- 7/1/2025
The Great House Revival episode 6 2025
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:01Our past is alive in our old buildings.
00:04They speak of our history and offer solid solutions for today's needs.
00:11I'm following restorers as they battle through the good, the bad
00:16and the awful challenges of rebuilding ruins.
00:23Ah, lad!
00:25What an extraordinary building.
00:27It's a new bit of timber and a couple of wires.
00:30To create homes fit for the future.
00:39Facing out over the silver waters of Lough Swilly, near Ireland's most northerly tip,
00:45the neat Victorian houses of Seaview Terrace in the Donegal village of Rathmullen
00:52exude an air of calm restraint.
00:56It's a soggy March day in 2023 and I'm here to meet one man and his dog, Owen O'Rean,
01:05a senior construction asset manager, has recently returned to his home county after years of
01:12working in distant lands.
01:16Good morning.
01:17Hey, dude.
01:18Look at you.
01:19That's Charlie.
01:20Very nice to meet you, Owen.
01:22Lovely soft day, isn't it?
01:23I know.
01:24It's a typical day here in Donegal.
01:25So, Owen, we have lovely glass screen.
01:28Yeah, lovely vestibule screen.
01:30Love it.
01:31I learned that before you arrived.
01:33Isn't it fabulous?
01:34And the great thing about now living up here is you leave the whole door open.
01:44And close the screen.
01:45Let all the light in.
01:46Yeah, I see that.
01:47But what about the heat you?
01:48That'd be grand.
01:49Maybe you're right.
01:50Maybe you're right.
01:51So, sort of all still intact, isn't it?
01:54Yeah, most of it's still intact.
01:56Original features.
01:57You're going to keep all the magnolia, I hope?
01:59I'm going to get rid of as much magnolia as I possibly can, Q.
02:04And you've got a lovely staircase.
02:06Love the little timber panel doors under the stairs.
02:09Yeah, the staircase, probably my favourite feature of the whole house.
02:12This 1870s former guest house is in liveable condition,
02:17but needs fixing up throughout.
02:19Owen has been living here since he bought it five months ago,
02:23but he's planning a complete restoration and extension.
02:27So, hopefully not too much to do.
02:30Hopefully not too much to do.
02:32You have your lovely bathroom door.
02:34I hope you're keeping that.
02:35A lovely stained glass door into the toilet.
02:37Not sure I'm going to hold onto it, though.
02:39Oh, we'll have to convince you.
02:41You just need to change the pane in the middle to blue.
02:44I think that might be a bit too quirky for me.
02:47I think there's enough blue on that as it is.
02:49So, tell us now, you're from Donegal?
02:51You're from Donegal?
02:52From Donegal, from about 15 minutes down the road.
02:55You know, spent my childhood on the beach here.
02:57Always loved it.
02:58Always had an idea in my head.
03:01I wanted to be in Rathmullen.
03:03I got the opportunity to come back and moved back here about two years ago.
03:07Where were you living?
03:08I was in Dublin for about six years.
03:10I was overseas before then.
03:12Like generations of Donegal natives before him, own left in his late teens.
03:18He now hopes to reverse the emigration trend and create a work from home base here.
03:25You're going to live here permanently, isn't that right?
03:27Yeah.
03:28Before this, the house was used as a holiday home, but it wasn't really lived in permanently.
03:32So, my goal is to restore it, fully restore it, and to live here permanently.
03:38Let's go down and have a look.
03:40Yeah, come on ahead.
03:41What's amazing is the size of this kitchen is tiny.
03:50I know all the rooms are pretty well proportioned, but I would say the kitchen probably needs a
03:55bit more space.
03:56I don't know how anyone cooks here.
03:58This neat and functional kitchen once catered for a B&B's worth of holiday breakfasts,
04:04but Owen plans to upgrade to a more modern, spacious, open-plan version.
04:10Owen, what's happening now here?
04:12This downstairs kitchen will become the bathroom.
04:15Where you are at the moment will be the larger utility room.
04:19So, everything here gets demolished.
04:21So, all this all goes, all that goes.
04:23All this goes.
04:24So, the kitchen goes, the bathroom upstairs goes, this area here and the outhouse all goes.
04:30Okay.
04:31Owen, I have a lovely turquoise door.
04:33Yeah.
04:34It's great.
04:35Do you like that color?
04:36Not particularly cute.
04:37I think that'll go.
04:38Oh, God.
04:39Look at the roller.
04:41You know, you have to keep that.
04:43That's fabulous.
04:44You like the roller?
04:45Yeah, I remember the roller.
04:47They're the elements that you just need to keep.
04:50You have the timber ceiling.
04:52Yeah, yeah.
04:53Keeping that.
04:54Um, plan is to get rid of the timber ceiling as well.
04:57Oh, you're not keeping much, are you?
04:58I know, I know.
04:59I don't know if we're going to get along.
05:01We don't agree on saving quirky fittings.
05:04But as we move upstairs, there is no denying that repairs are needed throughout.
05:09There are four bedrooms, an office and a box room, which Owen plans to turn into a bathroom.
