Devereux Decorators Blog

a proud day for Chris!

Exciting news about one of our young apprentice decorators Chris Ryder, who joined us for initially for work experience, bright eyed and bushy tailed, just not at all sure of what he really wanted to when he left school.

Three summers on and he has completed his Painting & Decorating NVQ 3 & got a couple of trophies!  Student of the Year at Leicester College!

NVQ 3 included hanging wallcoverings & paint effects. Chris has been working  alongside the craftsman team of gilders & specialists marbling and papering at a private residence in Belgrave Square, Mayfair. The team return to Jesus College, Cambridge, where we will be continuing work to during the summer break, between our usual domestic interior decorating work around the counties. Feet back on the ground again!

A family run interior decorating business which counts several historic sites plus English Heritage amongst its client base is celebrating its newest apprentice being named as Student of the Year at the Young Apprenticeship Awards which was held at Leicester College last month (June).

Devereux Decorators (www.devereux-decorators.co.uk) work across the UK on a variety of historic and high end projects.  Their award winning apprentice, eighteen year old Chris Ryder, first encountered the company as a secondary school student on work experience. He impressed the management at the company so much, that he was taken on as an apprentice in September 2009.

The apprenticeship has enabled Chris to work alongside the Devereux team and see specialist techniques such as gilding and marbling first hand. He has recently worked at Belgrave Square in Mayfair and is currently based at the library in Stowe House in Buckingham, which is undergoing major restoration works. Later this summer, Chris and the team will be moving on to Jesus College at The University of Cambridge, continuing with decorating the Master’s Lodge and The Fellows’ Dining Room.

The award was given in recognition of the skills that Chris has gained in painting and decorating, including hanging wallcoverings and paint finishes whilst working on a range of projects with Devereux. “I was delighted to receive the award,” comments Chris. “I’ve learned so much working with Devereux their support and the practical experience has been invaluable.”

Gail Devereux-Batchelor, Managing Director of Devereux, was thrilled to see their young apprentice doing so well. “Chris has shown a real aptitude for the work and we are so pleased to see that formally recognised,” she comments. “Much of our work is highly skilled and quite specialised, so there is plenty still to learn and we are more than happy to support him as he continues his studies.”

As the Heritage at Risk programme run by English Heritage gets to grip with the state of England’s heritage by assessing each of its different components, Devereux Decorators works with conservators, paint specialists, clients, architects and homeowners to help preserve or recreate the colours, effects and finishes of past generations.

Paint research

Every conservation project is unique: no one really knows what lies below the surface until it is investigated.

Our objective is sometimes to leave a building in a condition that is identical to its original look and feel, the discovery of previous schemes has a profound effect on the decorators and clients alike. We try to understand not only the decisions made by previous owners, but also the conditions  under which the decorators and crsaftsmen were working too!

Devereux Decorators are Interior Decorators of distinction who are based in the Midlands, but work all over the UK.

Interior Decorators

Murals can be a fantastic way to create the perfect piece of art for any living space.

There are many different styles and techniques interior designers use to create a mural .

They can be painted in a variety of ways, and aspects of personality can be injected to create a one off piece of art.

For murals and trompe l’oeil effects, Devereux Decorators commission the skills of independent fine artists.

Trainee learning traditional skills

We try to balance what they learn in practical settings, with visits to previous projects, where they can meet other trades/craftsmen, and to ask questions about the historical value of traditional buildings and materials, the working environment centuries ago – always a good opportunity to bring in a discussion about Health & Safety issues!  We talk about unusual ( & some dangerous)  materials used in paints (and makeup!) at different periods in history, and even talk about what the smell of old rabbit skin glues and paint size etc is like – the travelling painters and decorators of the past have described the ” good woman to bring in the Charcoal in a pan” , our young apprentices are familiar with charcoal filters in our vacuums and kitchen appliances, so the notion of a warm pan of charcoal makes sense …

We  are proud to tell our customers that we have apprentices training to be Interior Decorators!  Some customers are initially nervous that they may not be “up to the job”, but our apprentices are well now on their way to NVQ 3 , equivalent to “A” levels , getting distinctions and high grades in their practical exams and entering National decorating competitions. Carefully supervised work on real projects plus college sessions with peers, is in my view the only sure way to progress. Sadly many children go through school thinking of “careers”  only to find that there aren’t firms who can take them on. Skills and trades can’t be learnt in a hurry, but learning the feeling of completing a project properly, is just great,  satisfying both to craftsman and the customer.

