3 Years is Way Too Long!
We Can’t Believe It’s Been 3 years since our last Blog — And So Much Has Changed
Hello All!
It’s been a long time. In fact, it’s crazy that our last blog post was back in 2022. Somehow, life sped ahead, the renovation whirlwind got louder, and we barely found a moment to catch our breath. But today feels like the right day to pause, look back, and share where we are now — because oh, how much has changed.
Right, so let’s pretend that you haven’t been keeping up to date with us since our last blog post which concluded the end of our TV series ‘Saving the Manor’… what’s happened? well…
A NEW CHAPTER: SEASON 2 & 3
It’s unfortunate we didnt get our season renewed with HGTV. The renewal was based on the success on HGTV in USA however crazy as it is, it became more successful in places like Australia and Germany! That didnt matter for the renewal as it only mattered the views in the US. We knew the likelihood of renewal was slim, hell the first season was a huge privilege, especially being the first international show HGTV had commissioned!
In early 2024 we decided to take it into our own hands and produce the next season which we aired on our YouTube channel with the help from the original production team that produced the actual show ‘Saving the Manor’. They compiled some amazing episodes of what we were getting up to including the additional new property we bought! After a short break over the summer re-evaluating our life and what we wanted to do and show, mainly because of the arrival of a certain someone, we returned for Season 3. The 3rd season was a huge learning curve as we took over the editing and production all ourselves, we really miss our production team who perfectly edited each episode but this way we had more control of when to edit, shoot what content to share and when to take that time away. A little more raw, a little more us, a little bit rough around the edges. However, we are still going strong as we slowly enter the Christmas season sharing all of what we get up to, our life our restoration, our madness. …and this Christmas is going to be intense!
OUR LITTLE ONE
The longest kept secret, (well after coming out the closet ha!) was having our little one Danteo. It was years in the making, planning and saving! He arrived in June 2024 via a surrogate in America. We had wanted a child for many years and to get to the point of having one we spent 3 years going through the process. Psychological Evaluations, medical tests etc etc. The process was thorough and whilst it was overwhelming it was so reassuring that the process was so protected for all involved. We could talk forever about the process, perhaps we will do that as a YouTube episode as we get asked so many questions about the process and there are a lot of assumptions like the surrogate being the egg donor as well which is not the case. Anyway Danteo arrived on 28th June 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. We couldn’t decide on the name, I (Dean) like Dante and Borja liked Teo, we eventually combined the two with his nickname being Teo… so basically in the end Borja won as always ha!
EVERYTHING changed when he arrived, which we innocently believed wouldn’t happen. Everything slowed down and our days of restoration through the night were over and our focus shifted. It probably took us around 6-9months to get back into the swing of things again whilst always making sure Danteo was the priority.
THE DOWER HOUSE
We purchased the Dower House in 2023 during the time our TV show came to the end, we always knew we would be having a child and things had changed on the main estate. We think it was a collection of different things. We had people turning up at our door and looking through our letterbox and ringing our bell asking for a tour. We also had a lot of production staff during the show living on the estate for 6 months. It started to become less of a home and more of a business. It also worried us having a child in a home that everyone knew where it was and safety and security was paramount for us. Obviously anyone can see the location of the main estate given we rent out some of the properties for holiday accommodation. So we knew during filming the show we needed to find a home, that no one knew where it was but still allowing us the connection with the main estate as well.
Then everything just aligned and we came across the property which was once the Dower House (circa 18th century). It didnt sit on the same site but was close by (which is typical of Dower Houses). It also was set in a beautiful setting surrounded by countryside. Just incase you don’t know what a Dower House is, its the house the widow/lady of the lord would move to when the lord passed away, this would allow the new lord and lady to move into the main house. The house was fully liveable but EXTREMELY modernised. The house dates back to the late 18th century and would have once had such a beautiful charm about it but of the years of being continually occupied by different people, those character elements were carved away. We knew that we would want to bring all these old elements back and allow the original house to sing again. Little did we know that this would be harder than having the original elements in the first place and just restoring (like the main estate). Our season 3 has predominantly focused on this work and is still an ongoing project.
