Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S1 EP 1 | The Georgian Farmhouse with Shanice Kinnersley
92 Plays4 months ago
Welcome to the very first episode of the diy guys! This series dives into the amazing ways people live and renovate, and the stories behind the homes they choose.
This week we're chatting to Shanice from The Georgian Farmhouse; we discuss the difficulties of renovating a period building whilst living in it, a huge viral video and how she converted an old dog kennel into something incredible...
In this series we’re speaking with an eclectic mix of DIY’ers, Including someone who bought an abandoned Japanese house near Tokyo, people living in Victorian, Edwardian, and barn conversions, and even someone who’s made a van their full-time home in America.
Plus throughout the season, Nick will share his own renovation journey—transforming the bungalow that belonged to his late Gran and what he has captioned as the "renovation he didn’t want to do".
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to DIY Guys Podcast
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 Dohert. And each week we'll be chatting through with some property pros, some DIY diehards and some experts in the industry to hopefully get you through your next renovation.
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome to episode one of the DIY Guys. My name is Nick Morris and with me is Dan Doher. How are you doing? I'm good, mate. How are you doing? You alright? I'm good. I'm excited. In this series, we are two DIY enthusiasts and we're going to be speaking to lots of people.
Preview of Upcoming Guests
00:00:31
Speaker
We're going to be speaking to people who have bought Victorian, Edwardian and barn conversions and are renovating these themselves. We're going to speak to someone who has bought an abandoned house in Japan near Tokyo and even someone who is living in a van and driving around America and renovating that whilst they're going.
00:00:47
Speaker
We've also got some cool ones, like an old police station that was voted the ugliest house in Lincolnshire, was it?
Interview with Shanice: Renovating a Georgian Farmhouse
00:00:54
Speaker
I think it was. yeah And then also some other cool guys in the trades, like we're speaking to a female plumber about working in the industry, um in a male-dominated industry, an electrician with his own company at 26, and also some property investment type people as well. So really scientists. And what we've got coming up this week, Dan?
00:01:13
Speaker
This week, we're talking to Shanice over at the Georgian farmhouse, who's got a grade two listed Georgian farmhouse, who will be discussing a viral video. And she's also turned an old dog kennel into something that will happen. No spoilers. left And then we're going to be speaking about week by week, and I'm renovating my gran's place. So Dan can ask me some questions on that.
00:01:38
Speaker
This episode is going to be sort of five or 10 minutes chatting about that as no work has yet started. And then it's going to be the interview with Shanice and we'll discuss that afterwards. And then next week we're going to do a full episode just Dan and I discussing my gran's place. Yeah. So that led nicely into it, mate. How's it going? It's good. So, well, i've good, I guess. this ah So basically, Graham passed away in October 2024.
00:02:04
Speaker
And we put the house on them at the age of 99, by the way. She's been living there since 1994. So 30 years she's living there. She never did anything to it, but it was still in like a nice condition. It was one of those ones with totally too attached. Didn't want to renovate it.
00:02:20
Speaker
And the neighbor's house sold for $5.85, which... There's so much money because this is a semi-detached bungalow. And sorry to anyone listening, not in the southeast or London where prices are just a joke. But it was on for 505 and the neighbor sold for 585 in a similar condition. And it just dropped and dropped and dropped and went down by 100,000 in value.
00:02:43
Speaker
And we still didn't get an offer. Everyone came in and said the same thing is too small and it needs too much work. and So, begrudgingly, my brother and I are renovating it, basically.
00:02:56
Speaker
It's not something we wanted to do, but we've literally been cornered into doing it. Definitely too emotionally attached to it. But we're going to give it a go. Nice. So, first steps.
00:03:07
Speaker
What did you do? Well, so we've applied for planning permission, so it does need to be made bigger. we can't go out the back. The the garden is, I think, about 16. I mean, it's like four or five fence panels. So literally, i'm I'm saying that's probably...
00:03:23
Speaker
8 to 10 metres, maybe 12 metres top. So there's no room to go out of the back. Actually, it must be about 10 metres. So if you put a 3 metre extension out there, you've got a tiny, tiny garden. We don't know who we're targeting because it's really near a school.
00:03:36
Speaker
We're literally near a stone's throw from a school. So that's good and bad in my view because it might put off some people. But actually, if you've got a baby or a young kids, you might think, oh, I'm going to put my kids in this school and I want to live here.
00:03:48
Speaker
And that will seal through until they're like 11 and they go to secondary school. So I want to let me feel we're targeting family and people who are downsizing. um So that's why I'm keeping more of the garden if possible. And we're going to knock down the garage, which is just literally a useless non-entity of a space. And we're going to put a bedroom there with an ensuite and a bathroom.
00:04:09
Speaker
Nice, yeah. And it's got driveway, right? It's got a driveway. More people aren't using a garage anymore. don't know anyone who stores their car in a garage. And I was tempted to leave a little bit of the garage just for storage at the front, which a lot of people do. But because the garage of my granddad's house adjoins the garage of the neighbor's house, means we can't do that because you need to put a window know in there for because it's a bedroom for like a form of escape or whatever.
00:04:33
Speaker
We can't have any storage, so we're going to have to come up some clever ways as we go to maximize storage in there as well. Yeah, and nice. And so first steps, do you kind of look around the area and see if someone's done something similar, or do you just kind of tap into what you've done before?
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, a bit of both, but definitely look at the area. It's a different one, isn't it? Because we haven't bought anything, so I'll value... of what it's worth now is I guess a hundred thousand less than we put it on for. that's just what we started on my little Excel spreadsheet. But there's literally some across the road, which is so ridiculous that I've sold for 800,000 pounds for a semi-detached bungalow. But they do have a bigger bigger plot and a bigger... The garden's like a proper garden, like 80 foot a lot or whatever. Yeah, 60, 70, 80 foot. So obviously way better. So honestly, genuinely have no idea what it's going to be worth.
00:05:24
Speaker
But if we're saying it's worth maybe less than 500 at this moment, we've got about 100,000 to spend and by that we literally don't. But I need to get 100,000 is what I'm saying. We have enough to pay the builders at this point or ah maybe...
