Restoration Home (2011– ) User Reviews

Marvelous show

[boesveld2008 · 9/10 · 11 May 2016]

I'm not sure what show the previous reviewer actually saw, but it wasn't Restoration Home. In virtually all cases, the restoration work follows the (legally binding), exact, and precise restoration detailing and materials required, often showing craftsman creating and restoring. It's - for a one hour show - an in-depth look at actual restoration work, and NOT a Home Depot/Ikea quick fix at all.

The craft and skill we get to see at work is augmented by a well- spoken architectural historian, Keiran Long and a less captivating, but nonetheless, competent, social historian named Kate Williams. The host of the show, Caroline Quentin is perfectly fine, in my opinion.

The show focuses, for the most part, on Grade II listed buildings, mostly in a very poor state of repair that have been sold, sometimes with conditional leases, but all of which are under strict restoration restraints. A few of the buyers are well fixed financially, but the fast majority are not. These people have found a historic property and fallen in love with it, and work hard to bring it back to what it was, whatever that may be, and at the very least, save it for future generations.

I think you'll like it and I think you'll appreciate its authenticity.

Great show, but annoying background music

[kathyannlong · 7/10 · 21 February 2021]

Great show but whoever added the 'background' music has made it so loud you cannot hear the dialogue or voiceovers.

Bad. Really bad

Ridiculous job on the sound mix; if sound was good - would be a great show

[cathy_mp · 7/10 · 27 September 2020]

The volume of the voice over is mixed too low and it's impossible to hear and follow the narrator. Ridiculous the output was allowed to be delivered like that..

The content itself is very entertaining and relaxing to watch- if you work hard to ignore the awful audio issues of course..

Annoying sound imbalance

[christinestokes-19625 · 22 June 2020]

Love the series but the fact that Caroline Quentin's commentary is drowned out by over loud music is totally inappropriate and considerably annoying!

Love the show's subject and we love Caroline...

[grovesphoto · 8/10 · 3 August 2020]

But, as the others have stated, the sound person needs to be fired. I thought it was because I had my surround sound on and it was an older show, but even with the setting set to 2 channel, the music totally drowns out the narration in parts. Someone PLEASE remix the audio!

Awesome Restoration Efforts But ...

[djdegraaf · 9/10 · 22 March 2020]

I just recently discovered this series ans quickly viewed the first season and thoroughly enjoyed it. I moved on to season two and the subject matter remains wonderful but the soundtrack is infuriating! The "background" music is so loud and piercing it all but completely drowns out the commentary. Strumming guitars and electric pianos do not add anything to these episodes and, if the volume is adjusted for scenes with normal speaking, the scenes with music are on the verge of painful. I don't know what they were thinking!

Love it but sound issues

[whisperingrose · 8/10 · 19 February 2021]

As others have stated, the show overall is wonderful but the sound mix is ridiculously loud and you cannot hear the narrator between the interviews!

Great show, if you can hear the dialogue

[nickpop-418-619254 · 9/10 · 10 October 2021]

As others have stated, the music overpowers the dialogue so badly that it's hard to hear it. Other than that the show is great.

Great show!

[tancau_iulia · 10/10 · 8 August 2018]

I definitely recommend this show if you have a soft spot for old buildings and history in general. I do admit I'm not the biggest fan of the fact that the presenter keeps on giving you the same information and maybe sometimes there is a bit of induced drama. But I do believe that drama is real (lack of founds, the conservation Council does not approve your plans, discovering a lot more issues with the house/roofing/structure that was initially believed or disclosed, etc.). Now about the Ikea part, I have to say as well that maybe the other reviewer was watching another show (or maybe never visited an Ikea) because most of the works are done by local craftsman, in accordance with the council's preferences. The rooms are renovated and furnished in the most minimalist, classy and simplest way possible. You can actually see the quality of the works and the historically accurateness. Dr. Kate and Keiran are absolutely adorable, but if you want to watch a documentary this is not your show. And I'm not saying this because their work is not documented or not documented enough, but I saw people complaining about their research. So in case you live in a 1400 castle with a lot of history and legends, don't watch this show because not all the houses were built or inhabited by famous people. But it is fascinating to have a glimpse in the past, at the people that lived or worked in those homes. Their history would have been long forgotten and yet we learn new things about all kinds of significant people from the particular era. 10/10 because it's a quality show.

Excellent Historic Construction

[pmhowardtx · 9/10 · 8 March 2020]

What a great look into the rebuilding and historically correct restoration of huge British estates. Every structure has its unique problems, though many overlap from one home to another. Seeing the historian and architect trace ownership and societal changes through the history of the building is great-not something I would ever be able to see any other way. I highly recommend it!

Annoying music

[jolhedges · 7/10 · 18 November 2020]

Season one, I never noticed. Season two, I'm glad I have subtitles. Loud music playing over the people speaking is very irritating. I'm having to mute to watch.

Great Show shame about the loud and unnecessary music

[dutysusan · 8/10 · 12 April 2022]

The music which seems to drown out Caroline's commentary most of the time. Not necessary and adds nothing to the show we would rather hear what she is saying.

Restoration Diaries

[geoaar-1 · 7/10 · 9 January 2017]

Being a remodeling contractor myself, I'm always drawn to these type of shows. It's appealing to me to see the transformation and to see how other people handle similar situations I confront on a daily basis.

