Beinn Bhracaigh – a great little B’n'B in Pitlochry, Perthshire

Great B&B guest house in Pitlochry Perthshire

Naughty enough as I feel for not having written a blog post for nearly three weeks, my guilt is assuaged by the amount of hard work I, Mr M and the team have been putting into our Half Built House projects. I’ve always watched DIY / makeover tv shows with a certain amount of healthy scepticism and absolutely doubted whether the teams doing the work even worked up a sweat never mind busted their, um, you-know-whats. Blimey O’Riley, not on ours!! 15hr days, Red Bull & sheer determination have kept us going through build arguments, stress over budgets and punishing filming schedules. Not to mention being MILES from anywhere, as was the case up in Pitlochry, Perthshire – home to leaping salmon, whiskey and long walks. Never have I worked so far from a DIY store, I got the DT’s

Thank goodness we had a lovely place to stay, Beinn Bhracaigh. It’s right in the heart of Pitlochry, a relaxed family-run B&B where we had a fab room, several late night ciders and some hearty breakfasts. I recommend the pancakes & maple syrup, the scrambled egg & salmon and the brie & rosti tower! Mr M even got special treatment with a bucket of porridge every morning, see below…

Thanks to Kirsty and James for their hospitality & looking after the HBH team whilst north of the border

One Half Built House down, three to go….

Sitting back in Manchester on my sofa, the last two weeks seem a bit surreal….. did we actually attempt to transform a complete wreck of a house in just fourteen working days??!!! And have it filmed?!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous as I was waiting for Chris and Aime to arrive back at their home to see what I’d designed and the HBH boys had built & worked on. To be given the responsibility to do that to someone’s home is a huge one – we leave after two weeks but the homeowners will go on to live there, to use the kitchen, climb the stairs, sleep in the bedroom and dine at the table. So, for me and the team, it’s kind of important (#understatementalert) to do our best to get it right.

The show isn’t an MDF Makeover or a 20 second staple session, but a full-on build job to rescue houses damaged by DIY attempts which are at the same time both well intentioned and ill-conceived. All very good and honourable but most building jobs have the clients on site, the clients input and the clients wishes taken into consideration at every stage….. UH OH, not here! I get little hints, snippets of information and small amounts of design desires then have to work our Moregeous magic without the homeowners knowing what we are doing. Kitchens, bathrooms, gardens, bedrooms, it could be anywhere in the home, or all of the home!

Will they love or hate what we do? Apparently our four Half Built House shows will go out at the end of June so not long to wait and see eh?

Some inspiration for contemporary garden furniture

Half Built House checks out some interior Devon delights

I spent a couple of hours on a final inspiration mission this week, leaving the guys beavering away on site whilst I explored a fab little area of Exeter called Magdelene Road. It so reminded me of my beloved Burton Rd in West Didsbury Lots of independent shops: a greengrocers, florist, deli, fishmongers, an adorable cafe / home shop called Bel Green and also Duo, an interiors fabric emporium where I made a final decision on colours and the scheme for our Half Built House.

Our very brave contributor Chris then met me at Amos Lighting, a sparklingly glamorous showroom close to his house (which of course he was FORBIDDEN to visit!). It was a chance for me to see whether I was on the right track with my instincts as to what he and Amie like design-wise….. people’s lighting choices are an excellent indicator as to what they generally what for their homes. Generally.

Another week to go and we’ll know for sure….. and you lot will know sometime in June!

Half Built House hits Exeter

From L to R: Charlie, Mr M, Danny, Tommy, me, Nick, Neil, Brendan and Mark

I honestly did not realise what I was undertaking when I said Team Moregeous would get involved with a TV ‘makeover’ show – six days in and I’m exhausted! Presenting, planning, drawing, designing, specifying, working with the builders, buying, fitting then dressing & finishing – all within a deadline of TWO weeks. These aren’t MDF Makeovers, but building work big style and under pressure. I know how other tv interiors shows work, there’s a lot of tape, staples and trickery…. let me tell you, this one will be very, very different.

