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S1 EP 19 | Renovating The Constabulary - aka "Lincolnshire's Ugliest House"
2 Playsin 9 hours
An old Victorian police station with its cake frosting exterior that has featured on BBC News as "Lincolnshire's Ugliest House" is the feature of this weeks episode. Dan and I speak with Ellie about tackling this mammoth task; including how she dealt with the exterior and drama over the look of the property, the history of everything that went on inside and the end goal, including an amazing library!
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY guys the podcast where home renovations, power tools and mild panic go hand in hand. I'm Nick Morris. And I'm Dan Doher. Each week we'll be chatting with some property pros, some DIY diehards, hopefully help you with some tips and tricks along the way.
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome back to the DIY Guys podcast. As usual, your host, Dan, and I'm joined by my great friend, Nick. How are you doing, mate? Good, you're the host. Oh, yeah, co-host. I'm just alpha-ing it. I'm called co-hosts. Co-hosts. Terrible start to the episode. I feel low, I feel down. I've got my guest, Nick, here. I'm good, thank you. Until that big come down. Until brought you down. Yeah. I built a podcast studio for you and then you're taking over for me.
Meet the Guest: Ellie from Renovating the Constabulary
00:00:50
Speaker
Anyway, sorry. Yeah. We do actually have a guest this week. I'm very excited for this one. um We've got Ellie from Renovating in the Constabulary. ah She has gone on record to say that she has bought Lincoln's She's Ugliest House.
00:01:06
Speaker
um I am very excited for this one. It's a real history piece, isn't it? It's got loads about it, so can't wait speak to her because, A, it really is really ugly house. How would you describe it, the best way of saying what it looks like? Yeah, well, I think she mentions cake frosting, right? And that just seems like the go-to, doesn't it? Yeah, it's been rendered in one peculiar way. And it's actually been in, you can just see by clicking on her Instagram page, that it's been in all the newspapers. I think it might have even been in Eden Standard on ITV News. It wasn't she on the news? Yeah. And that's how bad looking this house is. So that already is like a massive talking point.
00:01:45
Speaker
But then actually the fact it was an old police station as well, yeah it's going to be awesome to talk to
What Makes Lincoln's Ugliest House Unique?
00:01:50
Speaker
her. hopefully there's some gossip. Yeah, definitely. And like what I'm interested about is, I know anyone can sort of take a property and just like flat render it or whatever like that, but it seems like she's really focused on like bringing back the like original features. yeah i just love that.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And presumably, it's going to cost a lot just to strip that old stuff off. yeah And then you don't even know what's under it. It must have gone on Usually they render houses to hide some sort of cracks in the old days or fault as well. yeah So it's one of those ones. is like It's going to be interesting to see how she gets it back to being like it's in this Victorian heyday type of thing. might be difficult by the time you hack off this horrible render. My instinct is, which is quite negative, when it comes off it's going to be nasty, but maybe there's an amazing brick under it something. Yeah, that's it. And you're like, oh...
00:02:39
Speaker
is If you take that off, is it then going to start letting water and stuff? Yeah, there's loads that could be coming with it. also, there must be some cool stuff. Hopefully, she knows a little bit about the history of it as well. We've got to try and delve deep into maybe who's been a prisoner there or something. Lincolnshire, in my head, I feel like I don't know that well. Sounds nice. yeah So maybe there's not that many nice, sorry, evil people around there. Hopefully, there's some good stories of some weirdos or something. Definitely. She must find some good stuff in there, must You'd go through the history books on that one if you had something like that. Yeah, you would. Surely people in the area maybe? Yeah, yeah. Digging some old boys who live around That's what I would do. Yeah, definitely. I'd so curious. Yeah, you could probably go to the local pub and find some sort of story about that. Also, like I feel like I'm excited for not just the guests, but the actual property. yeah feel like it's got like its own little personality. yeah and i think I love Victoria properties and Edwardian properties. I wasn't yeah lucky enough to get one, but I always think like they're amazing. They come with massive negatives, don't they? like yo Everyone says you can't do the windows and
00:03:43
Speaker
They're thin, cold, big rooms, but the positives are just like all the details, all the architrable, the cornicing, the tri-ceilings. They are by far the best houses, I think, for like just the look of it. Yeah, our hands down. So by the look of her Instagram, she's keen on
The Story Behind the Purchase
00:04:00
Speaker
just keeping that and really sticking to her gun. So be interesting to see. If she sort of tells us a bit more about how much she's going to spend or it like she doesn't know. and How do you even go about doing this? Exactly. Do people still know how to restore bits of meat? Yeah, exactly. this book It was like seems like building work gets worse and worse, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
Flare and design. So do people still do this stuff? Yeah, exactly, yeah. yeah We're obviously not talking about our... Favourite listener Toby. Toby's the best builder ever. Toby could definitely do it.
00:04:36
Speaker
But yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, me too. Well, let's jump in and speak to Ellie. Hi, everyone. We have Ellie here from Renovating the Constabulary. How are you today? I'm great. um Yeah, this is actually the first podcast I've been on, so it's pretty exciting.
00:04:52
Speaker
Oh, excellent. Excellent. That's good to hear. We've had a few people say that. Maybe that's why people are keen to join us. yeah But you have a really interesting property. um If you don't know, at first was like, constabulary, what on earth is that word? But I was like, oh, it's an old police station, an old Victorian police station you're renovating. So please tell us a little bit how that came to fruition.
