14From the outside, it looks very Queenslander,
49:16and some of those Turkish details, I suppose, aren't there.
49:20Was that intentional?
49:21Well, we kept it subtle,
49:22but there are little hints as to the Turkish element.
49:25On the outside, we have arches, for example,
49:27that are very reminiscent of the Turkish architecture,
49:30but also we have these tulip carvings.
49:33Tulips are very important in Turkish history.
49:35There's actually a period of the Ottoman Empire
49:38that is known as the Ottoman Empire,
49:40which is known as the rest of the Ottoman Empire.
49:42And that is very important in the Ottoman Empire.
49:45And from the outside, it looks very Queenslander,
49:48and some of those Turkish details, I suppose, aren't there.
49:51Was that intentional?
49:52a period of the Ottoman Empire is known as a tulip period I absolutely love the
49:59subtlety in that story and I'm sure a lot of those are repeated throughout and
50:04I can't wait to find them come on in yes can't wait to show you let's do it
50:08come and see the tunnel yes
50:14now Oz I remember you not being on board with this maybe this was gonna be too
50:19Turkish it's true but to be honest I'm really happy with it now
50:31so what do you think I am immediately struck with this sense of opulence and
50:40grandeur not what you'd expect in a typical living room in a Queenslander
50:44they're pokey little rooms and let's not forget this beautiful vista but it's
50:51missing one thing where's the pool the pool yes the pool will be stage two yeah
50:57just budget-wise we've had to invest into our business a lot and so we just put it
51:02on hold yeah yeah but it doesn't look like you've skipped on anything else inside
51:07and I can start to see the story and where it's going for the rest of the
51:11house you've got these very Turkish inspired arches with that really cute
51:16point at the top over the range hood the very decorative grills to disguise the
51:21pantry Turkish imprinted detailing to the side of the joinery on the island yeah
51:27absolutely and for example parquet floors is what I grew up with in my
51:30grandmother's house but we wanted to make it more suitable for for this house and
51:35for us as to what we like let's talk about the floor because I know we were
51:39having some issues with some of the delays here Shane our builder literally
51:44with his team hand cut 27,000 pieces and then laid it to this level of
51:52perfection over a week 27,000 that's nuts yes we're very grateful otherwise we'd be
51:59another four months away this is a gold-standard build with so many
52:08impressive features to show off
52:12one of the most lavish being the custom gold doors into the formal dining room
52:18the opulence continues you ready
52:22Wow inspired by Istanbul's aya sofia mosque the onyx is definitely featuring very
52:33big in the dining room I mean I have to see it on this is off at the moment let's
52:38turn it on Oz show me what you got whoa as if by magic that's right
52:48up stairs on this magic carpet ride the main bedroom is nothing short of stately the
53:03Hammam style ensuite with custom stained glass glistens in gold marble and mosaics not forgetting
53:13those glorious hand-picked Turkish basins the missing one found and suitable plug-in
53:21waste fittings sourced now all taking pride of place in each of the three
53:26children's en-suites stained glass really is a feature coming up the stairs and
53:34then the jewel in this crown the talking point of the house from the street that
53:41for a magic tower this is incredible I mean this is what it's all about you're
53:51all getting teary-eyed well it means so much to us and I think for Oz to have the dream
53:57of the library and it being so Turkish even down to the wallpaper that was custom made and
54:04so it's got tulips in it I do feel like this I've stepped into a fairy tale well elephant in
54:12the room this is a library did the budget run out before you could buy the books well we want to
54:20collect books so it's going to evolve and grow in time that's the theory let's talk about budget
54:27then we met you had two and a half million dollars for this project where did you end up we ended up
54:34just over three million oh that's half a million more hence the no books timing wise let's chat
54:44about that we were looking at 18 months yes where did you end up two years and three weeks that's a
54:51really long time now this was all sort of a present to you Oz your wife wanted a piece of home to remind
54:58you of turkey yeah she's special yeah it's our family home and he's been our dream and I guess
55:04yeah we made it happen congratulations thank you thank you and you definitely have to have me over
55:10for dinner in your fancy dining room and I'll even bring a book great right we have plenty of shelf space
55:15I know I think that book will be a book of fairytales of course with a happily ever after
55:39thank you everyone for coming tonight Christy and I are just so proud to be here in our new
55:45home big thank you to Shane and Lisa for their huge efforts in making this home and thank you all
55:50for making this possible cheers one thing's for sure Christy and Oz do not do things by halves like
56:09their business this giant project has grown in scale budget and the time it's taken to
56:15deliver it and then not even done most importantly this creation is born out of love now all they
56:23need to do is slow down so they can enjoy it
56:26why wait a week when you can watch grand designs transformations now on ABC iview or next Amanda and
56:44Alan's Alan's Italian job
56:45enjoy it for many years to come
56:48so
56:49you
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