A very warm welcome to 'Man with a Hammer' by Greg Penn...

A place to share my life, loves and ramblings here at Admirals House, as I slowly renovate this 30 roomed ex-Naval Georgian lump of a home!

Feb 02, 2026

A little introduction…

Well lovely bunch, this is all a bit exciting - and very nerve wracking! After almost 10 years of sharing my restorations over on Instagram (@manwithahammer) and other social platforms… and in that time somewhat mind mindbogglingly amassing over half a million followers… primarily after a good kick up the backside from said, very lovely followers I thought it was about time to allow my waffle to flow in a slightly less restricted format here in my very own corner of Substack!

It already feels very liberating to have neither the caption limit of an Instagram post, and potentially the ability to share photos and bits with you that aren’t all in skinny, portrait formats - a format particularly ill suited to photographs of houses but necessary for the ‘algorithm’ - so, I’m a bit excited to say the least!

But, if you’re new to ‘Man with a Hammer’…

I should probably formally introduce myself.. and let me start my saying how splendid indeed it is to have you!
My name is Greg (though answer to all sorts!), a beardy Yorkshireman that’s about to turn 42 (or 10 and a half… the joy of being a leapling!). For the last 6 and a half years, I’ve been pretty well single-handedly, and very slowly, restoring my home - Admirals House, down here in occasionally sunny city of Plymouth, down here in Devon, in the South-West of England!

Isn’t she pretty! There will be lots, lots more chatter about the house to come… so, more about her in due course - but she will in the main, be the star of the show I hope!

Admirals is the second home I’ve owned. My first was a 4 storey Victorian terraced , in Darlington where I properly ‘cut my teeth’!

It certainly came as a surprise…

To friends and family, taking on that first home at 30 years of age! It was a big lump, an absolute wreck, and up to that point I’d shown absolutely no interest in houses, design, DIY or anything much very practical! I had an office job in sales and marketing, albeit on a farm, and was affectionately (ish) known as the office wally!

Well, turned out, I flipping loved it… and the rest is history!

As for now…

I’m maybe about half way through Admirals… what I’d always hoped would be my forever home (more about that in due course!), and still slowly plugging away, painstakingly doing my very best to rescue this beautiful slice of history to the best of my abilities…

A few years ago, I met the love of my life - Cotty (short for Katalin - a Hungarian name no one here knows how to pronounce - hence the shortened form), and she now lives here too, joining the cold, dusty adventure that is Admirals House!

I proposed in late November 2025 and miraculously she said yes! This picture was taken about 10 minutes before I popped the question and make-up (her’s not mine!) became smudged… I am indeed a very lucky chap, and an ‘Admirals House Wedding’ we’re very much hoping is in the pipeline in the next few years!

As for what to expect here…

Honestly - I’m not entirely sure! As with my approach to almost everything in life, I tend to get stuck in first, and then have a proper think about it as I find my feet - but thankfully that approach seems to be generally working out OK! It certainly keeps things interesting and well, I’m not sure you’d buy a House like Admirals, with the shoe string budget I had, and the pretty huge void in skills and expertise, if you pondered things too deeply…!

But, I love to write - indeed the journey I’ve been on, included a book - a Sunday Times best selling book no less (very, very briefly!), and to have a space, that’s all mine, and totally free, for me to waffle on, without worrying about whether it performs on Instagram (a platform I absolutely still love and am beyond grateful for!), or having to spend three days editing a video of me sanding some shutters I’ve unpinned, is absolutely thrilling…

So, you can probably expect things to flow, evolve, twist and turn, much like a renovation does. Whilst I’ve always done my utmost to connect with people that choose to kindly follow me on Insta, always responding as best I can to messages and comments, ultimately you’re still beholden to their whims and formats, so here I’m hoping too that it’s a place where you, dear reader, are able to shape as I learn what’s of interest and what you enjoy… a space where every comment and correspondence from you will be read and get a response from me so we can all grow this I hope into a warm, friendly and uplifting corner of that there t’interweb!

But, almost certainly…

Given I’m pretty sure at the time of writing, that 99.9% of you will have come across from IG, so at least like a bit of what’s gone on there so you can expect…

Lots of renovation goodness…
- Hopefully this is a space where I can share more in depth information of what I’m up to… the sort of thing that typically flops on IG, but I know lots of you do find interesting - and this feels like a much better home for it!
A bit of our lives too…
- Almost journal like, sharing a bit of the behind the scenes of what life is like behind the camera, renovating an old house and the home we’re creating for ourselves… but more than that, being able to share a bit more about us - whether that’s wedding plans, places we’ve loved travelling to or general adventures and shinanigans!
Interior design…
- About the rooms I’m working on or already done of course… but also this will be a place I can share my thoughts more generally on trends and things I see… maybe space for readers dilemmas and thoughts too, and my take on how to solve problems, and design spaces you love…
Showcasing other incredible homes and projects…
- There’s so many incredible people doing similar to what I’m doing here at Admirals - that sometimes don’t have the same platform I do, so it’d be great fun to share some of my favorites in time too!
Hints, tips, tricks… as well as pitfalls and full-blown disasters!
- I’ve always tried to share the realities good and bad, so I’m hopeful this can be a safe space for people to perhaps learn from my experiences and mistakes!
General waffle…
- Honestly, I am so excited to be sharing on here… sat behind my computer, the possilities feel endless! I get so many questions and comments on social media but that doesn’t feel like the right place to share things of that nature so certainly from time to time, beyond the house, interiors, restoration, and my more core content - there’ll be time here I hope to cover the likes of…
  - Wedding excitement
  - Garden planning
  - Our travels and adventures
  - Food
  - and booze (most of these will be written with a little glass of something in hand!)
  - Hosting and seasonal goodness
  - Occasional rants and raves
  - Things that makes me happy
  - Music ‘I rather like podcasts that tell me at the end what they’ve been listening to that week'
  - Business, social media and that sort of thing
  - Beard maintenance and beauty tips…
    - Ok, that one might be a joke - got to check you’re paying attention!
  - And… anything else that tickles me and entertains me and I think might do the same for you!
- There might even be the odd guest post from Cot, and other guest writers!

A little example of some of the rooms I've completed thus far!

As for how often…

Well folks, I’ll cross that bridge as and when we get there but certainly I’ll do my utmost to post a couple of pieces a week at least… I’m certainly rarely short of things to say dear reader - though of course certainly don’t want to be a tiresome bore - so will find my way as we go forth on this adventure together! But, if you’ve made it this far - very sincere congratulations! If you’ve thoughts at all of what you’ve like to see, please, please do pop a comment below - I shall be very grateful indeed of any and all help!

A whistlestop tour of the story so far…

If you’re new here… here’s a very, very quick look at the spaces I’ve tackled so far…

Your faithful, friendly, internet pal

Greg X