Chalet-style home vies for Home of the Year accolade

A REFURBISHED 1970s home in Dublin, a 150-year-old farmhouse in Wicklow, and a 1980s chalet- style bungalow in Belfast - they are the next properties to be toured in Home Of The Year on RTÉ1 on Tuesday (March 22) at 8.30pm.

The judges, architects Hugh Wallace and Amanda Bone, and interior designer Sara Cosgrove cast their expert eye on the houses in the sixth episode of the series, and decide which will make the final.

The Dublin property belongs to Niamh Peare, an architect and interior designer, who lives there with her engineer husband James, and their two daughters.

The home originally had small rooms and was quite dark internally, so they carried out a complete refurbishment, using custom-built furniture to provide a consistent connection with nature and introduced biophilic materials, textures and patterns.

Niamh and James feel that the importance of a healthy home is more relevant than ever, and wanted to create an interior that was flexible with a multi-purpose family home and workplace.

Kate and Shane Byrne and their son live in a 150-year-old farmhouse with modern extension in Wicklow. The property has been in Shane’s family for decades but when they moved in, in 2018, they knocked through all the smaller rooms and added an extension to create an open plan living space with lots of natural light.

Kerry Devlin lives in the 1980s chalet-style bungalow with husband Nicky and their twin boys. 

They fell in love with the location and incredible views, but when they moved in, the house was neutral with dated décor, so they renovated it to give it their own stamp.

The interior design is inspired by mid-century, modern and Scandi interiors; mixing vintage and retro furniture with modern pieces with plenty of colour.