Original subtitles

Here in the UK,

we do love a period property.

I never dreamt I would own a castle.

For me, it looks like a typical doll's house.

From countryside houses...

It was everything you could dream of.

It was a palace.

...to timeless terraces.

I turned up and I thought, "Whoa, this is pretty cute."

But beneath the grand facades...

Hopefully, the house won't fall down. We'll see, won't we?

...these historical homes are falling to bits.

Everyone told us to tear this building down.

All over the country,

an army of renovators are snapping them up

at knockdown prices.

I think we should leave it like this. It looks old-timely.

...then facing challenges of epic proportions.

I said all along to get a new build.

This series, we meet the brave new renovators...

We were looking for a bungalow with a shed.

...and return to our familiar band of determined dreamers.

Who else has got a chapel in their house?

All risking everything...

I thought I had a good idea of what was needed.

I was quite wrong.

People think renovation is lovely, don't they?

Oh, God. I'm trembling.

...to create the forever home of their dreams.

Oh my God. It's so nice!

...brick by brick...

Whoa! This is amazing.

...room by room.

I'm still having my pinch-me moment.

We're nowhere near finished, but it feels like a house now.

We are a renovation nation.

This week,

five new renovators, raring to go...

I'm quite sure a professional would be laughing right now.

...breathe new life into their precarious properties.

I'm exhausted.

Today, in Warwickshire,

We catch up with Andrew and Mandy

turning a dusty old stable block into a stunning photography studio.

I wanna get my camera out and start taking photographs.

In Kent, we rejoin Iain and Miranda at the old rectory...

...creating a fabulous family movie room in their attic.

It's really, really cool.

And in West Yorkshire...

There you go. All right. So, next...

...we meet a couple transforming a Victorian villa

into an airy, modern home.

John did prep me, um, that was, like,

"We are going to gut it and start again."

In the county of Warwickshire,

birthplace of Shakespeare,

lies Dunsmore Hall.

Built in the 1770s,

this three-storey, 27-room Georgian giant

has been extended many times over the decades.

Falling into a desperate state of disrepair,

in 2020 it was snapped up for 676,000

by chemical engineer, Andrew, and special needs teacher, Mandy.

We think we got it for a bargain.

A lot more problems than we were expecting, though.

Yeah. Yeah.

Two years ago,

the couple were living in the hall

without heating or hot water.

We had a thermometer

that showed it was ten degrees in here

when it was snowing outside.

We haven't been in the front room for two months

because it's been too cold.

But slowly, this 250-year-old house...

Hold on. That's a doorframe.

...reluctantly began to reveal its secrets.

Oh, some cornice there!

...uncovering the history within.

You always see the programmes on TV

where they reveal fantastic mouldings,

and no, we're not gonna to get that.

But, we have! This is great.

So far,

they've installed a new heating system,

completed a stunning, new kitchen diner

and a formal dining room.

It always, always to be airy and light, wasn't it? Yeah.

To keep that feel.

For these rookie renovators,

living onsite with only two rooms of 27 complete,

they take it all in their stride.

Sometimes feel like we're playing at it

cos we don't really know what we're doing.

But, what's the worst that could happen?

It's not gonna fall down by something we do.

It's gonna fall down if we don't... ...don't do stuff.

It's now January 2023,

and there are a couple of structures

which are, actually, in danger of collapse.

We've got feeder troughs on all the stalls.

They're against the wood. So, they've got to come out.

The stables are in need of some serious renovations,

but this being Dunsmore, there's not just one block, but two.

One set of stables, which we think of as the old stables...

...and then the other ones are... ...we call the big stables.

Unfortunately, the cupola on the top was rotting on the outside.

...and that's the air vent.

So, it creates, it creates the ventilation

for when it's full of seven large horses.

And both stables are in desperate need of repair.

We've had to redirect finances

that would have been used elsewhere on the house to,

as we're putting it, saving the stables.

While their plan for the old stables

is to restore them to their original state,

photography enthusiast, Andrew,

plans to turn the other block into a studio.

Today is our strip-out of the stables

so that we can get that room progressed.

That's a piece of ceiling lath.

