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A builder's mission to turn a derelict former Victorian schoolhouse into his family home will be featured on Channel 4s Restoration Man.

For years the Old Schoolhouse on Braxted Park Road, Great Braxted - where workers of the neighbouring stately home schooled their children - had been unloved and unlived.

But now it is enjoying a new lease of life just 18 months after changing hands into the ownership of Jim and Bee Goody a renovation that attracted producers of the TV show, who sent presenter George Clarke to visit the project several times, while film crews were at the house more than 20 times during the revamp.

OnWednesday (January 14), Jim and Bee will be seenreliving the mammoth task as the episode featuring their new beloved home was aired to the nation.

Jim said: It was wrecked inside. We had to do everything, refurbish the whole lot; it was re-plumbed, had new electrics, was plastered and redecorated. Everything.

The Goodys, including Bees stepson Lewis, 22, have relocated from Chigwell after their 288,000 bid for the property, built in a Tudor revival style popular at the time, was accepted in September 2013, before work began in April 2014.

We didnt know what we were looking for until we found it, said Jim. I went to view the property and saw the views around it, so I text my wife a few photos of the fields around the place.

So we thought lets do it, we put in a bid three days later, and the rest is history.

The project was perhaps not as daunting to Jim, who specialises in home refurbishments, as it would have been to other property developers.

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WillWatkinson published Old Schoolhouse on Braxted Park Road to feature on Channel 4's...

By Marina WilliamsJan. 13, 2015, 9 a.m.

An 1880s Victorian house in the Macedon Ranges becomes the 'ideal home' for two keen renovators.

A Victorian house in the Macedon Ranges is lovingly restored. Photo: LIZ FLEMING.

A rundown Victorian property in the Macedon Ranges has been given a new lease of life thanks to the deft touch of a retired Melbourne couple.

Situated well off the main highway and nestled on a high spot on the southern side of the ranges, the historic house had good bones. But it had been untouched for decades by the previous - and original - owners when these keen renovators took it on as their latest project.

The oldest house we have fully renovated was from the1820s in Tasmania - now you can't get much earlier than that, says one half of the couple, who are a renovating powerhouse after having restored multiple homes in Victoria and Tasmania.

Family photos and artworks adorn the walls of the original hallway. Photo: LIZ FLEMING.

Family photos and artworks adorn the walls of the original hallway. Photo: LIZ FLEMING.

An original archway, door frames and lead light windows were in good order. Photo: LIZ FLEMING.

A wall of windows transitions the old to the new in the Macedon Ranges farmhouse. Photo: LIZ FLEMING.

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Heritage home renewed on Macedon Ranges: photos

Renie Clark, right, and Sally Walling, left, look over one of the teddy bears that Clark knits at her home in the Cala Springs Mobile Home Park on Northeast 14th Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Clark crafts dolls and teddy bears and gives them to people in assisted living facilities, at the domestic violence shelter and other locations.

Renie Clark views her doll restoring efforts not as a hobby but as a ministry. The dolls are given to residents of local health care facilities and women at the domestic violence shelter.

The concept is reinforced by Howard Speights, activities director at Ocala Avante Nursing Home, one of the recipients of Clark's talents.

Those dolls do something for my residents like nothing else I ever have seen, Speights said. These are long-term residents who can't step outside of their rooms to socialize. The dolls take them back to their childhood, it opens them up and brings broads smiles to their faces. It brings my residents a whole lot of joy. They hold their dolls with a real sense of ownership as if they were their most treasured possession. The dolls then become a focal point for our staff to relate to those who before had very little conversation at all.

The Cala Springs home Clark shares with her husband, Harold, is a doll paradise. A tiny clothesline hangs above the washer and dryer to hold the clothes she makes and repairs on her state-of-the-art sewing machine, a gift from Harold.

I wore out two others, Clark said of the sewing machine.

One bedroom is devoted to brightly colored materials, yarn and other items essential for repairs. Dolls in various stages of completion are displayed throughout the home.