00:05:41
Speaker
pay some other but but generally I'm gonna have to do a lot on myself filing money and get some work going at the same time whilst trying to do this like evenings and weekends and the odd work day as well yeah well that must be half you right because you are like doing your normal day's work and then you've got to fit that in yeah it must be tiring and actually in January I've got a really busy workload. I've got a rewire starting in Tunbridge.
00:06:06
Speaker
I've got one of our friends' house in Tunbridge as well, a separate job that I'm doing in a kitchen and partially rewire the kitchen utility. um Luckily, they're quite close to each other, which helps, but not in Tunbridge. It's not where we live. We're about half an hour away.
00:06:20
Speaker
And then want to try and do this. I want to try get in there. But we're still waiting for planning permission. And I'm going to hear about that next week so I can update you on that. And hopefully from then, I can just, at the end of every week, Dan and I can just discuss through... um how it's going and I'll talk about the budget constantly and what I'm spending and how I'm doing it and my thoughts behind on it. But it'd be great if you guys could um email in as well, as well because we've got an email address. It's hello at DIYguyspodcast.com.
00:06:49
Speaker
So any tips or advice you think for me, and then what we're going to do, we're going to put it on our Instagram as well, aren't we? So we've got the Instagram, which is DIYguyspodcast. So it's DIY underscore guys underscore podcast. You can find us.
00:07:01
Speaker
And I'm going to put the posts from, I've done a before video, before anything's been touched on how it was when Grammy lived there. And then in each week I'll be updating it and you guys can hopefully che herely to help me out for some advice. you've got Yeah, or ask us questions. If you have anything that Nick's doing and you want to have a bit of advice, maybe you're going through something similar, then obviously feel free to DM us or drop us a name.
00:07:25
Speaker
yeah and know Yeah, exactly. If you've got your little project, you want we're speaking to so many people. yeah i think we've got like 20 people booked in over the next few months and we're going to be speaking with all different variations and all different styles of house and people doing it themselves and people just who are more like interior based and people who are actually in the trade as well. So ping us an email.
00:07:47
Speaker
And, yeah, we'll try and help you out. Yeah. basically go to Shanice now. So what do you want to say about Shanice Dower? Exciting. Our first ever guest and her materials just look incredible. So I'm really excited to talk to her and she's got a lot of viral hack and I'd love to speak to her about that. and yeah I've never thought about doing that. I don't think you have either. No, I see what that dog kennel turns into. Yeah, exactly. and Yeah, definitely hang around and for that.
00:08:19
Speaker
Cool. Let's go to it. Hi guys, we have Shanice here from the Georgian Farmhouse. Welcome, how are you today? Hello, yeah, good, thank you. How are you? Yes, we're good, thank you. Yeah, we're good. Can you tell the guys at home a little about your beautiful house and sort of your your journey to to getting there?
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah, so we currently live um in a four-bedroom. It's a semi-detached, which people don't often realise it is. Georgian farmhouse. I've done loads of research on the kind of history of the house. And we found it back to around 1790. So we moved in almost two years ago, having no experience of renovations whatsoever. But kind of fancied it. just We used to live in a new-build barn conversion.
00:09:05
Speaker
Obviously, the kind opposite of opposite we're living in now. And just kind of thought, let's do something that's like a project, something that's quite fun, something that we can design ourselves. And yeah, so we've we moved in and we've been gradually doing it bit by a bit, really.
00:09:21
Speaker
Well, that's interesting that you had no previous experience and now you've gone like, yeah, let's go for it. Let's go for it. Nice big renovation project. What made you kind of use that? I don't really know what.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, we maybe we were a little bit naive, to be honest. we just I've always loved design. And years ago, we've been together, and my husband, we've been together since we were about 15, 16. So years ago, we've when we were about 20, we said we'd love to build our own house one day, but it was never feasible back then. And it's not really feasible now, to be honest. So we just thought, what's the next best thing we can do to build in your own house? It's kind of buying something that's in need of renovation, in need of work, and you can kind of design and make it your own that way.
00:10:06
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think we knew entirely. what it would really entail until we started doing it, to be honest.
DIY Learning and Challenges
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's so tricky. How did you know, so where did you have a plan where you wanted to begin? like Is there a room you thought, we should really do this first? But it's it's really tricky in such a large project to know where to begin, I think.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, we we made a list whilst we were going through the conveyancing process of buying it. I'm very much like a list person. I like to be organised with work and things like that. So we made a full list of all the jobs we wanted to do, room by room.
00:10:37
Speaker
And then my husband is very much like a spreadsheet kind of guy. So that works quite well. So he made the spreadsheets of all kind of the budgets and things like that. And then we prioritised based on kind of what rooms we used the most and then what rooms people would see the most.
00:10:53
Speaker
But to be honest, we did change ideas because we thought in the very beginning we would do the hallway first. With it being the first room everybody sees, we thought we want that to go back to looking quite traditional, quite Georgian.
00:11:04
Speaker
And then actually once we moved in, things change and you kind of realise actually that wouldn't be the best thing because then if you're doing rooms upstairs, you're taking furniture through the hallway, you're scuffing the walls and we've learned that actually because we we have done the hallway now but we waited about a year and a half before we did that.
00:11:23
Speaker
So yeah, we just kind of prioritised based on once we lived in the house, how we used the spaces I would say. Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned your hallway. like I absolutely love the tiles. They're absolutely fantastic. Where do you get like inspiration from for design? Are you like a mood board kind of gal or do you just kind of look on Pinterest or where you get that? Yeah, I think a little bit of a combination of things, I guess I would say. I've always liked interiors. I wanted to do interior design at university when I was 20, when I was 18,
00:11:55
Speaker
And yeah, I think a little bit of it's in my head. I can kind of like design and imagine stuff. And sometimes I Google or Pinterest things that don't exist, which is sometimes quite frustrating. Sometimes I'm going to think, how can we make what Shanice has got in her head?
