Dream Home

If you’re missing The Block, Seven’s Dream Home is here to help.

Or if you’re missing House Rules, it’s also a TV substitute. In many ways it is also a clone. I really struggled to find the difference between Seven’s former renovation show and it’s new-look entry, save for cheerful host Dr. Chris Brown in place of Johanna Griggs.

There are six pairs who will renovate each others’ homes, dividing up rooms for reno and following the design requests of the owners. In the old version they were the house ‘Rules.” Here they come in the form of a fancy video from one architecturally-informed couple, or in a homely hand-written letter from another.

The series underlines the current cost of living (you could almost make a drinking game from the number of times it’s referred to) and our Aussie familes / homeowners have got themselves into a right rut with crumbling, unappealing, crowded spaces. But Dr. Chris Brown is here to make their day by telling them they have made it onto the show (I reckon they secretly knew), before we fast-forward to blindfolds off and OMG / tears as they see the finished products.

“Let’s go and make some dreams come true!” -Chris Brown.

In episode one two Victorian-based homes will be made over by three teams together, one in Watsonia and the other in Northcote.

Like The Block, we have to see couples driving in cars for reasons that escape me -is it product placement? Is it because couples feel they are in private and let down their guard? I have no idea.

A floorplan is divided up at each site -but oddly it leaves out some of the rooms without any narration from Dr. Chris to explain why. At one site there’s a whole second level I don’t know who is renovating. Maybe that’s still to come?

There’s not a lot of detail on budgets nor time frames, although I did hear a reference to 10 days somewhere in the mix.

Like other reno shows, there is a bit of inspo, bickering, shopping, negotiating, and tears under pressure. And those obligatory pop choons.

There’s also two foremen at each site, builders Nick and Luca, and a bunch of unnamed laborers who are here to do the lion’s share of the construction.

To Dream Home‘s credit, there are so many walls being knocked down in these shells, that it’s not just a case of slapping paint on a House Rules wall. In this sense they do feel like larger builds than Seven’s predecessor.

Dr. Chris book-ends the first episode, as well as narrating, by visiting with the three judges, Lana, Simon and Rosie. For now it’s a largely introductory visit, given the couples are still in the sledgehammer stage of renovation. Literally.

Whilst there are hints of bigger builds and property porn houses by the end, this format really needs more difference from House Rules, and less cookie-cutter storytelling from The Block. Other reno shows, such as Grand Designs take a much deeper dive into the DIY and overcoming ambitions, but the reality genre is focussed on competition and clashing personalities.

Some have also questioned the diversity on Dream Home, but to be fair there appears to be a mix of heritage in contestants Brad, Jacinta, Jordan, as well judges Simon and Rosie.

For a show that is all about building from the ground up, this one really needed more original format beats to distinguish itself from others in the genre.

Dream Home screens Sunday – Tuesday on Seven.