Can Cork coastal property win the judges over on tonight's Home of the Year?

IT’S taken five weeks, but Cork finally gets the fly the flag on Home Of The Year.

A coastal property in the county, belonging to Emma Kelly and Ciaran O’Sullivan, is toured by the judges in the next episode of the popular property show on RTÉ1 on Tuesday, March 15, at 8.30pm.

Both are engineers, while Emma is also an interior designer, and they fell in love with their 1970s bungalow home because of its location and coastal views.

The first thing they set about doing was to reorientate and repurpose the space, to create a south facing aspect, with the main living spaces focused toward the sea.

The family love the sense of light in their home and the double vaulted windows in the open plan living/dining/sitting room that give such a wonderful connection to the views.

Will judges Hugh Wallace, Amanda Bone, and Sara Cosgrove give their approval to it?

The Cork property is up against two more houses.

When Sarah Duggan and her fiancé Ian McNamee first saw their Dublin property, they were able to see its renovation potential. They stripped everything out, reconfigured the stairs, and raised the ceiling up to the roof apex to allow light to flood into the home.

Sarah, who works in fashion, was inspired to decorate her home in a minimalist style, using clean silhouettes and lux fabrics to create a bright, airy and calm atmosphere.

Emma Edmonds, an interior designer and colour consultant, lives in her country cottage in Co. Wicklow with Maltese terrier, Maxi.

When she bought the property it was in good condition but needed updating, so she ripped out the interiors, replacing them with her own fun no rules style.

Emma love antiques and mixing new with old. She uses texture and colour in each room and loves that her home is always evolving with her.

The second episode of nostalgia series The Way We Were on RTÉ1 on Monday at 9.35pm also has a property theme, as it looks at the changing face of Irish housing.

From the suburbanisation of our cities to the ‘bungalow blitzing’ of our countryside, through the evolution of social housing and the beautifully idealistic ‘Garden City’ Movement of the 1930s and ’40s, to the high rise projects of the ’60s and ’70s, we see how our housing has changed.

The episode also assesses the interiors trends – from pastel bathroom suites to PVC conservatories; not forgetting the life-changing arrival of central heating, twin tub washing machines and domestic showers.