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THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE

Jennifer Byrne, PJ Gallagher, Michal Dachowski. THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE RTE ONE Image Name: Jennifer Byrne, PJ Gallagher, Michal Dachowski. THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE RTE ONE
Jennifer Byrne, PJ Gallagher, Michal Dachowski. Image Name: Jennifer Byrne, PJ Gallagher, Michal Dachowski.
PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE Image Name: PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE
PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE Image Name: PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE
PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE Image Name: PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE
PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE Image Name: PJ GALLAGHER THE BIG DIY CHALLENGE

From whole room renovations to outdoor construction projects, the show’s DIY-ers test their mettle for the chance to win the grand prize of €10,000. The competition is fierce, but only one can be crowned Ireland’s Best DIY-er. Providing tips and advice for the viewers (and a critical eye on the projects) are two judges, TU Dublin Lecturer in Construction, Jennifer Byrne, and representing Woodie’s DIY, power tool aficionado Michal Dachowski. These two will have the tough decision of choosing a winner and awarding the cash prize as well as additional prizes for Best Small Job, Best Inside Job, Best Outside Job, Best Upcycle, and of course, the Best DIY Fail.

Presenter PJ Gallagher said: “I can wire a plug but generally I’ve always had ornamental hands and only dream of one day making something useful… like a breadboard. I’m really looking forward to meeting my fellow DIY fans around the country and even more so I’m hoping to see some really original projects… and even some epic fails! A friend of mine is building a hen house in the shape of the GPO, I’d love to see something cool like that win.”

Sponsored by Woodie’s DIY


DIY-er: Katie Neamtu (35) – Laois
Occupation: Runs a salon

Katie is a wonderful mum of three. All of her kids are under the age of 10, so she and her husband have their hands full!  She has been renting for 10 years and through a scheme with Túath Housing, they are now finally homeowners. She cannot believe it and is thrilled to finally own a home. As she was renting she was never able to do up the house and make it her own. Now she finally can!

Katie runs her own salon and is a bit of a girly girl. When it comes to DIY, she has upcycled some furniture in the past, but when it comes to painting the walls she loves to start but gets “tired” and “bored” easily. It’s fair to say she only ever finishes half a DIY job! 

Katie’ project for The Big DIY Challenge is her sitting room, which she considers a completely blank canvas. She wants to paint, construct a fake chimney, put a fire in it, and build television storage either side and as well as an area for the children and all their toys behind the sitting area for herself and her husband. 

DIY-er: Ayna Corr  (32) – Kilbarrack Lower, Dublin 13
Occupation: Part-time Beautician

Ayna originally hails from the Ukraine but met her husband, Alan, while they were both working on a cruise ship. Now married and living in Ireland, Ayna looks after their daughter, Abby, but supplements their household income with part-time work as a nail technician. In her spare time when the baba is asleep, she’s constantly doing DIY bits around the house. She loves to do some gardening, painting, anything DIY related! Ayna also loves to save and recover old furniture by painting it. Being an amateur DIY’er, she’s painted and decorated the entire house and is now eyeing what she considers her Achilles’ heel for The Big DIY Challenge, a playhouse for her daughter.

Ayna’s entry to The Big DIY Challenge, a dream princess playhouse for her daughter in the garden, is something she has attempted to start before. That attempt saw her hammer her finger badly enough to put both her and the project on the sidelines. Her husband, Alan, has told her to just buy one, but Ayna refuses to give up and is determined to build it herself. She says, “I will do it myself, even if building it costs me my other nine fingers!”

DIY-er: Jonathan Allen (37) – LimerickOccupation:
Full Time Firefighter for Cork Fire Brigade

Jonathon is a firefighter for the Cork Fire Brigade and if he’s not saving the day he’s creating beautiful dinner tables or romantic bath trays for his wife, Claire. He currently lives in Limerick with his missus and step-son, Finn. 

