- 1 hour ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01From coast to coast of Ireland,
00:05our old buildings are calling out to be loved and lived in.
00:10Restoration is no easy task.
00:15Who dares take on the challenge of reclaiming our ruins
00:20as homes fit for the future?
00:30It's February 2025 and Hugh has travelled to County Roscommon
00:36to visit the town of Elfin,
00:38where, slap-bang in the middle of the underpopulated Main Street,
00:43the town's 145-year-old bank is in the process of being repurposed.
00:50Hugh's meeting local couple Mary Morris and Colin Dowd.
00:55Good morning. How are you? Lovely to meet you.
00:57I'm Jake Fox. Great to meet you.
00:59You're well? Yes.
01:01Oh, wonderful. Come on in. Great.
01:03They have already opened an emporium in the former banking hall,
01:07but now they've taken on the challenge
01:09of converting the bank manager's residence upstairs into their home
01:14so that they can live over the shop.
01:19Oh, look at the size of the hall. Love it.
01:24It's massive.
01:26Beneath the dust, you can see that this place was built to impress.
01:32Built 1879.
01:34Yeah.
01:34This was the bank manager's residence.
01:35Yeah, posh.
01:36Posh, yes.
01:37Yeah, the bank manager was a very important person in the town
01:40in those times.
01:41Yeah, yeah.
01:42And now we have Colm.
01:43He's the teller and I'm the manager.
01:44There you go.
01:46Mary and Colm have their roles laid out, but this building requires a serious investment of time and money.
01:55We got it into our name in December 2022.
02:00How much did you buy the building for?
02:02Final bid, 3.30.
02:03And now this is our first home together.
02:06Mary and Colm's first home will continue Mary's family tradition of living above the shop here in Elfin.
02:14So Mary, you're a local lass?
02:17Absolutely.
02:18I can trace back a long, long time.
02:20My father had a butcher shop at the bottom of the town.
02:23My mother had a grocery shop at the top of the town.
02:24Great.
02:25So I would have been, as they say, reared by the village.
02:27So you're a blow-in?
02:29Well, yes.
02:30A light breeze brought me.
02:31I'm only from about five minutes out the road.
02:33You've done how much work so far in the building?
02:36Well, the shop, naturally enough, was the first thing that was done.
02:40Mary moved her business from her mother's shop down the road to the Grand Banking Hall
02:46as soon as Colm had cleared away the workings of the bank and sealed the old building as best he
02:52could.
02:53The roof needed work.
02:55The electricians had been in, a few wires pulled through.
02:58The heating's on.
02:59Well, it needed to be put on so that the building wouldn't get any worse.
03:02No one has lived in the three-bedroom residence for 30 years, and damp has set in.
03:09But Colm has been hard at work, seeking out leaks and dodgy windows in each of the 11 rooms.
03:16Although he's a fixer, he's not a tidier.
03:20Let's go and see what's happening.
03:24I'm going to take you down this direction.
03:26Great.
03:27Down to the piece de resistance.
03:31Lovely, light-filled room, isn't it?
03:34Yes.
03:34Isn't it lovely?
03:35Yeah.
03:36Right.
03:37This is where we need you.
03:38In the bedroom?
03:40Absolutely.
03:41Yes.
03:42This is going to be your main bedroom?
03:44Yes, ideally.
03:45Just directly across the road is actually where we met.
03:47No.
03:48Well, Colm first clapped eyes on me.
03:52Mary and Colm met in 2014, when they were both in their 40s and owned their own homes.
03:58It was love at first sight.
04:01They were cut out for each other, but working out the layout of their future love nest is less clear.
04:09This suite, what I would like, the ambition, the vision, is that this will be our space.
04:16But I'm going to introduce the elephant in the room.
04:19Which is?
04:21An infrared sauna.
04:23Okay?
04:24It's six foot by six foot.
04:32So, basically, just need to...
04:34The sauna should be out in the back garden.
04:36No, because I'm not going to go all the way down the stairs and come back up again.
04:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:41Come on, come on then.
04:42It's out of bed, into the sauna, into the shower, wardrobe, out the door, face the door.
04:47All self-contained to you.
04:49It's fabulous.
04:49And Colm can bring the coffees and the pastries to me to bed then.
04:52Isn't that fabulous?
04:53Yeah, isn't that nice?
04:54Yeah.
04:55Colm will have his work cut out.
04:58Who's going to be living in the building?
05:00The two of us.
05:01Yeah.
05:01And possibly our niece, if she behaves, can move in as well.
05:08That's Ashlyn Mays.
05:08Ashlyn Mays is her name.
05:09Mary's my aunt.
05:11She's my godmother.
05:12We like to joke that she's my spiritual guidance.
05:15I moved here around two and a half years ago.
05:18And I've been staying with Mary and Colm since.
05:20I grew up in Italy, but I would come here during the summers
05:23and spend the whole summer with my granny and granddad.
05:26So this is still home.
05:28We're a bit of a family now.
05:29We're a bit of a unit.
05:33Their niece, Ashlyn May, may be awarded the attic bedroom
05:37if she stays on their good sides.