05:16So, in terms of your building, do you have any idea how long that's all going to take?
05:20I expect to get going in June and I'm thinking five months.
05:24So, November to have the Christmas.
05:27Christmas.
05:28I'll be in for Christmas.
05:29I'll have you in here for Christmas.
05:30Ha!
05:31I'll be well in by then.
05:33Okay.
05:34So, things are never quite as you think, you know, particularly on an old house.
05:39You're living in the house.
05:40So, I'm living in the house.
05:41Yeah.
05:42I've been here three, four months.
05:43Right.
05:44So, the plan is to live in the house while building is ongoing.
05:47Obviously, downstairs, ground floor will be out of action.
05:52So, I'm hoping to move up here.
05:54It'll be a challenge, but there's plenty of space if I get my services.
05:57I don't see an issue with me being able to live up here and the guys working downstairs.
06:02Dust.
06:03Oh, tons of dust.
06:05That's why I have that vacuum there behind you.
06:07That's just as well.
06:08I really just need a sink, a fridge, a toilet.
06:11Shower.
06:12Shower would be helpful.
06:13That's alright.
06:14The sink will cover me.
06:15Ha!
06:16We head down and out to the back of the house where Owen's keen to tell me about his plans
06:23for the new extension.
06:25Adding a modern extension to a period home requires a delicate balance.
06:31And I hope he doesn't plan to detract from this house's quaint frugality and light and bright feel with a whopping new build.
06:43Where we're standing here is going to be your dining area.
06:48The reality is that room's going to be dark.
06:53Even with a large roof light here.
06:56For me, what I'd be trying to do is achieve an internal courtyard in this area.
07:01I didn't expect so much change, Hugh.
07:03I thought you were going to suggest bright colours.
07:06Ha!
07:07Ha!
07:08And I thought that would be the level of your feedback.
07:10I wasn't expecting.
07:11You're only getting one bite of the cherry here.
07:14So, you can't go, oh, if only.
07:17This is a major piece of work on this house and you have to get it right.
07:21Yeah.
07:23I'll definitely not dismiss the courtyard straight away.
07:26He's left me a lot to think about.
07:28Just because I'm probably taking ownership of the design as is now, I just have to consider it.
07:36I hope Owen will reconsider his proposed layout.
07:40He bought in this amazing bright location.
07:43But he's at risk of replacing an old dark room with a new dark room.
07:53Owen plans to demolish the porch at the back of his house and an old shed in the garden to build a long extension.
08:01It will include an open-plan kitchen living dining room with a larder and utility alongside.
08:09I believe this area enclosed between the garden walls will be too dark and should include a courtyard to let in natural light.
08:18Upstairs, the original house's layout of two bedrooms and an office will remain in place with the current chilly bathroom demolished and remodelled.
08:32On the second floor, there are three more bedrooms.
08:35One of which Owen plans to turn into a shower room alongside a temporary kitchen so that he has a base while he lives and works on site.
08:49Lovely terrace of four houses.
08:51And you're the lucky owner of this one.
08:54Yeah, very fortunate.
08:55So how much did that cost you?
08:57It cost me 340.
08:59A lot of money, isn't it?
09:01Yeah, a lot of money.
09:02I didn't think I would be lucky enough to get a house so close to the sea with views of the sea.
09:07So, you know, I was happy enough at that price.
09:09What's your budget to refurbish and extend the house?
09:12I'm hoping to refurb, extend the house for $160,000.
09:16$160,000.
09:17So it's not tons of money?
09:19No.
09:20In terms of what you're anticipating on doing?
09:23Yeah, and particularly what I would have got for it maybe three or four years ago.
09:27It's much less, I suppose, comparatively with construction costs and whatnot at the moment.
09:32Having looked at what you're doing, you're probably going to be a bit tight in terms of your finishes.
09:38Owen is very lucky to have acquired such an amazing property in this perfect location.
09:48His relationship with the house is interesting because in one way, he wants to keep important elements such as the staircase.
09:57However, for me, there are other elements that are of equal importance, which would appear at the moment to be going in the bin.
10:07So I have my work cut out to convince him otherwise.
10:11And while I'm at it, I'm not giving up on persuading him to let the lovely swilly light into his new extension via a courtyard.
10:21Three months later, Owen is emerging from a hectic work period in his desk job and from searching for an affordable contractor.
10:36He's already three months into his short nine-month timeline, and work has yet to begin.
10:42To move the project along and save on budget, he has decided to take on as much of the work on the old house as possible.
10:51Today, I'm tearing down the ceilings in my office space and in the spare room.
10:56There was a leak a number of years ago that did a lot of damage to the ceiling plastic boards.
11:01The water-damaged ceilings must go. The electricity is off and Owen's not afraid to get busy with the hammer and crowbar.
11:10The idea is to put it around the edge, create a few little holes, put a bigger crowbar in and pull it all down.
11:17I usually think everything's going to be easy until it's not easy and then I have to call for help.
11:22Never done four, but I've seen it done before. It doesn't look that hard, so I think I'm okay.
11:29Owen's a novice at this line of work, and he has no choice but to learn on the job.