00:05:12
Speaker
Oh, how it came about. um So I, um yeah, I decided to buy a house. It was a pretty, um it took me a long time to make the decision, to be fair, because I'd um id just finished uni. um I'd been in uni for 10 years because I did my master's degree, my PhD. I double wasn't in 10 years because I kept failing or anything. It's because you're smart, not the one around. Yeah, so I finished finished my PhD and I was like, sort of got a bit, you know, when you're working towards something for so long and then and then it came to the end and I was like, what do I what do i do now? And i'd always um I'd always thought that I would buy a house with someone, but at the time I was tragically single going on the worst dates imaginable.
00:05:55
Speaker
ah But that's a separate story entirely. And then, um and so I was like, you know what?
Challenges in Renovation
00:06:00
Speaker
why Why can't I buy a house by myself? um and And yeah, I started looking around and I'd said to ive said to a lot of friends, i was like, I want something that's really unique and really weird. And the problem with that is that at the price point and budget that I had, that wasn't really going to be possible. the only sort of things that i could afford were sort of your standard two up, two down house. And and I wanted something that was a bit more, a bit had a bit more character and that was a little bit little bit different to other things.
00:06:31
Speaker
and And I came across this house and this is actually the first viewing that I booked for, So my first house viewing was the house that i ended up buying. and And I walked in and I was just like, oh my God, this is my house. You know, when you just get you get this you just gets feeling. and and And I was walking around and the estate agent man, it was really funny. um i walk So I walked in, I was like, I don't believe it, this is my house. And the estate agent man went, really? Really?
00:06:57
Speaker
I was like, excuse me. like I suddenly took it very personally. How dare you offend my house? And and he was like is like, you're the first person who's come and viewed this house and had anything positive to say. and Because the exterior of the house was covered in um the world's most hideous render.
00:07:15
Speaker
and Now, I've since found out from the previous owner that the old lady who owned this house in the 70s, she called a builder and she said to the builder, I want my house to look like a wedding cake.
00:07:27
Speaker
No way. And so he came round and applied the work. just Well, you know, like 70s wedding cake, icing, frosting. Yeah. And, yeah, it was pretty bad. So on the outside, it looked really bad. And then you'd be like, oh, it might be nice on the inside. and No, on the inside, it was probably worse.
00:07:46
Speaker
Wood chip wallpaper everywhere. The carpet's are like, but so my hallway carpet is like a bright red with like loads of holes in it um Yeah, just not nice inside either. and Does the does a podcast have video?
00:08:01
Speaker
Well, yeah, so this is, this the video between us is going to be... Video between us. Yeah, exactly. We're definitely going to have to clip up some
Progress & Public Interest
00:08:10
Speaker
of the pits of your house, because what you're describing is unbelievable. It's like this weird, fantastical thing. People probably struggle to like envision it.
00:08:16
Speaker
um But yeah, so so anyway, this had had the viewing, fell in love with the house then and there. um As we were like in the driveway area and the was like showing me this is the garage. And this old man walked past and he was like, oh, are you looking at this house? And I was like, yes. And he's like, did you know it used to be an old police station? And I was like, no. and um And the estate agent was like, we didn't know either. I was like, well, you've not seen that.
00:08:43
Speaker
um And yeah, it has because the house has a coat of arms on the front. And so it's got the the Lincoln coat of arms, which is sort of like a red and white cross with a fleur-de-lis in the middle. And then it has the date the house was built, which is 1897.
00:08:58
Speaker
And I used to live in this area when I was doing my undergrad, my undergrad degree. And I remember walking past this house many times and looking at and thinking,
00:09:09
Speaker
who would do that to a house in terms of the render, but also thinking, oh, i wonder why it's got a coat of arms. So, so yes, I was like, oh, that's really interesting. so I was like, not only is the house weird, but it's also got history, which I love history.
00:09:22
Speaker
So, so yeah, it was ticking all the boxes for me um and probably not for anyone else. And it was ridiculously cheap because nobody wanted it. And um the, I then found out um that nobody had wanted it to such a degree that the previous owner had actually sort of sold it to a, you know, like a webuyanycar.com company, but for houses. Oh, yeah. Where they get like a cash sale because it had been on the market for so long and nobody had wanted it. So he had sold it for £112,000, is
00:09:53
Speaker
petty this area and And I managed to get it for, so obviously then it was bought by this
Renovation Strategy & Community Support
00:10:00
Speaker
this company that just had it sat on the market for ages. Again, with no interest, but the they're going to get their markup if someone eventually buys it. and I ended ended up buying it for 190 grand, which is still an absolute steal in this area. Like little um mid-terrace two-bedroom house across the street sold for the same price in the same week that I bought mine.
00:10:20
Speaker
Mine's like, this house has got, so it's got three really big double bedrooms, lovely high ceilings, very large rooms because it's obviously Victorian. and um And the main selling point for me was that, you know, when you sort of have a house and it's got like your living room, dining room, and then the kitchen off the back, it also had a separate sitting room that would have been the police office. And so it had two downstairs, like, sitting rooms. And for me, i was like, I've always wanted a library.
00:10:50
Speaker
I can find it online. So, yeah, so yes it's it was a bargain of a house, but obviously needed a lot of work. um And, yeah, so that's where i started. I feel like I've waffled on a little bit. Do you want me to carry on? all la it was lovely fire No, its really it's a really fascinating project. So it's great to hear about it, how it came, because I think most people would have been petrified. Obviously, clearly, if no one else was remotely interested as well. I've never known anyone to buy a house...
00:11:17
Speaker
and those things I've had leaflets through the door of jobs I've done and they offer you like 30 or 40 percent or 50 percent less than it's worth but for cash so is the mad that someone actually sold it like that it's absolutely crazy and just as like a point of comparison it like I I got the house valued recently I'm not planning on selling it just interesting and and it
Learning & Preserving Unique Features
00:11:40
Speaker
was now worth, bear in mind, we haven't done anything on the inside. Just from doing the work on the outside, it's now worth £100,000 more. Whoa. And that's in the space of two years.
