They completely removed all the character of the home including beautiful plaster coved ceilings and a gem of a fireplace. It looks like every other home they have ever done. So sad to remove all that craftsmanship.

Exactly suru11. And don't forget turning that gorgeous staircase into another HGTV staircase.

In all honesty, I didn't watch the whole thing. I was prepping for Thanksgiving dinner while watching, so I don't think I'm qualified to say whether their overall work was good or not. Here's what I could find in pictures:

The staircase -- before and after -- yeah, the original was nicer, but the original was full of termite damage and had to be torn out; they both seemed upset about the necessity to destroy the old stair. They kept the handrail, which was undamaged.

They could have repeated the railings and the railings weren't termite damaged anyway. Plus they painted or stained it gray versus the original color which was beautiful?

The original crown molding was far better and it was made from plaster. Also note the wood molding was Painted! When you have quality old growth wood molding you don't paint it.

I hate HGTV. It's a perversion.

I watched most of it with DH. Here is the good news: they didn't knock out walls to make it an open floor plan, and they didn't add shiplap. They've got that going for them.

While we like to take pot shots from the outside, no one has an unlimited budget. Not even the property brothers. I missed the part where they explained why the cove molding had to be removed. By the time I tuned in, they were dealing with the termite damage on the staircase. The staircase pretty much crumbled on them. We did question his ham fisted method of removing the treads. If he had really wanted to save them, he would have used a reciprocating saw to saw off the nails instead of trying to pull them through. My guess is the decision to remove the staircase was made long before the scene was shot.

The compromise crown molding construction was an attractive homage to art deco. It had a least four pieces, so I know they spent some money on it. If you have ever renovated an older home, you have to comprise even when it breaks your heart to do so.

They also repurposed some existing interior doors by placing some additional stock on the bottom in order to make them taller. I liked that idea.

There are supposed to be a few more episodes to follow. Can't wait to see what they do to the kitchen. It's in the back of the house and not open. I bet it very small by today's standards.

Homechef59, I hear you, I've renovated a 1920's house and now a 1970's house. You do have to roll with the punches and play the hand that is dealt you. And no one wants to live in a 1780's historical house - with no plumbing etc. I just get tired of the same formula and every interior looks so similar

I hate it when a house such as this ends up with pot lights in the ceiling of virtually every single room in the house. It makes the formal reception rooms look like a furniture show room! Pot lights belong in kitchens, bathrooms and halls that are narrow and have ceilings too low for proper light fixtures. I don't object to the over a dining room table if the ceiling is a typical 8 ft (in reality 7.5 ft), but not all over the entire room. Living rooms and family rooms should be lit by LAMPS!

Anglophile, I agree with you for the most part - but when you have 8 foot ceilings in a northern climate & its winter, the house is DARK when lit solely by lamps. I had this issue and installed pot lights in the corners of the rooms so that there would be no downlight on people. I also put in art lights for the paintings. So I disagree that pot lights make a house look like a furniture showroom. It does make a big difference in how the rooms live and with safety issues such as when you have things like sunken dining rooms and need the steps illuminated. The trick is to put all pot lights on dimmers and to use a warm LED.

The compromise crown molding construction was an attractive homage to art deco.

But it wasn't a proper homage to the house and there was no reason to remove the plaster walls and cove ceiling.

It had a least four pieces, so I know they spent some money on it. If you have ever renovated an older home, you have to comprise even when it breaks your heart to do so.

This had nothing to do with compromise and everything to do with making it palatable to the HGTV average viewer.

They also repurposed some existing interior doors by placing some additional stock on the bottom in order to make them taller. I liked that idea.

Yes that was a good idea until they painted the doors grey instead of restaining them a beautiful brown.

And please tell me what was wrong with the original flooring that they pulled up? NOTHING except the planks were too narrow for their taste. They pulled up original hardwood narrow planked flooring because they would rather have new growth crap wood floors versus the original old growth hardwoods.

They could have repeated the railings and the railings weren't termite damaged anyway. Plus they painted or stained it gray versus the original color which was beautiful?

That does make sense. I much prefer the old railings to the metal ones they installed; I totally agree that metal railings are a fad. While simple wooden railings may not be "cutting edge", they don't look out of date today ... and they won't look out of date 20 years from now. They said a couple times they were going "art deco" because it fits the house's time period. Art deco isn't a favorite of mine.

nd they didn't add shiplap.
In all fairness, they're not the shiplap-everywhere crew. Leave that to the Gaines in Texas. That's another fad that'll look dated in a decade.

