 Welcome back, and yes, it's time for Winter Home and Afternoon Express, where we follow three talented young designers as they transform three empty properties at Valdivia State into dream homes, using finishes provided by Caesar Stone and Plaskon. And at the end of it all, we're giving away one of those completed apartments, worth over three million rand to one lucky viewer. So today we have our three design contestants with us in the loft at Inelos on the couch. While that time is really flying with Winter Home on Afternoon Express, it might be the start of a fresh new week, but our three design contestants are feeling the pressure for sure. It's halfway through the completion of their second brief, The Bathroom, which can be one of the trickiest rooms to complete in the house. So we're back with our design contestants, Joanne, Rudolph and Minentle. Guys, the pressure is on. Are you guys pooping yourselves? Literally and figuratively? Minentle, how's it going? Yeah, definitely. The bathroom is really the toughest, because if you think about it, it's like the most used room. So you have to really be careful on how you organise your space, and there's a lot of what works. Okay, so that's the generic answer. Rudolph, how's your bathroom going? Well, it's a slow progress. You need to do a lot of planning from the start. And so it's just a lot of things that need to be done before the next can happen. Completion. Joanne, yourself? So some things take a lot of time. As the floor that I'm planning, I needed more time for that. I don't know if it's going to work out the way I wanted to, but it's quite technical, the bathroom. You have to do the floors first, or inside of the walls first, you can't do the floors. So you mentioned the flooring. Obviously, you're halfway through the challenge already. Talk me through that struggle that you're going through. What is the issue? Why is it taking so long? So I wanted a concrete type of finish, and the concrete floor was already, obviously cast when it was built, and they put screed on it already. So what I wanted to have is just a clean, concrete floor, with that I would have put my finish on. But now there's a very screed on, so I needed to put on a new level of screed and colour it. So I'm hoping that will work out, but I don't think the floor I wanted will take eight days, and I don't have eight days for floors. You don't even have eight days? Yes. That's the thing. If it's going to sit, it's going to take time. Is it bad planning on your part? Is it just the suppliers? What's been the issue? Maybe I should have planned the bathroom floor a bit earlier. I should have started like four weeks ago with the bathroom floor. Okay. I mean, actually, you've had issues with your walls. I wouldn't say much of an issue, but my wall is like the main feature in my bathroom. Okay. Which is going to take a lot of your attention and focus. Yeah. It's the elements in the room that's going to determine the colour palace that I'm going for. Okay. Talk me through it. It's this very interesting mosaic. I can't give much away. I just have to keep something since. Okay. Suspense. It's a very modern mosaic with a very geometric pattern, which is going to influence the rest of the things I include in my bathroom. Yeah. Bearing in mind, mosaics take a long time to put together. If they're out of alignment, it can look really kitsch at times. So make sure that you're putting all the time and effort into making sure that it looks perfect. Yeah. It's definitely a risk. Yeah. So it's either going to work or it's not. Yeah. But I'm willing to take the risk. Drama on winter home season three. Rudolph, you've had some concerns around the glass within your bathroom because I think one of the things that you guys are trying to realise is that things need to happen in certain orders. What is the problem with the glass there? Yeah. So with the glass for the showers, you need to do the wet works first. So all the tiles need to be on the walls, on the floors before you can get the contractors out to come and take the final measurements and then only go into manufacturing. Oh, I see. So you're going to have a glassless bathroom or is it eventually going to get done? How much do you want me to give away? Okay. It's so funny because the last time we chatted to you about your first challenge, you guys were very open about showing what you were doing and things that you had designed and thought about. Now you're starting to realise how tight this competition is becoming. You've seen the first room. It's now the second room that you guys are working on and you're really starting to keep things close to your chest, your cards close to your chest. Interesting to see what goes on with all of these rooms. They sound fantastic. These ideas are sounding really incredible and I'm glad you guys are holding on to big ideas. But what's still left for you to do, meaningfully? Well, I've just got my flooring done. Also starting on getting my walls done. So what's left for me to do is to finish up the wall, especially the mosaic I mentioned and then it's fixing all the other elements in the bottom. So you are on track? Yeah. I feel like I'm on track. Fantastic. For once. Rudolph. We're just doing the electrical work. So all the lighting that needs to go in and then the final plumbing for the vanities. So all your basic designs, your real sort of conceptual work is pretty much finished. It's now just the practicalities. Yeah, now it's just putting it all together and giving the final presentation. Yeah, cool. Does that make you nervous, Rone? How far are you? So my tiling is done and my walls are painted. So I need to get my vanities in now and I have safe beds. Cool. So maybe for those people out there who are maybe soiling with the new bathroom or renovating their homes, what is the one thing you didn't think you'd have a challenge with in a bathroom that you know are having a challenge with? I'd have to say the vanities because I'm designing my own vanities using caesar stone. Usually you buy your vanity ready. Okay. So that's like one of the challenging things. Planning, planning, planning, planning, planning, planning, planning when it comes to these things. Consult, get the planning done. Well, guys, I'm going to let you go off to go and finish off your apartments and your, particularly your bathrooms, make sure they look incredible. Thank you. Thank you. So while the pressure isn't enough already, one of our judges, John Case from ARK, went to go check out our design contestant's progress for himself. With the contestant's bathrooms now at the halfway mark, John Case, one of the founders of ARK, pays a visit to their site to assess each bathroom and see how the young designers are progressing with their project. And he begins with Menendez's bathroom. So here we're in the main bathroom. It's a neutral color palette. The darker floors might add some accentuation or a little bit of contrast. Menendez's bathroom is, is, it's going to come along. The only criticism I have at this point is the tile joints aren't lining up with the actual plumbing fixtures, which for me is a little bit of an issue. The Mosaic looks like it's going to add a little bit of definition in the bathroom. It's definitely quite a vibrant pattern. But I think, you know, we will look forward to seeing a bit more detail and see the bathroom designs starting to come, come to life. Over in Joanne's bathroom, work is forging ahead despite a problem. A pipe is leaking, threatening to ruin her floors, but tiling must continue. Whoa! One of the, the hazards of the building industry happening right here. For the guy tiling in a, in a leaking pipe, you know, going into the, into the bathroom and seeing guys tiling. And at the same time, there's a huge water leak. So it's just the nature of the industry sometimes, I guess. I think Joanne's bathroom is coming along nicely. I like the fresh sort of clean color palette. So at this point in time, I'd say that I'm preferring the, the style that she's going for. The round mosaics definitely give it like a seamlessness and, you know, that contrasting with the concrete sort of caesar stone vanity. And I think is a nice touch. It just gives it a real fresh, you know, quite, quite 21st century look. John's final stop is Rudolph's bathroom, where he's making some bold choices like the herringbone pattern in Metro tiles on the wall. I think Rudolph has got, seems like he's got a good eye for design. I think, you know, there's one or two small details that I've seen in the bathroom that maybe need a bit of fine tuning. But, but generally, I think, you know, he's taken a step forward and, you know, he's, he's, he's showing a little bit of boldness, which I think in a competition like this is important. Sure, the competition is heating up. Now, remember, you can head over to privateproperty.co.z and vote for your favorite bathroom. By casting your vote, you stand a chance of winning paint from a flask on to the value of 5,000 rand. You will also be automatically entered into the grand prize draw, where you could win one of those completed apartments at Valdavi with more than 3 million rands. Make sure you enter now. Winner Home is proudly brought to you by privateproperty in association with Nedbank. We'll be right back after this.