Series 5
Hugh Wallace is back to chart the highs and lows of home restorations in Ireland. Adventurous homeowners battle to restore derelict or unloved properties to their former glory, but can they create their dream home in the ruined walls of our past?
Presented by architect Hugh Wallace, this series follows homeowners across Ireland as they try to restore and transform their derelict properties into comfortable homes fit for today – while saving a piece of the country’s architectural heritage.
In this new series, Hugh meets homeowners who are transforming a cowshed on a ruined grand estate, a rotten farmhouse with a secret, a former seaside guesthouse, a derelict vernacular cottage, a Burren herder’s hut, an old grocery shop, tumbling cabins and a depopulated village’s former Post House, across the country from Cork to Donegal.
Every aspect of the work is documented, from missed deadlines and budgets to battles fought and challenges overcome. Every property is different, and each brings with it its own unique set of problems for the brave homeowners, for whom every restoration is a personal passion project.
With our housing shortage in the headlines daily, can these restorers show us the way to a dream home by resurrecting buildings from our past?
With budgets ranging from €75,000 to €400,000, Hugh will find out just what is possible to achieve when people set their hearts on their new dream home.
Episode 1
Former Post Office, Butlerstown, Co. Cork
Local lad Timmie O’Brien, has many happy memories of his local Post Office that has been lying dormant for many years. So he and his partner Siobhan decide it is time to breathe back some life into the old village hub, and to convert it into their forever home with their two young sons, Jimmy and Miah.
When we meet Siobhan and Timmie they are already a few years into the project, but they have run out of steam and work has stalled. The renovation of the house and shop, as well as spiraling costs, has been overwhelming for Siobhan and Timmie, and their forever home has become an improbable dream.
But under Hugh’s guidance the couple get a second wind, and pull out all the stops to make their dream a reality. Timmie spends every spare moment on site, while Siobhán balances raising their two children with her makeup job and helping Timmie manage the build.
As pressure mounts, and the couple see less and less of each other, will this formidable build get the better of them again?