00:12:08
Speaker
But sometimes it's and Pinterest. Sometimes it's Instagram accounts. Sometimes it's magazines. and And what I'll do is I'll kind of accumulate those things together into making the image that i think fits with the house.
00:12:21
Speaker
Oh, nice. And you said you went into this with no DIY experience. I find that unbelievable. How did you just begin? Was it looking on YouTube and videos, how to's and just getting stuck in? Or I guess you just make mistakes along the way, but then try as you go. Yeah, we literally watch YouTube all the time. learn stuff. John is very much like,
00:12:47
Speaker
I'll give it a go kind of guy. Some people have said on Instagram or Facebook or wherever, what does your husband do for a living? He seems to know what he's doing. We we don't. We don't really know what we're doing at all. We just watch a video. And then John has learned a lot to experience because he's he he likes to give things a go and he likes to save money, let's be honest. You'll watch a video on YouTube of how to tile, give it a go, and then most of the time it kind of works out. And if it doesn't work out,
00:13:14
Speaker
If there are mistakes that are made, you kind of learn as you go and then you can rectify them. When I did the downstairs bathroom, I've never wallpapered in my life. I watched this really good man YouTube who was really kind and he was really encouraging, like, this is how you do it. I was like, yeah, I can do it, fine.
00:13:33
Speaker
And then I did it and it wasn't the best job, but it was it was fine. like It looked nice. Nobody would come in and say, oh, that's disgusting. Other actresses go online and did. yeah it was fine, yeah. so I think we just learn as we go. And the more you do things, the more confident you become and the more practice you get and you become better, don't you?
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. And i think you kind of pick up different skills doing different jobs and then they're kind of a bit transferable. You're did this on that. So that kind of makes sense when I'm doing pieces. But yeah, it looks, the house looks really incredible, like, especially for a couple that hasn't done any DIY before. I've seen you've started tackling the bathroom.
00:14:15
Speaker
Did that scare the life out you? It's absolutely huge. I mentioned bathroom. Yeah. Yeah. It is rather large. um We asked for, when we've got our kitchen done, the kitchen is the only thing we've not done ourselves. That was way beyond our skill set.
00:14:29
Speaker
John and his dad did consider the contemplated fitting the units themselves, but we just thought it might look a little bit too kind of amateur for what we wanted. So when we were going into the bathroom, we actually asked the fitters who did the kitchen and the plumbers and the electrician and stuff, how much would it cost to fit the bathroom for us?
00:14:49
Speaker
And they're quoted £7,000 and we were like, oh, okay. Not quite what we had in mind. So John being John was like, okay, I'll just do it myself. And yeah, we've we've ripped it all out. say we, he's he's ripped it all out. I've said it.
00:15:05
Speaker
and That's taken three days, which actually isn't too bad. I think we estimated it would take one, you but it's taken in three, but it's fine. it was You discover some things kind of as you go along. The shower tray was ridiculously heavy.
00:15:19
Speaker
It was made of stone, I think. Oh, wow. But the good thing is there was no leaks, which we assumed there would be, because I think the bathroom was fitted in around the early 2000s. So we assumed there might be some some things that have gone wrong over the years, over the 25 years, but it was fine. So now we're kind of in the putting things back stage, which is going semi-yoke. Yeah, that's nice. So do you have a timeline of these things? Because I saw on your Instagram, were like, what i want to do in 2025. And then in my head, you listed things that would take me about five years. So it was like, you guys must be so on it. good like Just multitasking.
00:15:59
Speaker
John always jokes, and so do my in-laws, that I love a deadline. And I love setting a deadline for ourselves in our old house. The only DIY we did, like I said, it was a new build. The only DIY we did, John did some panelling in the hallway, which is where he's got his panelling practice from.
00:16:15
Speaker
And I said I was pregnant at the time, so I said that needs to be done before give birth, please. So it's been since then, really, that I do set deadlines. But I like to think they're realistic deadlines.
00:16:26
Speaker
and But John also is very much like a work under pressure kind of guy. for all well Yeah, it meshes well. I say, let's try and have this done. And I'm very much like a calendar kind of person. So I write deadlines in our shared calendar.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I'll say, right, let's have the sink fitted by this day. And we agree that I'm not like a dictator. Yeah. We agree what we think is realistic and then we check the schedule kind of, I guess on an evening after we've finished work, rather than maybe sitting watching TV, we don't watch a lot of TV, we'll kind of revisit those deadlines and discuss where we're at and we'll get like our book out with our our list and things like that and we'll rehash over where we are at and what we need to possibly adapt.
00:17:09
Speaker
So sometimes they're realistic, sometimes they're really, really really not. The hallway we thought would take, I think we thought in the original deadline we set, think we thought like about six weeks and ended up taking six months. It's so hard though because it pleases your hallway but all those original features and it's just not easy to even like painting a room like that can take so long let alone stripping it back and I'm guessing you had like layers of wallpaper and things like that to deal with in there and yeah and again we we did ask for help with that because the hallway is kind of the the floor height to the ceiling height where the stairs are they're super high and we don't have if John's accumulated a lot of kind of um tools
00:17:51
Speaker
um over the years, but we don't have any like scaffolding to be able to get to the the ceiling. So we did ask for a painter to help us with that particular section just of the stairs, but then actually taking off the wallpaper, building the panelling. We tried to take off the tiles underneath and we really thought there would be some gems, some beautiful original tiles underneath and there wasn't, it was just concrete. So that was quite disappointing. That's so disappointing.
00:18:19
Speaker
I know, yeah. So in the end, we yeah it was just a lot of little jobs. There was also a leaf under the hallway window, which is a huge original kind of stained glass window.
00:18:30
Speaker
There was a leaf coming in through there. So as we go through, there are often jobs are not quite predicted for, that we need to adapt our timelines and work towards just just changing it up, really, being adaptable.
00:18:46
Speaker
Yeah, because I feel like you start one job and then it creates like 10 other jobs that you're just like not expecting to do, right? That's a scary thing. though When you say about your bathroom as well, and saying that's going quite well, but I think the bathroom is probably the hardest room in the house.
Social Media and DIY Journey
00:19:02
Speaker
There's just so much going on. There's five different trades if you were just to hire people.
