Renovation now that's a renovation!

Reality renovation shows make household names of folk who tackle a one-off project. Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs subjects go through dramas akin to war campaigns to win his eventual approval. And we so admire these indefatigable amateurs that we send the show ratings into the stratosphere.

But compared to a Victorian couple who, over 25 years have renovated and restored some of the state’s biggest and most important heritage properties, those others are baby steps novices.

Marie and Dominic Romeo are the Olympians of the trade and a book, The Constant Renovators, about the epic projects they have taken on with their eyes wide open, has just been released.

Projects that include Rupertswood at Sunbury, one of Australia’s largest and most significant Victorian mansions; 35 room Burnewang (1902) near Elmore, and three architecturally-interesting houses in Mount Macedon, have come under their passionate duty of care for our built heritage.

“I can’t remember how many there have been, actually,” says Marie Romeo, who wrote the text. “I think it is nine properties but it might be more? There are another couple of cottages that we didn’t include.”

Their book, subtitled “Restoring Grandeur”, includes plenty of Dominic’s photographs of the before, during and after effects of their work. And because they have indeed taken on the reinstatement of important houses and mansions, it includes the histories of who designed them, who lived and died there, and what happened between the sliding into ruin or institutionalism and the eventual rescue by the Romeos.

The case of Rupertswood illustrates how intriguing the back stories can be because the country seat of Sir William Clarke, in the late 19th century the richest man in Australia, incorporates the story of the 1882 creation of the Ashes urn by Lady Clarke.

Dominic, now deputy chairman of the National Trust of Victoria and also working as a realtor and expert advisor on heritage restoration through his firm Bellholme, was always interested and always tracking the fortunes of great old houses. He knew exactly when they hit the market and very often, could not resist pouncing on them.

Marie was always interested in interior design of the non-minimalist kind, and undertook formal studies in the profession. She now runs a retail and design consultancy that has just relocated to Gisborne.

The Romeos have a fearless approach to big restoration gigs and their book reads like an adventure story. It contains more intrigue and amusement than agony. It is, like this couple, more about solution finding than falling at every obstacle.

People often ask, says Dominic, “how do you tackle such large houses?” His answer: “Whether it’s two bedrooms or 12, houses mostly have the same issues. It’s just a matter of scale.”

And where most people back off the huge old places “that look like money pits”, the Romeos can get them turned around within remarkably short time frames – from six months (Rupertswood) to two or three years at the most.

In their eyes, Marie says “nothing is ever too far gone.”

The key, Dominic explains “is to look at whether a place has, or had, a good garden, good land and good architecture. We’ll make the rest happen.”

Making it happen involves doing solid research, using tested tradesman and quality materials. “We don’t cut corners because it is going to have to last. We have to do the right thing by these properties.”

The satisfaction comes, he says, “when we see the finished product and know that it’s back to the way it was and will last for another hundred years, at least.”

The catch at that point is the itch that starts the process again, “We’ll get distracted by something else”, says Marie.

The Constant Renovators by Marie and Dominic Romeo is published by The Miegunyah Press. RRP $45.