05:41The vast and imposing former boardroom will become their sitting room.
05:47While through the dramatic archway there will be a bathroom and two bedrooms
05:53with an ensuite built into their own, housing their very own sauna.
05:58A dining room will also look out onto the street.
06:03On the ground floor, Mary and Colm started converting the banking hall directly after they bought the building in 2022.
06:12The bank manager's office is now the shop's storeroom.
06:16And the couple plan to renovate the old kitchen and scullery as their own.
06:21With a surprising second kitchen on the return upstairs.
06:25The broad carriage arch to the side links the long garden with the street.
06:34If you like, you've sealed the building.
06:37Yes.
06:37Now you have to put it back together.
06:40Yes.
06:41Who's putting it back together?
06:42Me, hopefully.
06:43You by yourself?
06:44Ah, not by myself.
06:45No, we'll have, the electricians are in, the plumbers are in.
06:48Sort of work I'm not going to do.
06:50I'd be hopping floorboards, all that sort of stuff I can put back.
06:53You'd be putting back?
06:54Yeah.
06:55And who's stripping all the wallpaper and making good?
06:59Me.
06:59Okay, so if I look at the building at the moment, you're all over the place.
07:04Pretty much, yeah.
07:05You know, there's not one room.
07:06Everything has started and nothing has finished.
07:08What's the process to finish this now?
07:10It depends on what job needs doing first.
07:16They've applied for the €70,000 vacant properties refurbishment grant,
07:21and must have a working kitchen and bathroom in order to qualify for it.
07:26You've got the Cree Cronoher grant, and do you have a deadline on that?
07:30It has to be habitable.
07:32Yeah.
07:32For the end of May.
07:33That's two months away.
07:35If I come back now in two months, what am I going to see?
07:38You'll see a new kitchen and a new bathroom.
07:41What?
07:42We'll get it done.
07:43You will?
07:44Oh, yes.
07:45Even though I don't think you'll believe us.
07:48Tell us about the budget.
07:50£235,000.
07:52There is probably about £100,000 spent.
07:54We have another £135,000 to go.
07:57If a mortal went out and bought this building,
08:00and was doing the work on this building,
08:01and was using a contractor,
08:03there's a million quid here, believe it or believe it not.
08:06And you're telling me you're going to do it for a quarter of a million?
08:11Yes.
08:11Yes.
08:13Fine.
08:14Fine.
08:15But I'm saying, I believe you need to have a job list and plan.
08:21You get the plumber in, and he does the bathroom and the kitchen,
08:25and then he goes away again.
08:27That's all racking up money.
08:29So, the plumber comes in, the plumber goes out, the plaster comes in, the plaster goes out.
08:34It's like a dance.
08:35Yes.
08:35What's that dance called?
08:37The hokey pokey.
08:38Yeah.
08:38It's like the hokey pokey.
08:40And you can't have the hokey pokey dance.
08:43Because at the moment I can't see anything.
08:47Isn't it lucky that our minds can?
08:53Looking at the building, it really is a large project.
08:58They've got two months until their grant deadline to finish a bathroom and kitchen.
09:04But after that, the rest of the project is unmapped.
09:08For all their can-do positivity, they could end up moving into a building site.
09:19Colin is a farmer, but he has been spending every bit of his spare time working on the house for
09:25a year now.
09:27Today marks his first major intervention, taking down a non-original wall.
09:33Today we're going to take out the partition wall inside in what will be the master bedroom.
09:39So there'll be a lot of smashing, a lot of dust, and a little bit of chaos for a while.
09:45Yeah, getting on good. It won't take that long to get through this.
09:48Nothing dance column.
09:51It's a lot of fun.
09:53There'll be a lot of sleepless nights wondering about jobs or whether I was fit to do them or not,
09:57but just get stuck in and get at it.
10:00None of them actually seemed that bad.
10:02A little bit out of breath now, but I'll be okay.
10:05Oh boy, is that a knock sweat out of you?
10:08Downstairs, Mary's holding the fort in her shop in the already converted banking hall.
10:14People walk in here and they say, oh Mary, you did a lovely job here. No. In this physical space,
10:19I can say that Colm did so much physical work.
10:23He did everything and exactly the same is happening in the residential part of the building.
10:29It's innate in him to be kind to people though. He will do it for everybody.
10:33That's the thing. Mary and Colm are such a great team. They're different, yet combined, they work brilliantly.
10:41Like Mary, her brain is constantly working on where to put things, how to move stuff, and Colm is actually
10:47able to put it together.
10:49So I do the paperwork, I do the submissions, I do the financial controlling and the creative design. That's my
10:57input.
10:57But their newly expanded bedroom suite is their main focus in the project.
11:02Her mind will be going in Torvald Drive when she sees this, wondering what she can fit into this room.
11:07This space is the most important space in the entire building.
11:13Because this is our place that will be our space of tranquility and respite away from the world.
11:21It's our private space.
11:22It's our private space.
11:23Our people that come to the house are welcome, but this is our space here.
11:28And when you close that door in the evening, just rest and just get away from the world.
11:34Yeah.
11:35So it deserves time to design and to put everything in place. We deserve that time.