00:11:50
Speaker
That's amazing. So yeah, it's crazy. and But yeah, every every single person told me it was a terrible, terrible idea. so it was difficult it was a difficult time because I was kind of going against um but you want you want support at that time and everyone was like I think this is a really bad idea apart from my best friend um who she was like I think you just need to do it and even if it is a bad idea at least you've done it and i was like that's a very good point um So, yeah, I actually ended up – I lost the house at the very beginning because of the pure incompetency of the estate agents that i was dealing with.
00:12:32
Speaker
um Yeah, so it was it was really sad. Like, I put in an offer. It was all going through. And then it's i think the term – I hadn't heard of the term before. And when they said it, i I was like, is that, like, something that you've heard off the Grinch or something? They were like, you've been gazumped. And Oh, gazumped. And basically, – I had put in the offer, they'd taken it, they'd put up the sold sign. I was getting all excited. Everyone else was getting a bit scared for me. And um and yeah, they like some investor guy wanted to buy it and turn it into like offices or something.
00:13:05
Speaker
And so they had they decided that because the price was quite low for the size of the house, they were going to still have viewings behind my back and try and sell it for more. and then um And then someone put in an offer, they actually put in the same offer as mine before I got my survey. So I got the the level three survey, you know, the one where it's like the big in detail one.
00:13:25
Speaker
And it was a 66 page report of red crosses. ah And yeah, so they basically called me and said, this person wants to turn into offices. They've put in the same offer that you originally put in. was like, yeah, well, have they had the survey yet?
00:13:39
Speaker
And they're like, no. And I was like, so it's going to go exactly the same way it's gone with me. was you can either stick with me and I'm a safe bet or you can go with this person who will probably have a survey done and then immediately pull out because they're not as delusional as I am.
00:13:53
Speaker
and And so they were like, oh, yeah, well, um and i I was I was honestly livid. and They said the the lady said to me, she was like the thing is, this is a man in his 50s. So he's a bit more of a serious buying candidate than a young girl trying to get a house by herself. and i a childarian office is I was fuming. And so, and i was like, I'm i at the time I was like 30 years old. was like, I'm not young. i um And so, so yeah, I, so I lost the house, but i said to them, was if he does, if you go with him and he pulls out um and then you come back to me, I was like, my offer going to be five grand less.
00:14:31
Speaker
and um And ultimately, that's what ended up happening. So I then, I was very sad at losing the house. I went on holiday with my with my best friend, the one who actually thought the house was a good idea. And um and yeah, I got, I started getting all these calls. I didn't want to answer because I was in Cambodia.
00:14:48
Speaker
And then it ended up being, um being the the original seller of the house, not the estate agent. He had binned off the estate agent as well because he now hated them because they'd CC'd him into an email chain
Community Engagement & Media Coverage
00:15:00
Speaker
of them saying horrible things about him.
00:15:02
Speaker
so yeah it was a terrible estate agent really yeah he called me back and he well we arranged a time where we could call via whatsapp and i was in this bar in cambodia there was my friend next to me who was gradually getting more and more drunk on margaritas there was some guys next to me hitting on ladyboys i was like this is a weird a weird context in which to buy a house um and he yeah he was like do you still want this house and was like Yes, but five grand less. so I got it, again, a little bit cheaper than I otherwise would have done.
00:15:32
Speaker
Oh, so nice. Yeah, so it's great. and then And then lived here about six months, um had no furniture, slept on an air mattress, which was a sad time. There's so much fun. um and then started the building work about six months later so um I'd put out uh you know on them like local Facebook pages that you get where it's like around here there's one that's called like if you're you're only you'll know you're from Lincoln if you know and then like like old people saying like has anyone seen my cat and like oh and yeah just stuff like that it's quite heartwarming like
00:16:11
Speaker
really like amateur memes and stuff. So I posted in one of those groups, which had like a lot of local people in saying, um I'm going to start work on this house and I am taking off this ugly cake render.
00:16:25
Speaker
um Does anyone have any pictures of it from back when it was a police station? Just so that before I take the render off, I can have an idea of what's underneath the cake frosting.
00:16:37
Speaker
And And it went kind of
Social Media Impact
00:16:40
Speaker
semi-viral locally. So i got like hundreds and hundreds of comments. There were people telling me like interesting stories of things that happened there when it was a police station.
00:16:51
Speaker
um There were people ah basically, well, a couple of people sent me all pictures of the house, which was exactly what I wanted, which is fantastic. But then it got like hundreds and hundreds of comments of people saying, oh my God, I drive past that house all the time and think, why is it so ugly? or like, who would do that to a house? thought you were going to say someone was like, oh, I spent two nights in there after a DUI or something. There were some people there who were not a DUI because it was it was decommissioned as a police station, and I think in the 50s. So I have managed to find like some really cool like newspaper clippings in like the local archive.
00:17:26
Speaker
of like the actual crimes people were arrested for here and they're all ridiculous so like one woman was put in the cells for two weeks for being drunk oh super out when you were drunk and exactly and there was but another one like it was and and this also this is this is how how bad crimes got in comparison to what it was back in the day. This was a newspaper article clipping.
00:17:51
Speaker
so it made It made the news that two young boys had been and caught stealing apples from someone's apple tree and they'd been taken to this police station so that the policeman could have a road with them. and it's like if Imagine if that was newsworthy stuff nowadays, how heartwarming would be. Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker
Anyway, i digress. So it was, where was I? What was I saying? Oh, yes, I put it on this Facebook page um asking people for for stuff. And it had gone viral, loads of people commenting.
