Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
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Home Page - News & Info - Family - Vacations - Bios - House - Music & Studio - Science - Solar Systems - Pseudo Science - Site Map
The Concept
Firstly, we have no intention of restoring the house to how it would have looked when it was first built, as so many people try to do. Over the years, there have been so many changes, both structural and cosmetic, that it would be unrealistic, and well beyond our budget. While many of the original features remain, much is in poor condition, and there is much that has been lost; moldings in particular that are badly damaged or were removed and never replaced. The house has also been seriously neglected for, probably, the last forty or fifty years. So we decided to do something more radical.
When complete, we hope the place will look as though it was thoroughly refurbished in the 1930s and 1940s, and then maintained like that until today. This gives us the opportunity to include Victorian features as well as aspects of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism. I guess this will not surprise many people who know me as I have collected Art Deco and Modernist furniture and decorative objects for the last 25 years! As an example, this link shows the door handles and back plates we are using.
I also need space to hang my collection of Graham Illingworth pictures, as well as many other works; around fifty pictures in all. Then I need to display our collection of well over 200 vintage wine glasses, cordial glasses and champagne coupes, plus all the vintage cocktail shakers, figurines, cigarette cases and whatever else we have collected over the years. Finally, there are thousands of books, thousands of LP records and CDs and hundreds of DVDs to accomodate. Storage, storage and more storage.
When complete, we hope the place will look as though it was thoroughly refurbished in the 1930s and 1940s, and then maintained like that until today. This gives us the opportunity to include Victorian features as well as aspects of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism. I guess this will not surprise many people who know me as I have collected Art Deco and Modernist furniture and decorative objects for the last 25 years! As an example, this link shows the door handles and back plates we are using.
I also need space to hang my collection of Graham Illingworth pictures, as well as many other works; around fifty pictures in all. Then I need to display our collection of well over 200 vintage wine glasses, cordial glasses and champagne coupes, plus all the vintage cocktail shakers, figurines, cigarette cases and whatever else we have collected over the years. Finally, there are thousands of books, thousands of LP records and CDs and hundreds of DVDs to accomodate. Storage, storage and more storage.
Our c. 1860 House -
Overview & Plan
