READ OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

This week I interviewed KATRINA (@Katrinas_Tweets) from The Block. She and her sister, Amie won their elimination heat on Thursday night.

Where did your love of reno come from?

I was renovating a house in 2005 and we didn’t have a great deal of money so we had to do lots ourselves and learn to become resourceful. At that time a lot of renovation TV shows and new magazines hit the market, so I started becoming a reno junkie!

Is renovating people’s blogs the same kind of thing?

Similar! It’s like painting – renovating blogs is so easy and you can change it as often as you like. Same buzz for you? I love a fresh new look on lots of things. Rooms, blogs, my hair, a handbag. Easy things that can be changed can make a huge impact and not cost a lot of money.

(until recently Katrina ran her own Blog reno business Media Mad. By the way Katrina has a blog.)

What did you learn from the experience of The Block?

 

I learnt that anything is possible. I learnt that life should be taken by the horns and that if I go hard I will reap the rewards.

How do you feel about Melbourne winters?

Wagga’s winter is the same as Melbourne so that was nothing new, but sleeping without any walls in winter was testing! (Wagga Wagga Katrina’s home town)

How do you think this experience is going to change your life?

 

I did not go in to the show hoping to win money. I hope to gain some great experiences and meet some people who can steer me towards a fulfilling career. Most of all I hope to gain a career that will take financial pressure off my husband as he works way too hard!

Will you miss the hardcore renovating or will you enjoy the break?

 

I will miss the TV part and all the people, but I was happy to finish the hardcore renovation! However, it’s like labour: I’ll do it again!

How did you deal with all the dust that would have gotten up her nose?

No time for being a princess! No one would listen anyway. Although I was conscious I was on TV so I tried to jazz myself up when I got the chance!

Do you have plans for a music CD?

 

Perhaps music to paint by? Hahaha! I don’t think so! My thought was “when all else fails; just sing!”

“It goes, awn and awn and awn”. Listen to Katrina sing

Thanks Katrina, we wish you and Amie well, and we will be cheering for you.

image from channel nine broadcast

We are team Katrina. Are you?

Interview by Jane. Meet Jane


What happens next?

The 4 winning teams now move into 4 um er,  houses. They look like houses from the outside…

The production company behind The Block paid $3.6 million for a row of four rundown single storey houses in Richmond.

One of the Victorian and Edwardian terraces is double fronted, and the three other narrower terraces have planning permission to build a second floor.

Records are sketchy, but it’s believed these houses were built some time between Federation (1901) and the start of The Great War (1914). Prior to acquisition for The Block they had been sorely neglected.

“They were tenanted by squatters, vagrants and rats in no particular order,” consulting architect Julian Brenchley notes.

“These were perhaps the worst houses in the best suburb. It’s intended that the buildings will now have a dual character. Keep what’s funky about the old houses as they present to the street and add new ‘mad’, north-facing modern additions to the rear. The yin and yang thing, old and new.”

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