Mini makeover:
Popular renovation show HOMEmade has been tweaked for its new season, as Melenie Parkes reports.
HOME made has a new look.
Goran Paladin is back for another season of rapid-fire renovation show HOMEmade.
With three home-related shows under his toolbelt including Our First Home, The New Zealand Home and now HOMEmade, Paladin has made a name for himself as New Zealand’s unofficial ambassador of home makeovers.
“It’s a weird thing though because I always joke with my friends if there’s a New Zealand renovation or home show with ‘home’ in the title then I’ve got to be involved,” Paladin laughs. “If ‘home’ isn’t involved then neither am I.”
In HOMEmade, one family is chosen each week to have an indoor and outdoor area of their home transformed. Paladin says this year there are “one or two little new things” to expect.
One of those changes is that episodes are now an hour long. The team will also attempt to overhaul two rooms inside where possible, in addition to the outdoor space.
While viewers will have more time to watch the action unfold on screen, those at the other end of the spade still had to complete their work in the same tight timeframe. Another twist introduced this season is the Toolbox Task. Each week, interior designer Melissa Greenough, builder Dion South, and landscape designer Dan Mackay will choose from three envelopes, all of which contain an extra task that could prove to be either a help or a hindrance. Minor tweaks aside, Paladin says the format of HOMEmade remains the same. “We work for a weekend, we send the family away and then by the time they come back we’ve finished a space indoors and outdoors. We get their reaction and, hopefully, we keep our fingers crossed – and everything else crossed – that they like what we’ve done.” Paladin says that while they’re always hopeful their work will be well received, his confidence in the team’s work means he’s certain of positive feedback. “I don’t have any nerves when the families pull up and get ready to have a look at what we’ve done,” he says. “I just can’t see a family
turning up and being like, ‘Well this is revolting’.”
The 37-year-old co-host of Radio Sport’s drive show says the families chosen this season are, “All just really deserving, honest, hard-working Kiwis”.
“I think a lot of people, once they get into a home, they spend so much money getting into a property that isn’t their dream home, it’s not perfect, it’s not ideal, they don’t have any money, they don’t have any ideas to fix it up to the level that they want.
“I think in that regard our show is a good one for Kiwis out there who are in a similar position where they want to do something to their homes.”
Paladin is a hands-on host who often gets stuck into the dirty work of renovation, in contrast to The Block NZ host Mark Richardson, who you’re unlikely to see negotiate a wobbly wheelbarrow anytime soon.
“But then I suppose it’s not his role,” says Paladin of his former Radio Sport colleague.
“I didn’t really get covered in mud for Our First Home either. I was kind of the guy who just watched people be sleep-deprived for weeks on end. I can understand why Rigor doesn’t get involved but it couldn’t hurt from time to time. He’s hosted The Block for how many years now? Pick up a hammer and do something, mate,” Paladin laughs.
You might think that as a regular on local TV screens Paladin would be overwhelmed with requests for renovation rescue every time he pops down to the shops.
However he says that as a “generic white guy with stubble” he is seldom recognised and it’s his co-stars who get all the attention. And that’s just the way he likes it.
While enjoying a post-renovation “celebratory beer” with Dion South and Dan Mackay, a woman approached the trio eager for a photo with South and Mackay.
“They were like, ‘Come on, Goran, come across’ and she sort of looked at me like, ‘Well who’s this guy wanting in on my photo. I just want the stars’.
“I didn’t even offer and she didn’t ask so she probably thinks, ‘Who’s this muppet that photobombed my chance meeting with a couple of New Zealand celebs?’ ”
Paladin admits that he hasn’t worked on his own house for a while but with its 1970s carpet and lack of insulation, it sounds like a prime candidate for a HOMEmade makeover.
“If you could talk to the powers that be, maybe the final episode of season two of HOMEmade could be renovating my house,” he laughs. “I’d be very grateful.”