Jonathan’s taste is certainly unique, as his DIY projects sometimes feature copper knives or repurposed animals skulls. For The Big DIY Challenge, however, he plans to make something a bit more mainstream – a bespoke coffee table for his mum, complete with the Ogham word for ‘mother’ carved and inlaid with crushed turquoise and resin into the top. He plans to carve the table from a slab of yew, use copper for the legs, and place copper strips into pre-carved spaces for the ancient alphabet’s letters.

DIY-er: Donna Warne (50) – Co.Wexford
Occupation: Caretaker

Donna can only be described as a go-getter. She makes her living as a caretaker for an elderly lady in the area but as a single mum of three, she wants to increase her income by putting an outdoor building she’s been doing up on Air B&B. First though, she’s going to put her DIY skills to the test by adding an outdoor shower room to give it something a little bit different. She’s already started improving other aspects of the building and the outdoor shower is the last thing she needs to do. 

Donna’s DIY project budgets generally mean that she has to be incredibly resourceful. As a result, she uses recycled and upcycled material in all of her projects, getting cast-offs and unused stock from local builders and neighbours. As she says, she doesn’t want the off-cuts and the “leftovers” to go to waste! She plans to do the same with her outdoor shower, using reclaimed wood from a neighbour for the structural framework as well as the shiplapping, a shower tray from a demolition yard, and even an old patio door upcycled into a shower wall. She’s a can-do woman with sass, spunk, and a spanner!

DIY-er: Marcelle Langeveldt (32) – Kilbarrack Lower, Dublin 13
Occupation: Apprentice Mechanical Maintenance Fitter

Apprentice Marcelle heard about The Big DIY Challenge through the group, Women in Trade Network Ireland, and knew that she had to enter. With a serious passion for DIY, Marcelle hopes to earn a living someday making pieces just like the one she entered as her project in the challenge. Marcelle plans on building a self-contained industrial-style kitchen island unit, complete with stove, oven, extractor fan, and breakfast nook with chairs. With a serious workshop of tools, she has everything she needs to make this dream a reality.

Marcelle’s self-contained kitchen island features a lot of pipework, which she intends to thread herself. She’ll have to thread each pipe for the supporting legs of the island as well as the surrounding framework from which she’ll hang her extractor fan. On top of that, she’s planning on building some barstools with a design that defies gravity before putting the finishing touches on her worktop and showing everyone how well an industrial-style look can come together.

DIY-er: John Gear (32) – Waterford
Occupation: Carpenter

John works as a carpenter but his project for The Big DIY Challenge won’t make use of those skills, as he plans to make a memorial flower bed in honour of his father, who went missing off Brownstown Head over five years ago. John spent seven months looking for him with the help of the Waterford Marine Rescue, but without success. John envisions this memorial flower bed as a recreation of the two iconic pillars on Brownstown Head that overlook the water and somewhere that will serve as a place for him to visit when he wants to pay his respects.

John has a lot of grafting ahead of him as he can’t bring machinery on to his site, meaning he’ll have to do the whole bed by hand. In addition to the memorial flower bed, he is digging a path from the house all the way to the back of his very large country garden to where the pillars will sit. Filling the path will take several tons of stone that again he will have to lift in all by hand. The result will be its own reward, though, and John plans on hosting a get-together at the end of the 10-day-build with family and the Marine Search and Rescue to say thanks for all their help. 

DIY-er: Alicia Chawner 65 – Togher, Co. Louth
Occupation: Retired

Alicia, like John, is doing a project in memory of someone. At the end of last year’s spring, Alicia’s son, Ed, was diagnosed with cancer. By the autumn, he had passed away, leaving his family behind him. Alicia’s project for The Big DIY Challenge, is to create a space to remember her son where he loved to hang out the most – windsurfing at the beach. Alicia’s plans include refurbishing an old surf shack with some recycled materials and some fresh coats of paint.

Alicia’s recycled materials will include the use of one of Ed’s old windsurfing boards as part of the surf shack wall. With the help of her grandchildren, she plans on using a bright array of colours to give the old surf shack a new lease of life. In the end, Ed’s wife and the remainder of their family plan to visit Alicia and her surf shack on the last day of the build to officially commemorate it in Ed’s honour.