Final Thoughts on Renovation Journey
00:18:20
Speaker
And a BBC reporter had seen this post. And she got in touch with me. and She was like, oh, I've seen this post that you're renovating this house. And i was like, yeah.
00:18:30
Speaker
um And she said, I don't mean to be rude. And I really hope you're not offended. and but I've seen all the comments of people saying how ugly it is could I do a feature about your house as Lincolnshire's ugliest house? And I was like, oh my God, that sounds so funny. Yeah, go for it.
00:18:47
Speaker
and And so she did this thing. It was on Look North and they were like, is this Lincolnshire's ugliest house? And they talked about the history of reality. They talked about like this... this Facebook post where everyone had said like, Oh, they had like hundreds of comments. So everyone's saying how, how horrible it looks. Um, and I'd started like a little Instagram page, not to try and not like it wasn't even for to try and like actually progress it as a renovation channel. It was purely because I wanted to track the progress without spamming my mates if they weren't interested. yeah and So, um, so I had this little Instagram page and after this news thing, when, um,
00:19:24
Speaker
was on like the local news it got like 200 followers and I was like oh i was like maybe people are are interested in this and and so I so I thought well actually it would be a nice thing to track and I think that because it's going to be quite a difficult project it's probably quite a rewarding thing to track because then you see the progress and it can kind of spare you on so I was like all right well i'll I'll give it a go so I um So I was like, well, I don't really know, apart from like from my personal use, I wasn't that fair with social media.
00:20:01
Speaker
And so I that basically went on like a bunch of courses like so i ah to figure out like how to make, because I'd never done like a video post before and stuff like that. Oh, nice. Oh, cool.
00:20:13
Speaker
So I went on load of courses, and most them were absolute rubbish. It was like a slow walk to a sales pitch of people trying to get you to pay them to do it for you and stuff like that. And so I eventually sort did my own research, figured out how to make reels, um out started putting out posts. And I was putting out like one post every like two weeks. And then within six months, we had like 100,000 followers.
00:20:36
Speaker
i think now it's at like 180,000. So yeah, it's been it's been crazy, but it's been really like encouraging because people are like rooting for you. And I think when you are there thinking, was this a terrible mistake?
00:20:50
Speaker
Then you're like, got all these people in my corner. So it's been it's been really, really nice. and And yeah, that's that was how the project started. Yeah, that was the most in-depth answer we've ever had. You should be very proud of yourself. I'm a chatterbox. I love it. And like I do encourage some of our listeners to come and see your page because I just love how you're trying to bring back like the old character of of the original property. It's nice to see that rather than, like I don't know, a lot of people like to make things really modern nowadays.
00:21:25
Speaker
Honestly, it kills me. and I was following a page for like renovation inspiration and stuff and they'd just bought a house and it had this like beautiful, like curved sweeping staircase in mahogany. And I was like, oh my God, it's like a Cinderella situation.
00:21:41
Speaker
And they stripped it out and replaced it with like one of those straight boring ladder stairs and I wanted i had to unfold I was like i was like this is heartbreaking. That was a tipping point. There really is but there are a lot of and there's so many people going around doing that and it's on the one hand it's like well it's your house you can do whatever you want that's completely fine But I do think if you buy an old house, you do have a responsibility to kind of preserve the history of it.
00:22:07
Speaker
So when people are stripping out original features, it's like you couldn't get a curved mahogany staircase done nowadays without it costing tens of thousands of pounds and the craftsmanship wouldn't be the same. And so I do think when you have an old house, you have responsibility to to make sure that the historical features of it are preserved and unfortunately the previous owners of my house did not share that sentiment. That's what I was going to say to you with that bay window, and what happened to that? Honestly it was so and so i when I the first thing that I noticed when I got the one of the old pictures off that Facebook post was that it had it originally had like a beautiful bay window with like a sort of castellated bit on the top and it looked gorgeous and
00:22:47
Speaker
And at some point when they'd done the render, they just stripped it out, replaced it with a boring flat window and put and filled in the gap with breeze blocks. I can't understand any logic unless they thought, oh, maybe it'd be slightly warmer or something. having less Yeah, i see fine that's the only thing I'm thinking. And my builder also said that a lot a lot of the time, if you're going to have a leak anywhere in your house, it's quite likely to be around a bay window. So they might have thought instead of fixing it, we're just going to get rid of it.
00:23:13
Speaker
um But either way, very, very sad. And they've yeah there's they've there's like little things inside as well. so um So in the in the all the rooms, there used to be like the original cornicing, you know, that goes around the ceiling. yeah nice And we found all the fragments of that shoved shoved in like a hole in the wall.
00:23:32
Speaker
Um, but on, which on the one hand was, was sad. Cause I was like, look at what we could have had. and Um, but on the other hand, like now we've, now we've got that. We can, the builders have told me we can make a mold out of it to reinstate what was once there. So, so yeah, so there's a few things like that. So we're trying to, we're trying to preserve what, what can be preserved, but really the only original feature that's not been destroyed by the previous owners. is the fact that there's like the original Victorian parquet floors under the carpet. um So that's nice so that we can sand those down and make them pretty. But everything else is going to be a case of trying to reinstate something like what was once there. So I'm going to try and put in the put in some cast iron fireplaces because they've been ripped out at some point. um Obviously doing all the things on the outside where we're reinstating all of the decorative mouldings that were once there and were destroyed.