11:35But DIYing will save him a thousand euro.
11:40So I'll just get this finished and then close this door out.
11:43Get the dust set.
11:47Good call on the hard hats.
11:53One ceiling down, one to go.
11:55Budget is precarious at the moment because I'm getting costs back from contractors and they're way over what I budgeted.
12:04The costs that have come back from contractors are between 2.15 and 2.25 at the moment.
12:12So it looks like I'm going to go ahead myself, go direct labour and appoint subcontractors.
12:18So a lot more involvement, apparently a lot more stress.
12:22The dust is still settling on his new cost saving plan and on every surface in the house.
12:30There's dust everywhere and I have to pull these two ceilings down.
12:33It's definitely the first taste of living and working in a construction site.
12:37There's no turning back. The ceilings are down.
12:42Owns now project manager and his neat little home has been binned.
12:50He's at one with his new life of dust and demolition because he's devoted to making a home here.
12:59My mum worked nearby so would have spent loads of summers here in Rathmullen.
13:03I worked overseas for years and in Dublin for years.
13:08When I saw this house, proximity to the sea and the beach, it was perfect.
13:15You know, I never thought I'd be lucky enough to buy one in Rathmullen.
13:19Owns mother Roisin and her friend Breed swim here every day.
13:24Like the rest of the community, they are happy to witness the younger generation returning to these shores.
13:31When they were children, we'd head down for the day when the sun was shining.
13:36And I used to fill a suitcase with a picnic because I didn't have a basket.
13:41After years of working away, Own was able to move home with his work after the pandemic.
13:47Covid was a very difficult and challenging times, but it has brought endless possibilities.
13:53And it has allowed Own to live in this beautiful place.
13:58And it has allowed a lot of people to be able to afford to buy a home.
14:03Because it's very difficult to buy a home in Dublin.
14:06And come home, home home, to buy their home.
14:08But the village needs permanent residence to keep it alive.
14:14There is still a huge difference between the numbers that are about in summer and winter.
14:20But whatever the weather, Own's committed to staying.
14:24I don't think there's any benefit in a city environment.
14:26I was going to say other than Tinder, but no, I don't miss the big city environments.
14:35It's August.
14:41Rathmullen's busy summer season is at its height.
14:46And Own and Charlie's beautiful mature garden is in full bloom.
14:52But not for long.
14:54Only four months before Own's deadline, the project is about to take a big step forward.
14:59Today, the stone outhouse and garden walls are coming down to make room for the extension.
15:06Today, I have the digger knocking the back wall.
15:09And we're going to get rid of this garage.
15:12It's nerve-racking because there's no really going back now.
15:15We're taking the two walls, either side of the site, down, partially.
15:19The digger will come and pull the section of the wall that we want to get rid of.
15:24Which is the plan, anyway.
15:26Hopefully that comes to pass.
15:27Now that the demolition has started, work speeds ahead beyond Own's expectations.
15:34I didn't think we'd get rid of the kitchen or the bathroom.
15:37I thought it would just really be the shed and removing the topsoil.
15:40The site's more or less clear.
15:42And we're good for the foundations.
15:45As well as the outhouse, the team removes the entire old extension,
15:49which made up the leaky bathroom and back porch.
15:52Owen has to make a speedy decision about the stained glass door.
15:57The door of the bathroom, I think it's something that I'll want to keep.
16:00I didn't really think I'd want to keep it until I seen how much Hugh appreciated it.
16:04So the lads have taken it off to protect for the rest of the job.
16:09And hopefully we'll be able to reinstall it when the new bathroom comes.
16:13I'm so glad that Owen has taken my advice about the stained glass.
16:19But I also want to find out whether he intends to listen to me about the layout of his potentially dark new extension.
16:26Good day, beautiful day in Rathmullen.
16:29Yeah, lovely day.
16:31Coming in.
16:32Great.
16:33Come on.
16:36So Owen, let's see what you've been up to.
16:40Lots of block work.
16:43This is obviously where my courtyard's going to be.
16:46No courtyard, you're standing in the dining area now, Hugh.
16:51OK, so the courtyard went.
16:52The courtyard went.
16:53Did consider it, but we thought we'd have to put the footprint of the building out too far into the garden.
17:00And maybe comprise too much of the garden.
17:02I'm going to put roof lights above.
17:05How many roof lights are you putting in?
17:06Four, equally spaced.
17:09I'm still concerned that light will be an issue at this end of the extension.
17:13I don't think you need roof lights, funny enough, in that room.
17:17But here is where you need your roof lights.
17:20Just concentrate them all here.
17:21Hmm.
17:22When I look at plans, I think it looks a bit funny if I don't equally space them.
17:28It's more important to get maximum light going in there and where we are.
17:32I see where he's coming from, but at the same time I just don't know how it'll look in the living area, dining area, when the roof lights won't be symmetrical.
17:39I'm not sure if my OCD could handle that.
17:44Definitely going to struggle most with lighting.
17:47Yeah, yeah. That's where the courtyard came in.
17:50Do you know?
17:51Yeah.
17:52Knowing what I like, knowing what I want with any kind of new suggestions that come along and being open to that.
