The Block is back, and all the old favourites are back including Scott Cam, Shelley Craft, Keith Schleiger and the judges Neale Whitaker, Darren Palmer and Shaynna Blaze.

The show evolves in different ways each year, and if you’ve seen any of the current series, you’d know that the couples are converting the beautiful old Dux Theatre in Melbourne’s Albert Park into four loft style apartments.

The Dux in Melbourne’s Albert Park is the new block on The Block.

The builds get bigger and better with every series, and this year the judges are providing more advice from the comfort of a totally revamped set.

Stylist and designer Louella Tuckey – the wife of well-known furniture designer Mark Tuckey – was given the exciting job of creating a new set to complement the loft-style warehouse conversion of the series.

Stylist Louella Tuckey.

“We were initially only supplying our timber Box Day Chairs for the judges set, however I suggested we do more with the space,” says Tuckey. “We ended up stripping the entire set to create an open, blank canvas.”

The original Box Day Chairs on the new set.

The brief was to take the set up-market, lending a sense of style and design and a more serious environment for the judges to get down to business.

“(The producers) explained that this year’s theme was ‘New York Loft’ and that the contestants were converting an old cinema into luxury apartments,” says Tuckey. “We placed a meeting table in the back corner with loft-inspired tear sheets covering the walls, creating a little design space for the judges to sit and reflect.”

Now the judges have a space that reflects the comments and ideas they are communicating.

Neale Whitaker testing out the new set.

“We are excited to be a part of such a great show,” says Tuckey.  

Check out Mark Tuckey’s summer sale at the Sydney and Melbourne stores with up to 50 per cent off selected floor stock and up to 15 per cent off new orders.

To read more, visit The Home Journal.