Episode 5 of 7, Room to Improve, RTÉ One, Sunday, February 26th at 9.30pm
Having rented a house in Navan for the last two years, teacher Celine and sound engineer Dave are excited at the prospect of moving to a farmhouse once owned by her grandparents at Kildalkey village in County Meath, where Celine grew up.
The couple will be the fourth generation to live there and retaining the charm and character of the old place is a major concern for the whole family.
Just one room deep, cold, cramped and hopelessly outdated, the farmhouse is too small to renovate on its own, so Dermot designs a single story extension within the footprint of a cow barn attached to the gable wall.
With a wedding on the horizon and no contingency in the budget, the build quickly runs into problems when the cost of replacing an old chimney breast adds thousands to the cost and local contractors Paschal and Ger discover a major problem with the drains and septic tank.
As QS Lisa O’Brien deals with two major cost overruns, delays mount over the final design of window frames and the galvanized roof of the new barn. Having placed their trust in Dermot’s colour choices, Dave and Celine remain unconvinced by several new features including a ‘hobbit window’ and the colour scheme of their new kitchen. Eventually, Dermot decides that a high tech virtual tour is the only way to show his clients and their contractor what he means.
Will Dermot ever turn his vision of a comfortable 21st century home within a 19th century shell into reality?