11:42Oh, we do.
11:44This will be the place of solitude and peace.
11:48When it's finished. Until then, no peace.
11:52Mary was born and brought up on the same street as the bank.
11:57But, like most of her siblings, she moved away when she left home.
12:01The town has more than its share of empty premises.
12:08When we ended up buying here, I think it also gave people a hope that, well, if they have hope
12:15in El Fane, maybe we should have too.
12:19And since that, there's been four or five buildings that were vacant or after being bought.
12:25And they're in the process of being done up.
12:26So I hope that we have given that little bit of spirit and courage to people by taking on this
12:34project.
12:36So this was my mother's shop. And then I opened it up as my shop when I came back here
12:42to look after Mummy and Daddy.
12:44Mary cared for her parents in old age, setting up an earlier version of her shop here in order to
12:51bring in an income.
12:53I was sent out to the shop to serve from when I was five.
12:56But I would have been taught by Mummy, first of all, to be pleasant and to give that little extra
13:02to the customer.
13:03Although to this day she enjoys maintaining her mother's approach, Mary also values the quiet sanctuary of home.
13:13However, at the bank, for now peaceful home life is still a pipe dream.
13:19It's one of many problems to fix, but the wall in Aislingmay's potential future bedroom is damp.
13:28So as you can see it has come through here and the plaster has got very bust and starting to
13:37come off.
13:37So we'll have to find the problem outside and then fix what's in here.
13:41The plaster on the chimney when we had a scaffold before and were doing the roof, the plaster was all
13:45coming off it.
13:46So we had assumed that that was what was causing the issue here.
13:50But it turns out it's not. There's some other issue.
13:54To date, Colm has already pursued the vast job of patching up a series of leaks around the house,
14:01adding breathable natural lime plaster where the old concrete exterior had caused water to be trapped in the walls.
14:08So we'll just have to re-scaffold it and try again and see if we'll take off another bit of
14:13the plaster
14:14and hopefully if we find a wet spot on the wall, that's where the water is getting in and we'll
14:18re-plaster that.
14:20And fingers crossed this time we'll bring it to a conclusion.
14:25It's the first of April, but Colm's nobody's fool.
14:29With the vacant properties grant deadline for the much needed €70,000 looming just a month away,
14:36he's battling to meet requirements and get the main downstairs kitchen and utility finished.
14:43OK, this is when the absolute madness starts.
14:46So over the next five weeks, we have to get the electrics, the plumbing, the kitchen, the bathroom and the
14:54living area.
14:55Maybe it is panic, but it's the only way we understand life.
15:00There is a bit of pressure. It's room that I'm actually standing in here.
15:03We're going taking out the floor out of this today and getting this ready for a new floor in.
15:07The kitchen needs to be complete within weeks, but Colm is still digging floors.
15:13Fingers crossed, come the 1st of May, we might even get a day off and sit back and relax and
15:17wait for the deadline.
15:19Wishful thinking, maybe, but...
15:22Very wishful.
15:23It's the busiest time of the farming calendar and Colm has to throw down his tools
15:29and dash back to his farm at irregular intervals.
15:34I went out yesterday morning and one of the cows actually had twins, a little boy and a little girl,
15:39and as I was going, I noticed that the cow was inclined to puck and kick at the little bull
15:45calf.
15:46So she just seems to have rejected him. She's not inclined to let him suck,
15:50so I don't really know what's going on there. I'm hoping she will take to him,
15:53but it's a case that he may have to be fed on a bottle for a while.
15:57So, as I say, it's just a matter of waiting and see.
16:00Come on. Come on.
16:04I'll have to be going in and out a couple of times a day and out to feed him until
16:08I'm happy that he's either sucking the cow
16:10or we'll maybe have to get a new home for him.
16:15Within a few days, Colm's exhausted from his regular tri-hourly calf feeding duties,
16:22but has to plough ahead on site.
16:24Today we have a mini digger and a small dump truck hired and we're going, taking out the concrete
16:31around by the back door and up by the side of the building.
16:34He's called in help from tradesman Christopher Mulvihill to remove old concrete at the side of the house,
16:41which is trapping damp into the walls.
16:45But access to the side of the house is not straightforward.
16:49We possibly will have to break a small bit out of the door to get in,
16:53but we need to do it to get a sewer pipe round up as far as the bathroom.
16:57Colm is in his element.
16:59Oh yeah, this is the fun bit.
17:00A lot of smashing and breaking and noise and boys and their toys.
17:07Meanwhile, Mary is meeting her friend, local man Bernie Carty,
17:11who restored Elfin's most distinctive landmark, an 18th century windmill once used to grind corn.
17:19The sales blew off in a recent storm and Mary has taken it on herself to raise the funds to
17:27replace them.
17:28So the sales of our beautiful windmill have been removed.
17:33Bernie grew up in a cottage outside Elfin and went on to work as a porter in the bank from
17:40the 1970s until the 2000s.
17:43As a child, Bernie had never set foot in a bank.
17:47We wouldn't have any money to go into a bank, you see, because my father died young.
17:51My mother was left with the widow's pension, which was four shillings in those days, four old shillings.