Andrew and Mandy's team of builders set to work

dismantling the old horse stalls.

In no time at all,

the potential of the cleared space becomes fully apparent.

Wow!

It makes the space look twice the size.

I wanna get my camera out and start taking photographs.

Would you just stand there, Liam?

Never ones to let anything go to waste,

Andrew and Mandy will repurpose the timber

from the centuries-old stable stalls

with the lids from the feed troughs earmarked for shelving in the studio.

A few months later,

with the roof of the big stables well on the way to being repaired,

in the other stable block,

work on the photography studio is coming together.

We now have brand-new soundproof ceiling

and underfloor-heated floor.

It's very warm.

While the studio will be a very modern workspace,

Mandy is keen that any new additions

are sympathetic to the building's equestrian heritage.

Because it's an old stables, it was, obviously, not domestic.

So, we've left it with galvanised light switches.

Everything's surface-mounted because there won't be any plaster.

So, the stables had lots of, sort of, feeding troughs.

We left this one in cos it wasn't in the way.

The others would have been but, nod back to it

and we've left as many of the rings

that the horses would have been tied up to, as possible, in the wall.

Today, Mandy is doing a paint test on one of the stable doors

and she's being very mindful of the history of the building.

So, we're painting, undercoating this white.

Everything at the moment is painted black.

It's very depressing and also not period correct.

So, that's the colour we're going to go with.

It's sort of a stone colour.

We did some research on different paint companies',

uh, historical colours,

and this was either late Georgian, early Victorian,

which is about the age of the, the stable block.

So, that seemed appropriate.

And also, having a lighter colour,

it's gonna lift the courtyard, generally.

The stables have a way to go

before Andrew's dream photography studio can be realised.

To help with insulation,

the pair plan to make their own lime mortar

to keep the space warm and dry.

120 miles away, in Kent,

on the edge of the North Downs,

lies this 19-roomed former rectory,

dating back to the 1850s.

The church dignitaries long gone,

by the 20th century, it had fallen from grace

until salvation arrived in the form of Aussie couple, Iain and Miranda.

The self-made entrepreneurs left their corporate Sydney life

and paid just over £1 million for the rectory,

with a dream of building a future here with their three children,

Ted, Celeste and Sophia.

We got to a point in our life that we needed a bit of a,

a, sort of, sea change.

in our life, sea change is always gonna be drastic, right?

A bit like the house.

We don't tend to do things in halves.

A year ago,

Iain and Miranda set out to create a modern family home.

Looking good!

But there'd be no fancy architects or interior designers.

It's not perfectly straight.

They were getting hands-on.

Couples that strip together, stay together. Is that so?

Learning skills from carpentry to plumbing...

Oh, it's heavy.

...demolition to restoration...

...breathing life and love into their family home.

Is this worth it? Well worth the effort.

12 months on,

there's still a way to go at the rectory.

We've been living in this renovation for over two years now,

but we're probably only a quarter of the way in.

Wow. That's pessimistic.

How many rooms have you completed? But they're nearly done.

But they're not completed. Not finished, but it's done.

It's not done at all. All right.

We have somewhere to sleep. We have somewhere to wash.

We have somewhere to eat.

But now, in phase two, we're gonna have somewhere

to relax, enjoy, dine, socialise.

So, I can't wait to get this part done.

This year, they plan to restore their dining room

to make a fabulous space for entertaining

and create a self-contained three-bedroom apartment

where friends and family can stay on the top floor of the house.

But today,

they are planning to bring some Hollywood glamour to the rectory.

Here we are.

The movie room of dreams.

This family movie room in the attic

will be a place to kick back after a hard day's renovating

and somewhere for the kids to do their own entertaining.

There's some great features that we've added into here

for the kids to be able to use.

So, for instance, we've created these pods.

We call them pods.

It will fit a standard-sized child's mattress.

So then, when the kids have friends over to watch a movie,

they can have a sleepover up here.

They're super-excited about it.

Miranda, the creative visionary behind this renovation,

has set Iain the challenge of creating a magical nighttime ceiling

as the centrepiece of the movie room.

