Dream Home Makeovers with Sophie Robinson, review: it’s Changing Rooms, but with taste

Dream Home Makeovers with Sophie Robinson, review: it’s Changing Rooms, but with taste

The sunny interior designer Sophie Robinson has been dubbed the “Queen of Colour”, decorating houses in vibrant palettes and riotous patterns. So what was she doing in Dream Home Makeovers with Sophie Robinson (Channel 5) painting a room black? Not just the walls, but the ceiling too? It was the home of Kirstie and Martin, and an absolutely enormous former assembly hall in their converted schoolhouse. Robinson burst in, dressed in a sky blue and red leopard print dress, and announced her idea. Fair to say, Kirstie and Martin did not look convinced. “Black?” said Kirstie. “Black?” said Martin. “Black?” said the viewers at home. I was whisked back to the 1990s, where the local bar in my otherwise tasteful West Hampstead neighbourhood was, inexplicably, a Transylvania-themed dive with pitch-black walls and coffins for tables. I fled the building on my first visit when the owner tried to introduce me to his albino python. Anyway, the black sounded terrible, and looked terrible when it was first applied to the walls. But the end result wasn’t too bad – well, as good as a room could be when it housed Martin’s full-size snooker table. I preferred the job that Robinson did