17:59It was something new for me to be inside in a bank.
18:03Bernie had been working as a labourer on building sites in the UK.
18:08When you were on the buildings, you had old clothes on you and you were induced to be a grand
18:12job to go in dressed up.
18:14Like all things related to the bank, the porter role held a certain prestige.
18:19That was one of the things that stipulated you had to have a collar and tie on you.
18:25You couldn't go put wellingtons on you into the bank.
18:27You had to be respectfully dressed.
18:31In fact, another man was getting it.
18:32He said, oh God, I couldn't have a collar and tie on me every day because I have the cows
18:37to milk and I have everything to do.
18:40It was central in the town.
18:41A lot of the premises now in Elfin are, I suppose, closed.
18:45They live the same as in every town and it's great to see some of them, including yourself, opening up
18:52as a business again.
18:54Between bringing life back to the main street and attempting to get the windmill fixed,
19:00Mary and Bernie share a devotion to their hometown.
19:06It's the start of May and the grant deadline is just five days away.
19:11To satisfy requirements, Mary and Colum need a finished bathroom and kitchen, but both are still empty shells.
19:18So, this is the stage that we're at in the kitchen right now.
19:22The kitchen units are ready, are made, but we had to stop.
19:27We can just see here where the leak has manifested itself.
19:34The utility alongside the kitchen is sodden, but the source of the leak remains unclear.
19:40In that room, there were fungi, there were mosses of every description.
19:45Oh, it was beautiful.
19:46It was an ecologist's dream.
19:48They'd been able to identify species that probably don't exist elsewhere.
19:52Just this tiny little thing had major consequences and we had to stop everything.
19:56Outside, Colum is stoic about the scale of the daunting challenge ahead,
20:01as he seeks out a potentially endless number of leaks on the towering gable wall.
20:09There's an area here that's kind of hollow to the sound and there's cracks in it,
20:17so we're just going to chip off a bit of that and see is it damp behind and see is
20:22that where the problem is.
20:23If we can just find a spot where there's cracks and the wall is wet inside it,
20:27get it patched up and it stops, perfect.
20:29But it's, to be honest, it's only trial and error.
20:32There's nothing else we can do.
20:33We want to just keep at it until we find where the water is going in.
20:36The mortar is a little bit damp and a little bit flaky here,
20:40so there's an issue it needs to be replaced.
20:43Whether it's the actual problem in the room or not, I don't know yet.
20:46It's a patch-up job, but Colum's observing conservation protocol
20:51on this protected building in only fixing problem areas.
20:57The rest of the lime plaster that's there is good enough.
21:00There's no point and, as a conservation point of view, there's no need to take it off.
21:04So we're leaving that there and just replacing what needs to be done.
21:08Yeah, we might bring out a bigger chisel, an electric chisel after Ohio and have a go.
21:13Be a little bit quicker.
21:15Given the size of the gable, even with the electric chisel, work is laboriously slow.
21:22No, it seems to get drier back here again, so there's another spot over here I'm going to try and
21:27see what's there.
21:29Just here, it's a little softer and wetter than the rest.
21:33So I'd imagine that's where most of the leak is getting in.
21:37But this could be one of many sources of the dump.
21:40Now, there are cracks back along here, so we might just decide to take a square out of here and
21:45take it all off and re-plaster it.
21:48With neither of their two kitchens in place and Colum's time taken up playing whack-a-mole with the endless
21:55leaks,
21:55Mary and Colum won't make their grant deadline.
22:01It's June 2025, and at their old bank in the town of Elfin,
22:07Mary Morris and Colum Dowd are counting on a vacant property grant to make their budget work.
22:13But the deadline has passed.
22:16While Colum powers on with his seemingly endless search for the source of the building's many leaks, Hugh is dropping
22:23in for an update.
22:25Hello.
22:26Hello.
22:27How are you?
22:28Not much seems to have changed, but what a surprise.
22:33Could this be a finished kitchen?
22:35Oh, well, hello.
22:38How are you?
22:39Hugh, very welcome to see you.
22:40Lovely to see you.
22:41How are you going?
22:42Are you well?
22:43Wonderful, thank you.
22:44Well, there we go, now that's a big change.
22:46Yes.
22:47Huh?
22:47And your glasses match.
22:49I know.
22:50Green is definitely in, but the kitchen's an oasis in a house full of unfinished rooms.
22:57So wasn't your grant up?
22:59It was up on the 6th of May, but because we were delayed, I approached the county council at that
23:05stage
23:06and asked them was there a possibility of an extension.
23:10They did extend it for three months prior and they gave another three months again.
23:15Yeah.
23:16Their new deadline to get a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom finished is August.
23:22To get that done, they need to prioritise those rooms.
23:26So it's concerning to see work continuing in the second kitchen on the next floor up.
23:33The bathroom's taking shape, but there's little progress in the main bedroom suite, where they
23:40haven't pinned down the layout of their ensuite bathroom, which will house the sauna.
23:45So what's happening here now?
23:50No firm decision made yet.
23:52There's a 10 foot by 10 foot space here where we can go up into the attic.