00:19:07
Speaker
So you're doing quite a bit yourself, it's really, really involved. Yeah, john John's learned quite a lot about plumbing. we done the and We did the downstairs bathroom and he learned kind of how to, and we did the annex as well that we've got and he learned how to plumb a toilet, how to plumb a sink, again just from watching YouTube tutorials.
00:19:24
Speaker
So he thinks that he's like decent enough really that you can do it well with with hopefully no behind the scenes leaks and it's working touch wood it's working well so far. yeah So talking about like taking up tiles and stuff like that have you found any like great original pieces and features that you know those sorts of gems that you kind of dream about?
00:19:49
Speaker
um Yeah, to be honest, I wish there were more. I wish there were more. It would be nearly, i think it's like a 300-year-old house. I do wish that there'd been more hidden gems. But there was one in the kitchen when we did the kitchen. There was an exposed, so basically there was kind of,
00:20:07
Speaker
a weird-shaped asymmetrical alcove, a chimney breast that came out, and then two different-sized alcoves. So we changed the kitchen design, no lie, about 10 times. Yeah, because we were kind of filling in those alcoves. And I never really liked them because they were asymmetrical. It kind of messes with my brain a little bit. I was kind of thinking, how can we move around this? And then just one night... I just said to John, I wonder if that isn't a real chimney breast. Like, I wonder if it's just a fake wall.
00:20:36
Speaker
So we um got a hammer. And we started whacking a hole in the wall. And sure enough, when you shone a light in it, it actually was um hollow. It was a fake chimney breast.
00:20:49
Speaker
So the kitchen sitters came back the next year knocked the whole thing out. And there was a hidden fire that had been blocked up behind it. Now, it had been breeze blocked up, so it wasn't the most beautiful of things.
00:21:00
Speaker
but there was layers and layers and layers of wallpaper that must be dated back to like, I don't know, maybe Victorian times. actually messaged the wallpaper expert.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. yeah found um And he said he couldn't date it exactly, but it was old, maybe around about 100, 150 years old, something like that.
00:21:23
Speaker
um I did actually have some people saying to me online, that's arsenic green, you're going to die. Jesus. I'm still live, but it's near later. Just what you want to hear as well when you're doing something. I've got extra storage, but we will look at it. So you've been posting on Instagram and everything, happy many years? Because it's really, really grown. You've got such a good platform and your page is like artwork, every light image in the thumbnail looks so like beautiful. Is it something that sort of has grown slowly or you you saw something really like go crazy when you posted something specific?
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, so if I just go back a little bit, I actually had a social media page for my barn conversion. However, it was just for family and friends, and that's kind of what I always intended, or that it would just be family and friends kind of staying up to date with how we decorate our house, how we live our lives, things like that.
00:22:20
Speaker
When we bought this house, I thought we would do the exact same thing. So I made a new page announcing that we'd bought the house, And family and friends started following it again. So maybe I had about 250 followers, things like that. Just people I've been to school with things like that.
00:22:37
Speaker
And then that we bought the house in the February 2024.
00:22:42
Speaker
And then I think in the April time was when I did the downstairs bathroom and that blew up. don't really know why it blew up. It was kind of beyond anything that I expected. literally just DIY my bathroom, just painted some tiles, which maybe was controversial. It was very, very controversial. I loved your post saying everyone just going crazy. What's wrong with me? You look so good.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, well, thank you. just an impulsive idea because I'm i'm like that. i kind of, I get, sometimes I get really impatient with how the house isn't done and I think I'll just do a room. It'll be fine. And I just went on ah on a whim and did it. And then I went to sleep and the next morning, i think I had something like 15 million views. It was like, oh wow yeah. And even now it still gets views. I think it's on like 22 and a half or maybe 25 million, something like that. It's crazy. So then um It started to just really, really go up from that point. I think Instagram is a little bit more hit and miss. I think sometimes...
00:23:41
Speaker
I lose followers and sometimes I gain followers, and that's just part of what it is, I guess. Whereas Facebook has been really steadily inclining, and that's nearly at 200,000 now. It's more of an American following, which is quite interesting. So, yeah, I think people are – I'm very appreciative of it because it's still crazy to me. Like, this isn't my job. You know what I mean? a teacher, so this is still really surreal that people are interested to – see what we do and the opportunities like this, like speaking to you guys, like the opportunities that it's given me.
00:24:12
Speaker
And it's just, yeah, it's crazy. It's funny with the tiles, because I've actually never seen that before. So maybe that's why it blew up a little bit. But it's such a good idea, because if you were to rip those off, yeah you definitely have to plaster that bit for a start. You can never get tiles off without the walls falling apart. And actually, if it didn't work out, you probably just like spent a minimal amount of money on some paint, just your time.
00:24:34
Speaker
And at the end it, it looked so nice. But it really made me laugh as well, what you said about the wallpaper, because I i would never touch wallpaper. I'm scared of it. So you were obviously really brave to to to try and just do it. But that looked lovely as well, of all the patterns in it.
00:24:49
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, I didn't i didn't even realise you could paint tiles. And I just thought of it. I just thought, like, i want this wallpaper. want it to be quite maximalism and quite Georgian feeling, that you're in the bathroom and you feel like this belongs here. And then I thought the tiles kind of look a little bit...
00:25:04
Speaker
out of date with that time period so I just thought i wonder if i make it navy and I just googled tile paint and that exists so just went for it I feel really naive that we are doing a DIY podcast and didn't know that existed yeah literally did not know tile paint was a thing that's amazing think yeah I think it was controversial ah because it's probably not, I didn't also do it in a very um efficient, not efficient. I didn't, I did it in efficient way, but I didn't do it in the most thorough of ways, I guess. So I think I, I initially said, and I always said this, that it was a short term DIY project. I knew that eventually we would do it properly. We would take off the tiles, like you say, if we needed to replaster, replaster.
00:25:48
Speaker
But at the time it was just, I think I did it in three days and it cost me like 150 quid, something It was worth it. yeah oh good idea It looks amazing, doesn't it? Thank you. And as you said, you you've got your normal day job.