So, this is the starlight ceiling,

which is what this board is here below us now.

So, this is the backside of it.

So, this is cut to fit the hole above. Yes.

And then, what we've got is, we've got these fibre optic cables

which are then going to create the starlight ceiling.

That's gonna involve drilling a number of holes,

either in a pattern or randomly.

If we turn it on,

they'll go through, like, maybe they're gonna hang like that

through the board.

Yep. So, lots of them hanging off.

The school summer holidays are the deadline to get this finished.

Before any of that, they'll need to feed all 800 cables

through the holes to create the stars.

You don't wanna do, like, a star sign or... No.

...northern hemisphere versus southern hemisphere,

Southern Cross versus the Big Dipper?

I think we're gonna go for the random

"put holes in the board" constellation.

Coming up...

in West Yorkshire...

There you go. All right. So, next.

...a cost-conscious couple are doing as much as they can

before trades take over.

Right. This is the really glum bit.

And in Kent...

Hold those two bits. Very delicate.

...chaos ensues...

Teddy, Teddy, you're caught in that.

...as Iain and Miranda reach for the stars.

Oh, no. No, no. Be careful, be careful.

Just keep pulling.

In West Yorkshire, perched above the Colne Valley

is the village of Golcar,

where this six-bed beauty stands,

built in 1884.

Originally a family home,

most recently, it was a doctor's house and surgery.

But falling into decline, the building landed on the critical list

until it was snapped up in 2022 for £460,000

by Jill, an accountant, and her fiance, John,

a professional builder.

As soon as we saw this place, it was just beautiful.

We couldn't have really afforded something as grand as this

without getting it, you know, at quite a good price

because it did need a lot of modernisation.

So far,

builder, John, has gutted what was a 13-roomed house

to give them the blank canvas required to create their vision

of a modern family home.

Jill was stunned by the extent of the demolition.

John did prep me before we bought, obviously,

um, that was, like, "We are going to gut it and start again,"

which, obviously, I understand,

but there are some times when I've come in and thought,

"Oh, my God. What have we done?"

We've made it so much worse before it can get better

and that's been a bit of a shock to me.

Having knocked down most of the internal walls,

their idea is to reconfigure the floor plan

and create a much lighter and brighter contemporary space.

With the building's structural bones laid bare,

Jill and John's ambition is to renovate the entire house in a year,

which is a lot of pressure, particularly on the purse strings.

You have a budget and then you find that you need a new floor, uh,

and chamber joists on the first floor in this part of the building

and, you know, that just, you just have to take it

and you have to, sort of, press on

but... Yeah. ..there'll be ways in which we can manage that a bit.

And they're essential as well, aren't they?

What, a floor? Yeah, yeah. Quite, quite essential, yeah.

Living off-site in a rental and working full-time

means renovating is restricted to weekends

and as they want to keep the costs of the build down...

There you go. All right. So, next.

...they're keen to make sure their limited time

is as productive as possible.

For us, it's mainly just about, like, trying to prep jobs

for trades to come in,

so they're not doing loads of work that you could have done.

With stud walls now in place,

Jill and John are fitting some much-needed insulation

to this 140-year-old building.

Right. This is the really glum bit.

Meanwhile, outside,

their renovation has reached an important milestone.

The stone exterior has been sandblasted

and the entire roof has been replaced,

which means the scaffolding is coming down,

revealing the renewed exterior to the excited couple

for the first time.

It looks so much better than it did, now, though, doesn't it?

It's, like... Yeah. ..a facelift.

It's good to, sort of, finally have a nice, new, watertight house

because there's quite a lot of damp spots inside.

Secure outside and the structural work moving along inside,

Jill and John can begin to visualise their new layout.

For a house this size, the kitchen was absolutely tiny.

The lounge area here,

this room was. Uh, it had a fireplace, obviously,

that's still there at the minute, but that's going,

um, and this is going to be the kitchen-dining area.

This goalpost steel structure in here that you've got

then, massively opens it up.

There'll be an island in the middle, gonna make a feature.

So, there's three different antique lights

that will sit in the middle here. It's gonna look brilliant.