When asked how her husband co-exists with the large number of dolls, Clark grinned and said, I'm very happy when I am sewing and a little cranky when I am not; he wants me happy.

The value of using dolls to reach nursing home residents was further explained by David Huckabee, who provides area residents with programs, education and support services from the Central and North Florida Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

No matter whom you are, what your age is, what your limitations may be, everyone wants a purpose, Huckabee said. A purpose in life can enhance the quality of life. The restored dolls being donated can serve as a reminder of when these resident women may have cared for their children, and may be a way for them to offer attention and nurture to something else.

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Woman's doll restoration efforts are a ministry to others

The new year is here, and the Starr Family Home State Historic Site has a slate of activities lined up for families to enjoy.

After years of restoration work, people arent used to us being active at the site. So, people are getting used to us doing stuff (again), Site Manager Barbara Judkins said Thursday during the County Historical Commission meeting.

In addition to doing a lot of research at the site, she said, the staff has scheduled a year full of activities to engage the community.

On Saturday, the site will conduct a free workshop titled How to Care for and Store Old Photographs. Discussion will center around preservation and a brief history of photography. The session also will include a show-and-tell segment with suggestions, resources and examples of what not to do.

Its from 9 to 12, and free, said Judkins. Well have it again in June.

On Thursday, families are invited to come out for a special star gazing party, featuring professional astronomers with the Astronomical Society of East Texas from Tyler.

Theyre very excited about it, Judkins said, adding that she delivered 1,200 fliers to Marshall Independent School District to attract students and their families to the event.

She said all families in the community are invited to come for a night of fun and education.

It really doesnt have a lot to do with our historical message, but stargazing is historical, Judkins said. We just thought itd be a nice (event) for families something free and educational for families so its really more about doing a service to the community.

The stargazing party will be from 6 to 9 p.m.

Excerpt from:
Starr Home announces slate of activities, stargazing event

Tribune Media announced plans Thursday to redevelop Times Mirror Square, home of the Los Angeles Times, and a separate vacant printing plant in nearby Costa Mesa.

The Chicago-based media company is seeking partners for both California properties, including a mixed-use project for Times Mirror Square in downtown Los Angeles. The property sits on a multiacre site next to City Hall.

"The Times Mirror Square master plan promises to deliver a compelling urban project that includes the restoration of important buildings and the construction of complementary new buildings around a new metro rail station directly connected to four of the region's major rail lines," Murray McQueen, president of Tribune Real Estate, said in a statement. "We look forward to identifying the best development partner to help us achieve the immense potential of this site and bridge two of Downtown LA's most dynamic districts."

Tribune Media spun off its newspaper business in August and began trading last month on the New York Stock Exchange. As part of the spinoff, Tribune Media retained a real estate portfolio that includes 80 assets, 8 million square feet of space and 1,200 acres of land. The real estate portfolio brings in about $50 million annually in revenue, most of which comes from rent paid by Tribune Publishing newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles Times continues to occupy parts of Times Mirror Square.

Tribune Real Estate is also pursuing a partner to oversee development of the 21-acre site in Costa Mesa, which had served as printing plant and distribution facility for the Los Angeles Times. Features include a functional rail spur and a helicopter pad.

"The site has been a well-known part of the Costa Mesa landscape for over 40 years," McQueen said. "Costa Mesa is developing a strong identity as a cultural hub of Orange County and we are excited to be developing the site during this next chapter of civic vibrancy."

A brokerage house will be hired "in the near term" to assist Tribune Real Estate in finding development partners for the projects, the company said.

Tribune Real Estate unveiled broad plans last month to redevelop Tribune Tower in Chicago, potentially tripling the building's space with residential, retail and hotel components. The landmark 34-story neo-Gothic building on Michigan Avenue, which houses the Chicago Tribune and other tenants, has 737,000 square feet of space, but is zoned for up to 2.4 million square feet of space.

Tribune Media said its real estate holdings are valued at $650 million, but the company sees significant upside in optimizing the portfolio, with an estimated market value of $1 billion.

