The talented and handy Scottish contestant starring on Alan Carr's hit home show
We’ll be supporting the only Scot on this popular show
As far as home improvement shows go, this is peak season.
Not only do we have Scotland’s Home of the Year on our screens, it’s also nearly time for Interior Design Masters. The first episode of the bingeworthy favourite is screening on April 21 at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
In this popular eight part series, presented by Alan Carr, they’ll be pitting 10 contestants against each other, to test their design chops.
As always, there will be spray paint, plywood, tears and lots of wacky ideas.
The first challenge will involve revamping some beach huts on the Dorset Coast. Judges Michelle Ogundehin and Jonathan Adler will decide who wins Stand Out Space, and who is going to be the first to be sent home.
We’ll be especially rooting for the single Scottish contestant - Lia Gold, who’s from Kirkintilloch but now lives in London.
When we chat, I tell her that I’ve heard that Carr bought Ayton Castle in the Scottish Borders, after he won The Traitors. Maybe she should be doing the decorating for him? I’m not the first to make this suggestion. Lia’s parents are one step ahead of me.
“They were like, get on the phone to Alan,” says Gold, who “screamed” when she found out she’d got on the programme.
She had a brilliant time filming with him.
“He's so funny on it, but actually, in person, he's so so nice. I think sometimes you think like, oh, could they actually be that nice? But he's honestly hilarious and really empathetic towards everyone as well”.
Also, although Michelle might seem a bit imposing on the programme, she was fun too.
“She's actually really lovely. I think she has just such a hard job of staying super impartial,” Gold says. “She's so polished and perfect though. Her outfits are always on point. Very well dressed. She comes across, I guess, quite stern but she is lovely and full of amazing advice. I mean, she is the master at the end of the day, so we can't criticise her opinion”.
Gold has loved the series since season one, which aired back in 2017 and was originally presented by Fearne Cotton.
“I’ve always been obsessed. In the last couple of years, people kept messaging me, telling me that I should apply. And I was like, absolutely not. These people are so mega and that looks so scary,” she says. “But I think as it came time that I wanted to change my career, it seemed like a good way to transition. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain”.
We imagine that Gold’s personality-filled style would be right up the judges’ streets.
She describes herself as a “botanical maximalist”, who loves print and pattern. However, she can back that up with practical skills, including general DIY, wallpapering, tiling and carpentry. Her confidence in these departments was inherited from her architect father.
“He could literally take a car apart and put it back together again,” says Gold, whose Scottish Italian background, as well as her travels in the US and Australia, inform her creativity.
Her previous home transformation experience includes doing up her own gaff in London.
That resulted in a “Barbie pink” kitchen with botanical tiles, florals and a dried flower installation, made from her wedding flowers, that hangs above a kitchen island.
She also gave the three staff rooms in her old place of work, London’s flagship Uniqlo store, a whole new look. They went down so well that other managers were ringing up and asking if she could give their office spaces a new look, too.
When she unveiled them to the other employees, they were blown away.
“The first one had pink and yellow paper with a darker green paint color on top. And then I made a big dried flower installation and a reading corner,” she says. “Another had tropical hot pink and green paper with bean bags and sofas. Again, I put in a big flower installation, so it was my little signature that I was leaving behind”.
After almost ten years working in retail, being involved in Interior Design Masters gave her the confidence to move permanently into interiors
Gold now has a business that “stages” serviced accommodation in the UK.
“I was ready for the move, and it felt the right time to do it,” she says. “The show was amazing. And it was an opportunity to meet other people. I didn't really have any other creative friends. It’s such a close knit industry and very secretive. I found that when you're trying to do research, people keep things close to their chest, which is fair, as it's their business, but it was really hard to find out what was right and what was wrong. So it's been amazing that I now have nine other people to speak to”.
However, though she got on with everyone, there was one other contestant that Lia really clicked with.
“I like to call him my Interior Design Masters husband. He’s Johnny from the show. We pretty much chat every day. My real husband is slightly jealous sometimes. We joke about it, but it's been really nice,” she says.
The hardest part about the whole filming experience was keeping it quiet. Thus, Gold is looking forward to her secret being out, when the series airs this month.
As she says, “Obviously, I could really only share with my husband and my parents. The hardest part of this year has been not telling anybody and having to lie for so long, especially since I quit my job. I'm so excited to get it off my chest”.
Read more: “Inside the plush and welcoming Fife house that's appearing on Scotland's Home of the Year”
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