My Bungalow Bliss

I wouldnt hire those architects anyway.

Admittedly they had a crap house i the first place that did need a lot of work, but all the architects did was get them a €300k shed thats was a smaller size than the original house.

That was a very poor show by the architects. They should have ended up with something a hell of a lot better than they did.

And living room, dining room and kitchen all in the one place. Obviously the architects didnt have kids. A house that size should allow the whole family space to have some peace from one another. As it is they will end up killing each other.

They didn't put a home office in that bungalow. The loft space could be used I suppose.

Just had another look at the link Maryanne put up......there's a desk under the stairs 🙄 but there's not a designated close the door office.

They went from a 6 bedroom bungalow to a 3 bedroom....I get that the layout is probably better but it's really the minimum amount of rooms that they actually need.....I can see another extension added in a few years.

Japers! (see what I did there?) is it beyond you to work out why they never had 360k to buy in Kildare? Did you not listen properly and rush to your keyboard to have a go?

'Time' pussyhands. It's not rocket science.

They had the money/access to money to buy Galway but not Kildare. They were able to save/borrow on the strength of Galway to do the renovations.

But they never had 360 at any time in one lumps sum.

The linked given earlier says Demand Control Ventilation (or would have if RTE ever read over their work). Solar panels are not the be-all-and-end-all, particularly in Connemara if the house isn't orientated right with limited daylight hours in winter when the biggest demand for heating is.

<Not aimed at the poster I quoted, just part of the same post> The house is not small, I think people just get that impression because the house isnt packed with furniture. You can see in the floor plan that there is cloak room at the hall, a utility with storage, all bedrooms have wardrobes (including walk-in in master). With sufficient dedicated storage space and not hoarding crap you don't need a massive house. Plenty of space for any amount of shed space too.

There is a den and usable attice space so the moans about open plan kitchen/living room are misplaced, there are options if you want to get away. They themselves know better their intentions for more children or need to wfh. Some seem more interested in judging the people on these programmes than in the houses. 2000sq.ft is not a small house.

I liked the interior finish they achieved and Im sure they have a snug warm efficient house now. But for the amount of money spent I dont think they got value - its a very expensive 2000sq foot house. All the rooms are pretty tight except the open plan kitchen/living/dining area. The bedrooms dont have much storage at all - those are small wardrobes. It would appear the bathrooms are so tight there is no room for a bath also which is necessary when you have young kids. Its a nice house - but could have been done better. In a couple of years this house may need further work done as the layout no longer meets their needs

Totally agree. Even 'Grand Designs' has given up on technicalities and focus on quibbles between the couples. ( Remember the floating house on the Thames - I would love to know how the services were attached ! )

You get a more complete view of the project if you can see how the services work and see the craftsmen making bespoke items ( if any )

I'll call BS on that.

Notwithstanding the length of time it would take for a mini digger to gut the inside carefully , it just also struck me as an odd way to completely remodel an existing house. I suppose new roofing joints & block work would be an additional cost but with the money spent on this project, I would have thought not a stumbling block (no pun intended)

I'm still astonished at what was spent given the actual work done on this project.

There obviously is alright , I suppose if the spend was less I'd say fair enough but I know some neighbours who built far bigger and dare I say nicer new homes from scratch and for far less in the past 6 years .

Bear in mind that the €500k cost here includes the cost of buying the house. For most people refurbing, they have the house a long time and wouldn't factor it in as a cost (mortgage still outstanding has to be paid whether they refurb or not). Most refurbs wouldn't involve polished concrete floors either.