Greg Penn, Instagram’s Man with a Hammer, took on the DIY renovation project of a lifetime when he bought Admirals House, a near-derelict 30-room Georgian mansion in Plymouth. He writes exclusively for The Home Page about the lessons he’s learned from five years (and counting) of renovating.
GREG PENN ENJOYS A DRINK IN HIS ENTRANCE HALL, DECORATED IN ZARDI & ZARDI CHINOISERIE WALLPAPER. IMAGE: ANDREW BURTON
I first laid eyes on Admirals House – an ex-Naval, 30-room Georgian lump in Plymouth, Devon – after work on a wet and miserable night in January 2019. If truth be told, I had already fallen in love with it a very long time before. I had poured over the details online hundereds of times (despite it being significantly out of my budget), drawn the rooms and designed the kitchen long before I stepped foot through the door.
Despite the building being absolutely rammed with ‘stuff’ and in a much worse condition than the agents’ photos had led me to believe, the initial viewing did not dampen my enthusiasm. However, I still couldn’t afford it so I made the highest offer I could (well below asking), thinking it would be rejected and I might be able to move on from my infatuation, get on with my life and find a far more sensible house.
Well, fast forward seven months and I finally got the keys and the enormity of the task ahead started to sink in. I have been told I looked positively white that day. With it empty, it was a lot easier to see the work that was needed. The smell from years of rot, dirt and animals (some pets, some wild) was potent, and the thought of living amongst it was a bit grim. The first days, with help from friends and family, involved lots of cleaning while I worked on the plumbing as there was no fully functioning toilet and the hot water had a mind of its own.
Since then, I have been slowly working through renovating the house one room at a time, doing most of the work single handedly and learning the skills I need as I go. Thanks to YouTube, Google and Instagram, there’s a vast wealth of information available on how to do almost anything. If you’re happy to make mistakes and learn from them, can take your time (and I’m hoping this is my forever home so it doesn’t really matter when it’s finished), and are reasonably physically capable, then renovation is something most people could certainly have a go at. I’ve fitted all the bathrooms here, tiled, laid floors, restored the woodwork and windows, renovated fireplaces, decorated, designed and upholstered. It is hugely satisfying seeing your visions come to life, albeit very slowly!
ADMIRALS HOUSE IN PLYMOUTH. IMAGE: GREG PENN
In sharing the journey on Instagram where I’m better known as @manwithahammer, there are a couple of questions I’m asked frequently. Number one: why? There is no logical answer to this. A post I wrote that seemed to resonate with a lot of people perhaps explains it best (it has now been watched nearly 2 million times) which described how Admirals House feels a bit like my ‘Everest’. When ashen reporters asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb it, his response was “because it’s there.”
It’s impossible to justify living in such a big house in any sensible or logical way. I live here with my partner Katalin and we’re not planning on having children, so we don’t need the space. Financially, if I was looking for something that made a good investment then frankly, I would have been better off buying nearly anything else in the world. I knew it was going to be ridiculously hard work, but my heart very much ruled my head, and I felt it was a worthwhile endeavour. As a romantic and eternal optimist, I very much assume the best and thought the result would be rather fantastic. (I’ll tell you in eight or so years when it might be finished if I was right or not!)
The other question I am often asked is about the biggest challenges I’ve faced. The scariest thing for me is the budget (or lack of)! It’s the biggest unknown, and I’m of very normal means so there’s not very much in the way of contingency. This is the reason I do everything myself and why it’s going to take so long but for now, it’s doable – just – so long as I keep working my socks off. I just need be very sensible and accept I can only do what I can, when I can, saving as I go.
The main challenge is not a single task; it is just the scale of the place! Most jobs I thoroughly enjoy as isolated projects – restoring a sash window, for example. And then I think about how there are 60 windows here, 100 internal doors, 8,200 square feet of space that all needs a lot of love, and it is quite overwhelming. Most days, I absolutely love it and don’t push myself too hard so will allow myself a day off when needed. It is a lot with running my business and renovating around it, with an average of 70 hours a week spent on them both (thankfully down from the 100 or so I did for the first few years). I am lucky to have a reasonably chipper disposition, and a beer (or two!) helps along the way.
GREG PENN IN THE KITCHEN HE DESIGNED BEFORE EVEN VIEWING ADMIRALS HOUSE. IMAGE: ANDREW BARTON
Now that I have finished renovating the main kitchen and living spaces, it has become a lot easier living in Admirals. Gone are the first four years of cooking on a camping hob (although I am now very adept at one-pot dishes) which was not much fun alongside long days of work followed by long evening of renovating.
I would have loved to have completed the kitchen much earlier but it’s fair to say that beautiful kitchens don’t come cheap – especially if you are creating your forever home. The kitchen is one of the places where you should splurge a bit! As an open-plan space, I didn’t want the kitchen to feel too ‘kitchen-y’ – ugly kitchen clutter, too clinical and not very friendly-feeling – and instead, opted for a bespoke and homely design. I now have my dream kitchen which has turned out better than I ever dared hoped, having designed it before I had even seen the house. Being able to cook and entertain friends for the first time has been incredible and I celebrated by hosting Christmas for the first time last year.
However, what I am most proud of are the connections and stories shared by people with personal ties to the home, as they reveal their unique histories to me. I am very much a custodian of Admirals House and hope to leave it in a far better state than I got it for future generations. I’m also enormously proud that I’ve had the opportunity to write a book about the project too. I talk about some of those people and Admirals House’s history, while also sharing renovating tales, plus plenty of hints, tips and advice that I hope will help inspire people to give things a go in their own home. It’s incredibly gratifying to receive a message on Instagram from someone who, after watching me try something for the first time (I share both the successes and the less successful attempts), feels the same sense of satisfaction that I experience nearly every day.
But the best thing of all is that Admirals is now home to another, my partner Katalin, and I am looking forward to creating a lifetime of happy memories here.
THE SITTING ROOM AT ADMIRALS HOUSE. IMAGE: ANDREW BURTON
(LEFT) GREG IS HALFWAY THROUGH RENOVATING ADMIRALS HOUSE, STRIPPING BACK 200 YEARS’ OF PAINT AND VARNISH AND GIVING HIMSELF LEAD POISONING IN THE PROCESS. IMAGE: GREG PENN. (RIGHT) ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF HIS LABOURS. IMAGE: ANDREW BURTON
(LEFT) THE PINK BATHROOM ADJOINING THE MAIN BEDROOM (RIGHT), WHICH IS PAINTED IN ‘BURNHAM OVERY’ BY FENWICK & TILBROOK. IMAGES: ANDREW BURTON
Man with a Hammer by Greg Penn (Hodder & Stoughton, £22.00)
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