Do It Yourself - By Room

This section has tips about your own period house restoration and maintenance work for particular rooms including the hall, stairs and landing, kitchen, bathroom and cellar or basement.

The main DIY section has broad principles and advice. The Elements section covers features of the house that are not specific to a single room. The Materials section explains how to care for metal, stone, wood, paint etc.

A good sequence of work is:

1. Repair the plaster and woodwork. Prime new wood before filling flaws. Beware of lead in old paint.
2. Remove old nails and paint from the floors. Sand wooden floors lightly.
3. Wash the room including the floor.
4. Paint the ceiling, walls and woodwork except for the floor. If you are wallpapering, paint the woodwork and then hang the wallpaper. If the room is to be painted rather than papered, paint in this order: ceiling, frieze, picture rail, windows and doors, walls, dado rail and dado and finally the skirting.
5. Clean the floor once more and paint or varnish if any areas will remain exposed.