00:26:01
Speaker
now Now your socials are picking up and doing so well. Is it then tempted to go, right, let's just do this full time? Would that ever be a consideration of yours? um Good question, but I don't think so because I love teaching so much.
00:26:18
Speaker
i've done I'm in my 10th year of teaching now. And I think I would miss it too much if I ended up leaving, but I do love making videos. It's really fun. And again, I didn't, I didn't expect this to be kind of like a thing that I did. It it was just, it came out of nowhere really, but it's really enjoyable. And I've become, i would like to think a little bit better at it since I started.
00:26:40
Speaker
Because again, i I guess it's like a skill or a hobby that you practice and you become more adept at. But yeah, I don't think I would ever leave. I know a few people have and like, I think, wow, fair play to you. But I think personally, it wouldn't work for me to leave um to do this full time. But it's just something that I'm trying to manage two together.
00:27:00
Speaker
And sometimes I'm not great at managing the two together because teaching can take a lot of time. Content creation can take a lot of time. DIY can take a lot of time. But I'm just learning and it's it's all just a learning process, isn't it? So it's fine. And where you're not trying to force it, then you're like, okay, I can take my time. i don't I'm not trying to make a career out of this. i don't have to feel like I have to post. I'm just posting what I like because I enjoy it, which is nice.
00:27:24
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. yeah It's just fun and it's something that, Yeah, we just, we enjoy and sometimes, because we're doing it anyway, we're doing the DIY, we're doing the renovation anyway. If I get to film some stuff and then also put on and then people are really engaging and I love talking to people that i've met online. that I've got some people that have followed me since the very beginning. And they comment and engage in every single thing I do. And I'm so appreciative of of everybody. But those people are great to talk to. And I've built relationships, obviously online. I've not met them in real life because some of them live quite far away. But it's it's just an opportunity really that I'm very grateful for because it's nice to have as a side thing. And then I've got my career as well and my job.
00:28:03
Speaker
And I can just kind of have the two. working kind of simultaneously. It's amazing, really. We've got spoken to a few people like similar to you where they literally manage their family and the renovation.
00:28:15
Speaker
It's seriously impressive because it's really, really difficult to do that. like Kids probably go to bed at like seven or eight and then yeah you like what you're doing after that, you are you're maybe posting a video, creating a video or doing some painting. It's actually a really, really difficult thing to do. I don't know how many you guys.
00:28:30
Speaker
manage it whether you have days off for a little bit or like a week off or sounds like john doesn't but yeah yeah we've had to explain a little bit to family about how because i don't think they really realized how
Future Renovation Plans and Managing Criticism
00:28:45
Speaker
social media takes a lot of time and it does to to film stuff obviously it doesn't take a lot of time because we're kind of doing that anyway and i'm just filming whilst i'm doing it but the editing and making of that is is quite time consuming but like i said before it is fun we We go through peaks and troughs, I think. um We do sometimes get quite tired and we think we've not really had a weekend of just chilling out, enjoying each other's company, enjoying life. And we work all week, we're both full time.
00:29:14
Speaker
And then we come home and then we might have a weekend of where we're doing the bathroom or the hallway or whatever it is. So, yeah, sometimes it is quite tiresome and sometimes we think, like, we need a bit of a rest. But then we might give ourselves a week where we think, right, we're at work. But sometimes won't post a video for a week. And that's not the best for the algorithm, to be honest with you. But sometimes I just need time to, like, focus on work or something else. You know what I mean? Like, sometimes it is quite a lot to manage and juggle altogether. But I'm just trying to figure that out as I go. And I'm hoping one day I'll be a professional at work.
00:29:48
Speaker
managing every single thing but I doubt it I'm not that way inclined but maybe one day i'll just look like i've got my life together well we you've got such like incredible grounds around your house like I don't know how you just don't sit out the front with nice cup of tea or coffee and just kind of watch the sunset every night Do you have any projects out there that you'll think... It looks beautiful anyway. Thank you. Do you have anything you're going to need to do out there or does it look... It looks done to me.
00:30:21
Speaker
Well, John is very much obsessed with cooking. He loves cooking and he loves a barbecue. So how there we've had this project lined up now for about two years, since we moved in, I think, to be honest, where we thought let's do an outdoor kitchen and we really want to make a really cool area out the back with like a bar and just really like sociable.
00:30:42
Speaker
And every time we, prioritize that something else takes precedence. So we think that should be hopefully done for next summer instead. And then we can have a nice pizza over and then John knows all the things he watches lots of cooking YouTube channels as well. So he knows like all the the equipment that you need. I don't know. I don't, I don't really do a lot of cooking as you can probably tell, but he knows all the really cool things that do like the best pizza oven and all these different things. So that's his idea was to build his own outdoor kitchen. And then out the front, we did some stuff last year, but as you know, with the weather, it kind of deteriorates again. So we need to kind revamp the front again, really. i'm looking over there cause that's where it is, but yeah, nothing, nothing major planned out for the front, really just more for the back where it's a bit more,
00:31:30
Speaker
I don't know, you you get the you get the sun in the evening at the back. Yeah. So think that's what we're calling the kitchen out there, really. you find, um I find, because I put all my house on Instagram and everything, that when it starts looking nice, all my friends are like, well, we're coming over. And it's it's almost like a mandatory, like, well, it's no choice. like you You can't put your house on Instagram and and not invite people over. So you must have the same, surely, thinking, like, I'm coming round when you do that outdoor kitchen and I'm having a pizza on it. Yeah. I don't... and Yeah, when people say things like how
00:32:03
Speaker
you you want to have you all your friends around and stuff like that. Somebody actually asked me, did a Q and A on Instagram. They said, do you spend much time with your friends? And I wondered, do I look like a loner online? So hard.
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's because we are so busy and people like I see that, that we are doing full-time careers along with renovation, along with parenting and along with social media. But maybe it looks like I don't have any friends, but i promise I do. They love coming around, which is great. We have friends who live quite far away.