17:58And that's why, you know, Q coming along today, he's able to challenge me.
18:02He's able to, you know, ask questions and I have to take it away and consider it.
18:06What am I doing with my heating now?
18:08Radiators?
18:10Radiators. In here.
18:12What you should do here now, put in your underfloor heating on a circuit.
18:16You can never go back and put in underfloor heating.
18:19Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'll give that thought, yeah.
18:21You have 160 grand, which won't go far. How much of that have you spent?
18:25Not that much so far. I'm about 45 to 50 in now.
18:30Owen has saved money by doing work himself, but it's costing him in terms of time and energy.
18:38He's extremely organised and has realised that his talents are better used in planning than labouring.
18:45Yeah, so as time went on and I was thinking about the time it took me to do certain elements.
18:49So I took the ceiling down in the office and this bedroom.
18:53It took me a week off of work.
18:56It took me a half stone of weight.
18:59And, you know, it was, you know, eight to ten hours a day.
19:03I then had two brothers that helped me with the journey throughout.
19:08And I think they had done the same work by lunchtime in one day.
19:12So there's a bit of recalibrating in terms of where I'm best placed.
19:15And I am best placed looking ahead in terms of the detail and planning the next trade.
19:23The extension is speeding along at a remarkable pace.
19:27But there's a long way to go.
19:28As well as meticulously planning the practicalities of the new build, I want Owen to engage creatively with plans for the restoration of the old house.
19:40Time for a bit of inspirational nature bathing.
19:44I consider you a perfectionist.
19:53Well, having got to know you, I think you're very much about things being perfect, the detail.
19:59And I think you really think a lot about how things meet and join.
20:05Light and landscape meet perfectly here.
20:11Look at this landscape.
20:13It's just breathtaking.
20:16To wake up in the morning and you've got that view in front of you.
20:21On a day like this must be mind-blowing.
20:23Oh yeah, it's really special on a day like today.
20:25Yeah, it never gets old.
20:26I really love it.
20:27Probably the most surprising colours are, you know, deep purples and greens that I see in the water.
20:32And I see that in my mum and my grandmother's paintings as well.
20:36They painted?
20:37Yeah, my mum paints a lot.
20:39We've salvaged one or two paintings of my grandmother's.
20:42So, Owen, your family are from this area?
20:45My grandmother ran a B&B in Bunkrana.
20:49My granny and granddad's house, it was kind of similar architecture in that it was a period house.
20:52It had Victorian porch tiles, stained glass.
20:57Growing up in that house, I think that's probably heavily influenced what I like in terms of the house itself.
21:03And it will probably influence the interiors as well.
21:06I hope Owen will challenge his inner artist and bring the delicious tones of the Donegal Mountains into his design.
21:15But for now, his focus remains practical.
21:18He's fully immersed in his role as project manager.
21:25Since Hugh came, we have the roof on.
21:27We have the outline of the first floor bathroom.
21:30We're currently in the kitchen, which is like a temporary canteen at the moment.
21:34Speaking to Hugh last week when he was over, I decided to do the underfloor heating system.
21:39So we're going to tango the concrete floor down to the same level as the dining room living area is at the moment and then build it up with the underfloor heating and insulation.
21:50Hugh's main reason for the underfloor heating rather than radiators were radiators really and where to put them and how to space them and how they affect the interior once it's complete.
21:59It was going to interfere with a lot of plans that I had in terms of the stove, the stone plinth.
22:04It's definitely a better move to go with underfloor heating, I think.
22:07He may not have taken my advice on more life for the extension, but the old house is getting new roof lights aplenty.
22:14I love seeing the windows going. That was just tile before the one on the left. It looks great.
22:19I'm excited to see the view looks in and see the difference in terms of light.
22:23But as light floods in from above, there's a sudden danger that it may also flood through the wall.
22:30Owen has just discovered that knocking through from the freshly built new extension has undermined the entire back wall of the old house and it may fall onto the new build.
22:43When Hugh was last here, we were kind of out of the ground. The walls were up at this stage.
22:49The last item that was like unknown and carried the most risk was going through the wall.
22:55What areas of the wall are going to be held up? What areas mightn't be held up?
22:59The first piece was taken out the window itself and that holds a lot of kind of structural integrity.
23:04Slowly as we took away the stones, the house did start to move.
23:08It was pretty nerve wracking.
23:10There's a lot of cracks showing, particularly into the first floor bathroom. It's scary seeing the cracks get wider.
23:17For now, the entire back wall is supported by acroprops and stacks of concrete blocks.
23:25I think it was to be expected that we get some cracking, but probably not as significant as we can see.
23:29As summer turns to autumn on this super speedy project, the house's future hangs in the balance.
23:37It's definitely in your head all the time. Waking up thinking about it, you'd be dreaming about it when you're asleep.
23:42Opening the building up to a vast new extension put the old house at danger of falling into the new structure.
23:50Now Owen has to introduce new steel supports.
23:57I just wanted to get the steel in and landed.
23:59As the cracks settle, the floor has been levelled and work is underway removing the rubble.
