Would you like your home to be on BBC TV?

The BBC sent me an email to say they are looking for people who are putting the original features back into their homes.

They are working on the second series of Original Features for the ‘Home’ channel. The series, presented by Nick Knowles, is looking for people who are renovating and restoring their homes back to their former glory. It could be any type of property - a Tudor cottage, Georgian mansion or 1930’s semi they are looking to restore and it doesn’t have to be huge - it may just be one room.

With expert advice on design and historians on hand, the homeowner will learn how to restore their property in keeping with the period and learn more about the history of their home - Who lived there before? What was the house formerly used for? What is lurking under the floorboards or behind the plasterboard?

If you are interested you should email originalfeatures@bbc.co.uk or call 0117 974 6898/7499. You can also add a comment to this blog about your project.

Restoration what are we talking about?

To my understanding restoration is about returning something to, or at least close to, its former state. In a sense that is what I want to do to my house. However, I guess I do want to go beyond this in the sense that I want to restore what is there, or there is evidence of, but when things are not there I will create my intepretation of the style and feel (based on evidence from the period but not from my house). I will get it wrong, I may over "Victorianise" the decor, but I try not remove the original materials that exist.

I have noticed that Historic Scotland, and other bodies have a very strict view on restoration. In some cases old buildings are allowed to crumble and fall into ruins. They may not be "restored" to their former glory. While I understand the need not to create a pastiche, I often feel that potentially savable buildings could be more valuable for the community if they are restored with some compromises. In many cases buildings are A-listed and then left to crumble and not even preserved in their current state since the restrictions mean they are not going to be useful buildings and so no-one will invest in these.

I think we could be more lenient, but not stupid, about the how many historic buildings can be restored. However, we could also be more strict about our vast legacy of Victorian houses which we are permitted to destroy without seeking any permission. Doors are now plastic, stone is painted, lime only means a green fruit, portland cement destroys natural porous stone, mullions are removed, thin framed sash windows are replaced with riduculous fat framed upvc alternatives. I think the balance is wrong and maybe too much attention is paid to a few buildings and too little attention is given to our vast collection of period houses.