New BBC programme, 'Restoration Home', needs you.

[restorationhome]

REMARKABLE TELEVISION ARE PRODUCING A NEW SERIES FOR BBC2

ARE YOU SAVING OUR BUILT HERITAGE?

All over the country, there are spectacular historic properties that are at risk of being lost forever. These buildings are part of our identity; they are the portals of our history, the keepers of our past. Without our protection we’ll not only be losing bricks and mortar, but their histories as well.

We would like to find owners of derelict, historic homes for a new BBC television series, and follow them as they save these architectural gems from ruin and restore them into wonderful 21st century homes, whilst turning detective to unravel the properties’ extraordinary lives.

What secrets do these houses hold? What events happened? Who lived there over generations? How was the property used?

The restoration process will bring to light the difficult decisions about what ought to be saved and what can be sacrificed to make way for a 21st century home. How tough is it to balance sympathy for the past with the needs of modern day living?

At the end of it all, we’ll see an important historical property saved from dereliction and brought back to life to become a wonderful home once more.

If you are renovating a property, are interested in being part of the series and want to discover more about its structural and social history, please call 03335 777 740 or e-mail homes@endemoluk.com with your name and a few details of your property. (Calls from landlines are charged at your service providers national or local rate and mobile costs may vary)

 

[JoceAndChris]

:shock:

But must they be derelict? Can't BBC 2 wang a couple hundred thou Beacon Cottage way just so I can create some Regency splendour? (sort out the render, and the roof, and the fact we have no water in summer, make an Empress Josephine tent room, and landscape the very derelict 4.5 acres, and create the north wing, in glorious Chinoiserie - a la Sheraton - not forgetting the menagerie of rare breeds? )

 

[CatherineB]

I've always wondered how much the participants get paid, if anything, for these programmes - Grand Designs, My House is Falling Down, etc etc...
I suspect the answer is nothing. In which case, I doubt the Beeb has a long enough filming timeline for your average PPUK restoration project. :lol:
Speaking of which, where is DMB - I don't think she's posted for a while??? :?

 

[Penners]

Oh no - not another opportunity for Sarah Beeny to get pregnant. :roll:

 

[skier-hughes]

I enquired about one such programme and yes, no money involved!!!!

 

[Moo]

I suppose one bonus could be having experts on tap, but we've got that already, haven't we?

 

[CatherineB]

Oh no - not another opportunity for Sarah Beeny to get pregnant. :roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Penners, you're not volunteering your "architectural gem", are you?

 

[Penners]

Penners, you're not volunteering your "architectural gem", are you?

Er...... are you suggesting that my architectural gem needs saving from ruin?

 

[Flyfisher]

But must they be derelict? Can't BBC 2 wang a couple hundred thou Beacon Cottage way just so I can create some Regency splendour?

Drat! Beat me to it - do you fancy sharing the £200k? With only a single remaining bit of 'structural dereliction' to deal with this year, it'll soon be time to address the decorative dereliction at our place and the various 'interior design' threads here, notable by Joce and Nigel, have given me ideas beyond my station - and probably beyond my ability - so a hundred thou would come in really quite handy. :wink:

 

[Penners]

a hundred thou would come in really quite handy.

Good grief! Has magnolia emulsion gone up in price?

 

[JoceAndChris]

But must they be derelict? Can't BBC 2 wang a couple hundred thou Beacon Cottage way just so I can create some Regency splendour?

Drat! Beat me to it - do you fancy sharing the £200k? With only a single remaining bit of 'structural dereliction' to deal with this year, it'll soon be time to address the decorative dereliction at our place and the various 'interior design' threads here, notable by Joce and Nigel, have given me ideas beyond my station - and probably beyond my ability - so a hundred thou would come in really quite handy. :wink:

Ahh, of course I'd share - in fact I'd tell Beeb 2 you deserve it far more as your house really is a national treasure, and ought to have all the lovely furninshings and fittings to reflect the interesting periods of its history.

Please do involve us with all your decorating decisions, (but ignore that bad Mr P!) but to say anything I've done is beyond your ability is ludicrous frankly!

What's the remaining structural dereliction? The staircase?

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol: Magnolia emulsion might have been on the agenda before seeing some of the schemes that people here have achieved.

OK, a slight exaggeration, but we've never really been overly interested in the decorative side of things. There again, we've never really had a house that deserved such attention before and, to date, all the attention has been on the structure rather than the decor, so the decisions have been fairly easy, even if the work itself has not. But we'll soon be drifting into decorative territory where the decisions, for us, may be rather harder than we're used to.

