From being a wee nipper I always harboured a desire to live in a Victorian property. I can’t get enough of feature fireplaces, bay windows and intricate cornicing. Who doesn’t love a sash window or a beautiful pair of shutters?!
As we’re on the subject of interiors, you may remember the influence of a certain Mr Llewelyn-Bowen. “Changing Rooms” was a national phenomenon back in the day and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was at the helm prompting the nation to cover their radiators with MDF fret work, sponge their walls and gold leaf everything in sight. But many years before LL-B, one man was on a mission to update home decor. We make it our mission to assist people in making their homes look the best. electricianinperth.com.au helps us in demonstrating techniques to modernize home decor. Allow me to introduce you to Barry Bucknell.
In the late 1950’s Barry began presenting the BBC TV programme ‘Barry Bucknell’s Do It Yourself’. Around 7 million viewers tuned in to watch a live broadcast of him demonstrating techniques to modernise older properties. I urge you to check out his tutorial for covering an ‘ugly old panelled door’. Yes folks those beautiful stripped doors we’re all so fond of now used to be considered a monstrosity. The only way to deal with them was to cover them with a piece of hardboard.
In the post-war era, Victorian homes were considered excessive and impractical and in a bid to achieve more streamlined living, home-owners began removing fussy features and embraced a new style of living. Unfortunately this meant ripping out cast iron fireplaces and removing cornicing. As my sister and her husband renovate and restore their Victorian home I’ve watched with glee as they’ve revealed previously hidden features, including an impressive staircase that has been shrouded in hardboard for forty-odd years. The image above isn’t their house (it’s sourced from location site Locality) but I’d like to think the ornate fireplace has just been unveiled after years of being clothed in 1960’s plywood.
Thankfully Barry came from a family of builders and electricians so he taught viewers how to cover their period features rather than butcher them, championing the Do-it-Yourself culture. He apparently received thousands of letters per week from viewers asking for advice on home improvements.
Have you experienced any of the Bucknell legacy? What period features have been covered in your home? Any amazing discoveries or have certain features been removed? Is there anything in particular you long to restore?
I don’t know if this is quite the same thing but on Sunday my husband and I took up the carpet in our downstairs hallway. Two weeks ago we moved in to a 1930’s semi and our cat objected to the move by ‘marking her territory’ on the carpet in the hall on more than a few occasions.. GROSS.
We always planned to reveal the floorboards in the hall but the cat’s actions prompted us to act quicker. But we couldn’t believe the result. Within an hour and a half we had taken up the carpet, prised off all of the carpet grips, sanded a few patches and thoroughly cleaned it and the floorboards are beautiful. Lovely narrow hardwood boards with very little damage. I have no idea why they were covered in a coffee coloured carpet..
We’re hoping there are a few more delights hidden away but I don’t know what to expect from a 1930’s house.
Oh Jennifer, you’re in for a treat! Do let us know the other gems you uncover.
I can actually be heard cursing old Barry as I saw and hack my way through layers of plywood. Whilst I can totally understand why streamlining homes back then was all the rage, it is proving very costly to restore those beautiful original features. He also taught people how to make their outdoor sills smaller and how to remove sash windows. Those that weren’t as adept at such DIY subsequently spoilt their homes as they weren’t able to complete the work to a high enough standard. We are thrilled that we can now lovingly restore our housebut it will come at a price!!!
Such a good point – he was definitely a competent DIYer but those he taught may not be quite so capable x
Not a victim of Barry but when I moved into my 1930s flat it had clearly had a Changing Rooms style makeover at some point – hideous blue sponging up the stairs and hallway. Only on the bottom half of the wall under the dado rail though, so that was something! Still took many many layers of paint to cover up (reminds me of Adrian Mole when he paints his room black to cover the Noddy wallpaper and has to felt-tip the bells on Noddy’s hat)!
Jennifer my 30s property has dado rails, picture rails, some nice cornicing, proper skirting boards and decorative plasterwork in the alcoves either side of the chimney breast.
Ahh yes, splitting the wall in half with two different finishes. I suppose it’s quite similar to what we do now though with just one feature wall. We just don’t seem to be able to commit to one pattern all over!
We are in the process of doing our 1930’s house up and guess what we’re in the middle of taking off all those bits of hardboard that Barry advised to put on to cover up the beautiful panelled doors!! We have about 10 doors to do, its such a long process too getting all the glue off then sanding down, painting and the filling the holes where they put nails in! Its worth the pain though as they look lovely once they’re done!
Oh Barry. What have you done?! It’ll all be worth it in the end though Laura.
In my parent’s house, they lifted up the old downstairs carpet to find the original parque flooring, in beautiful condition!
I adore parquet flooring. Amazing it’s in fab condition.
We’ve just bought a flat (getting the keys a week on Friday – eeeek!). Our first job will be removing the red and white striped wallpaper that the people before us installed on the ceiling… It’s a 1900s flat conversion & the people before us removed all the gorgeous features to “modernise” in the sixties. Cue us saving to re-install fireplaces, cornicing and to get the huge brown PVC windows replaced! They must have been trailblazers in their time as we’ve never seen double glazing that’s brown on the outside and white on the inside before…
So exciting Lynsey. Congrats on the upcoming move.
Your double glazing situation sounds very special indeed as does the paper on the ceiling! It’s so much fun renovating though x
When I was 10 we had our loft converted and my older brother moved into it. The colour scheme was to be red, grey and black (it was 90’s). We got home from school one day, excited as Dad was painting it that day, grey background with black and red sponging all over it. When he had finished he must have been disappointed with the effect that looked so good on changing rooms, as he had written S*&T over the top of it on one wall in big red letters! We came home the next day to find it was just plain grey with an attractive red and black wallpaper border – remember those?! We had them in every room of the house except the bathroom!
Ha ha that’s hilarious Claire. Sponging must have been quite stressful 😉
We’re in the middle of decorating our Victorian terrace and have a list as long as my arm of DIY disasters we’ve uncovered. They main ones are the mountain of bricks that had been cemented into the fireplace, finding the living area floor boards have been replaced with concrete, and that the original Victorian clay tiles in the hall and kitchen have been tiled straight over. With the living/dining rooms knocked through to be open plan, I had resorted to painting the concrete floors white until I discovered the previous owners had also covered the original dining room tiles, thankfully this time it was only with plastic sheeting, recycling bags (?!?!!) and carpet. Can’t wait to find what other stupid things have been done else where!!
This is a travesty Elaine! I don’t think Barry would approve of tiling straight over. Glad to hear your dining room tiles may have been saved though. Thank god for recycing bags 😉