House Rules: End of the road for SA team

If you've been keeping up with our House Rules recaps you'll know the teams face pretty serious competition, but it's all for a truly amazing prize.

There are only three teams remaining on House Rules, after a tense showdown saw popular South Australian team Ryan and Marlee eliminated - and saying farewell to the chance of a mortgage free future. Of course, there was still a lot to love about their backyard makeover.

Failing to impress

Tasked with overhauling Bronik and Corrine's backyard, South Australians Ryan and Marlee got to work on what would prove to be a tough project. In fact, it concluded with them being eliminated after their work lost favour with judges Joe Snell and Wendy Moore. DIY painting and solid deck construction weren't enough to pull in high scores.

Ryan and Marlee decided to go for an urban look, painting the fence a bright lime green and overlaying a wall with street art graffiti. Adjacent to the wall were a mixture of plantings. While certainly unique, the decision proved to be in error as the judges found several problems.

"The green just doesn't work on the fence. Nothing pops off it. It's quite awkward," Wendy said.

The decision to push the BBQ up against the wall was another miss, with Wendy wondering why they chose to close up the entertainment area. They also said the outdoor bar was oversized.

While much of the yard probably needed some further garden DIY work, the judges found much to love with the deck, saying it was both well designed and well built. They also praised the contrast of black ornaments combined with red chairs.

Double nines

Taking out the top score for this exciting episode of House Rules, Bronik and Corinne managed to impress the judges with some truly inspired design. They really managed to soar above the competition, bringing in a total of 18 points for their efforts in the South Australian backyard.

This team showed that even without serious equipment it's possible to revitalise an outdoor space.

Bronik and Corinne installed a great Aussie centrepiece in the backyard - a cricket pitch embedded right in the lawn. That's not all, they followed up with a large deck built specifically for entertaining, along with a relaxing orchard and even a pergola.

"The timber retaining wall around the cricket pitch was terrific," Joe said.

Bouncing back

Queenslanders Ben and Danielle managed to pull off a classic, understated design with their work in Victoria. They opted for a deck in the entryway of the house - a great place for chairs and a table - and a new concrete aggregate driveway. It's certainly one part of the renovation that's going to require concrete cleaning to ensure it's kept up to scratch from here on out.

The northern couple also opted for garden beds to round out the clean yard.

Scraping by

Steve and Tiana from New South Wales managed a score of 14 for tackling a front yard in South Australia. They covered the two front decks with a new roof, and put in a great pathway with a DIY garden right in the centre. The ideas didn't take them far enough to wow the judges, however, with Wendy explaining that they should have pushed the ideas further to "really finish them as well as they could have".

What's coming up?

Each of the three remaining teams now face pretty serious competition, having to fight it out for a chance at the Grand Final - and the awesome prize at the end. The next challenge coming up could prove to be a tough one - stay tuned for the episode and our recap!