While we like to take pot shots from the outside, no one has an unlimited budget. Not even the property brothers.Eh, I bet Drew and Mrs. Drew can have anything they want in this house. When they told him he needed 50K of work on the foundation, he wasn't pleased -- but I was thinking, "You and I'd be a whole lot more upset." For most of us 50K might be the whole renovation budget. I doubt 50K is a whole lot of money to him.

I missed the part where they explained why the cove molding had to be removed.
I completely missed the discussion of the cove molding.

Can't wait to see what they do to the kitchen. It's in the back of the house and not open. I bet it very small by today's standards.
Betcha that'll change! And, honestly, if you were going to change and update one area of an old house, it'd probably be the kitchen 9 times out of 10. A kitchen is an area where you want top-notch modern function.

I hate it when a house such as this ends up with pot lights in the ceiling of virtually every single room in the house.

I'm caught between disliking pot lights ... and knowing that old houses tend not to have enough light (mine doesn't).

Yes that was a good idea until they painted the doors grey instead of restaining them a beautiful brown.

Yeah, as color-challenged as I am, I know that the house was originally full of brown wood tones ... and brown and gray aren't necessarily friends.

They said a couple times they were going "art deco" because it fits the house's time period. Art deco isn't a favorite of mine.

There was nothing art deco about those railings. They were some person with no knowledge of past styles idea of what they thought art deco was.

That's another fad that'll look dated in a decade.

It's already starting to look dated.

Eh, I bet Drew and Mrs. Drew can have anything they want in this house. When they told him he needed 50K of work on the foundation, he wasn't pleased -- but I was thinking, "You and I'd be a whole lot more upset." For most of us 50K might be the whole renovation budget. I doubt 50K is a whole lot of money to him.

I read he's worth something like 10 million.

I completely missed the discussion of the cove molding.

I missed it too so if anyone saw why it had to be removed, please let us know.

Looking at the picture at the top of the thread, that is a really nice roofline. Look over the 2nd-floor window on the right, it gives a bit of undulating flow to the roof without screaming "dormer!!!" and it softens the sharp angles on the left.

I had forgotten the flooring discussion. I couldn't believe they replaced the flooring. Isn't this why you buy an old house. To get old house features.

I've got a sincere question for the group. What about that house says Art Deco? I really see it. Can you name a detail on the interior or exterior that says Art Deco? I never thought of Art Deco as an architectural style. I always thought of it as an art or design style.

What am I missing when I look at this house?

Art Deco architecture, sometimes referred to as Art Moderne, was typical from about 1920 to 1940, common in public and commercial buildings, but also single-family and mulit-family residential buildings, albeit more rare. Photo is Chrysler Building, New York City.

^Beautiful example of commercial building style using Art Deco.

Here is a typical art deco residential style in Miami area -

http://study.com/academy/lesson/art-deco-architecture-characteristics-history-definition.html

https://www.wentworthstudio.com/historic-styles/art-deco/

Thanks. I can see Art Deco elements in both examples. Sometimes you have to hit me in the head with it. They are both really obvious examples.

I don't see it in the original subject home. It looks like English or French cottage to me. The original fireplace looks Tudor Revival or Spanish Colonial. I'm still puzzled how the PB's are getting Art Deco.

I missed the show. I don't see art deco on the exterior pics posted nor the interior. This is what I think of when I see an art deco fireplace - not what they showed further upthread.

I did not watch the show, so I do not know what the interior looks like, but the exterior has pretty much zero Art-Deco influence. homechef59, I agree with you. The architectural styling is more similar to English cottage architecture with the steep gabled roof, the fenestration and even the door. French would tend to have a steep hipped roof with some gabled features.

Trust me there was nothing art deco on the interior either!

I cringed when they selected the flooring material. Lets assume that the floors were in really rough shape. There was some discussion of termite damage in the staircase. Why would you not spring for real plank flooring finished on site? The samples they used to make their selection were heinous. They picked the best of the bunch, but it was a pretty poor group to start.

Sorry Val, but it looks like every other house they do on Property Brothers.

I saw the re-run last night. I was wondering where the Art Deco was and there was no Art Deco in the house until the PB's decided they wanted to bring in their own style to the house. Answers why we couldn't find it.

Nothing like taking a beautiful old home and b*stardizing it.

I just watched it. It's posted, by HGTV, on YouTube. I was so sad they didn't try to save or replicate the spindles, and they colored the rail that hideous grey-black, then painted the trim.

That new wallpaper in the powder room? Yikes!

