Furnishing:House value ratio

[Nigel Watts]

I am trying to develop a rule of thumb to link the value of period property to the value of appropriate furnishings. Or to put it another way, for every pound spent on buying a period property, how much should one budget for creating a period interior?

The ratio may have to be different depending on the relative house prices in different parts of the country, but would it be vary for different sizes and ages of homes?

Any ideas?

Needless to say I have an ulterior motive for these speculations. The end is finally in sight for my long drawn out repair and redecoration of my main living room, and I am starting to notice how much blank wall there will be if I dont buy some more pictures. One or two largish oil paintings should do the trick. My wife is not keen on the financial implications however and will need some convincing.

 

[Moo]

You're absolutely right, Nigel. Buy the picture(s).

Think of it as forgoing a holiday, which is ephemeral, apart from some holiday snaps. Use the same money for a picture (or two?) and you'll be enjoying them for the rest of your life.

I did that several years ago. The rest went on holiday, I stayed at home, and spent the money on having a path round the house widened and paved with really nice stone. I got pleasure from it every time I stepped outside.

 

[Pford75]

Nigel,

I think it's going to be a bit tricky trying to relate furnishing to purchase price, since there are lots of other factors affecting purchase price e.g location. For example, Fenstanton Manor (lovely Queen Anne property & massive) is right next to the A14 (it runs along one boundary), consequently the property is lower cost for it's size and the surrounding area, but would still cost a small fortune to furnish due to it's size.

I would suggest that you base furnishing costs on total floor area which is the guide used by most architects. ie. a 5000 sq/ft house will cost apx. double to furnish what a 2500 sq/ft one would.

Finally, what do you include in 'furnish' - is this carpets, curtains, furniture, decoration, ornaments etc.?

Personally, i'd go for the picture - you may find that you can pitch it to your lady wife as an 'investment' ;-)

 

[plumbers mate]

Depends on whether you want to live in it yourself in which case it's all a matter of taste and style of living. If you want to collapse into a squishy sofa after getting home from work then you need something more than stiff upright armchair even if a squishy sofa isn't in the "correct" style.

If, on the other hand, you want to have a show house or want to sell it on as a fully furnished house then you need to check books, archives, other preserved houses of the same peiod and furnish likewise.

The only value of the contents/furnishings of a house are to you as the inhabitant - when you move, all that goes with you and is not included in the selling price.

 

[Matt Green]

We've got The Cenotaph to Sir Joshua Reynolds on the wall of our bedroom (16' sq. in a Victorian terrace). This site:

http://www.myartprints.co.uk/a/constable-john/the-cenotaph.html

were excellent, they have a fine range. We had it framed locally and it looks great.



Matt Green

 

[Lime]

Furnishings can be valued at any price.
Just because something has a high price tag does not bestow upon it worth, taste, style and long-term value.
Some of the nicest furnishings I have have been very cheap but that is my skill, taste and eye for a bargain.
Anyone with the money can spend a fortune on ephemeral furnishing dross.

 

[Nemesis]

I have friends who own this gallery:

http://www.up-front.com

and unfortunately I spend far too much of my hard earned supporting local artists. Hence the large collection waiting behind the sofa (which needs respringing but...) to be hung when we get more of the house done. When we get the money. Hmmmm.

Catch 22.

Current exhibition:

Mary Anne Rogers http://www.marogers.com/



John Sibson http://www.johnsibson.co.uk/ (love his industrial landscapes and I fear that my overdraft is about to get larger...)

Keith Bowen is another regular - I love his sheep pics. He does magnificent pastels for Cumbria Life mag too.

http://www.orieltegfryn.com/artkb.html

Heather Blanchard is another whose work I admire greatly and I love Alan Thompson's work:

http://www.artineden.org.uk/dalemain.htm

Outside London (and people like Godfrey Tonks show at both Up Front and London galleries) you can buy new paintings at reasonable prices.

 

[plumbers mate]

Nemesis -- those ammonite seats in Whitby don't look as though they'd encourage you to linger for long....

 

[Nemesis]

They are fine for a short stop, and fairly hard to vandalise.

 

[middi]

Whilst this is an interesting point and idea, it would be impossible to quantify.

Do you settle for 10 million pounds worth of masterpieces or do you spend 100 pounds and buy the same prints.

What is actually required to achieve perfection in the interior of period property is endless good taste and interpretation of the period, coupled with rather deep pockets in most cases.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.

Browsing the results of recent auctions it seems one can still pick up some types of old oil paintings relatively cheaply. I bought one recently via e-bay (an early 19th C oil portrait of a not too distant relative in an original regency frame - a find from a chance Google search) for less than the cost of having it shipped from the US and professionaly cleaned.

Clearly how one decorates one's house is entirely a matter of personal taste. My kitchen/dining room in the basement is modern, as are the children's bedrooms. On the other hand in the main rooms I am trying to create an early Victorian feel, but not a slavish imitation. How one treats the interior is as important in my opinion as the exterior appearance. Very few of the late Georgian and early Victorian houses in my area are decorated in anything appraoching their original style; I am finding it particularly interesting trying to do so.

 

[Nemesis]

Just for interest - Barlaston Hall had one of its original paintings in the hall rescued from the cascading water by Sophie Andreae - and it stayed under her sofa for many years, (as a rolled canvas - it's large!) although it's now back in its rightful place and restored. Opposite is a more updated version of the same - family and house now.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/26440-popup.html

In other places the paintings are huge modern ones - in amongst the beautifully repaired period rooms they look fine.

I think buy what you like is the answer - our ancestors certainly did!

This also was salvaged:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/26441-popup.html


All the portrait heads have now been either repaired, reproduced or replaced - one totally lost one is now the head of John Betjeman. He is in the company of literary luminaries of the past.

 

[Penners]

To misquote J W Fulbright: "Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its cost, but in its effects."

I really don't think there's an answer to your question, Nigel. Everyone's taste is different, and one person will be every bit as thrilled with the look of a cheap print as another will be with an original Gainsborough.

My own test is a simple one (appropriate to me!): do I like the way the room looks?

 

[Nemesis]

Furnishing and paintings are transient - as long as the bones of the building are cared for appropriately then I don't think how you furnish matters too much.

(I recall my brown hessian wallcovering phase...)

 

[Penners]

As newly-weds, Mrs P and I lovingly chose a wonderful, bold, floral fabric for our sitting room curtains (late 1960's).

Imagine our feelings some years later when the same fabric appeared as Del-Boy's curtains in Only Fools and Horses!

 

[Nemesis]

Period charm, Penners, period charm!

 

[Penners]

Me, or the curtains?

 

[Nemesis]

Both of course!!!

 

[NT]

Wait a little longer and theyll become sought after period pieces.

I dont think theres any answer to the original question, as the furninshing cost range is so wide. There is also the question of how you'd value items made oneself, which are an effective way of getting quality well out of the ordinary at little cost and enjoying it... but that is a slow process.

NT

 

[Lynn]

I'm kind of tired of restoring houses and moving and then I don't have a decent dining room set, or there are holes in the couch cushions...I'm about ready to work on spending money on things that I can move when the time comes. As long as the money is coming in then it has to go out and I say get the pictures and enjoy them, write down who will inherit them and you will live forever.

Hmmm I need more rest...limewashing is getting to me.