23:57And we were thinking that a spiral staircase up into that space.
24:03Sexy.
24:04Dreadful.
24:05Sexy.
24:06Dreadful.
24:07Dreadful.
24:07For me, a spiral staircase doesn't work because they're awkward.
24:13They're actually...
24:14Today they're illegal.
24:16Illegal.
24:16Yeah.
24:17Because to make them legal, they actually have to be...
24:21Like two?
24:22No, I think they have to be that size.
24:26Yeah.
24:26So it's certainly not going to work.
24:28Building regulations state that the tread on an indoor spiral staircase must be 60 centimetres wide,
24:35so the total width of the staircase would be double that. The safety measures are there for a reason.
24:43Saunas, sweaty, slippy. You can't come down the stairs.
24:50It's an infrared sauna. I don't care what it is Mary, we all get in the sauna and we've become
24:57sweaty betty. That's what happens to it. You sweaty betty. All you have to do is wipe your feet on
25:03the mat.
25:05You don't, you drip. You drip. The two of you are so difficult.
25:11There's three of us if that's the case. All things in balance, this pair might be better to avoid
25:19extra stairs or other interventions. I find the way you've approached the building very interesting
25:26because an awful lot of people would have taken this building and done much more invasive
25:33restoration, whereas you haven't. And I think because of that, if you like, the essence of the
25:39building is still there. This hulking building has no less than 33 windows. They've already refurbished
25:48the original frames in the banking hall, but almost 150 years since they were installed. Most of the 25
25:57red deal timber sashes in the residence are rotten. Colin's taking on the improbably mammoth job
26:05of restoring them all himself. So this window should just lift out, or this frame.
26:15Just like that. With over a century of paint and putty to remove and replace,
26:22Colin's had to get crafty with his solutions. And he's removed himself to the coach house to do so.
26:28Very basic man cave now, a little rough and ready, but it does the job.
26:33I made this, and I started doing the windows. I was researching like every good DIYer on YouTube,
26:40and a steam box seemed to be the way.
26:43He's built his own DIY stripping steam box. It's a sauna for windows.
26:49So now it is very rustic, very, it was put together here in a couple of hours one day.
26:55Bit of timber on it just to keep it together. The box is only just one inch insulation,
27:00and the joints are done with aluminium tape you see on the end of it. As simple as that,
27:05I'd say 100 euros maybe the whole lot. I really only use it for taking the putty off the windows,
27:10the paint. I'd find it's just as handy to take it off with a sander. We'll get this little lad
27:16here
27:16now and we'll put him in. That's it. We'll give it 45 minutes to an hour, and
27:40we'll come back and see how it is. I'm well exhausted, but no, it's not overwhelming just yet.
27:46While the window is baking, Mary and Aisling May are getting creative indoors.
27:53So up there? Yes.
27:55Mary did come up with this idea of having a painting over the archway above the stairs.
28:00So she asked if I could try coming up with something. It would work.
28:08It would be fabulous up there because you're going to get it from here. You're going to be on
28:14its eye level from that level. And when we look down there, when we stand there,
28:20you're going to see it. And it's lovely. It's like a stage.
28:25So the idea is some sort of Renaissance-looking depiction of Mary and Colum, or angels,
28:33or just that sort of idea. Like frame it? Yes.
28:47Aisling May works in nearby Carrick, but has devoted her evenings and weekends to getting
28:53her grand oeuvre finished in time for Mary and Colum's move-in. While the masterpiece takes shape,
29:01Hugh wants to help them focus on decorating their building.
29:06Hugh has invited Mary and Colum to join him on the bustling main street of Athboy,
29:11County Meath, to visit a bank conversion, which is already an absolute treasure.
29:18A beautiful day in Athboy. Fabulous. Beautiful day.
29:23And this fabulous building. Isn't it terrific?
29:28It was huge. Fabulous, Hugh.
29:29This imposing red brick and stone building was constructed in 1925,
29:3645 years after Mary and Colum's new home.
29:40So I love the scale, the size of this.
29:42She was a beautiful one.
29:43The former banking hall is now a sitting room.
29:46But in fact, I think this is a fabulous example of how you can reimagine a bank building.
29:55Mm-hm.
29:55The bank was so important in the town. It was a place of prestige.
30:00So these buildings were here to impose, and if you like, give authority.
30:06So when you walk through that door into here, there was a bit of fear.
30:12Right.
30:12And that's what these buildings were for.
30:15I also wrote you because I love the colour scheme in here.
30:18So, looking at you today.
30:20Yes, yes.
30:21I'm looking forward to some bold colours.
30:25Mm. Yeah, yeah.
30:26And what do you think?
30:29I agree with Mary.
30:31Well, you would, not for me.
30:34Sorry, I'm a philistine. Can't help.
30:37So, let's go in here.
30:41Onward, past a kooky conversion of the bank's old vault, we head to the more sober kitchen,
30:47positioned at the back of the house, just as at the Elfin Bank, and neatly designed for its compact dimensions.
30:55So, in here, they've run the presses all the way up.
30:59Yes.
30:59I like them going all the way up to the ceiling because it just creates a sense of drama.