But with electrics and plumbing to be installed,

walls to be plastered

and period features to be reinstated,

Jill and John's dream kitchen is still a long way off.

230 miles away at the old rectory in Kent,

where drill bits between the teeth,

Iain and Miranda are working on the starlight ceiling

of their movie room.

It's actually quite easy, once you get your rhythm.

You just gotta get your rhythm.

With the MDF ceiling board painted and cut to size,

the first job is to drill holes to create a constellation effect.

This is two liney. Gotta be more organic.

That's my middle name.

But precision is required.

Each hole will house a single fibre optic cable to create the stars.

With a staggering 800 holes drilled,

Iain and Miranda have called on apprentice star makers,

Ted and Celeste, to make it a family affair.

Hold those two bits. Very delicate.

Don't drop them.

Yellow!

But mix 800 fibre optic cables...

Pink!

This white gold.

Blue!

...a six and a seven-year-old...

Who seconds? Is that all right?

...and Iain and Miranda

and the result is...

Teddy, Teddy, you're caught in that.

...utter chaos.

Keep pulling. I think it'll come apart.

Oh, no. No, no. Be careful. Be careful.

Despite the madness, Iain and Miranda are savouring every moment.

I think one of the benefits of doing what we're doing

and how we're doing it

just, by nature, allows us to spend more quality time as a family.

Can you see it? Huh? Can you pull it through?

At the age that we are, that's quite fortunate.

I don't think a lot of people, sort of, get to sit there

and do that in their life.

Thought it would be, like, an hour or so.

It's taken a bit longer than that.

It's a few days later...

Oh! Watch your feet.

...and after some further painstaking hours of work,

the stars have finally aligned

and the couple, with the help of builder, Steve,

are launching their sparkling centrepiece into its celestial home.

All right. Now, grab the thing, beautiful.

One small stepladder for Steve,

and after a short struggle,

one giant leap forward for the movie room.

Good job.

Yeah! Yay!

But they're not quite finished.

Time to snip all 800 cables to size.

Uh, yeah, there's a lot to cut.

A lot.

Once you cut it, then you get the actual effect,

which is, like, really lovely.

I think that looks really good.

Iain is delighted with the progress so far

in this once-spooky attic space.

When we first came in here, this was,

it wasn't a very comforting place to be.

The kids used to bring their friends up here

just to scare them, really, to be honest.

Now, they'll bring them up here for a different reason.

And with the final few strands left to cut,

it's only fitting that the family get involved once more.

What I've done

is I've let you guys do some of the cutting at the end, yeah?

Does that sound like fun?

Yeah!

This way.

Squeeze.

Good job. Great.

Oh, you just got that on my head.

Mum gets the last one.

The ceremonial one. One!

One. A single clip.

One. Yeah, that's it. That's the one.

Just, just comes in for the glory at the end.

Ha-ha! Whoa!

What an effort you've put in there, Miranda. It's amazing.

OK. Are you ready?

Who wants to turn it on? Me!

Just turn it on, which is the red one, yeah?

You got it. There you go.

IAIN GASPS Wow!

It looks like the Australian Outback, doesn't it? Oh, it does.

The white twinkle is the best. Yeah, it is.

Yeah. 100% the best. It's really, really cool. Yeah.

Hey! High five.

With a carpet still to fit

and a snack preparation kitchenette to build,

there's still a bit to go

before it's the movie premiere night.

Coming up...

...in Warwickshire, something's cooking...

I certainly don't want any of it splashing up on me.

...but is the mixture quite right?

Is it staying on the wall? Ish.

In Kent...

Ooh!

...magic carpet rides aren't all they're cracked up to be

for Iain and Miranda.

There is a big risk

that Iain could put the carpet through one of the windows.

And in West Yorkshire...

Ooh, look at that! Oooh!

...artisan craftsmanship makes a big impression.

This is the showstopper.

Oh, isn't it gorgeous? Isn't it?

In Warwickshire, at Dunsmore Hall,

Andrew and Mandy's renovation of their old stable block

into a photography studio for amateur photographer, Andrew,

is moving forward.

I put these on in case it splashes.