The only really irritating part of the show is the strained bit of melodrama that the host is continually trying to inject into the narrative. "Isn't this a terrible burden?" or such like are her constant refrain when talking to the owners about the progress of their project. Personally, I couldn't care less about the strife the owners may or may not be actually enduring. I'm interested in the work on the building. And sensationalizing every structural issue that always crops up in such work as if no one would have expected any such thing is a little annoying too.

I think more focus should be on the state of the building and how the actual work is progressing. Keirin and Kate add little to nothing in my opinion, outside of stating the painfully obvious. And I often wonder why they always show Caroline walking up a country road or across a field to the house, as if she walked all the way from London to see the project? It's more than a little silly as a plot device. But, they've got an hour to fill and I guess they need to stretch things out now and then.

The only other thing that I find remarkable about the program is the apparent difficulty of working with the government officials in charge of historical review. I thought working with the historical society was difficult in the States, but the Brits seem to take it to a whole new level. The requirements and restrictions from seeming pompous and self-important bureaucrats would be a deal-breaker from the git-go for me.

The show is worth watching, but I wish they'd do a better job of following up on the unfinished aspects of previous projects.

Absolutely Gutted!

[thequeenofsnow-04844 · 1/10 · 21 July 2020]

I've only watched the first 2 episodes...& the renovations done to both have been nothing short of sheer disappointment...the church chop up made zero sense to me...& the amazing wow factor & uniqueness of the pump station was totally lost...& non of the finishes gave homage to the history of the building...I'm sick to my stomach by what they did...totally tasteless!

God please show more finished Properties!

[btpritchard · 7/10 · 10 April 2024]

Like the shows continual recap is ridiculous. And can't believe all reviews never mention they never show the actual finished house. Yes there were a few but on the whole no finished restoration. So freaking frustrating and the research people are a joke, just my opinion.

The planning commissions are not helping the cause I think. And do the people get any type tax credits for taking on properties like these? Sometimes in the USA they do for renovating historical buildings,houses or property.

The sound thing isn't an issue yet for me as haven't gotten through the first season. Maybe the next seasons will have more completed restorations.

Great mix of house up-grade and history

[beverleyhunniford · 7/10 · 2 February 2021]

I love history, enjoy homes under the hammer / escape to the country type programmes. Perfect mix of history and home improvements. Series 1 - all very grand houses. Huge challenges. The subsequent series still listed but maybe more attainable. The one thing that bugged me about series 2 and 3 was the sound balance on Caroline's voice overs. 'Speak up Caroline!" Dear sound engineer, "Yes, your incidental music is lovely, but the word incidental is your clue."

Atrocious sound mixing

[celticjan · 2/10 · 3 February 2021]

Who oversees the audio in this show?? Music repeatedly drowns out hosts narration. Is the sound mixer deaf?? Or simply daft?..

Great show with lousy music overlay

[carol-25789 · 5/10 · 3 December 2021]

I love the restorations, but thr inccescant never-ending music blasting over the narrator will give you a headache. This is nothing but a shame. Did they really pay the licensing for Mumford & Sons; Coldplay and others? It's not that the music selection is horrible, it simply doesn't fit, and competes so badly with the narration, it is aggravating. There is barely any breaks from it.

Sound!

[cowley-49100 · 1/10 · 14 January 2022]

I cannot for the life of me understand how season 3, has the exact same problem as season 2? Did the sound engineer or anyone else notice that you cannot hear Caroline! Or read any of the reviews. Crazy. The difference in volume between Caroline and anyone else is vast, and every time she speaks loud and inappropriate music covers it even more.

Such a shame as it's really interesting , but virtually unwatchable.

Love Caroline Quentin and the format of this show. Just fire the sound engineer! And whoever checks the programme before it airs!

Must be so easy to change the problem.

Pity as it's a good programme .:-)

Dumbed down quasi-historical show of historical buildings being renovated hideously

[JasmineFIowers · 4/10 · 1 June 2014]

Kieren is the main thing that redeems this show. As an architect of sorts, his knowledge about buildings ability to read maps provides some level of legitimacy to the show.

The rest is pretty tedious. Caroline's voice overs are like Indian burns, her bored moaning overlaying the competently cinematographed shots of the program. Continually repeating previously revealed information and stating the obvious that's on screen, the show treats viewers like they have an IQ of 50 with a memory to match.

The utter worst part of the show is the unbearably tedious Kate. This glorified Google "artist" (the same way Subway has sandwich "artists") can't help telling us every time she finds something that it's "important" or "interesting" before going on, or saying "I was just looking this up" even when there are shots of her doing research, stating her finds with an irritating level of conviction as if she's found a needle in a haystack when quite often, she's done basic historical legwork. To dump her would improve this show 100%.

What's worse, they often find people who have purchased buildings (or more like shells as they're often so derelict they need lots of money tipped into them to get them up to code) of historical significance, hundreds of years old, t only install Ikea-grade garbage interiors with few calls back to the era of the building themselves, with varying level of finish depending on how much of a chav the owners are.

If you need a house renovation show, while Grand Designs features the smarmy and overly self-assured Kevin McCloud, the achievements of those featured are far satisfying.