Letter of the week Not the full monty
READING both the ‘Changing Places’ article in Property Market and Lucy Baring’s enjoyable report in her Spectator column (November 23) reminded me of inheriting our Georgian home from my parents. Every occupant of a home wants to build their nest in their own style and my wife and I were no different, but we embarked on stripping back rather than stripping out.
My parents’ home encompassed a lot of plywood, but these trappings were removed to reveal the simple yet elegant carved window frames and doors that suited our home. Over the years, we have removed the 1960s fireplaces to reveal stone mantles and an original inglenook. Fitted floral carpets were lifted to reveal boarded walnut floors.
In the before and after photographs in Property Market, you show a spiral staircase with mahogany-capped rails that has been stripped out and replaced with something more ordinary. I fear people are being tempted to go too far and that we may lose the very features of the houses we love. A. Muirhead, Perthshire