Today, it's the room adjoining the studio getting all the attention.

This will become Andrew's new home office.

While Andrew preps the walls inside,

outside, Mandy's taking charge of mixing up

the traditional hot lime mortar for the interior walls.

I certainly don't want any of it splashing up on me.

Having had an expert teach them how to make lime mortar

when they were renovating their dining room,

Mandy knows what she is doing.

You read lots of books and you ask on online forums

and you watch videos and,

and someone comes and teaches you.

But, at the end of the day, it's still seems to change,

every batch you do, how it looks.

It's still a bit powdery, so, in the bottom,

so I might need to add more water and leave it to...

...it's still hot.

Using traditional lime plaster or mortar

is common in period restorations.

The bricks used in the 18th century to build the stables are porous,

which allows water to travel through them,

something you definitely don't want building up inside your walls

and damaging your home.

By putting lime plaster on it allows that moisture to,

to move between the two surfaces a lot easier.

So, for the last day or so, we've been wetting down these walls

to try and saturate the bricks,

but I don't want it to suck all the water out of the plaster as I'm putting it on.

The final ingredient are these woody stems of hemp known as shive.

Mandy is adding it to the mix

as it will help the plaster retain heat and keep the room cosy.

That's OK to mix up.

Definitely modern tech.

It's another step forward at Dunsmore,

as the inaugural batch of the insulating lime mortar is applied.

Is that staying on the wall? Ish.

It is a lot harder to work.

So, do you want me to put more water in? I think so.

Back to the mixer again, Mandy.

Three weeks later, inside the old stables,

Andrew's office walls have had two coats of lime mortar

while next door, in the soon-to-be photography studio,

smart light fittings have gone in.

Have you got a tape measure there? Yeah.

Today, it's another day of hard graft for Andrew and Mandy.

We have been putting down the floor

that is going underneath our final finished floor,

which is being glued and screwed down.

Using battens laid into the concrete as a guide,

this job requires precision.

So, if we don't screw into the battens,

then we'll screw into the kilometre of underfloor heating pipe instead.

So, if we are... ...only half a kilometre. Oh, yes,

half a kilometre of underfloor heating.

As the heating system is now sealed under a layer of concrete,

if any screw misses the battens and punctures the heating pipe,

it would mean ripping it all out and starting again.

Too costly to even think about.

Ready to check?

This is probably the most stressful thing we've done in the entire renovation, isn't it?

Rather you than me, Andrew.

Right angle,

93 and 98.

OK, yeah. It's in the middle.

A layer of PVA glue helps to seal the boards

as they're dropped into place...

...before the drill comes out and they pray

they've measured everything correctly.

If I did inadvertently drill through one of these pipes,

how likely would be the insurance to pay out?

Let's hope you never need to find out, Andrew.

With some smart flooring to be fitted to finish off this space,

it won't be much longer before Andrew's studio is camera-ready.

Back at the old rectory in Kent,

where Iain and Miranda's movie room is taking shape.

With the starlight ceiling finished,

Iain's begun installing appliances for the cinema snack bar.

Soon, this will be a space for the whole family to enjoy.

The summer holidays, an awfully long time here.

It just, sort of, gives them a great space,

anything to keep them occupied

will go an awful long way.

Popcorn and ice cream on tap would do it for me.

But there is only one thing their kids are dreaming of.

We moved them in, we promised them that there would be fresh carpets.

We still haven't delivered them with the fresh carpets.

There's many, many, many splinters that end up in their feet,

but they've become so good at it now.

They can take their own splinters out by themselves.

That's all about to change today,

as the first new carpet to adorn the rectory has arrived.

Once that carpets in, it's gonna be fantastic.

It's got this, sort of, a little bit of an Art Deco-Grecian thing going on.

It's gonna really make the room pop and come together

and add just a little extra pizzazz.

There is one slight problem, though.

The roll of carpet is so long

it won't fit up the narrow staircase to the attic room,

but Iain has a plan.

This is an articulated boom.

We use it quite often to get to the higher-up places of the house.

Today, we're gonna try and use it to put the carpet for the movie room

in through the window.

I'm reasonably confident that it's gonna work.