00:24:27
Speaker
um But it's a case of trying to like figure out what it would have been like to try and make something as close to that as possible. Yeah. I mean, I noticed you were putting in obviously for cost reasons, like UPVC guttering and drain piles, but you're making it look like the old sort of cast iron with lots of detail. I think things like that are even really important and because it's just, if you did it in cast iron, it would literally probably cost you about three grand or something ridiculous. Oh God, no. I like the way you're doing it.
00:24:56
Speaker
ah More, really? be More. like I did look into it. um but And I think i did actually I lost a lot of people at that stage. like when When I put in the and the windows, so the win the previous windows were cheap white UPVC windows. And um and i've replaced I've replaced them with windows that are UPVC, but they are...
00:25:21
Speaker
they're designed to mimic the look, the the look of a traditional sash. They've got like the sash horns on them. It's a wood grain effect on the outside from the outside. They just look like wooden painted windows. Um, but obviously they're not.
00:25:36
Speaker
And a load of people, I think that's probably one. I don't really get a lot of hate in the comments, which I'm very thankful for. I get ah the occasional like, odd person who's like, um who's like, oh, I bet you're not doing any work. I bet it's your husband. And I'm like, well, at the time I was single. So that's not the case. Now my boyfriend has moved in with me. um But he is he is a tech nerd. And he has no what he is not DIY. He's not head of DIY in this household.
00:26:03
Speaker
um So yeah, so I get a lot people saying, oh, I bet your boyfriend's doing all of it. And I'm like, he has never picked up a drill in his entire life. like um But yeah, so like apart from those comments, like the only sort of bad comments I've got been people who were were really had a problem with the fact that I didn't reinstate the old wooden windows. And I sort of had say to say them, was like, well, first of all,
00:26:26
Speaker
they cost a million pounds. If you're going to pay a grand per window for me to do it, I will do it. But if I'm having to pay, it's not going to happen. um And i just, said the budget has to be allocated in other ways. And and then the other reason is the road that I'm on is like a really busy main road.
00:26:46
Speaker
And so if I had wooden windows, the noise of the traffic would be constant. Yeah. and um And, like, i've lived in I've lived in a house before that had the old wooden windows and it was bloody freezing. So so I think it's all well and good. A lot of people watching are like, oh, well, you should have done that. should done that. And it's because that's how it used to have been. And it's like, well, I'm also not going to reinstate the outside toilet. Like, is that a problem? Why not? Come on. Exactly.
00:27:17
Speaker
and So yeah, people like, well, if you're trying to do a true renovation of how it once would have been, then you should be putting in those wooden windows. And I was like, well, I'm not doing the outside loo. So there are some things I think where you have to do, where you have to do a little bit of a recce and think, what is the priority here? And for me, the priority was not spending £25,000 on wooden sash windows. And so instead I went for the UPVC ones and I'm really happy with them. They've done, um the window installers have done a really good job.
00:27:44
Speaker
But yeah, we had the similar thing with, what else was it that we did? that A lot of people um weren't happy with the fact that they thought we'd painted the house afterwards. So I really wanted to take it back to brick. and But unfortunately, like 50 years of concrete render being on the brickwork had damaged it like quite significantly.
00:28:05
Speaker
And we sort of sat down, we and the builders, and we had a little bit of a discussion as to what the options were, because the brick faces were still salvageable. um but the only way to actually take it back to bare brick would have been to individually turn around every brick on the house. Oh, my goodness. Literally turn the house inside out. now That will take years. and And so what we ended up doing was lime washing it.
00:28:31
Speaker
and So because it's an old building, you've got to use um you've got to use lime rather than things like cement and traditional contemporary mortar because it's breathable. And so um so we basically lime washed it, which is putting like a thin layer of lime on the outside of the brick, which essentially restores the brick face.
00:28:49
Speaker
ah But when I first did that, load of people thought we'd just painted the house and they were like, well, you're not doing it back to how it was. And it's like, I'm trying to do it back to how it was as close as I can. But this is what's best for the building. So, yeah, there are a few things that we've done, like the UPVC windows. And there was another thing you just mentioned.
00:29:06
Speaker
The guttering, maybe? The guttering, yeah, the guttering. So that was, um yeah, couldn't spend that amount on cast iron guttering. A lot of the lot of it would have had to have been salvaged and you can't find the right links anyway.
00:29:18
Speaker
And so and we went for, a it's a it's a plastic drain pipe, but it's made to mimic cast iron. So if you looked at it, you wouldn't know that it wasn't unless you were up close tapping on it, which not many people do when they come around to the house.
00:29:33
Speaker
So, um see yeah, that was that was a really good decision. that Just little things like that, I think, and putting in the details that would have been there where possible, um adding a bit of detail. I think that's that's one of the things that we've kind of lost in house building nowadays, like the death of detail. Like back in the Victorian era, you'd have all of these ornate features and and we've just gradually been trying to put them back in. And that's what's really made all the difference.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, I love that you're like making a conscious effort to try and get as close as you possibly can. But obviously, you've got respect budget and if things can actually be done, but still people are annoyed by it. And you're like kind of justifying your own house. That's pretty crazy.
00:30:14
Speaker
Do you know what though? i kind of, and it's nice almost that people do get upset about those things because there's the people who will make sure that things are preserved in the future. So um so i've I've never really been um been like, oh, well, it's my house. I can do what I want. It's like, it's like no, but my whole idea is that if you do buy an old house, you should be a custodian of it and you should try and bring it back to how it was. But I think um i think you should do it to the best of your ability to the point where you're not damaging the house. So for instance,
00:30:44
Speaker
I would never have taken out a beautiful bare window. But I'm not going to, like, if the house has already had its wooden sash windows removed and replaced with UPVC, me replacing them with a better quality of UPVC isn't damaging the historical material all. So, um so yeah, so i think I think anyone who puts themselves out there is going to be open to having those comments, but it's a point of discussion.