I own a 1928 English cottage similar in style to this one, except much smaller and less grand. I have the same fireplace, the same coved ceiling, the same hardwood floors, the same stucco exterior. My heart broke when I watched the PB's tear out those precious original features. The excuse they used for removing the coved ceiling was "lead paint", which is ridiculous. The new fireplace screams "flip" instead of 1920. They ruined the staircase. The original hardwood floors in my house are still going strong even though the house was a rental for many years. Even if their's weren't repairable, why didn't they install the real thing? What a damn shame!

"I have the same fireplace"

The shape appears to be a variation of the Tudor arch, which would be consistent with this style.

What are your opinions of the kitchen?

I didn't watch it. It pi**ed me off so much the first week that when I saw them again pulling up the flooring, I stopped watching.

Didn't see the show; don't watch TV (can't get any channels anyway, lol).

The original house style was one of my absolute favorites (yay for Tudors!!!), judging by the photos. <3

The re-do?

"Bless their hearts," is what I *should* say. What I *want* to say? Well, since I'm not a sailor, I'm not gonna curse like one. But I want to.

They raised the house and dug out a basement. That's where all the money went. He wanted storage and a wine cellar. It also explains why they didn't keep the plaster and cove ceiling. My guess is those features weren't going to survive the jacking of the house.

They removed a pergola on the back of the home and built a substantial kitchen extension. They went shopping for a new range. My guess is it was a product placement. It looked like a Le Corneu with a matching hood. The only discussion was how pretty it looked. There was zero discussion about features and reliability. I would like to know what kind of glass tile they used as they were most attractive. The painted cabinets were finished on site.

The final result was attractive. It was open concept in that you could see from the front of the through the dining room and into the kitchen with a center island and feature range.

Homechef, I want to know what the tile is, too! I posted in the kitchen forum asking.

I liked the "conservatory windows" - it really opened the area up, but I'm not sure how long they will stay nice and clear looking on the outside.

They did come back and mention that the floor was ripped up because it was "crumbling" in places.

Mrs Pete, yes, I rather like the roofline of the house.

We didn’t see the episode, but I remember another Property Brothers episode quite some time ago (unless it's been in several parts and began some time ago) in which they tore out beautiful original plaster molding – I was seething. It was said some of it was damaged – I don’t remember seeing much damage and thinking they should have it duplicated and replaced. That’s the last time we’ve watched any DIY TV shows… used to watch the DIY’s shows to critique at the stupid things for fun, but it just became un-fun so we quit. Every show we watched looked indistinguishable.

nirvanaav - I hate HGTV. It's a perversion. Agreed!

cpartist - They pulled up original hardwood narrow planked flooring because they would rather have new growth crap wood floors versus the original old growth hardwoods. Most all the DIY shows are doing that. They want the trending wider floor planks.

Love the desk in the home office, any idea where to find it?

I’d love to find out the kitchen tile information as well!

Doesn’t anyone feel a responsibility to the house? We live in a 1930s nothing special 4 square and while we have work we want to do, I feel a lot of responsibility to try to do it in keeping with the age of the house. I want to put back some features that have been ripped out, and pull out other stuff (1970s rock wall I am looking at you) and if we do new like adding a bathroom, I’d try to choose styles and finishes overall that wouldn’t have looked that out of place to the original. This house has been around much longer than I have, it deserves respect.

Thank you PirateFoxy. I agree.

I don't understand buying a beautiful old home and then destroying it to make it more "modern". All it does is ruin the integrity of the home. If you want a contemporary home, buy one. Don't rip out things like coved ceilings and original flooring.

Okay, so there are things about the house you don’t like, but it’s not about you. As long as the people living in the house are happy, then you should MYOB.

HGTV shows are so staged and superficial that no one can tell if the "buyers" are happy or not...the "buyers" are as selected and superficial as are the couple who supposedly design and build the house...everything is scripted and only the house changes...the story line and the ending are always the same.

I'm so curious to know what they used on the kitchen island and other countertops. the island looks like a gorgeous marble and maybe soapstone on the other countertops? I am also curious about the bathroom countertop...it looks like slate, but I think he said it was a matt finish porcelain????

Don’t buy an older home with existing original features if you plan to just rip them out. If you want a cookie cutter McMansion, buy one of those.

Doesn’t anyone feel a responsibility to the house?

No. No one has any responsibility to a house. Sure, if you have a house with a definite style /type of architecture (most houses, it seems to me, do not), you might better preserve your investment by keeping true to the time period in which the house was "born", but -- no -- houses aren't human no one "owes" them anything.