Not the best start.

Yeah, it's these small little things that just become really annoying.

Problem one is swiftly resolved.

Iain's soon on his way to put his master plan into action.

I'm always really nervous of Iain's half-baked, half-brain ideas.

That's not gonna work.

Sometimes they work really, really well

and sometimes they fail.

Yeah. 450.

Cool.

Often the problem is,

is he doesn't tell me what is exactly happening in the moment.

So, I don't know how to help him,

but fingers crossed.

Yeah. It's tight enough, but it'll do the job.

It's gonna work.

Have faith.

With the articulated boom in place,

many hands are needed to lift the carpet.

One, two, three.

They are soon on a roll...

...and Operation Carpet Lift springs into action.

There is a big risk

that Iain could put the carpet through one of the windows

that he's spent the last three weeks trying to fix.

Oooh!

Yeah, what I'm gonna do is... Watch.

That will do. That will do? Yeah!

That was nice. Ah, a little bit proud.

Oh, look at you!

Oh, you're so proud of yourself.

Yeah. Yeah.

Couldn't have done it without Ted.

Thanks very much, Ted.

But celebrations are a little premature.

Iain had no problem getting it up,

but getting it in is a different matter.

Despite their best efforts, the carpet's not budging.

It's now Miranda's turn to shine.

So, just hit the green button to make sure it's on.

Turning it on now.

And after some delicate manoeuvres...

Stop!

...and some good communication...

Now, can you go... Can you, then, do me a favour? Yep.

Can you turn it into the building, which is the third one?

More?

...the carpet is in with no major disasters.

That's it. Now we're in. That's it.

Well done.

Good job, Ted. Thanks, Celeste.

Fingers crossed it doesn't look terrible.

After two years of dusty floorboards...

There we go. Ooooh!

...three members of the clan, at least, are positively delighted.

Look at Darcy. Darcy's loving it.

Oh, I love carpet.

The whole family will be loving it as soon as that carpet is fitted

and, of course, when the cinema snack bar is fully operational.

Back in Golcar, West Yorkshire,

where it's full steam ahead with Jill and John's renovation

of the former doctor's house and surgery.

With Jill and builder, John,

having done much of the prep work at weekends,

trades have now fully taken over.

In the last four months,

walls have been plastered,

rooms have been painted

and period features have been reinstated.

Most of the rooms, we're leaving it fairly simple for now,

just so we can move in quite quickly.

But then, we've put back really nice original features back in.

So, we've got the ceiling rose, the dentil cornice and stuff in here

and keep everything quite plain for now and live in it for a bit

and then, see what we want.

Elsewhere in the house, the open-plan kitchen-diner space

is ready and waiting for the new kitchen to arrive.

Their sitting room is also much closer to completion.

It's certainly a far cry from the previous sitting room

that sat in this exact same space.

To help bring the style to this room,

today, Jill and John are very excited to take delivery

of a showstopping Italian hand-carved marble fireplace.

Ooh, look at that! Ooh. Oh, gorgeous.

This is the showstopper.

Oh, isn't it gorgeous? Isn't it?

Oh, my gosh.

So, this is going in the lounge.

John chose it. It's like a creamy colour as opposed to a white one.

That's special, that. It's obviously been hand-done

by some geezer in Italy,

giving it that for, you know,

a good period of time.

We'll feel like we've moved in when we can, um,

light the fire for the first time and, like,

it's these little things like that I really can't wait for now.

Two weeks later and the kitchen install is in full swing

with John labouring for Stephen, the fitter, to help keep costs down.

So, if you watch out for that plumb line there, then. Yeah, yeah.

It should just hook on nice there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Um. All right.

First time, Stephen. This is where it falls off.

Kitchen fitting's an art form, really.

You don't just want to be banging your own kitchen in first time,

Otherwise, it's gonna look like a dog's breakfast, so...

It's just knowing your limits but yeah, everything else, yeah.

I try and get involved with.

Look at that. Pretty good.

It's been six months since Jill and John embarked on their journey

to transform their rundown former doctor's house and surgery

into an epic contemporary home.