24:06He's been lucky the house didn't fall. But now I'm keen to take Owen's mind away from on-site dramas to focus on the finished look.
24:18Owen's told me he's afraid of quirky things, so I've brought him to Dublin's Chapel Lizard to immerse him in a house load of glorious eccentricity.
24:29Look at this for a magnificent salon. It's just wonderful. I love the colours, the broodiness.
24:39And the reason I brought you to this home is to sort of inspire you about your existing house.
24:45And I think that's very important that you're doing all this work, if you like, on the extension to the rear and you're adding on your extension to your new kitchen.
24:56But do remember the old house. Make the existing house as part of your journey to your new extension, which is very much, I think, what they've done in this home.
25:06I just think this is fantastic. And the other thing you see is you'd be amazed what you can do with furniture.
25:11They can put the springs back in, do everything, refurbish them, bring them back to life.
25:16So, it's like, I betcha your granny or your mum has old furniture.
25:21Yes.
25:22And you should think about that. Get it recovered. Because they're wonderful pieces.
25:28Yeah, I might give that some thought. I pulled out a few of the chairs that are similar to this of the house.
25:33And not all of it made the skip, so...
25:36Maybe...
25:37Not all of it?
25:38A lot of it did.
25:39That's dreadful.
25:41Time to skip on to my favourite topic, colour.
25:46When I walk into your hall, tell me, what's the colour?
25:50I don't know, Hugh.
25:52I spend most of my time now thinking about the build and what's next.
25:56So, I haven't given as much thought to colour.
25:59The way to get colours are to find things you like to wear. They're the colours you like.
26:04I wear a lot of beige and grey here.
26:07Right. Okay. Well, don't do that.
26:10I'd like you to think about using dark colours, funnily enough, in the original house.
26:15And then, if you run your flooring throughout, that'll unify the ground floor.
26:21And then you can start to bring these dark colours into the hall, if you have a little bit of wainscoting.
26:28Or you might consider actually painting the staircase itself a dark colour.
26:32Mm-hmm.
26:33I don't know if you've thought about anything.
26:35No, I've just been so caught up with the build and with the extension and choices that I have to make in that regard.
26:42So, I might have let it slip for a while.
26:46Upstairs, this house holds more broody delights, like the delicate but high panelling in the main bedroom.
26:54Wow. Owen, you're going to be blown away by yummy colour.
27:03Isn't it wonderful?
27:04It's lovely, yeah. It looks great.
27:07Colours like these change with the time of day.
27:12During the daytime, this'll be really light.
27:14But at night time, the whole mood changes.
27:20This room, if it was all painted an off-white, wouldn't have the same impact as it does.
27:28In contrast, the bright, bold, playful extension brings the garden inside.
27:37Now, Owen, an inner courtyard.
27:40Very nice.
27:41Very nice, but not for you?
27:42Not for me.
27:44What colour scheme are you going now in your kitchen?
27:46The cabinetry is a cream, and I have a Calcutta Florence countertop.
27:54You need to do your walls in a pale colour, but you can be really brave and go jet black on the ceiling.
28:03Definitely not for me, Hugh. I don't think I'd be brave enough for a black ceiling.
28:07Come on, you can do it!
28:08I was thinking about white.
28:09My head has been in the new part of the house, the extension.
28:14I haven't given it that much thought in terms of the existing house and what that needs.
28:18I think the stage of the build I'm at now, I have to start thinking about colours and interiors.
28:22And this visit's definitely brought on in my horizons.
28:25I hope Owen can really express himself and let his ideas flow creatively.
28:31But for now, he must stay practical.
28:35It's September 2023, and today marks a significant step forward.
28:40Windows arriving this morning, a bit of nerves.
28:43You know, I'm always hoping that what we've prepped works and everything fits.
28:49Windows going in is a massive milestone because everything is going to start getting dry on the inside.
28:54So there was three or four trades I had to line up just over the last three or four days ahead of the guys coming to fit the windows.
29:03Just hoping that I haven't missed anything.
29:06I'd rather not be here for, I'm better, like a lot of time I might go to the office when something's happened because I just can't cope.
29:12I'm kind of waiting for a disaster, I'm always waiting for a disaster.
29:15And disaster's not far off.
29:18The enormous sliding door which makes up the entire far end of Owen's extension may be too large for the opening.
29:30It takes a combination of careful coaxing and brute force to manoeuvre the door into place.
29:42Yeah, that's brilliant.
29:59So I had about eight and a half grand for the budget for this, but I managed to get it all for seven grand.
30:05And then I have another grand and a half to plug somewhere where I'm getting an overspend.
30:12But overspending doesn't turn out to be the issue of the day.
30:17Within an hour of the windows going in, plugs are needed as the weather on the wild swilly takes a turn for the ferocious.
30:26As rain begins to pour, what initially seemed like a leak, fast becomes a waterfall.
30:34Where the extension meets the existing house, there's no lead flashing that's coming from the existing house over the upstands.
30:43So that's creating a gap and that's where the water's getting in.
30:46It's only September, but this downpour gives a taste of the bad weather ahead.