Recently we posted “First Ever Home Tour! Dean & Borja’s Dower House” where we opened the doors (warts and all) to the world.
6 years on…
It’s been 6 years since we started our My Tiny Estate journey can you believe it! Some of you found us through our main account on instagram My Tiny Estate, others found us through the show Saving the Manor and the rest somewhere in between through articles our other socials media and our recent YouTube channel.
The year has been challenging, we set ourselves a 5 year plan and that has already passed and we still have not set a plan for our next 5 years so we feel a little bit in limbo land chasing our tail. Not sure if anyone else gets that way. We found the 5 year plan so useful to set us on a path, even if we didnt quite achieve the plan. In short our plan was to fully restore the main estate and be ready to have a child. Life always throws a spanner in the works, we didnt expect to do a TV show and we definitely didnt expect to be getting another house. Sometimes though you just have to go with the flow, and coming from me (Dean) that can be somewhat difficult to say as that is not me ha!, thats Borja!
The restoration of the Dower House became our 6th year of our 5 year plan, yes I know makes no sense ha! The pressure to have a perfect home before out little one arrived… By that we don’t mean perfectly decorated, we just mean no dust. The Dower House became a much bigger project when we realised the internal layout was all new and we wanted to revert it back to more of its original configuration. So kitchens and bathrooms in different positions, new insulation and back to brick in places. All the things that you just couldn’t possibly live in with a newborn. We think we have got to the other side now, or at least to a position where we can control the spread of dust as we continue the works there. The big thing for me was the kitchen, it’s the heart of the home so my aim by 1st December is to have this done! Lets see if that happens.
MOVING ONWARDS…
2026 is a new year and it will be a new shift for us. We feel you need to constantly keeping adapt to the changing environment around you to keep going and also be happy with what you are doing. Times are tough right now and we know we have difficult decisions to make with regards the buildings we own and maintain. We have a Plan A, we also have a Plan B. We have realised this year that we are creating our legacy with the restoration of this buildings as we are ensuring there existence for future generations. We also realise that every bit of us goes into doing that, money, blood, sweat and tears. We want to get to a point where we can continue to restore and renovate as we love it, it’s in us, we cannot change that about us. But we also realise how short life is and enjoying moments with family is important too. We have also come to realise that all of you that are following us on this journey are following for us and what happens next and we need to remove that pressure we have created on ourselves that we need to do this and that within a short period of time. We also have to remember to stop comparing to others because we don’t know any other account with a property of our size doing it all themselves and comparing to that is unattainable!
We want to be more present on social media in 2026. We feel we have a great unique story and we just need to get it out there to see if others will enjoy being part of it to. If you don’t know what we share on here are the platforms and what we show:
MYTINYESTATE.COM : OUR HOME
Our Blog, Our Story, Our Holiday Rentals and coming soon to 2026 Design Consultation and Architectural advice. But more of that another time
Instagram : Our Origin Account,
Started in 2019 and sharing short form content of our journey. Predominantly images on stories of daily updates and posts of key milestones
YouTube : Our ‘Show’
Started in 2024 and sharing our second and third season of our TV show which was called Saving the Manor and is still available to stream on many platforms (dependant on country)
Patreon : Our EXCLUSIVE Behind the Account Content
Our new account on Patreon which we have recently set up will cover all the other bits in between, more in the moment, more natural. More 2019 instagram before instagram started penalising accounts for sharing too many videos.
TIKTOK, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST & THREADS
We are on these platforms but we are still growing them to form a community like we have on the rest
THANK YOU…
To everyone who’s followed us quietly, cheered us on, messaged encouragement, watched our videos — thank you. Even though the blog was silent, you were not forgotten.
We hope this is the first of many more updates. We want you with us — in the dust, in the triumph, in the laughter. So wherever you read this — thank you for being here.
To 2026 and a new chapter!
Dean & Borja (and Danteo) x