Half Built House’s first deranged DIY project is in Exeter, a fabulous 1930′s red brick cottage built as one of three by a builder for his daughters. Due to reasons which will become clear in the show this summer, the owners now need a LOT of help to make their house a habitable home. Guess what? That’s where we come in

I can give a sneaky peek each week though, on the QT, if you promise not to tell anyone at Channel 5.

Here’s our best looking builder, Cody, in front of a gorgeous period fireplace in one of the bedrooms. Also some of the workings out for structural work in the house:

I found cast iron treasure….

Along with some amazing solid wall ties. Having run a wall tie company several years ago, I thought these incredible, unusual and quite beautiful #brickgeek. Never seen anything like them ever before and neither had Brendan the Brickie. Have you?

It’s been four full on days of filming so far, with lots of work OFF site to ensure everything ON site goes smoothly. So far, so good….

(Belated) Sunday summary: Daybreak, DIY Mummies and off to a property wreck

Kinda belated Sunday Summary for last week seeing as it’s Wednesday today, but better late than never eh! Team Moregeous were asked to do some live DIY slots for ITV’s Daybreak and headed off to Birmingham without really knowing what we’d be doing / letting ourselves in for.

The couple who own the house we visited only bought it at Christmas and have a tonne of work to do along with working full time, plus bringing up their 2yr old son Oliver. Life just gets in the way of DIY doesn’t it?! They’ve done the bathroom & are tackling the nursery next but every day have to climb the stairs past this hideous wallpaper

As any good decorator / DIY’er will know its ALWAYS better to strip back old paper, then address any lumps and bumps on the walls, even re-skimming if necessary, but this was simply a quick fix to hide the patterned awfulness & yellow ceiling until they got around to properly doing the hall and stairs area. Jenny was delighted with her Cocoa Powder wall, bright white  and new sparkly light and we were happy to help! We even got Daybreak’s roving presenter Nick Dixon on the job above (to the amazement of his wife), giggles from Oliver and rescued a field mouse from Jenny’s cat.

All in all a great morning’s work

There was much drawing, planning, inspiration seeking and pencil sharpening all day Saturday getting ready to start work on our first Half Built House in Exeter, fuelled by Easter Eggs opened early. It’s not cheating when it’s essential…

So did we have a restful Easter Sunday & Monday? As if!! Daybreak were back doing at Casa Moregeous filming a slot where we tried to turn DIY Dummies into DIY Mummies… in just a couple of hours. The girls did brilliantly. Jo, Helen and Vanessa got stuck in, trying out a caulking gun, using silicone sealant, soft filler, scrubbing grout lines and even drilling away at my walls with a hammer action drill – the latter was accompanied by lots of squeals but they surprised themselves by doing quite a good job. They got marks out of ten from our DIY Dummies sofa and presenter Dan Lobb the Heartthrob was a little surprised by our artwork which mainly consisted of pictures of him

With DIY Daybreak done by 10am Easter Monday, it was time to pack my bags for Exeter and our first Half Built House for Channel 5. It’s non-stop, this TV business…. and I’m loving it!!

An Easter week of DIY on ITV’s Daybreak

Gearing up now for a bit of Easter DIY for ITV’s Daybreak live in viewers’ homes – can’t wait!

We did a little bit of pre-filming of the characters involved as the mornings will be a hive of DIY activity. What could go wrong? Ermmmmmm what is it they say? Never work with children and animals….

So we’ve got Pixie the smooth mini daschund and two cats Poppy and Puffin in one house….

These three poppets in another (one of whom can clearly already do a bit of DIY!!)….

Heaven ONLY knows what we’ll find down in Reading!

Tune in to see us in action on Thursday, Good Friday or Easter Monday…. it’ll be the only DIY done on TV whilst the (lady) builder is simultaneously scoffing a kilo of mini-eggs