Make Do and Mend

One of the overarching principles we place at the heart of our renovations here, is to whenever possible, buy second-hand. Whether that’s buying at auction, which is our favourite way to buy things, or through the many online marketplaces that we all know and love. To be honest, its mostly about being able to buy cheaply, because this project is large and our income small, but it’s also about being able to apply skill, inventiveness and sometimes a good deal of creativity to bring something back to life that may have been destined for a skip.

This ‘second-hand first’ principle applies to machinery, as well as building materials, furniture, light fittings and many decorative finishes. We also believe that old stuff is usually good stuff, in relation to quality, and is therefore worth the effort it takes to make something work again or look beautiful.

It is also of course a more sustainable way of carrying on, as is the whole notion of renovation itself, as it sits diametrically opposed to the idea of demolition and new build.

On a large scale this is something that happens all too often in our towns and cities in the name of progress and regeneration. In truth, the planners like it because it is usually cheaper and easier to tear down a beautiful old industrial building, for example, and throw up an ugly new block of flats in its place. When doing it properly, renovators will take care not to thoughtlessly discard the historic fabric of a building in order to bring in the new, shiny and clean, with all the earth’s precious resources that process requires. It is simply ‘greener’ to buy used or reclaimed, mend it, and re-use whatever it is.

The front part of our house was its latest addition, we think it was built around nineteen hundred or just before. You can see this by the change in style of the architraves and panelled doors. So, we are using reclaimed materials from that era to put back some of the historic fabric that has been lost in fairly recent years. The fireplace in the photo is in the room that will become our drawing room, which is going to have a bit of a William Morris meets Brighton Pavillion vibe. The tiles on the hearth are all reclaimed Victorian quarry tiles, they have been cleaned with a wire brush and in some cases soaked in acid for twenty-four hours to get the most stubborn bits of old mortar off, then re-cut and laid to a traditional design. The stove was bought second hand some years ago, and the fire surround is the original, which has now been carefully mended after it had been butchered to fit the 1970’s style, concrete and ceramic tiled hearth that we have taken out. Its not finished, but its starting to take shape and I love it. Do you?