00:32:32
Speaker
We both grew up in East Yorkshire and we still have friends who live there. We're still best friends from school with them. So they live quite far away and they like to come and stay. we We did the annex quite early so they could stay there and we um are in the middle of doing the guest bedroom now so we can have some people stay over at Christmas. And then we have local friends as well, but obviously they just come around and then they they go home, obviously.
00:32:53
Speaker
The kitchen is a really, really good sociable place. I don't know if you saw, this is this is really... ostentatious and extra of us but we've built a champagne trough in the island i saw um yeah yeah people always comment on it and then we've when we've had like our friends around and gatherings and stuff like that gatherings parties whatever we you fill it with ice and you just put some beers in and it's great for a nice summer's day party it's yeah perfect That's awesome. Such a good idea. Yeah, exactly. But then now you look like an alcoholic. It's not every day. It's on a Monday and you're topping it with one. Well, this is tea. The wine's a bit filled with like a two pound beer or something. It might be champagne.
00:33:40
Speaker
Have you guys found just living in, our we ask this to most our guests because i was lucky enough with this house, we didn't actually have to live in it until the very, very end. But it must be so difficult because it's just, even if you're cleanliest, really take your time, it's just dust just appears everywhere. Walls
Renovation Strategies and Community Support
00:33:59
Speaker
coming down. It's just such a messy, messy thing. Even just like wallpaper and things. How do you sort of cope with that, guys?
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It's very chaotic. When we choose to do a room, we notice that early on because we did the snug, which is like the dark green room. We did that quite early on And we noticed that all the rooms just surrounding just became utter chaos. And we didn't realize that would happen. And it does become a little bit stressful and very much like,
00:34:26
Speaker
I like order. I like things to be in their place. I like cleanliness. So living in a renovation project isn't always the easiest for me. but I just kind of think it's okay. I've got a bit of a motto where I think time always passes because it does. Every time I'm stressed within a moment, I think it's okay because tomorrow we'll be more, we'll be closer towards finishing it. And time always passes, doesn't it? So yeah, we we don't have any tricks or tips really apart from just to expect that because I don't think We expected how chaotic things would become when you kind of do one room. You think it will be contained within that room, but it isn't. It spreads. And now because we're doing the bathroom, the hallway is just full of dust. And like I said to you before, we did do the hallway. We're finished now.
00:35:10
Speaker
And then when John's cutting tiles, I go upstairs and it's just like clouds of dust around him and i'm like, oh God, I need to vacuum again. It's so stressful as well, isn't Because you just you need so many tools and then so many materials and you can't just want put it all in the bathroom if you're doing the bathroom. So it does just naturally just go out. but And then if you've got like a lovely new hallway, you must just be like wanting to cry when someone's just walking through with like massive rubble sack full of stuff or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We got a carpet fitted vi other the other day, which I need to post about actually, and the carpet fitted didn't take their shoes off. And I don't know if that's a bit like OTT of me, but I kind of, i was stressed because I thought they're going up a fairly new hallway carpet and it's been raining outside. And I literally was like, yeah, supposed yeah
00:35:58
Speaker
Yeah, want to say, I don't know why didn't to say anything. I didn't want to be like, excuse me, can you take your shoes off? Because you look bit like a princess, don't you? But yeah, was like staring after their footprints, just staring at them. So typically British, isn't it? It's like, oh, I don't want to say anything, but you're also ruining my house. I probably apologise. Sorry for the new carpet.
00:36:22
Speaker
So how are you finding it? Obviously you two seem to work quite well together. How do you find it renovating as a couple? um i know me and you have got other halves and you know there's always those sort of disagreements and stuff. How do you kind of get by those difference of opinions?
00:36:40
Speaker
and I think John and I are very lucky. We've known each other for a long time. We met when we were 12. So we've kind of grown up with one another. And we don't often clash, which I know sounds a bit like, no, of course you don't, but no, seriously, we don't often clash. We kind of think quite similarly, but we know we we know kind of our strengths. We know that he is the DIY guy. he is the person who is the good good at the jobs and I'm the person who is good at the design. So we kind of stay in our lanes, I guess.
00:37:12
Speaker
if i I mean, yesterday we were building a bed and said, obviously I'll help. And I was trying to, and then he steps in and finishes the job because I can't tighten the screws as tight as he can tighten them or whatever. But then he will say things about the design. The other day he suggested we do the living room in two tones. There's a day door rail, which may be original, I'm not sure.
00:37:35
Speaker
and he suggested painting below the daido rail one colour and above the daido rail another colour and I just said, that wasn't nice. I thought this was a go-out thing but instantly I was like, that sounds really nice. And you're all just like, no, no, that's one more. I was like, oh, that's nice, dear. And then I let him walk through it a little bit. Went into the living room. He kind of told me his ideas he was like, what think? And I was like, I think it might look a bit like 90s and not in a cool vintage way, but in like, you know, when he used to have borders. you remember those borders that we'd do at the top of the kind of curving? And then terracotta and blues. We had a living room like that in 1999, actually. So I could picture it and I was like, I just don't think that's going work. And rather than trying to fight for he's just like, yeah, right, what do you think then?
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think if we, we just don't really clash. And I think if we do, we kind of know I wouldn't argue with him about what I know that he is the expert at. So if he's saying this is how to cut a tile, I'm not going be like, no, actually, this is how you do it because I have no idea what i'm talking about. And i we we discuss design ideas together. I don't dictate what the design is going to be, but we kind of look on Pinterest and I might show him something. I might describe something that I've imagined.