So many people now simply have no time, inclination, tools or even any idea about how to repair, renew or maintain their home, I am really thankful that we can encourage and promote these young apprentices, investing in our futures as well as theirs!

Devereux Decorators are proud to be high quality Interior Decorators of distinction.

Long Gallery ceiling

Scary times ! One of our Apprentice Interior Decorators worked on a different type of project this week-  its the first time he has been asked to take responsibility for planning the work procedures, anticipating his material requirements on site, & checking it against the estimate and specifications. He also had to consider the time allowed against what he was achieving under his own strict controls.

Our daughter is a newly started  apprentice in a different creative industry, and its good to see the same wide-eyed cautious steps turning into confident, well practised strides.   Thankfully there are mentors and old hands willing to pass on their skills, the techniques and good ways of working which you can only be shown , not learned online or from diagrams – some thing just MUST be demonstraighted.

It’s fresh energy our youngsters bring to our Interior Decorating Team, it’s a chance to revisit old learning and to have toolbox discussions at break time of previous projects, and share the wisdom, knowledge of the trade, and often laughter. Not just the early days when they are sent on errands ” Go to the Yard and get some Elbow Grease was one … next to the Scumbles etc.. ” .

Restoration in action

The dream house that Griff Rhys Jones built

Sometimes a property need far more than a visit from an Interior Decorator. Buying a crumbling but beautiful wreck of a home infused with character, as well as holes in the roof, and restoring it to its former glory is a dream that captures the imaginations of many. It is a passion Griff Rhys Jones, lives, sleeps and breathes by.

“I have always bought wrecks of one kind or another ever since I started buying houses,” Griff says. “I am more drawn to an unfinished place with cracks in the floor than somewhere with somebody else’s stamp on it.”

Griff is well experienced in restoring crumbling old buildings. He has worked on three major personal projects – a factory in Clerkenwell which he converted into lateral flats in the Eighties before this became fashionable; the restoration of a period Suffolk farmhouse and his Robert Adam house in London – and taking part in the celebrated BBC series on restoration.

He is obsessed with yet another restoration programme, The Return to Pembrokeshire Farm, in which he documents his painstaking preservation of two period buildings, a 200-year-old watermill and miller’s cottage on his 70-acre farm in the heart of Welsh farming country.
His son, George, who is close to completing his architecture degree will help oversee the project using a number of historic renovation specialists for this Pembrokeshire job.

“We thought very hard about what to do with the farm buildings, because they were being left to decay,” Griff says, “and we decided that you can’t just renovate them and leave them without any use. It is not supposed to be a museum. It is better to end up with a liveable property that people can stay in, like properties the Landmark Trust own.”

The issue of how far a historic building can be pushed to make it into usable structure comes up repeatedly in the programme. “It is the question that hangs over all forms of restoration,” Griff says.

“This is not a profit making exercise,” says Griff. “You do it because you like the buildings and want to preserve them as part of the landscape. It’s brilliant, because they have managed to salvage things here and bring them back, not like new, but in a sufficiently well-preserved state that it feels, well, perfect.”

Restoration Required

In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph,  Griff Ryhs Jones revealed hos top 10 property restoration ideas:

1 Every restoration project ends up costing twice the estimate. Get the estimate, double it and decide whether you can afford that.

2 You have to be extra vigilant to save costs. Go to the site and ask: “What exactly are you doing now?” Be aware that somewhere along the line it will always be a compromise.