30:51Over the last week or two weeks, it's just completely turned. Temperature's gone down. It's rained nearly every day.
31:03The electrician's coming on Wednesday, so this has to stop before the electrician comes, otherwise he won't do his install.
31:11If the damp takes hold, this could delay not only the electrics being fitted, but also the insulation and plaster work.
31:22With winter on the way, Owen is stepping away from the stress of the site to talk to a historian.
31:30Donegal woman Angela Byrne, who specialises in the field of Irish migration.
31:34Owen will be working from home here, virtually linking up to the wider world.
31:41But Angela has discovered that he's not the first resident with far-reaching international connections.
31:48We often think of places like North Donegal as being really remote and kind of trade on that in some way.
31:54But the reality is that kind of in the pre-industrial age and before steam-powered engines and so on, coastal areas were actually very well connected by the maritime highways.
32:06So the oceans were so important to keeping people globally connected.
32:10So that global connectedness that the Irish are so famous for, it's actually encapsulated in the history of your house as well.
32:18Is that right?
32:19So in the 1880s, the people who built your home, the Hendersons, they emigrated to British Columbia, Canada.
32:26Then in the 1900s, Charles Hart, who had been living here, he was retired from the Royal Navy.
32:32He emigrated to New Jersey following his children who had emigrated there before him.
32:37That's fascinating.
32:39And then in the 1940s, Proctor, a steamship captain, was living in your house and he emigrated to Australia and made a new life for himself there.
32:47Even before his house was built, Rath Mullen's history of international connections goes back over many centuries.
32:56The really big thing that happened that tells that story, of course, is the Flight of the Earls that happened from this very strand on the 14th of September 1607.
33:05It's really one of the most seminal events in Irish history.
33:10The Flight of the Earls saw the clan leaders of the old Gaelic order leave Ireland to seek support from the European connections during the plantation of Ulster.
33:20Their families and followers sailed out of this exact place and we can't know what they were thinking as they sailed up the Swilly, but I like to think of them, the adrenaline maybe is still pumping because some of them had gone on horseback and literally just caught the boat in time.
33:36And maybe as they look back at Rath Mullen here and maybe some of them knew it would be the last time all but one of them would ever see Ireland.
33:45So people left your lovely home and went and found new lives all over the world, different continents.
33:51You've done the emigration and come back and that's such a big part of Irish history and Donegal history as well.
33:58Yeah, lucky enough to come back. Everything's circular, isn't it?
34:02Winter's now fully here. It's been a battle to get the flashing fixed to prevent further leaks and dry the building out.
34:12The electrician will start now early next week. I'm not allowing that much time for drying out, so conscious of that, so I'll leave the windows open.
34:21Somehow, despite the chill, Owen gets inspired to create something truly transformative for the house.
34:30The porch screen, that just had regular glass on it. That's been removed and I'm putting in a stained glass feature in that now.
34:39So I met a guy in Portadown, putting a drawing together now and sending it across to him.
34:45The creation of stained glass dates back to classical times, but craftsperson Michael Guy is keeping it alive with projects from the residential to the ecclesiastic.
34:58We're officially endangered, so there's very few people taking on the art of stained glass making, which is a shame, an awful shame, you know.
35:09The vestibule door especially, if they open that front door when the weather's nice and let the light flood in through that, as the light changes outside, the whole mood of the stained glass constantly changes with it.
35:21You get that beautiful wall of colour coming out.
35:24Owen once thought plain panes of coloured glass were too quirky for him, but now he's going the whole hog with an elaborate combination of Donegal inspired tones.
35:35But the stained glass has a wow factor. You'll come down those stairs, you'll see the light and you'll go, oh, that's nice.
35:46He sent me a picture of food, but at one glance of it, you kind of knew there was a whole maritime history to this particular house.
35:53You just got that feel as it was a merchant's house. A lot of those old period houses along the front were owned by merchants where they like to see their boats and their wares coming in and keep an eye on them.
36:02I think by the look of that, that house was originally set up to have stained glass. A house of that style and that standard would have had the stained glass panels put into them.
36:13You walk in there and it's missing from them. So we're doing now what probably should have been done when that house was first built.
36:22It'll be nice for us to complete the journey. It really is going to finish the front of that house for him.
36:26Back in Rathmullen, it's December. The decorations are up and although his Christmas deadline is now impossible to achieve,
36:39Owen's feeling optimistic and has taken my advice about underfloor heating.
36:44Today we're doing the Screed in my extension kitchen and first floor bathroom.
36:50It feels like a big step forward because it's the last of the mucky work.
36:56At the front of the house, Michael Guy has travelled all the way across the country to begin the careful job of installing his hand-crafted porch screen creation.
37:07It cost Owen 4,000 euro and it's nerve-wracking work to put it in place on a still active site.
37:16Owen's mother, Roisin, supports his brave investment.
37:20He's created some beautiful things in the house. At times he's very stressed, but you know, Owen is learning on the job as he goes.
37:30His dad, Ger, knows what drives Owen's hard work.
37:34There's definitely massive pressures coming with it. That really feeds Owen.