00:38:52
Speaker
And nine times out of 10, John's like, yeah, that looks great. So if he was like, no, that's hideous, I wouldn't do it, obviously. But it tends to work. If I was you, I'd just be like, well, I got 22 million views on my post, so I just listened to what say, mate. I love them well about your page. You find like things in like charity shops and like thrift shops, and it just looks amazing, and it's like such a good idea as well. Even I've found, I've never done the charity shop thing, but Facebook Marketplace, for example, is something you can just get absolute bargains on, even freebies. Yeah. Is that something you sort of regularly look like? When you go into those, are you just randomly looking for anything or do you have something in mind? because
00:39:33
Speaker
Because Emily and I have been in here nearly a year. We've got hardly anything on the wall still because we just find it so difficult to like commit to anything. Yeah. I love Facebook Marketplace. I think I might be a little bit addicted to it because I literally will look for anything. Like you just said, I'll just go on it and just if something like looks good i'm like yeah i'll take it if i can get i'm quite good at bartering with people um i love the bargain so i'll try negotiate down to a pretty good price and i always feel it's very addictive isn't it but i think most of the time i'm looking for something specific so when we did the hallway because we've done it in like a georgian style knew wanted kind of lots of old picture frames on the walls So you can't just go online on Amazon or just like a nice home interiors website and just buy a collection of quite eclectic picture frames. That doesn't exist. You can't do that. So instead, I knew I had to collect them from all different places. So I looked on Facebook Marketplace for a few things. I looked on, went to charity shops. I went to antique shops and just kind of, yeah, accumulated things over time, really. But I do think it's great for a bargain. And when you're doing a renovation, you need a bargain. Yeah. And also sometimes people say do their patio or whatever and just over order or change their mind on something. And you can actually pick up quite lot of things for free.
00:40:59
Speaker
yeah other People just want it like me. i hate clutter. So if I've got something like Emily's parents would probably keep it for like 90 years in case they need to change the patio. Whereas I'm like, no, out. And it's better than throwing it in the skip, right? And it goes to someone's heart. Yeah. um Yeah, we did that actually. We found some old flagstones from somebody who was giving them away because they'd done the exact same. They'd used it for a hearth and they didn't need the rest. And we used it um to make a hearth in the annex for the fire.
00:41:27
Speaker
So i that's my yeah. Yeah. Great find. So how would you find, like, we've spoken to a few people and they're like, the the actual DIY space online is so, everyone's so nice and so helpful, but you also get a lot of people going, oh, you shouldn't have done it that way, you should have done it this way.
Balancing DIY with Life and Career
00:41:46
Speaker
How do you kind of deal with that kind of negative messages? Do they bother you or do you just like, I don't really care, it's my house?
00:41:53
Speaker
Yeah, do you know what? When I was younger, was so much... I suppose as most of us are when we're young, we're quietly insecure and kind of need validation from other people. And I think as ah as human beings, I think there's an element of that in all of us. But as we get older, we kind of become a little little bit more secure in ourselves, don't we? So probably if I'd have done this maybe even five years ago, I think I would have been really affected by all the negativity online.
00:42:16
Speaker
But I just... don't really um I don't know why i find it ben entertaining it's not a bit sadistic I just find it little bit entertaining people are only criticizing jobs that I've done and I don't claim to be a professional I know that I'm not an expert I think if I was saying I'm the expert everybody should do it my way then I would kind of understand but I am quite vocal about the fact that I'm just giving things a go and we're just, we're just trying. It's just our house. Life is a journey, making the most of it and whatever.
00:42:49
Speaker
But if people say, well, like they did with the bathroom, you didn't prime the tiles, you didn't sand the tiles. And I know I didn't, but I couldn't be bothered because it was just only a year project. I didn't really, yeah, I think it doesn't really massively matter. And when,
00:43:05
Speaker
I have got quite hateful comments actually. Somebody, um i won't swear, but somebody called me an evil B word. we Because I posted a reel about the kitchen island.
00:43:18
Speaker
And we don't. It's it's called Dekton, the material that the worktop has made out of. And I posted it. And then I think I posted it Sunday night. Yeah, did. And then had work all day Monday morning. all All day Monday, sorry. And then on Monday afternoon, when I finished work and I could check my phone, I had loads of messages of people asking where I'd got it from.
00:43:37
Speaker
And because I hadn't replied immediately, people were saying, she's needle. You should block her. like Yeah, i've I've had quite a lot of... um Lots of things people were saying that my husband should cheat on me. man?
00:43:51
Speaker
Just for painting my bathroom tiles. Yeah, it's just so ridiculous. But I think you've dealt with that really well. I've seen lots your posts where you just put the comments and it's just like you do in like a, I'm laughing at you type thing. It's just so ridiculous. It's my house.
00:44:04
Speaker
You do what I want with it. And it looks amazing. So that's a really good way of dealing with it. Thank you. i think always... Sorry, go on. Some people are just so weird. you just can't like... They are. Why would you think of doing that? Going on and just to criticise someone.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah. Do you know, I appreciate feedback and I do and I always appreciate that when I post things online, I am inviting comments, I'm inviting engagement and i i want that really. and that's That's nice. And I love sharing my journey with people but I appreciate things done in a polite way. i think if you... were Well, we're human beings and we make mistakes but I think...
00:44:41
Speaker
We should just be polite. Like if if somebody was walking down the street and I didn't like their outfit, I wouldn't go up to them and go, oh, you look hideous. Do you know what I mean? Because you've put something online that seems to think that they can do that.
00:44:52
Speaker
And because they think it, they write it. And I think that you can say, that's not my style, but well done. You can say that. You can be appreciative of somebody's hard work. And you can also respect that.
00:45:04
Speaker
their graft and their effort and you can be polite you don't have to be rude and disrespectful but when I call it out people don't necessarily like that so I just try and make a bit of a joke of it really yeah that's the best thing you can do exactly that but surely out of all of your projects like the one I loved on Instagram was was it an old dog kennel something you turned into and I'm glad you said earlier you do have friends I was like why are you doing a dog kennel Just the one. yeah yeah But that looked incredible. Did you like change the like structure of that or was that literally you just knocking it all out?
00:45:35
Speaker
No. So it's a rather large dog kennel. We have a dog, but he's about this big. If we put him in a dog kennel, he would cry and then disown us and move. So dog kennel was never meant for him. It was I think by the previous owners who must have had multiple dogs, I'm not really sure, but we just knew it wouldn't work for us. So we just transformed it really into something that we thought would work for us. And as British people with friends, we do like it anything. Yeah.
00:46:05
Speaker
But there is no public walking distance because we're quite rural. So we thought, well, let's make our own. So, yeah, we got um wall panelling, kind of that acoustic wall panelling within there. um We already had the sofa.