31:04I always think if the presses end, it's like, it's a dust trap.
31:09Upstairs, as well as elegant bathrooms and bedrooms, as per Colm and Mary's plans, there's a second kitchen.
31:17It must be a bank thing.
31:18But the next stop is the upstairs living room.
31:23I'm just interested to understand what design taste you like.
31:29Is this room in a style you like?
31:31This is it.
31:32Yeah, I thought that.
31:33It's beautiful.
31:34It's not stuffy.
31:35I think it's really comfy.
31:37No, it's beautiful.
31:37It's a very cozy room.
31:39So, funny enough, the curtains in this room really work.
31:43Yes, they work.
31:44Lovely heavy velvet.
31:45It would be fab in a sort of a, you know, like an aubergine.
31:50I love aubergines.
31:51Those sort of sumptuous colors.
31:53Orange orange.
31:55Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:56Colm's catching the interiors bug.
31:59I also like the frieze.
32:00The frieze beneath the cornice here is made of a clever heritage roll of papier-mâchéed wallpaper.
32:07It just makes the room posher.
32:10It'll be done for you.
32:11I'd say Hugh would have liked it.
32:12Thanks, Hugh.
32:14I like a little bit of polish.
32:16It's another item for Colm's to-do list.
32:20That's only a half hour some evening with a bit of wallpaper paste and roll it on.
32:25I think he should make them from papier-mâché himself.
32:28Do you agree?
32:29Yeah, absolutely.
32:30But I love that detail.
32:32I was actually going to spend my time if there was any velvet left over from the curtains making a
32:35suit.
32:47Where is this light?
32:49I should know these things for a minute now.
32:55It's the 5th of August and it's a big day at the old bank.
32:59The grant deadline is technically 5 o'clock this evening.
33:04Here, this is fully, fully completed.
33:09The light, the water, I don't have the kettle in situ, sorry.
33:13The kitchen's all but complete but a flushing toilet must also be in place for the grant team to give
33:20sign off.
33:21The cistern placement has been decided three seconds above.
33:24Lou officially in, they've achieved their deadline.
33:28The €70,000 from the grant will allow them to panel the stairs, complete the floorboards and for decorating to
33:36commence.
33:37But it's not the end of the road.
33:39We have two final hurdles.
33:43One being our bedroom and the second being the breakfast room from the second kitchen upstairs.
33:51They have a new end deadline.
33:53Now, my Christmas starts in the shop at the beginning of November.
33:58So, between November and the end of December, my input into the building is limited.
34:05Ideally, we would love to be in before Christmas.
34:08For Christmas.
34:09But I, I personally could be the limiting factor.
34:15Colum spreading his time across all the fix-ups in all the rooms.
34:20But some of the old problems just won't go away.
34:24Yeah, this little door here, there had been a window there.
34:28And I just put down a couple of buckets of concrete there just to close off the wall,
34:32thinking I was doing wonderful work.
34:34But as it happened when the rain came, it got onto the concrete and blew in and came down then
34:40behind the wall onto the ceiling below us.
34:42This brand new leak has damaged the freshly finished kitchen ceiling.
34:48But that's small fry compared to the other challenges the house has thrown up.
34:53So, this window out here was added last week, just breaking off the plaster.
34:58And the next thing I realised that the sill above the window was coming down, that it was kind of
35:01loose.
35:02So, it was a little bit panicky for a while.
35:04When Colum started to remove the old window, the bricks and stones began to move.
35:10It was just a little bit nervy to see everything coming loose and this 10, 12 foot of stone above
35:16us, and I didn't want it all coming down.
35:18There was a danger that the wall could fall. He had to find a solution fast.
35:24So, I propped it up as best I could, but the major thing was to keep what was there in
35:30place.
35:31After a good bit of pondering, I just came to the conclusion that I had to put two concrete sills
35:36here on the outside of it.
35:38Window secured and crisis averted, Colum could do with a break.
35:42But there's a new issue, and it's emerging from the newly installed panelling in the hallway downstairs.
35:50Colum.
35:51Mary.
35:55Oh, this is just too much now at this stage.
35:58This does not look like it is going to dry.
36:01There's only two months left before the shop's Christmas rush kicks in.
36:06But the old bank shows no sign of stopping springing leaks.
36:11Good night, Seattle, isn't that what Fraser used to say?
36:17It's November 2025, nine months since Hugh first visited Mary and Colum's imposing,
36:25but dilapidated former bank on the depopulated main street of Elfin, County Roscommon.
36:32Mary's just put the decorations up in the Emporium, but Hugh has yet to discover whether they have
36:39managed to finally patch up the endless leaks and deliver on their aim of moving in over the shop
36:46before the Christmas rush begins.
36:49Mary, how are you?
36:50Lovely to see you.
36:51You're well.
36:52How are you?
36:54Very good, thank you.
36:55Lovely to see you.
36:56It's so exciting.
36:57What a gift.
36:58Not only have they fixed the leaks in the entrance hall, it is now lit up with stained glass and
37:05wrapped in pristine panelling.
37:08You've been busy, haven't you?
37:10Isn't this looking fantastic?
37:15I love it.