Having gutted the interior,

ripping down nearly every internal wall

and reconfigured the layout to create an open and light modern space

within the walls of the impressive Victorian structure,

the end now feels like it's in touching distance,

and with the kitchen nearly done,

it won't be long until they'll be making their first home-cooked meal.

This is where, sort of, the kitchen, at the minute.

Obviously, it's not finished yet.

We've got worktops to go in, big centre island units go in

and we're waiting for the extractor fan as well

that will match the range and that's it but

it's a million miles from where we were

when we were stripping it out.

It's just tying everything together now.

I mean, it looks a little bit like a half-finished product,

but, actually, in terms of where it is now,

it's, it's only, sort of, small finishing touches.

It's really exciting.

Every day I come, there's something else big that's changed.

Oh, good. Like, more units that have gone in, more tiling's gone in.

It's a privilege to be able to have a crack at a place like this,

and it's turned out how we wanted, and if not better.

So, I think we're happy with how it's gone.

It feels like a house now.

With the kitchen setting a high benchmark for this renovation,

the other rooms are sure to be just as stunning.

Delivering the dream forever home Jill and John have always wanted.

Coming up...

...in Kent...

Go for it.

Good job.

...Iain and Miranda work together in perfect harmony.

It's like proper teamwork, isn't it?

You've done a nice job. Yeah, I know I did. I was quite proud. Yeah.

...while in Warwickshire...

You need to make a decision

about which way we're going to lay this.

...Andrew reluctantly agrees that Mandy has all the best ideas.

So, as much as it grieves me to agree with you...

It's going the other way. ...it's going the other way.

Back in Kent, at the old rectory...

Hey, big dog.

How ya doing, bud?

...Iain and Miranda's new carpet is ready to be fitted

in their soon-to-be attic cinema room.

What I really liked about this design was it's, sort of,

a little bit, sort of, Art Deco, 1920s, the age of opulence

in terms of cinema.

Today, the couple are going to attempt to fit it,

something they have never done before.

It's quite a challenge.

I don't think we could have picked a harder carpet

to try and start this with.

I think we'll, we'll get there, hopefully.

But with most of the 19-room house still to be carpeted,

they could save a fortune by doing it all themselves.

So, let's try and get this back down. Yeah.

Yeah, that's come up nicely.

To make sure he's doing it properly,

Iain has invested in some professional tools.

Oh, yeah, I can see it stretching here.

This is a power stretcher.

It's about £900 to buy,

but carpet-fitting tools can also be hired for a fraction of the price,

a great way to save on costs.

I'm so cautious about it because you know what?

I'm scared it's just gonna rip out and rip the carpet.

Whew!

So far, so good.

That's the idea of where we're going. Yep.

Right, and then... Got it. Pretty nice. ..and that's a nice finish.

Professional!

Gradually, the pair get ever more confident.

Nice. Go. Oh, yeah.

Yeah! That's up.

And out comes the carpet trimmer tool to cut the edge.

Perfect.

And then, get your tucking thing.

Using the same tool at a different angle,

Miranda pushes the edge down beside the skirting boards.

Does that go? Oh, yeah! Look at that. Oh!

Oh, I'm sorry about the skirting board. Just, just doesn't matter.

Go for it.

Good job.

Soon, they're making fantastic progress around the entire 11m long room.

All right. Look at that. I think that looks a lot better.

It's like proper teamwork, isn't it? You've done a nice job there.

Yeah, I know I did. I was quite proud. Yeah,

cos that's looking nice, right? Uh-hm.

OK.

Cool bananas.

In just five hours, Iain and Miranda have fitted their very first carpet.

It looks great

and for Iain, it's all down to the new tools.

Having the right equipment just makes it easier and I think...

I think the finish looks better as well if you have the right

tools and equipment. Yeah.

Four and a half months ago,

this attic space was just an idea.

This was like, sort of, like, a storage area and stuff

and then there was a room down the other side.

Yeah. Because of the wall, I think you forget that.

Now, it's all, sort of, one space. Yeah.

Only a first coat of paint and the beginning of a plan.

Today, that dusty attic room is consigned to the past

as the family cinema room is officially open for business.

