As you may already know, I'm quite fond of watching paintings being restored. I get offered videos on You Tube of other restoration projects because of it. Mainly its the type where they restore old rusted irons or knackered cabinets. But a few months back it came up with Dr Hoeve - Old Belgian Farmhouse Restoration.
Marina and Illia, are an Ukrainian couple living in the De Hoeve area of Belgium. They've pored all there life savings into buying this wreck of an old farmhouse, which means they have to do all the renovation work themselves. And boy do they work hard, long evenings and weekends. Some days they both look so tired. Most of their speeded up time lapse videos show one, or both of them chiseling plaster off walls, sweeping up the detritus into barrows and wheeling it away. Or the endless drudgery of digging out floors, in order to lay concrete. Illia is a loveable character with his - Let's do it - catchphrase, and insisting he is 'debuilding' not demolishing, because they save all the good quality bricks, tiles etc for future use. This project has a number of phases, they are currently in their second year of working on it. They imagine it may take them 6-10 years to fully complete. There is always Annika - The Cat Inspector, to keep them on track, as she manages to find a way to get into all the videos.
At the moment they are working on converting an old milk shed into a small flat. Because they have to be actually living on the site within three years, or they may lose their planning consent. They have two young children and were living in a rented house, with a large caravan on site. What their daytime work is and how they support themselves is not apparent. They do have a growing list on Patreon. And now they have over 100,000 subscribers they are also acquiring sponsorships.
As Illia cheekily says to camera 'like and subscribe'
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