But that's probably another year away before serious decoration really begins. Meanwhile, yes Joce, the rear staircase is the biggest remaining bit of work to be completed. Actually, not so much the staircase itself, but the surrounding 'outshot' containing it, which is completely derelict and requires a total rebuild. I've been prevaricating on the design and construction for too long now (having been given a number of acceptable options by our ever-helpful CO), but I've pretty much decided on a new oak timber frame construction. In fact, I've been preparing the LBC submission over the festive break and just need to finish a few drawings before sending it off. A complication is that I'm also including the heating plans in the same submission, which has been delaying me - that's my excuse anyway.

But the days are lengthening and the sun has been beckoning, though it's still freezing cold overnight, so I must compete all this paperwork so the consent arrives in good time for the 'outdoor season'.

 

[JoceAndChris]

That all sounds very exciting FF! I hope everything works out for a smooth transformation to that amazing staircase this year - it sounds awfully difficult to me, far more daunting that decorating.

On the decorating, I guess you need to decide if you want to go for a comfy modern style ( like your very smart completed parents' wing), or some kind of period recreation. It's a pity that museums/ auction houses won't donate furniture of the appropriate period to houses that need it - so failing that you're looking at repro, an eclectic mix of antiques from more recent centuries, or just modern - or a mix of everything, according to room/ usage etc. It might be worth squeezing in some trips to historic houses to steal ideas?

Or just post here.

( if it were my good fortune to live there I'd want largely unfussy schemes - simple earth tones - dirty whites - sumptuous rugs on bare polished boards - tapestries - with the exception of the Georgian drawing room where I'd want some Georgian spendour - all paid for by the BBC, of course)

 

[middi]

Absolutely right about no financial gain in " participating" ( as the BBC describes it) in such a program.
If it is anything like previous televised series there is a time limit ( usually 9 mts- one year) to complete or achieve as much as possible on the property.
It is fun, I must admit, a sense of urgency to complete tasks as per shedule, requested by the production team as part of a gentleman's agreement,creeps into the project which speeds things along.
True, there will probably be " professionals " on site at frequent intervals that will offer advise and direction to achieve " their" perfect restoration. Well, perfection can be expensive and takes longer than the time they have allocated to the project. Usually both.
I repeat, it is fun and a sense of pride in participating in such a restoration project and certainly would advise people with the right restoration project that it would be a nice experience and to go for it.

Middi

 

[Penners]

Absolutely right about no financial gain in " participating" ( as the BBC describes it) in such a program.

Oh, come on, Middi! Some of us have seen your Bugatti Veyron and the yacht that you keep at Cannes.

 

[middi]

Bugatti's I am very familiar with Penners, ( I watch top gear you know !!! :wink: )

As to yachting, the closest I have have come to experience it was a day punting on the cam :wink:

Middi

 

[Flyfisher]

- it sounds awfully difficult to me, far more daunting that decorating.

It's not so much the physical decorating I find daunting, it's being creative enough to design the schemes in the first place.

( I'd want largely unfussy schemes - simple earth tones - dirty whites - sumptuous rugs on bare polished boards - tapestries - with the exception of the Georgian drawing room where I'd want some Georgian spendour - )

That's very much my own feeling. I agree the drawing room deserves something a bit special (though goodness knows what), but elsewhere 'unfussy' is much more my thing - though perhaps a little more fussy that magnolia emulsion everywhere. :wink:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Rest assured that when the time comes we will bombard you with ideas for all your decorating conundrums.

Which Georgian period is the room? And what colour is the fireplace again? If you got hold of a copy of "Follies and Pleasure Pavilions", by George Mott, there are three or four schemes in there for Georgian rooms that are just beautiful.

Green and white could work, with flashes of gilt - or if you wanted to stick up panel mouldings these lovely Fragonard panels could be set within http://www.adelphipaperhangings.com/fragonard-november.html# ( as ever, I have to thank Gareth - my decorating ideas aren't original, but I enjoy copying others' expertise )

 

[Penners]

punting on the cam

That's almost as dangerous a phrase as "Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary"! :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

Rest assured that when the time comes we will bombard you with ideas for all your decorating conundrums.

I shall be relying on it.

Which Georgian period is the room? And what colour is the fireplace again?

I don't know really and I don't have sufficient knowledge to hazard a guess. The fireplace is creamy marble with greeny inserts in the classical 'Adam' style and the two windows have two 3x2 pane sashes but otherwise it's a fairly plain square room.

The whole room has been "squared up" by the addition of a 'dry-lining' frame of timbers fixed to the original oak frame of the house (this room is in the original C16 part of the house) and then lath and plastered. The not-very-good photo below shows where a part of the internal lath-and-plaster has come adrift and an original oak beam is visible just below the greyish straw/daub infill. Although it's not clear in the photo, that beam seems to be part of an original window, which was partially covered when the external chimney stack was added to the house, presumably as part of its "Georgification". Basically, they really hacked it about!

I'd certainly welcome any educated guesses regarding the likely date of this conversion.