37:17Isn't it just wonderful to open that door and see the hall, the stained glass window,
37:24and the amazing panelling you've put in, and the colour scheme.
37:28It's just extraordinary.
37:31And your choice of flooring is wonderful.
37:34I think it's just beautiful, subtle, and yet it is of its period as well.
37:39And even better, it doesn't show the dirt.
37:42Even better.
37:44And you've left the brick exposed?
37:47Yes.
37:47You're behind us, yes.
37:49The stairwell's solemn grandiosity has been softened by Mary's choice of gentle tones
37:55and the textures of the newly exposed wall beyond.
37:59It's a huge leap since Hugh's last visit.
38:02So I'm sure the last couple of weeks have been mad busy.
38:06Yeah, it has been.
38:07Yes, without a doubt.
38:08We set a deadline for ourselves, the 23rd of November,
38:11and it has been exhausting.
38:13It has.
38:13But it's well worth it.
38:15And that's it, Christmas in our new home?
38:18Yes.
38:18They have worked all hours to complete.
38:21With all the challenges, no one would have anticipated such a polished finish.
38:27The transformation is just extraordinary, isn't it, in the entrance hall?
38:30And funny enough, there's also an expectation, because you've set the bar so high.
38:36You have, you have, honestly.
38:39The bar has yet to deliver a stair carpet, but in the kitchen on the first return,
38:45the finish is spot on, as is the second kitchen downstairs, leading to Hugh's age-old question.
38:52How come you have two kitchens?
38:55Because upstairs is very much our home.
39:00And downstairs will be part of the shop, it will be part of the work and environment, all of that.
39:05It's a living over the shop tradition we may never quite understand.
39:09But both kitchens have their own character and charm.
39:13Downstairs you put the cabinets right up to the ceiling, but you didn't do that here,
39:19because you've retained the original cornice.
39:22Yes.
39:22Yes.
39:23The ceiling height cabinets downstairs are a nod to the Athboy bank we visited,
39:28whereas here the neat original cornice is respected.
39:32It's just one example of their careful handling of the building's original fabric.
39:37I love the idea of the way you've respected the home, and you redid all the windows.
39:44They've all been taken out, cleaned up, resealed.
39:47Any panes of glass that needed to be changed have been changed, but they're 95, 96% original.
39:54And Mary, I think the colour schemes you've chosen are just wonderful.
39:59Up here we're in powder blue and a beautiful floor.
40:02Yes. I allowed each room to develop organically. The colour schemes, they created themselves.
40:10Well, now hold on, darling. It's never as easy as that, Mary. Get out of it.
40:16You have a real eye for colour and detail.
40:18I suppose we can work very well together, so Colm lets me off, and if I pick colours or whatever,
40:24he says he agrees.
40:25I have every faith.
40:26Yeah.
40:27She picked me. Oh, could she do anything wrong?
40:29You're so right.
40:32On that note, it's on through the transformed stage-like upper landing to this perfect pair's
40:39inner sanctum, their bedroom suite.
40:42Look at this for a bit of yumminess.
40:47Didn't it work out?
40:48It's wild.
40:49Isn't it beautiful?
40:50It's everything that we had wanted it to be.
40:53It's a lovely thing about this room is you have all that natural light coming in.
40:57Light floods through from the main street at the front and via the windows to the garden in their
41:04super-sophisticated ensuite bathroom, where the infrared sauna seems utterly at home.
41:11Your bathroom is magic. Can I just say your selection of wallpaper is just to die for. Because when you
41:21look at it, it sheens.
41:22Yes.
41:23The carpet is just yummy and luxurious.
41:27This is the ultimate in sanctuary and peace.
41:30Hugh had worried that this busy pair would be so taken up with patching up this vast building,
41:36that they wouldn't have time to focus on interiors or heritage details.
41:41There's still more to do, like creating replacement cornice to match the old.
41:46But their steady approach has paid off.
41:49When I think about the amount of work the pair of you have done here, it's just extraordinary.
41:55Yeah, there's a lot of time.
41:57Oh, for a very short period.
41:58Nine months or so.
41:59Did you envisage the home being so fabulous?
42:03I hadn't a clue what it was going to be. That's all down to Mary.
42:06It was her foresight from the start to buy this building.
42:09It has been her vision, the way this house has been done up.
42:13And it is fabulous.
42:15Throughout this project, Mary underplayed the work and talent she put into planning the interiors.
42:22There's a consistency of style, which just unites the whole home.
42:28So the two of you must be very proud of what you achieved here.
42:32This is very soppy right now, but there's an awful element of pride in column for me.
42:37I could come up with a design idea, but to actually put it into place is the problem.
42:45So I'm very proud of that.
42:47Their warm dedication to this 145 year old building has lit a fire at the heart of this venerable town's
42:57Main Street.
42:58But it's just super to see the lights on in a building on the Main Street,
43:05because that also sort of generates people thinking about it.
43:09So since you've started to undertake the work here, the building across the road has been done up and finished.
43:17This building is now being done up and finished.
43:19Yes.
43:19So you've started the trend.
43:21Literally, yes.
