Just caught an ad for what looks like an epic episode this week - yer man from Dancing with the Stars (judge, has CF, name escapes me right now - Justin? Julian?) - renovating what looks like a mahooooosive Victorian house, 2-storey over basement (I grew up in one of those, that is the stuff of absolute nightmares!!!) - trying to renovate it to provide accommodation for families of those getting treatment for CF. At least I think that's what's going on.
I didn't see the whole ad so not sure of location, but I'm assuming it's somewhere in Ballsbridge close to St. Vincent's Hospital.
Can't wait to see the budget wrangling/overruns on this one…… and where he'll fit in an aul courtyard (or have they gone out of fashion?)
Idea for RTE: Get people to build/buy houses and do them up to their tastes/requirements with advice from an architect.
Think I'm on to a winner!
Looking at the photo it is as bad as it gets all right. If I bought the house first thing I'd do is fill in the hollow space below those 2 steps, or else try to lower the ground level in the kitchen by the height of 2 steps. In a relatively confined space there is no excuse to have steps between the kitchen and dining table like that. I know an older person who tripped in a house and spilled hot tea over a small child, the child is now grown up but still has the scars. Someone else I know who has a couple of steps broke an ankle and was in a cast for 6 weeks and had to do physio after that. All because of a couple of steps in a house. I'm surprised it is allowed, when so many people have to future-proof their houses.
Only 4 episodes of RTI this year. Is there a shortage of applicants? Wonder why that is.
It's been like that the last couple of years. Probably budget cutting at RTE, or maybe Dermot has so much business these days he can't do more than that.
Decades from now people will still be talking about the terrible stepgate 😱
Or at least until next Sundays episode where it will be replaced by another item.
There is a difference between steps up and steps down and the floor across half the room dropping in hight by two steps, with only steps in the middle. I am sure they will add a banister across the drop, with just an opening at the steps, and maybe even hand rails at the steps!
No as a child I didnt have 270k spare
Things easily rectified by the builder willy nilly.
Big difference in seeing a big step and then deciding you don't want it.
It's not about her not wanting it anyways. She is probably fine with it, but the risks are there when there was no need for them.
Did you spend 270k renovating and decide to leave them in though?
Sure I didn't die in a car crash in the 90's, the cars were as safe then as they are now so.
We had steps in our kitchen growing up, down to the utility room.
Going by the above comments its a miracle I made it to adulthood
There were multiple things she expressed her unhappiness about.
Well in fairness, even if Dermot had put a big concrete pole in the middle of the floor, no one is ever going to say they're unhappy with the result after spending several hundred thousand on it.
I thought it was a good design dont mind the split level and nice patio, having a nice patio is one of the more important aspects of house now I think. Loved his covered area there are well, it would have been epic if he built in a one of those south african BBQs (Braai) inthe covered area as well.
Front of the house looks bland and could have done with those pillars and wall Dermot wanted but I understand from building a house myself some things have to go for cost savings.
Another mistake she made was with the kitchen where he was trying to convice her not to put those cuboards in black that were in the alcove opposite the kitchen….bad mistake on her and the kitchen designers part…it would have been A LOT better having them in white.
He didn't do YOU any favours you actually mean. The client was delighted with the finished house.
It's not just about kids, it's about future proofing and thinking ahead to when you're older and possibly less mobile.
I wouldn't put potential future obstacles in place by choice.
You can't design your house around your 2 small kids they do grow up you know, crazy the way some people are thinking on here.
"I don’t think anyone ever once considered the health and safety of our house and nobody has fallen to their death so far and generations raised here"
They obviously did consider health and safety when it was being built. Did a good job too, otherwise you might not be here.
I don't know any rich liberals living in Southside Dublin , or Northside for that matter .
Great imaginations here tonight 😂
But yeah people who have struggled in those older houses would not be redesigning and putting split level in if they could help it .
Read what I said before you post ...He did her no favours with the split level kitchen design, the rest is beautiful .
Original planning was granted in 2022. This was for retention of the changes. No big deal.
Sign-off. by the Council Plannner was 6th November 2024. The application was "Retain & complete revised extension……." I don't know when the progtam was filmed but it looked like the works were completed prior to the planning application being dealt with ? It's wouldn't be the first time that Dermot has ignored planning regulations ?
I guarantee if you gave people the choice between a nice old house with steps inside or the risk assessed insane asylum you want us all to live in, they’d pick the first option.
The rich liberals who come up with all this nonsense live in Georgian houses in south Dublin with open fires, steps everywhere and non safety glass.
Not sure why someone would have steps in their kitchen by choice. And they're not even small steps.
It's the small details. Like even just hurt your ankle going for a run and then you're having to go up and down those stairs with your dinner and plates. Or looking ahead well into the future if you have a bad back or knee and need to go up and down those steps daily.
I just checked the planning and planning only went in in September. Very quick turnaround?
No favours? She was delighted with house. Jesus H the arrogance to tell someone what to think about their own house.
As a parent of two young kids myself those steps are absolutely crazy. It's hard enough trying to watch young kids when they are two of you but as a single parent that's madness. The little boy is only 2 and little girl only a baby are so that the worst possible ages. I don't see how she could even put in a stair gate.
He also wanted an open Mezzanine with two young kids. Eh no cop on Dermot. It's not health and safety gone mad, it's fecking common sense.
I'm really disappointed this season that that they never seem to show us any bathrooms, I would really like to see them.
I liked the kitchen but that's only because Dermot had no real say in it😁. His plywood kichens are horrific and I've no words for that green counter top last week.
I'm delighted she loves the house. It was a heartbreaking story, I was crying on and off throughout the whole thing!
Ah listen health and safety being overemphasized ? I don't think so .
H&S , as well as beautiful design is one of the reasons people employ architects to design their houses ! Otherwise everyone would be living in bungalow bliss just putting up with all the accidents we used to have in homes back in the day ..
Sure why don't we ban wider doorways , hallways downstairs toilets , smoke alarms and safety glass in doors ? Who needs accessible exit windows and doors in emergencies , why bother with expensive doors that close slowly instead of banging shut all the time ,? Such a waste of space, costs so much extra when you will never need them ...until you do .
He did her no favours with the split level kitchen design, the rest is beautiful .
Don't see an issue with the steps like every thing you get used to them sure the way some people are reacting we should all be living in padded rooms, must say I think he done well with this bungalow, looks lovely, great community and family and I wish her and her kids all the best in the future living in a lovely part of the country and in there lovely home.
Yes. As a parent you make hundreds of these decisons/trade offs. Take on example, you bring a child swimming despite multiple possible things that could go wrong because the benefits outweigh those risks.
The whole point of engaging a professional architect is to benefit from their professional expertise. If 'she seems fine with it' is your success criteria, why bother engaging an architect in the first place?
Very often you don't realise a feature or room of a house doesn't work until you actually live in it for a period of time. We all have things in our house we should have done differently. She's a new mum who lived in a bungalow prior so annoyance of steps with kids wasn't even a thought for her. I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't even moved into the house when the show around was done - the kitchen area didn't look finished to me. Of course she said she loves it but when she moves in properly she will see the issues.
I just think Dermot should have made the house as safe possible for the family in the circumstances.
Look I think she ended up with a nice home - I just think the change in level was not needed.
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