The Design Doctors, Denise and Catherine, travel to Co. Limerick to create a more tranquil and light-filled home for Teresa and Michael’s retirement years.
The Design Doctors are Denise O’Connor and Catherine Crowe, top architects and interior designers who will show us how we can fall back in love with our homes. Every day they see how bad design really does impact on our quality of life and they’re on a mission to use clever, practical and surprising ways to give us happier lives at home.
The programmes aim to give us a sneak peak into the world of design and allow us to see what goes on behind the scenes; where the inspiration comes from and how a plan can come together. Denise and Catherine visit inspiring places and beautiful houses to show us how we can get involved in our own design and task each of the families with becoming designers in their own homes.
They will be helping six households with the most common problems in Irish homes today: a fear of colour; lack of light; insufficient storage; bland design with no personality; rooms which are not functioning the way we need them to and the starter home that now needs to accommodate an expanding family. The series is full of practical tips and inspiring ideas for how to make the most of what we already have and make design accessible to us all.
EPISODE 4 – Thursday September 26th
Teresa and Michael
Budget: €40,000
Location: Pallasgreen, Co. Limerick
Main themes: Bringing light into the home, creating a sense of balance and harmony
Teresa and Michael live in a detached house in a rural community outside of Limerick. They have five adult children, one of whom still lives with them. Ríona is 22 and has a learning disability and she finds change very difficult so The Design Doctors need to make sure she is on board with the new design and that it suits her needs.
Michael is a primary school principal and Teresa is retiring after 36 years working with people with special needs. Being home at lot more is something she is nervous about and she wants to adapt the house to suit her new lifestyle. Michael is quite laid back and teases her about being tied to the kitchen sink when she retires. Their home suffers from a real lack of light and is not pleasant to spend long periods of time in. All the lights have to be on all the time.
The Design Doctors need to come up with a solution to the dark rooms and to generally de-clutter the living space after years of being a family hub to create a more tranquil and light-filled home for Ríona and for Teresa and Michael’s retirement years.
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