00:31:07
Speaker
And I've had people come back to me and say and say things like where it might have, people might have taken that as criticism and it's actually been like really good feedback that we've then been able to like work with and like actually use on the project. So um so yeah, I think anyone's, you're always going to get a few of those people, but it's it's important that those people ask those questions because those are the people that then make questions.
00:31:31
Speaker
make buildings like this not get ruined. Has anyone from the 50s got in touch and said, put the jail cell back in? Yeah, a couple of people did that. So the woman, I get a lot of people comment in saying the lady who put that render on needs to be put in jail.
00:31:45
Speaker
And then I always comment, I'm like, ironically, she also knocked down the cell block. So yeah, there was, yeah, so what she'd do, she said they ruined all decorative moulding and put the render on, removed the bay window, knocked down the cell block.
00:32:00
Speaker
um built a house on the land at the back ah ripped out all the fireplaces all the interior original features um and I just like literally look around and I'm thinking like what more could they have done to ruin this house it's funny with the um the render because obviously it feels really mean it feels like I'm criticizing your baby or something but it wasn't it was an ugly house but a part of me is like well at least she was kind of like was gonna say wacky enough but like creative enough to try something different. um I'm like a complete sheep. I would just try a what I think I would like and other people would like. At least she was like, I'm going to do what i want. Who cares? yeah That is true. And I am eternally grateful because if that hadn't have happened, there's no way I'd have been able to afford this house.
00:32:45
Speaker
And we do still have, um because then they knocked down the cell blocks and put on a garage extension, and that was clearly done after the render had been put on. So there is still the back wall of my garage does still have the render on it as like a... It's like a ah a nod to the past to the like house's history. My father was like, do you want us to take off as well? And I was like, no, leave that. That's not hurting anybody. It's crazy to just walk in the garage and be like, what's all that on the back wall? I'd be like, well, it used to be the whole house. It must have been a considerable effort, I imagine, to whoever installed it. i don't know how they even do that effect. It must be something like some skill with a trowel or whatever, but I have no idea. It looks very skilled.
00:33:29
Speaker
through the, um through the, through that Facebook post that i mentioned, um someone messaged me and said, oh, it was my, my dad who, no, my dad or my granddad who, and who put on that render and i was like, well, he's got a lot to answer for.
00:33:42
Speaker
no And yeah, I think two, two different people we figured out must have, must have applied it ah because the stuff on the, when they were taken off the render, like it had to all be chiseled off by hand because the power tools are damaging the brickware.
00:33:57
Speaker
And when the, front of the house was coming off that was much easier to remove than the back of the house so we think whoever did the back of the house must have been slapping it on a bit more than whoever did the front um probably a good job it wasn't the other way around but but yeah so so we have figured out um who that was i love that you're saying that it's a skill and they didn't they weren't just terrible or rendering just like oh yeah this how meant to look yeah yeah So what's the the plan with sort the internal work then? Have you begun anything inside yet? Or is it something that you and your boyfriend, well, you said he's not technical at all, but going to have to get your DIY skills going?
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah, he and he's willing to learn. how and In terms of the inside, All we've done at this stage is, um i was like, wouldn't it be nice to have just just one room that's that's not a building site? and so So our bedroom his is like basically finished. So we've got carpet in there, painted the walls. and i Actually, for that hat for that room, I had a go at putting up, um you know, it's like a polystyrene curving.
00:35:14
Speaker
um Because I thought going to do the proper stuff downstairs, but like can't really be doing that in all of the rooms of the house. I gave that a go in that in that room. It made a real difference. So that room, so the bedroom is basically done. The next room is going to be the library.
00:35:29
Speaker
um which is obviously the most important room of the house. Yeah, i love your logic. Must be able to read at all times. Yeah, yeah it's well, it's I think as well, like it's not just that the rest of the house is is a bit of a building site. There's like tools and stuff everywhere and like walls that are not finished plaster finished being plastered and stuff like that. But it's also that, like so I mentioned at the start, so I did ah my degree, master's and PhD, and that was in literature. So I have a lot of books.
00:35:57
Speaker
and And my boyfriend, he has a lot of books as well. And so there are boxes of books everywhere. oh like ah So our coffee table is ah is boxes a stack of boxes of books. like We try to make them into furniture where possible.
00:36:12
Speaker
and And so that will help alleviate some of that if we actually have a place to put them. so But the the library is probably the most ambitious um of of plans because we're going to sand the sand up the Victorian parquet floors. That's step one. Lovely. Nice. Then um I want floor to ceiling bookshelves.
00:36:36
Speaker
With a library ladder. Very important. Oh, was going to say about the ladder. Very important. I do want to somewhere in the library, I want to put in like some secret compartments. I think that'll be really cool. And, um and yeah, so like fully fitted shelving. I'm not going to do any of those like Ikea hacks. We're going to like do it with wood, do it properly.
00:36:57
Speaker
um I got an A-star in product design in school, so it should be a better. But a good use. And then i want to paint like a ah constellation map on the ceiling, you know like star map. I think that'd be really cool.
00:37:12
Speaker
and we've uncovered We've uncovered like the the fireplace, which was like bricked up, had like this beautiful arch sort of brick arch fireplace thing. So we're going to put a log burner in there. And yes, it's going to be great. So that's the next that's the next plan for the inside when the outside is done.
