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New HGTV hosts Dean Poulton and Borja De Maqua are opening up about their new HGTV show “Saving the Manor” in a new set of blog posts. The U.K. couple has decided to publish a new blog post for each of their show’s episodes to give fans “a bit of a behind the scenes view on what happened and what they didn’t include in the episode,” according to the first post.
Their post breaks down the hardest parts of their restoration process, what it was like bringing live donkeys onto their 500-year-old estate and why they were nervous about the wallpaper in the servants quarters when they first put it up.
Dean Poulton & Borja De Maqua Enlisted Their Mothers to Help Meet Their Deadline
Poulton and De Maqua had been working on restoring their estate prior to signing on for their HGTV show. By the time production began, they were just starting the restoration of their manor’s stables area, and the cameras added certain time pressures for the couple.
“Dean is notoriously never late for anything so when we agreed with production the date we would finish these spaces he made sure we stuck to it!” De Maqua wrote. “However we almost had a break down when the supplier that we had to supply and install quartz worktop for the coach house said they couldn’t do it… 2 days before the reveal!!!”
Luckily the couple was able to find a company that could supply the worktop in short notice, though not without paying double their original rate. “Now that’s a commitment to a deadline!!” De Maqua noted.
The tasks that unexpectedly took the most time, according to the couple? Restoring the windows and doors. They even referred to restoring the “monster” coach house doors of the stables as “daunting from the outset.”
Luckily, the couple had two extra pairs of hands for these steps in their mothers. “Behind the scenes we had the assistance of both our mothers, god bless them. One working on assembling the flat pack furniture that would make up the workshop and the other stripping the paint off all the doors,” the couple wrote in their blog.
De Maqua’s mother makes an appearance in episode 2 of the series, which is now airing on HGTV and Discovery+, though just as a guest of the couple.
‘Saving the Manor’ Servants Quarters Available for Rent
Although Poulton and De Maqua mostly worked on the stables of their estate in their premiere episode, they also added some finishing touches in the servants quarters, including a custom wallpaper by the company Sand & Sushi to replicate the estate’s original design.
Poulton wrote of the wallpaper, “Not going to lie, when [we filmed our reveal of] the room I (Dean) was a little nervous as it didn’t look like what I imagined it would.” Luckily, the couple discovered this was due to the television camera lighting, and once the cameras were gone the wallpaper looked just as they’d hoped under the softer, warmer lighting.
The servants quarters are now finished and ready for visitors. The couple has started taking reservations to stay on their estate, though the space is currently sold out.
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