Movie time.

Stylish recessed lighting adds a gentle warmth

to the dark painted walls.

The sleepover nooks add a fun touch for Iain and Miranda's children.

Plush chaises longues for the adults

and beanbags for the kids

provide comfort under Iain and Miranda's handcrafted ceiling

of fibre optic stars.

It's so nice to be able to lay on this, kind of, bed-couch

to watch the movies. Hm, it is very comfortable. Yeah.

And in the window, a smart and functional snack kitchen

to make all the movie night treats they need.

It's a complete transformation

and despite their efforts elsewhere in the house,

for Miranda, there's one feature that makes this space really sing.

This is still the only room in the house that actually has carpet. Yeah.

In my mind, carpet is such a luxury.

I think, for me, this is why this room feels so luxurious

and feels so special.

They may still have a mountain of work ahead

to complete the rest of the house,

but now, they'll have a luxury space to retreat to

when the reno gets too much.

I think having this space really helps us as a family,

cos we can spend time together

and the kids really enjoy it... Yeah.

...and I think we really enjoy it and so, like, that's, all round,

that's just nice for everybody.

120 miles away in Warwickshire

at the sprawling Dunsmore Hall...

You clean the floor.

I'll go and get a knife.

...for Andrew and Mandy, the transformation of the old stables

into an office and photographic studio

needs one final push to get them over the line.

Watching a man at work.

Well, for Andrew, at least.

With the floor of the studio now successfully lined with ply,

today they are fitting oak veneer flooring.

Right.

You need to make a decision

about which way we're going to lay this.

So... Put a board down and have a look.

These are important decisions.

If you want to put it down the other way, just double check.

We got one with this, this, sort of, clicking system.

So, it just clicks together and locks

which means if we get damage

we can just remove a couple of sheets,

take one out. See that, now,

if you pull that, that shouldn't move.

Oh! Yeah. That's quite strong.

So, as much as it grieves me to agree with you...

It's going the other way. ...it's going the other way.

And a few weeks later,

with a supreme effort from Andrew and Mandy...

So, this is the studio.

It's a moment I've been looking forward to for ages.

Six months ago, if Andrew and Mandy hadn't stepped in to save them,

these stables were in danger of falling down.

But now, with the building watertight,

the ceiling and walls fully repaired,

it's a warm and functional photographic studio.

With the addition of the underfloor heating, it will be a cosy workspace.

Remaining faithful to the building's history,

Andrew and Mandy are delighted with the outcome.

So, the rest of the house,

we've used the repair, restore, renew type of approach

and we wanted to do the same here.

We didn't want to change too much of the fabric.

They've even left reminders of its past.

The stalls for the, for the stables were all wooden

and we've retained all those.

We have them stored, but they were bolted to the wall.

So, we've left those bolts sticking out to, sort of,

nod back to what its use was.

Andrew is also delighted with his new adjoining home office,

where the pair did a fantastic job

to apply period-authentic insulating lime mortar to the walls.

More rustic than we were intending. Yes.

But it's my space and it's a 200-year-old property.

They didn't have perfect walls.

With his previous office in the noisy building site of the main house,

this ought to be an oasis for Andrew.

It's great. It's so relaxing for me now.

I mean, just a bed and I, perhaps, would have no reason...

...no, I do have a reason to leave the room.

Back in the studio,

the old stables are welcoming the very first photographic subjects,

dressed in a nod to the building's past.

It's nice to see people milling around.

Amazing experience.

Really having fun.

I'd say it's picture perfect, Andrew.

It's something that we've been looking forward to for a long time.

History is uncovered...

This is our fun discovery.

...and fears faced...

That was terrifying!

...at Andrew and Mandy's Warwickshire farmhouse.

Dun, dun-du, du dun-dun!

OK. Got him.

Unusual objects are repurposed...

This is security chain found on most car parking spaces.

...in a Regency villa in Cornwall.

This is very exciting.

And in Kent...

God, it's really heavy.

...there's money to be made...

I could use the money that we could sell these items

and pay for the renovation.

...at Iain and Miranda's Victorian rectory.

High five.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media