43:22It's Mary and Colm's payback for what the street gave them.
43:26Each other.
43:28And of course, we have where you met.
43:31Across the road.
43:32Across the road.
43:32Yeah.
43:33So like romance blossoms.
43:36What?
43:37Isn't that wonderful?
43:38That's great.
43:38And as locals, they've brought the village into this once formidable building's heart.
43:44Originally, this was a very posh home.
43:46And the pair of you.
43:47Like we have the two poshies in the town.
43:53Not as it is.
43:54I'm still country.
43:55Let's go visit the drawing room.
43:57Mum.
43:57And your colour pencils with you.
43:59Well, their country ways have made a silk purse of a sow's ear here.
44:05From the moody dining room to the Georgian whimsy of the main bathroom
44:10and the spacious spare rooms, Colm and Mary's artistic take on the drawing room is a masterpiece.
44:18Well, the wonderful drawing room.
44:21Mm-hmm.
44:22Back to its original splendor.
44:25Yes.
44:26They replaced a modern fireplace with this marble wonder, which Mary found at auction.
44:32There's just the right amount of furniture.
44:34But I love the way the walls aren't cluttered with paintings or anything.
44:39You've just really allowed the architecture.
44:43Speak for itself.
44:44Yeah.
44:45Because these are all the original features.
44:47Yes.
44:48There's also one sizeable new feature yet to be hung.
44:52And we have a painting in production.
44:54Yes.
44:55Our niece, Ashlyn May, this is the painting that she's working on.
44:59Now it's like any piece of art.
45:01It takes time.
45:02It does take time.
45:03And when it is completed, it will look beautiful.
45:06It will be fabulous.
45:07And does she get the bedroom?
45:08She's getting the bedroom.
45:10Oh!
45:10When she completes this.
45:12Ashlyn May's masterwork will pay for her bed and board here.
45:16But what has this vast project cost, Mary and Colm?
45:21How much was the building?
45:22The building was £3.30.
45:24And your budget on the works?
45:26It was £2.35.
45:28And that was inclusive of that £70,000.
45:32Which is the vacant and derelict property ground.
45:35Yes.
45:35So right now…
45:36Yes.
45:36…to this point…
45:38Yes.
45:38…to £2.25.
45:40Wow.
45:40So with the 25 windows, that Colm completed.
45:44So that has been a saving, a big saving possibly of £70,000.
45:48Wow.
45:48That allowed us then to do…
45:51Finish the hurdle.
45:52Yes, and do nicer interiors.
45:54And now we have still things to finish, but it won't be.
45:57Another £10,000 will finish.
45:59Well done.
46:01Yes.
46:01Finish me off.
46:02It will.
46:03We don't want you gone yet.
46:04No, not yet.
46:05Yeah.
46:06Can I just say that the quality of the finishes and the wallpaper and the curtains
46:10and your fireplace never does you justice.
46:13Yeah.
46:14You don't feel anything's been scrimped.
46:16It's an incredible achievement at an affordable price.
46:20And it's been made possible by Colm's Trojan work and Mary's meticulous planning,
46:27grant wrangling and vintage bargain sourcing.
46:31So here, come here lads.
46:32Thank you so much.
46:34I just, I think what you've done here is truly amazing.
46:37It has become a home.
46:40Thank you very much.
46:40Come here.
46:41That was wonderful.
46:42Well done Mary.
46:44Just love it.
46:45Most importantly note, a minute is a little rest.
46:47Okay.
46:47You both need a rest.
46:49Huh?
46:50Definitely do.
46:51Well done.
46:52He's getting emotional too soon.
46:54I'm not, I'm ready to fall down.
46:55Oh, Colm, I can't believe it.
46:57She kept going all this late the time to the last minute.
47:01After nine months of slog, Colm deserves a good rest.
47:05But first, it's time to throw open the doors to their friends and family
47:10to share in the grand reveal of this hard earned home.
47:15Oh, you do have great taste Mary, I'll have time with you.
47:18And Colm has his moments too, but I want to actually have good taste.
47:23A love of Elfin drew niece Aisling May all the way here from Italy.
47:28And she's honored to be part of this new family home.
47:33No one else would be able to take on a project as mad as this and have such results.
47:38You can see Mary's style and Colm's work in this.
47:43I love the fact that Mary's from Elfin and Colm's from just outside the village.
47:48They both met romantically in the central bar across the road, came out the door,
47:54looked at this building, and little did they know that this was going to become their love nest.
48:01The purpose of this building was to make a statement about the bank.
48:05And what Colm and Mary have done is to transform that perception of this building
48:12into being part of the community, part of the neighbourhood.
48:17They've created the most personalized and loving home.
48:24This building is no longer intimidating, but is one of a Cade Meal of Fulcher.
48:31I'm just so thankful and so appreciative of you.
48:51And coming up on Tuesday at seven on Home of the Year, a Georgian style house in West Cork
48:57is in competition with an apartment in Dublin and a contemporary new build in County Armagh to reach the final.
49:04So next tonight, a new series from the book of the same name, Leonard and Hungry Paul.
49:10Cool.
49:39Cade Meal of Fulcher
Comments