Cork property is up for Home Of The Year

A COUPLE who bought their dream home in Cork without seeing it in person have now put it forward to be named Ireland’s finest property.

The farm building conversion owned by Mags and John Phelan is one of three properties that feature on Home Of The Year on RTÉ1 on Tuesday, March 14 at 8.30pm.

The couple live in the contemporary country home with their two teenage sons. They came across it when house hunting online while living in Kazakhstan and went sale agreed without seeing it.

The home is a farm building conversion, made up of a barn at one end, a cow shed at the other and a stone cottage.

Mags and John bought it in 2015 and have been working on it ever since.

They wanted to upgrade the house and interiors to ensure it was fit for purpose, but at the same time respect and maintain the character of the property. The couple think of their house as a sanctuary.

The other two properties in the episode are in Counties Down and Dublin.

Sara and Neil Austin live in a Victorian home in Down, along with their two young sons.

The house was built in 1896 and is a double fronted Victorian property. When the family moved in, in 2020, they redecorated and modernised every space.

They moved the kitchen, which had been at the front of the house, to the rear of the property and also knocked through from the master bedroom into the adjacent room to create an en suite and walk in wardrobe.

Sara loves period properties and has worked hard to restore the remaining classic features such as the stained-glass windows and the original fireplaces and cornicing.

She and Neil were conscious of respecting the heritage of the home while renovating, but adding a modern twist to make the home functional for their family.

Roisin and Stephen Whyte live in a contemporary new build family home in Dublin along with their four young children.

The couple started the project in 2018 and completed the home in 2020 and used ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) to build their home.

Roisin says that Stephen was really passionate about the build process, putting his heart and soul into it, whereas her enthusiasm lies more with the interiors, which she wanted to make sure reflected their family.

Roisin describes the interior style as fun, eclectic and with a modern farmhouse twist and that every room has a little piece of their personality in it.