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Tribune Media to redevelop home of Los Angeles Times

Jupiter, Florida (PRWEB) January 08, 2015

Cyclo Industries, a leading global automotive brand for over 50 years, announced today the launch of Clear View, an at home solution to repair and prevent damages caused by environmental elements to glass windscreens.

With groundbreaking technology and industry-first innovation, Clear View is a proprietary blend of polymers that works together to polish and protect damaged glass surfaces.

In our international markets, there are a growing number of people looking for an easy at home solution to repair windscreens, said Mike McGlynn, Director of Research & Development. We created a product that not only repairs, but also protects against any future damages too.

Clear View offers an innovative solution to the marketplace, eliminating the need to replace scratched or etched windscreens. With the launch of Clear View, the consumer now has a more affordable and accessible option to not only fix a damaged windscreen, but also to protect it against more damage.

Cyclo Industries delivers high performance products in the automotive, heavy duty / fleet, industrial, agricultural and marine services. Cyclo Industries features such brands as Rain Dance, Tanners Preserve, Rally, and No. 7. For more information about Cyclo Industries and the new Clear View product, please visit http://www.cyclo.com

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Cyclo Industries Introduces the Next Evolution in Glass Restoration, Clear View, an at Home Solution to Repair and ...

(Toledo News Now) - The extreme cold could be destroying your home, putting you on the hook to fix thousands of dollars in damage.

Many local companies are working overtime to fixed pipes that burst. The weather is keeping crews at Quest Restoration busy.

Clients around this time often have to deal with burst pipes, which inevitably leads to the water thawing, flooding your home with several inches of standing water.

Quest Restoration employees say this tends to happen when people try to save money on their heating bill, turning it down when they leave the house.

Crews are expecting even more trouble when the next big batch of snow hits.

One thing you can do to protect yourself is to clear the snow from around your house so when it melts, it won't seep into your basement.

Crews also urge everyone to have a good insurance policy.

The Red Cross of Northwest Ohio has some tips to prevent frozen pipes here.

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Restoration crews seeing rise of burst pipes from winter weather

Sandycombe Lodge has been placed on the English Heritage register of endangered historic structures. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

A house designed by the painter JMW Turner as a country home to share with his father will be saved from dereliction and opened permanently to the public through a 1.4m grant to be announced on Wednesday by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

We are just so excited, it is superb news this house is a national treasure, but it is in a sad, sad state, and if we had to get through another bad winter without knowing whether we could go ahead with restoration, it would be truly worrying, said Rosemary Vaux, of the Turner House Trust. The months of torrential rain last winter did terrible damage, and we were really fearful of the consequences if we had another prolonged spell of such bad weather.

The Grade II listed house, Sandycombe Lodge in Twickenham, west London, is the only known building designed by Turner. It was described by Vaux as a three-dimensional work of art. It was left by the last private owner to a trust, but its increasingly fragile condition meant that it was only open to the public one afternoon a month, and placed on the English Heritage register of endangered historic structures.

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The grant, with extra funding being raised by the trust, means that it will close this year and reopen in 2016 for 46 weeks of the year, with later features removed and the garden and interiors restored to their appearance in Turners day. The house had many features including distinctive tall narrow arches inspired by his friend Sir John Soane, the architect whose own much grander country home, Pitzhanger Manor, was only a few miles away in Ealing. Turner lived in Twickenham for part of the year from 1813 until 1826, producing many dazzling paintings of nearby stretches of the Thames, with his father as housekeeper and gardener. As portrayed in Mike Leighs film Mr Turner, father and son were devoted, though many visitors mistook the modestly dressed little man pottering around the garden with a wheelbarrow seen in one Turner drawing for a groundsman. He entertained friends to lavish picnics in the garden, which had colourful flower beds, a large pond full of fish and water lilies, and a weeping willow planted from a slip he took from the garden of another local celebrity, the poet Alexander Pope.