3 Buy the most straightforward structures for your kitchen – and buy an expensive piece of wood for the door. Kitchen merchants who say you need to spend £50,000 on your kitchen are lying to you.

4 The secret of success is simplicity and not things too bright, cluttered or fussy. For kitchens use a simple choice of surfaces and stick to a limited range of colour.

5 Work on personal terms with a builder who will be organic and do things as you come to them – this is the secret to conversions.

6 A subscription to Cornerstone comes with a membership of SPAB (Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings; www.spab.org.uk). They have courses, lectures and advertisements for specialists who really know what they are doing.

7 Patronise your local blacksmith. Ours, Eifion Thomas in Dinas Cross, made beautiful fittings such as black metal curtain rails and supports.

8 An efficient natural insulation is sheep wool.

9 Go local for green advice. We used the Eco Centre in Newtown.

10 Pine painted with cheap and authentic colours covers up all manner of sins. Farrow & Ball (www.farrow-ball.com) paints are still popular with our clients -. We also use clay paints by Earthborn (www.earthbornpaints.co.uk) and lime wash from Ty-Mawr (www.lime.org.uk), which also runs courses.

Property Restoration

Property values can be enhanced by Restoration

An effective form of home improvement, it has been suggested, can be taking the time to restore a period property.

In an online survey Ratedpeople.com points out that by renovating original features – for instance restoring original floorboards, not only can homeowners boost the value of their property, they can also attract prospective buyers.

A popular restoration project, the organisation also states, is renovating a period fireplace, as those looking to carry out such work were advised to search scrap yard and antique shops when sourcing materials.

Restoring period features can be “a labour of love”, says Ottokar Rosenberger, sales and marketing director for Ratedpeople.com.  George Clarke, presenter of Build a New Life, speaking earlier this month, claimed that people are increasingly looking to place a personal touch into their homes and that buying an old property and renovating can work well.

Croome Park

Exciting Restoration Projects for Croome Park

The three follies at Croome Park are now owned by the National Trust and are to be restored during the year. The work is being supported by a substantial £284,000 grant from Natural England.

The restoration of the Ice-House, Ha-ha and Park Seat was completed by Natural England’s partnership with the National Trust. The extensive makeover at Croome Park is set to continue following these recent acquisitions.

A grant aid to Croome Park amounting to £1.3m over the past 10 years has been provided by Natural England.
The follies of Panorama Tower and Pirton Castle, both designed by James Wyatt, and Dunstall Castle, designed by Robert Adam, are categorised as ‘Outer Eye-catchers’, buildings designed to ‘draw the eye’ across the landscape, reveal both the scale of the estate and the wealth of the landowner. The essential repair work that all three need will take place this year.

Croome Park was Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown’s first commissioned landscape. Here, the 6th Earl of Coventry collected the skilled craftsmen of the day to create a landscape which includes some of the most iconic buildings in Worcestershire.

Property Manager, Michael Smith, said: “Thousands of people driving on the M5 in Worcestershire will know the Panorama Tower really well as it is visible from the motorway. We are delighted that we can now restore and protect what is not only an integral part of the 6th Earl’s vision for

Croome but is also an iconic building in Worcestershire. Whilst all three buildings were built as follies to be admired from a distance, our restoration work will also restore the original spiral staircases in Dunstall Castle, and the Panorama Tower, once again allowing visitors to climb up and enjoy unparalleled views across Croome and on to the Malvern Hills beyond”.

Natural England’s Historic Buildings advisor for Croome Park, Catherine Hurley, said: “Croome Park is one of the region’s most important landscape agreements. Funding has been granted through Natural England’ s Agri-environment Schemes, with the aim of restoring this Grade I registered parkland to its former glory, by reverting arable land into species rich grassland, protecting the historic buildings for future generations and giving greater access to the park for all to enjoy. Natural England has funded over £1million towards the protection, restoration and enhancement of Croome Park, and we continue working in partnership with the National Trust to return the ‘Outer Eye-catchers’ back to their original glory.”