00:37:31
Speaker
Lovely. it Sounds nice. Sounds like a two year project in my head, though. I'm like, I'm panicking for you. I think the trick to it is to um i is to just is to just be blissfully unaware of the heart of how difficult it's going to be. I get a lot of comments where it's like, oh, you're so brave for taking on such a big project. I'm like, no, no, it's not bravery. I just didn't think it would be this hard. and so So yeah, with the library, I have all these grand ideas and I'm like oh, it should be fine. It won't be that hard work. And then and then it will come down to it and it'll be difficult. But anything that's worth it is always going to be a little bit difficult. So it'll be when I'm sat there in front of a nice log burner with a book afterwards and a nice glass of wine. I'm looking around my cool library and there's stars painted on the ceiling and there's a library ladder.
00:38:17
Speaker
I'll be like, worth it. This is it, yeah. It sounds like you're going into it, though, and following your Instagram as well. I think all your posts are quite like lighthearted and quite funny. So is that something you sort consciously – or is that what you're like anyway and that's sort sort of the approach you're taking to this? Because it's quite a job to sort undertake a renovation on this scale.
00:38:38
Speaker
Well, I think i think i've like i've I've followed a load of renovation pages for a long time for like inspiration. And a lot of the time it's like perfectly polished people in their – in their millennial greyhouses, like making things making things really stylish and really fashionable. And like they don't really depict the reality of what it actually is like to live in a building site and do a big project. So I think when I did start, I was like, i'm not a very I'm not a very pretentious person. And I didn't want, I was like, well, if I'm going to show people like what the renovation project is, I'm going to show people the reality of what it is.
00:39:20
Speaker
um And I think, so I've been very pretty open and honest and I think, sorry, I think I've, yeah, I've i've just tried to be as as transparent as possible.
00:39:35
Speaker
And that seems to, I think a lot of people have maybe resonated with the page because of that, because it's not pretentious and because I'm just a normal person. And you get a lot of people as well doing renovation projects, like Trust Fund Babies, where it's funded by mum and dad. And they're very out of touch with reality.
00:39:51
Speaker
so So when I when i am saying to people, oh well, this has been a cost consideration because of this, and this is how much things have cost. Like people who are in the middle of their own renovation projects who see like all of the polished stuff online and then they see my stuff, they that maybe makes them feel, oh yeah, no, this is actually what it's really like. And we've not got to judge ourselves and compare ourselves to people who have a very different situation to us. So, yeah, I tried to i try to be as transparent as possible. And I think that the relatability has maybe been one of the reasons why people like to follow the page.
00:40:25
Speaker
Yeah, it does feel really authentic. And I think that's why people love it, because they're like not just following the renovation. I think they like following you as well, which it must be quite nice. It is nice. um i Yeah. And I have I get a lot. There's lots of local people following, obviously, because technology.
00:40:42
Speaker
the house being what it was like it used to be a pretty big landmark there's like a one-way system around this area and people oh yeah you got to turn left at the ugly house and now it's not getting anymore so um and well no there was like all sorts of names it was like people called it like the the cake house the baked alaska house the shaving foam house all kinds of names um and so yes there's quite a lot local people following me And one time I was in Sainsbury's, which is like my local shop, and I was just buying toilet roll. And this woman came up to me and she was like, oh my God, you're on. And I was like, oh my God, am I famous?
00:41:15
Speaker
I was like, dude, I've just been recognized in Sainsbury's while I'm buying the roll. So yeah, it was, that the support has been really, really nice. And yeah. They must turn away and be like, that's that's the nutter that bought that. Weirdo over there, what's she doing?
00:41:34
Speaker
Amazing. Well, thank you and for joining us this morning. We've always end on the same sort of question. It's just basically the best and worst thing about, you know, renovating or DIY and your experiences so far in dealing with what you're up against.
00:41:49
Speaker
I think the best thing, yeah, just the best thing about doing I think it's probably been, that's probably just been the, like how rewarding it's been to try and preserve a piece of history. I think it makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger. You know, like i will be long, I'll be dead and buried and this house will still be here and it will now last and last for longer and look nice and it will be somebody else's home. Like, i feel like you're you're working towards something that's bigger than yourself. And i really i really like that. And I think it's such a learning curve as well. Like i've um I've learned so much from doing all of this. When I first started, I think this is probably another reason why people told me it was a bad idea at the beginning. that I'd never even put up a shelf. I'd been living in like rented rented places and house shares and I had absolutely no DIY experience, but you'd be am amazed what you can find out from YouTube tutorials.
00:42:46
Speaker
so yeah, I think anyone who's like content contemplating um doing in a DIY project don't think, Oh, well I don't have enough. Do I have enough spit experience?
00:42:58
Speaker
The question that you should be asking is do, am I willing to learn? because i think if you're willing to learn you can pretty much do anything and like nobody's like born with diy experience like everybody learns yeah exactly so so yeah i think that's that's the best thing and because i like learning things so i've it's been an ah another learning curve just one that i didn't really ever anticipate so that's been good amazing and the worst thing is probably The dust.
00:43:29
Speaker
Number one. The dust and the chaos. So, like, you can't see on my videos, so you can see the hideous ripped wallpaper that's behind me. But, like, I think I've become... You become desensitized to the chaos, but living in a building site is...
00:43:46
Speaker
I think it's how you frame it. So at the start, i was like, it's an adventure. It's like camping in your own house. But then after a while, like I go around to my friend's house and their walls are painted. And I'm going back to my house and I'm like, there's just a pile of wood in the corner of my living room. Just a big pile of wood. I put Christmas lights on it to try and make it festive. And yeah, so things like that do kind of get you down, but it's all about like maintaining the vision. So it's like, yes, there is a pile of wood in the corner of my living room right now, but someday that pile of wood could be involved in a beautiful bespoke bookcase in the life. Yeah, that's a way to look at it.