In 1826 Turner sold the house and moved his father back to his larger town house, studio and gallery in London. Although the house passed through many hands, and the fact that he designed it was forgotten, the connection with the artist was never forgotten locally and it was cherished on his account by a succession of owners. The narrow country lane is now a suburban street, with the house hemmed in by later buildings, but it is still recognisable from 19th century engravings made in Turners day. The interior was barely modernised even after being a second world war factory making goggles for aviators.

Turner kept the adjoining meadow for years, finally selling it for a handsome profit in 1848 to the railway company which was driving a new line through to Windsor.

In 1947 Professor Harold Livermore bought the surviving scrap of garden and the house which was in such poor state that there was talk of demolishing it. He carried out extensive research with his wife Ann on Turners time in Twickenham, campaigned to prevent development which would have damaged its setting, established the trust in 2005, and bequeathed the house on his death in 2010 along with an extensive collection of books and works of art.

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Turned out nice: artists home gets 1.4m rescue grant

Portrait photographer Mark Seliger has sold his Richard Neutra-designed house in Los Feliz for $4.52 million -- just above the asking price of $4.5 million.

Considered a prime example of Neutra's Midcentury Modern home designs, the 1949 Alpha Wirin House was restored to maintain its architectural integrity. Wood ceilings and built-in furniture grace the interiors.

The 2,262 square feet of living space contains family and living rooms, a dining area, an office/den, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. Balconies expand the living space outdoors.

Walls of glass allow views of the cityscape and surrounding hillsides.

The nearly three-quarter acre of grounds is planted with palms and succulents. Steps lead to a swimming pool below the two-story house.

Seligers portrait subjects have included President Obama, singer-songwriter Mick Jagger and Nirvanas Kurt Cobain. Seliger has shot covers for publications such as Rolling Stone and GQ.

He paid $1.575 million for the house more than a decade ago and worked with designer Mark Haddawy on the restoration.

Aaron Kirman of John Aaroe Group was the listing agent.

Twitter: @LATHotProperty

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Photographer Mark Seliger sells Richard Neutra-designed home

Now deeply into construction, Tampas next mega-mansion will rise three stories tall and spread out over a 47,000-square-foot space, roughly half the size of some Publix grocery stores, and likely feature rooftop gardens, fountains, and a dozen bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms.

Luckily for guests and visitors, the mansion will have an open-door policy and everything inside will be for sale. The couches in the living room, the robes in the bathroom and the wine glasses in the kitchen. Thats because this mega-mansion will be a Restoration Hardware Gallery adjacent to International Plaza mall, one of just four supersites the San Francisco-based home design retailer will open around the nation this year.

While most other retailers are closing stores or shrinking stores to better compete with online rivals, Restoration Hardware is very much going the other direction, building big. Very big. And the retailer thus joins a small pack of companies bucking current trends and going for mega-stores: Bass Pro Shops and Academy Sports among them.

In a kind of video manifesto, RH patriarch and Chairman Gary Friedman told Wall Street investors this month that his new stores are so different that they simply wont fit into the established financial models, and anyone hoping to understand the companys strategy just simply has to visit one of these new mega-sites in San Francisco, Houston or Atlanta.

We created spaces that blurred the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, physical and digital, Friedman said. We created spaces where guests who visit our new homes are saying I want to live here. Ive been in retail almost 40 years and Ive never heard anyone say they wanted to live in a retail store, until now.

Rumors about Restoration Hardwares plans in Tampa have circulated for some time, particularly ever since the Champps Americana restaurant closed at International Plaza and remained dormant.

The company officially is mum about its current store at Hyde Park Village, but given how top executives speak of smaller, 7,000-square-foot sites, its likely the new International Plaza gallery will replace the current, smaller Hyde Park Village site.

This month, paperwork started to circulate through City of Tampa offices that named Restoration Hardware as the retailer, and company officials confirmed the location to the Tribune.

Restoration Hardware has long zigged when other retailers have zagged. It was one of the first merchants to fully embrace the idea that customers want to buy into a whole lifestyle, a whole aesthetic, a whole social strata, and not just walk in to buy a couch or doorknob.

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Restoration Hardware set to go big in Tampa