00:46:17
Speaker
We got a bioethanol fire. and John made the bar. So it didn't it didn't change the structure. We just moved a wall. So we just took some bricks out. and then put them underneath, which had been like a run around for dogs. So he made it into a half height bar, if that makes sense. And then, yeah, we just put a dartboard in there, TV.
00:46:37
Speaker
just made it cool and now it's a nice place to hang out on a Friday or Saturday night. It's nice. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a bar. I want a bar. I'm sure every British person wants a bar. Well, thanks for your time today. We always ask the same question at the end and it's just basically, your sort of well you might have touched on it to be honest with your worst thing, but it's just sort of the best and worst thing about doing DIY and your experiences of it so far just for for our listeners who are willing to tackle something like you have, what's been your sort of best experience of doing it, like most fulfilling but then also what's been your sort of worst and like, God, but maybe you've got it, don't know.
00:47:15
Speaker
I think the, if we start with the worst, I think the worst is probably just the time it takes and to always have that contingency of not only budget but time. I think people don't often realize you need a contingency of of time because you're not going to you're going to do things always to the strict deadline that you set.
00:47:34
Speaker
And sometimes that can be stressful. It can cause a lot of um chaos in in the brain. and and in the life But going on to the best thing, it's always worth it. I think that when you can design a space yourself and you can achieve it yourself by doing it yourself, It's such like an element of satisfaction thinking, oh, wow, we've created this. Like the snug is just opposite me now. i'm looking at it right now.
00:47:59
Speaker
And we both feel it was one of the first rooms we did, but we both feel so proud of that room that we both kind of 50-50 did that room. And it's somewhere we spend every single evening in. So even though things take time and it's stressful, it's worth it.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah, and it's so fulfilling, isn't it? Like when you're actually living in it and then you obviously you've got a family and everything, you're like, wow, we're actually we've done this ourselves, it's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah definitely. Well, amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Could you tell the guys at home where they can find you, on what platforms you're on and your your name and everything, please? Yeah, so Instagram is at the Georgian Farmhouse. I think there are two underscores, you'll see me because my name's Shanice, you'll see that.
00:48:38
Speaker
And then Facebook the same, the Georgian farmhouse. I did try TikTok, but I found it difficult. too young for me. I'm exactly the same. I've got a TikTok. I post on it, but don't go on it. I'm just like, this is not the place for me. I'm nearly 14. I do like the dancers, though, yeah.
00:48:59
Speaker
Amazing. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for speaking with us. We'll see you soon. and shi and Thank you, Shalees. I appreciate
Closing Thoughts and Listener Engagement
00:49:06
Speaker
it. Thank you very much. Thanks so much for such a great chat, Shanice. Oh, that was so good. I do love her interior, I must admit. Yeah, right she was fun as well, wasn't she? Yeah, and she was so much fun, yeah.
00:49:18
Speaker
So, favourite parts? Oh, it's hard not to lean straight into being a stereotypical guy and say, in the pub, the dog into a pub. Yeah, that's an amazing idea. It's It's like such a small space, wasn't it? Like, what else would you use it for, realistically? Yeah, exactly. It looked like a funny shape as well, wasn't it? It's just like converting. It looks so nice. It's amazing. I like when people do stuff like that.
00:49:39
Speaker
So cool. You should put that on my YouTube so I'll just get millions of views. I'll be all over something like that. Yeah, definitely. And it just adds a bit of character to the properties. Not a who's laughing character, but it's just something else that's sort of added in there. It's an amazing house though, isn't it? Inside and out. It's one those ones outside. If you guys look at the Georgian Farmhouse account on Instagram, it looks so impressive.
00:49:59
Speaker
yeah and All of her posts are really like... Just fancy looking, aren't they? Yeah. It looks so nice. But just for scale, the bathroom seems huge, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And all the features and that sort period. That's it. Well, she's got to contend with the bathroom next, right? Yeah, exactly. Probably wishing it wasn't soapy, but she's doing the work it. What about then? What was your favorite bit?
00:50:20
Speaker
I really like the um tiles. What a hack with that. Didn't know that was a thing. No, I didn't know that at all. And as someone who's hacked off tiles before, it's an absolute pain. It creates a mess. And, you know, when you move into a property,
00:50:36
Speaker
Do you want to straight away and recut bathroom? Probably not. No, exactly. If you can freshen it up, you know, even if it's a new bathroom, it's not to your taste. yes You should call that option. Yeah, exactly. as She said it was just a temporary measure, didn't she? Yeah. It literally transformed because the tiles themselves were just like,
00:50:52
Speaker
It's bit dull, but like plain white tiles with no grooves in or anything, all flat. So why not? But yeah, I can't believe that's a thing. I can't believe next thing. No wonder it 22 million views or whatever you said. men So many views, wasn't it? That's awesome. I love stuff like that. Yeah, so good. It's just helpful for people out there who, you know, maybe we don't have the money at the moment and can just jump in and just spruce up their bathroom. Yeah, I'll be so unoriginal, I'll just be like painting my tiles blue now to like try and get the hits. And morbid. Exactly.
00:51:23
Speaker
there was right glad Yeah, that was awesome. So do you want to tell the guys about a little bit about the email address and Instagram where to find us? and you Hopefully you guys can message you and listen to next week's episode, which is just going to be Dan and I discussing my grandma's place. Yeah.
00:51:38
Speaker
Well, thank you so much for tuning in. Hopefully you've made it to this point. and Obviously you can reach us on our Instagram, which is at DIY underscore guys underscore podcast.
00:51:51
Speaker
Or if you want to ping us an email, you can email us at hello at DIYguyspodcast.com. If you want any tips, if there's anyone that you've seen on Instagram or YouTube that you would love us to get on, or if you're thinking about doing a renovation yourself and you just want to reach out to us and ask us any questions, or you just want send us abuse, then yeah. we Because they send money. They send me money for my renovation. But yeah, feel free to reach out to us. um Thanks a lot for listening and we'll catch you next time. See you in the next one.