37:40But I know as well that he's just steeped with the people that are around him.
37:43And even people who are not involved in the build, people like his neighbours there, that have gone above and beyond the level of support from people in Rathmullen that I know he's getting.
37:52He's here for the long haul. He wants to be a Rathmullen man.
37:56With the stained glass, Owen has brought his creative self to play.
38:01But just how brave will he allow himself to be in the rest of the house?
38:07It's May 2024 and Owen's family is assembling for his moving-in party.
38:13As well as revealing his finished house, Owen is about to spring a big surprise about his expat sister on his parents.
38:23I'm in Ireland. I'm still home.
38:29Anywhere are you?
38:30I'm two hours away.
38:31Oh my goodness!
38:32Oh my goodness!
38:33Sister Maeve has a severe case of Rathmullen FOMO and is flying back all the way from Australia to join the housewarming.
38:41It's me, isn't it?
38:46Fourteen months since my first visit, I wasn't sure what to expect when Owen invited me to his moving-in party this evening.
38:56Good morning!
38:57Thank you. How are you?
38:58Fabulous. How are you, Owen?
38:59Come on in.
39:01But stepping in the door, I know it wasn't this. There's colour everywhere.
39:06My goodness.
39:09Owen, walking in here, it's just fantastic. The colour scheme is tour de force. It's really amazing.
39:15And when I look into that room, I've got bold, dark greens.
39:21And the big change here is this amazing stained glass window you put in. It's like seashells.
39:28If I leave that front door open, I just get a cascade of light through the hallway. So it looks fab.
39:33And it reminds me of my granny's house growing up. Very similar pattern. Stained glass in her house as well.
39:40So, yeah, it brings back a lot of fond memories.
39:42You must be so proud to have that home.
39:44Oh, I am, yeah.
39:45So I remember my first visit here and it was sort of, by the sounds of you, everything was going in the bin.
39:51And I was saying, please don't do that. And I see you haven't. So you have the original staircase.
39:58Yeah.
39:59All refurbished. And you've even kept the door at the top of the stairs into the bathroom.
40:03Yeah, even kept the door at the top of the stairs, refurbished the staircase.
40:07All the doors remained. Some of the fixings were too far gone. But on the whole, we tried to keep as much as we could.
40:13Own really has succeeded in bringing the landscape in. And it's a family affair.
40:20Are you fabulous paintings?
40:22Yeah, I've been really fortunate to have a few paintings of my mum's. So I thought they were ideal in here.
40:29Oh, Roisin.
40:30Yeah, that's her.
40:31That's great.
40:32Yeah.
40:33And it's, look, 2024.
40:35I know. That's her most recent, actually.
40:38It's probably still drying off.
40:41I've got my grandmother's painting as well. So I've got that all cleaned up, fixed up in frames.
40:46Isn't that great?
40:47Yeah, yeah, we have it in the front room.
40:49The brooding tones of Owen's grandmother's swilly view are the perfect match for this sophisticated sitting room
40:57with its high panelling, reminiscent of our visit to the Chapel Lizard Salon.
41:03Well, will we go upstairs and explore?
41:05Yeah, let's go. Come on, Ed.
41:11My goodness, Owen. You've been brave in the bathroom, haven't you, with your colours? It's fabulous, isn't it?
41:21The bathroom evokes the dark greens of the surrounding mountains.
41:26When you look at this house, the original house, it's actually quite generous.
41:35There are now two delightfully bright bedrooms on the first floor.
41:40You must have been torn about having this as your bedroom or upstairs.
41:44Yeah, yeah, I was thinking perhaps I want to go upstairs, but I think I'll keep this one.
41:48And between my nephews and my mum, they want the upstairs one.
41:52And you put in a new roof light over your stairs?
41:55Yes, we got rid of the window that was at the end of the stairs and put a roof light in instead.
42:00Which brings in loads of natural light.
42:02And what's fabulous about standing here is actually the view out through that window.
42:09Isn't that wonderful?
42:10Yeah, yeah, it's a great view.
42:12Owen's work from home office could not have a more serene backdrop.
42:18It's interesting now when we arrive up here on the first floor landing,
42:22because there's much more of the original house and its features.
42:27You have the original floorboards?
42:29Yep, all original, yeah.
42:31And you've kept the woodworm?
42:32I kept the woodworm, yeah. New pets.
42:34And what I love you see is I've got perfection on one side,
42:38and if you like, I have the nutty imperfection of the original.
42:43Any extrave that we could keep, we kept, and we didn't go doing any heavy sanding.
42:48In doing that, you're actually keeping the heritage of the home.
42:51And elements like that just get chucked in the bin.
42:56And it's a shame, but you've kept those elements.
42:59So what you've done is you've preserved this house.
43:02Yeah.
43:03So you're leaving a legacy in the village.
43:05Yeah, I could like to think so.
43:07You are, are you?
43:08Yeah, yeah.
43:09Now, I can't wait to unveil Owen's brand new legacy,
43:14the kitchen and dining room extension.
43:17Oh, my goodness, Owen.
43:29It's a knockout.
43:30Look at the size of this room.
