Room to Improve (v2)

Yep and the 3 sets of double French doors to go with them.

People need to start questioning the need for a deep retrofit.

we live in a 3 bed semi built in 84. The heating bill is 600 euro a year for 5 of us.

just about to go in the market as 200k will get us a bigger house extra bedroom and bigger garden than spending around 8k a sqm on a extension!!!

Neither of those houses look lived. I'd love to see them with young kids, toys everywhere, food out on the counter, etc. I think Dermot either spends all his time at work or has a strange sense of what a family home is like outside of having loads of people over for a party.

That sounds like my house freshpopcorn, with 2 young boys you never know what toy your going to trip over🤣

No I don't live in Dublin, but for what they spent I do think they could have gotten better value for their money.

This argument comes up alot.

I do agree with you. I do think they would have been better served selling and buying bigger with the extra 200k budget.

However house prices are ridiculous at the moment especially in Dublin.

It's also very easy to say that when you've no emotional attachment to somewhere. If they did sell up, they might need to change schools, kids wouldn't like that. Then there's friends and knowing the area and all that kind of stuff.

Did they get value for money....no I don't think so ....but then with the exception of Joe and Mary in Tipperary I don't think anyone has got value for money on this show.

I do think they got a nice renovation though. However, as Maggie above said, a garden lodge would have done the trick very nicely!

The only show I think that gives value for money is the new one "build me a home" or something along that lines, with the Aussie builder. Home rescue is also very good but tends to be one room focused.

I really did chuckle at that comment. Dermot does not understand the needs of a family - if he did he would have gave them a utility room. I have a large utility room and without a doubt it is what makes my house work. Its where we have all the washing equipment, storage for bags and sports equipment, coats are hung, shoes are put etc. Without this room my house would be a mess! That family last night needed a bloody utility room Dermot! The utility wall was ridiculous - there seemed to be no storage at all. They dont even appear to have an extra sink to wash football boots etc.

He could have very easily built a utility room out the side instead of one set of french doors. The family last night didnt get much extra space and although it looked nice it will be cluttered up with their stuff again in no time.

Also did they do anything to the upstairs of the house?

One interesting feature of the house nobody mentioned was the "sunken" living room area - you go down a few steps to it. How practical is that, especially as people get older? Tens of housands of times the steps will be used, all it takes is once for someone to stumble and break something? Or maybe someone who has such a feature in their homes can confirm if the extra cosiness / asthetic is worth the very slight potential danger?

Another thing that I noticed last night was Dermot explaining how wood on the kitchen cabinet doors etc added warmth to the kitchen, or words to that effect, and encouraging wood finish / colour. After putting the house owner off using wood in her kitchen the previous week in Co. Wicklow-she gort grey painted kitchen instead.

yes aired on 16 November!

Where exactly would you have put a utility room?

it would have ate into other rooms. Lots of people don’t have utility rooms. You need to leave the country snd hi to the city where houses are smaller

a sink to wash football boots, notions !!!!

The sink is called the back garden tap here 🤣🤣🤣

He really doesn’t seem to get the concept of future proofing, even with relatively older clients, as we’ve seen with his fetish for unnecessary front door steps.

The big gap in last night’s show was the bikes, show in the dining room. A bike bunker can revolutionise bike usage, and there was no mention at all of where the bikes had gone or how they were being accommodated.

Having said that, this was the first episode for a long time that I could actually relate to, being a suburban semi-d. I really liked the end result, expensive and all that it was. I’m not too sure I believe all those “sure I could have done that for €20k” stories. I liked the pergolas (which weren’t mentioned at all). I’d have preferred windows to the line of french doors. I didn’t like the steps / change of levels - seemed a bit arty-farty. I liked the utility storage, having seen something similar in operation in a town house recently. The drying cupboard seems like a great idea too.

I wasn’t sure about the height of the TV in a fairly narrow room. Would this make for comfortable viewing for those on the couch directly opposite?

And what was the ‘in memory of Karl ….’ in the titles all about?

Was the the house in Limerick? The way the program was edited, I had concerns about how it would turn out as it went along, but they ended up doing an absolutely amazing job on it. Not picture perfect as you say but perfect at the same time. It was one of the only times watching those shows that I stood back and said that's amazing for what the spent.

I think one of the parents of the couple was a builder that helped out, wasn't you?

8k a sq meter, a smsll 3sqm one would have added €24k

Unfortunately, if it was easy for them to bring the bikes around the back, then it was also easy for someone to go around the back and steal them. Bikes get stolen in Dublin an awful lot. I suspect anyone bringing them indoors probably had one stolen before.

For the money spent, a utility room should really have been worked into it/stayed in the plans. He was lucky she got distracted by the fancy hot press. A bike rack/hanger in same utility room would could easily have been achieved.

We did up a very small 2 up 2 down house many years ago and managed/made sure to get a downstairs toilet and a small utility room in. Almost essential imo. Storing them in a fancy cupboard is still going to mean they can hear the washing machine in that lovely new "tranquil" space he created.

He made a big deal about listening to clients needs but one of the main issues the guy had was that he was sick of hearing the washing machine when trying to read. He's a (likeable) spoofer.