00:44:30
Speaker
So yeah, I think once you get past the fact that you're living in a bit of chaos... it's it's okay because you've got to remember what the chaos is for yeah yeah exactly great answer i love yeah brilliant well thank you can you please tell the guys at home where we can find you where everyone i'm definitely going to ask you to send us some pictures of the the cake house i feel like you we never have images like the whole video but feel like we should just have it on the whole video in the corner just to show them because it's so unique but where can we find you ah Well, people at home, you can find me at Renovating the Constabulary and I am on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. I actually, and i haven't posted for the last week because I'm in the process of creating my first piece of like long form content. i've had a lot of people on YouTube being like, why are you only posting shorts? You need to post a big, long video. And I'm like, do you think I have the time?
00:45:25
Speaker
um but uh but yeah so i've i've been making a big long video um which is going to be probably about 20 minutes of like all the renovations so far so so that's pretty cool um but yeah so it's renovating the constabulary and yeah just try and spell constabulary it should come up it'd be all right and know what it is unlike me and i was like i think this is a police station but it might be something religious i'm not sure that' what That's just what the house was called. So when i went I went to the archives to get the original plans and it was called the West End Constabulary. The West End is the area that I'm in. Not the West End of London, unfortunately.
00:46:01
Speaker
But and yeah, so it was called the Constabulary. And I was like, that's a cool word. I'm going to give the house name. Great, great social media name. Right off the bat. Yeah. Brilliant. Well, thanks, Eddie. Thank you for your time. And we'd love to catch up with you again in like a year or so when it's progressed and find out how you're doing. yeah But just good luck with the rest of the project.
00:46:20
Speaker
Yeah, thank you very much. And thank you for chatting with me today. Thanks so much, Ellie. That was just such a great interview, wasn't it, mate? Just like speaking to her about like her incredible property. It's just oh they fantastic. this That's one I want to like get her back in like another year or so. Yeah. it like Everything's about It's fascinating, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you speak of DIY, but what she's actually doing to like restore like the external of the house is just crazy, isn't it? Yeah, or even everything, like trying to put everything back in the traditional method, like from the flooring to like the details and the cornicing and stuff. And I can't reiterate how tough that is because it's like you can just get like a cheap cornicing from like tool station or screw fix if you want to. And it actually costs way more time and money doing it like the hard way and doing it properly. Yeah. But she was so like passionate about actually, yeah, I'm going to do it that way. Yeah, she really was. And finding like talented builders that have done this before and know what they're doing, like that's next level. That's good research. I mean, that must have been quite hard to find, I think. And I don't think... I'm just thinking instinctively. I feel like a lot of builders would just say no to that sort of magnitude of job as well. It's one of those things, like even taking off that cake render, which I'm sure we'll talk about. You just don't know what's going on behind that. It could lead to all sorts of just...
00:47:42
Speaker
chaos for everyone chaos for ellie chaos for the builders where you don't know what the work's gonna be it could be awful messy so yeah like you have to really do your research and i think who she's chosen has clearly panned out yeah definitely i just love the way she's sort of like educating people along the way know that you can restore these features and she does a really good job and trying like how you can do them Yeah, and she's got a wicked sense of humour as well, which obviously helps. The fact fact that she's been on the news and everything, Lincolnshire's ugliest house, and it's almost like propelled her to like do this properly and show those original renders of what the house going to look like and say, I ah don't care, I've got this house, I'm going to make it look like that.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, massively. And her goal to have her library for her to curl up in and read some books in. like That's what you need, right, when you're doing a renovation. You need that, oh, this is what I want. So yeah it kind of keeps you motivated, doesn't Exactly. And it's the old adage, isn't it? Like the worst house on the best road type thing. And like it just sounds like she's got that in abundance. And then she's also got that whole other side of it, which is the constabulary side. Yeah, yeah. Just so random. Just so interesting. like You could probably do like four podcast episodes just like on the history of that. She should do a podcast. Way better than this. Don't say that. She should do her own one and we'll bin off. Yeah, exactly. We'll step aside. But yeah, like instantly like wanting to follow her, follow the journey now as well. Get her back in like a year or so because it was so funny finding like she spoke to that old lady who was born on the floor and everything. feel like more people should do that, especially with old buildings and like when you want to know a bit more about the history. yeah it's got to be someone in the area that like lived there for 30 40 years or whatever definitely and you just pick their brain but not that you'd expect uh old lady people on floor there no not as an old lady exactly yeah but yeah properly fascinating loved it so good and she's just one those people that like every now and then and i just like check on just to see like what's happening because it is always something exciting Yeah, going to have to star that one for new posts. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Also, I love old buildings. I say, wasn't brave enough to take one on myself, but I just think if you get it right, they're the best ones to live in. They're just beautiful, big rooms and details and amazing. Like she has the features and stuff. Yeah, exactly. Maybe not the warmest house. It'd be amazing.
00:50:06
Speaker
Well, that was another great episode, mate. um As always... people feel free to email in. We are going to be doing an episode where we do shoot through some of these emails. We always forget. Please keep them coming. um Please drop us an email. Hello at the DIYGuysPodcast.com or you can just ping us a message on Instagram.
00:50:27
Speaker
Our handle is DIY underscore guys underscore podcast. Or, you know, just make sure you're leaving in like likes and reviews of the podcast. know, five-star it. Exactly. Do it now. Do it now. But, yeah, thank you so much for listening. um Thank you to Nick, my co-host, and Ellie for such a great episode.
00:50:49
Speaker
Nice one. See you next week, guys. See you.