43:34When you talked to me about this extension,
43:37I was very concerned that the old house would sort of be forgotten about.
43:42But it's actually the opposite.
43:44The old house is a triumph, but so is this new addition.
43:49I was concerned about this room being too big, but it's anything but.
43:53Because if you like, I'm down the country, everybody come in the back door.
43:56And this will be a hive of activity.
43:59It'll be all your family, your cousins and everything.
44:04It just reminds me of a big farmhouse kitchen.
44:08So I can understand why this room will work in the future,
44:13because it is about everybody mucking in, coming in the back door,
44:17going out the front door, coming in the front door and going out the back door.
44:21Well done, Owen.
44:23Thanks, Hugh.
44:24The family are ever-present.
44:26My friends are always coming in and out.
44:28So it's still a busy house and this is the kind of room where it's centred around.
44:33This family hub has a real warmth to it.
44:37And do you have underfloor heating on the whole of the ground floor or just here?
44:41So I have a whole of the ground floor and into the ground floor toilet
44:45and then it goes to the radiators take over from the landing upwards.
44:49He took on my underfloor heating suggestion,
44:52but Owen remained boss of the roof lights.
44:55And, Hugh, I know you suggested moving the roof lights closer towards the kitchen,
44:59where I'd probably struggle the most for light, but my OCD wouldn't allow for that,
45:03so I needed them all to be equidistant.
45:05I think you're still struggling in the kitchen, but I think that could be overcome,
45:09funny enough, by putting lighting on top of that unit, shining up into the ceiling,
45:15and it would just give this subtle glow, which is really all that's missing.
45:20Yeah.
45:21I'm delighted you've expressed yourself.
45:24And your furniture, if you like, has reinforced that expression of pushing the boat in.
45:31And I just think it's great.
45:32Yeah, yeah, I've enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.
45:35The total transformation of this house took Owen just over a year.
45:41Hoping to be in by Christmas.
45:43Hoping to be in by Christmas.
45:44But here we are four months later.
45:46Yeah.
45:47Which happens on a build, doesn't it?
45:49Yeah, yeah, it does.
45:50Yeah, I was probably overly ambitious trying to get in for Christmas,
45:53but I suppose I wanted to keep to a milestone,
45:56and, you know, in the end there was just too many trades coming in and out of the house,
46:01and everything got a bit elongated.
46:03I was really blessed with the tradesmen and women that worked on the house.
46:08He was a dynamic project manager with a great team behind him.
46:12But what did it cost him?
46:14You'd acquired the house for?
46:16340.
46:17340.
46:18A lot of money, but it's about location.
46:20And on top of that, you were spending how much?
46:23So my initial budget was 165.
46:26And I spent 205,000 euro.
46:29And that allowed me to finish the house to, you know, a higher spec than I originally anticipated.
46:34If you like, you've only moved back in here.
46:38And I think that over a very short period of time,
46:42you'll have added even more of your stamp to this fantastic home.
46:46Thanks, Hugh. Thanks a million.
46:47You know, I just think it's a smashing home.
46:51I've been very lucky to have followed Owen on his journey home.
46:58But also in his journey in creativity and colour, his passion for perfection is evident everywhere.
47:09Owen's been on a journey travelling around the world, learning things and seeing things.
47:15And I think what he's created here is his home.
47:20Stepping through the stained glass door just brings you back in time.
47:24But it also brings you into Owen's new house.
47:28Which, if you like, will be now the centre of the extended family.
47:33And this home will now be echoing to dinner parties, friends, family, everybody coming in the back door and going out the front door.
47:44Inspired by Owen, Sister Darren has moved back to Donegal from Dublin with her kids.
47:50It's almost like walking into Granny's house, I have to say.
47:53I think it's gone way beyond what he ever thought he would achieve with the house.
47:57You know, it's really amazing.
47:59Owen's sister Maeve is fresh off her flight from Australia.
48:03It's worth it because it's so great to see it.
48:06The photos and the videos don't quite capture it.
48:09Being here and seeing it for myself is so special.
48:12I'm so immensely proud of him.
48:14Rath Mullen means a lot to our family.
48:16We really wanted to, you know, anchor ourselves in this village.
48:19The people here are just beautiful.
48:21And yeah, hopefully that will go on for generations.
48:25Owen's brought the family together here.
48:27And his character packed home is going to be the centre of parties and fun for years to come.
48:51So we're gonna be the centre of parties.
48:53Yeah, that seems great.
48:55I'm so happy to see you later.
48:57We'll see you later, all the other times.
48:59I'm sorry.
49:00While it is good for you, everyone.
49:01We've had a good day.
49:06Yeah, that seems great.
49:08Okay, it can too.
49:09Have a great week.
49:11It's hot.
49:12I'm too.
49:13I'm too quick.
49:14I'm too lazy to have too much fun.
49:15I'm so happy to see you later.
Recommended
46:49
|
Up next
48:48
48:39
49:07
48:48
51:48
48:39
47:56
48:29
1:01:50
28:00
45:25
28:00
46:03
42:49
28:00
45:59
0:42
28:00
45:33