Room to Improve.

Quazzie

heldel00 wrote: »

Husband went in on Google Street view afterwards (I know he's a nosey fecker) and there was a billboard style thing up on that site advertising that it had planning for an apartment block. I could be wrong but I very much doubt that they bought the site for 50k.

That's for the houses in behind the site.

FrancieBrady

heldel00 wrote: »

Husband went in on Google Street view afterwards (I know he's a nosey fecker) and there was a billboard style thing up on that site advertising that it had planning for an apartment block. I could be wrong but I very much doubt that they bought the site for 50k.

Similar size town to Moate here. A huge site sold for 2.5 million during the boom. Still has advertising hoarding for 10 townhouses and 15 apartments he planned to build.
Bank sold site for 200,000 a year ago.
Quite possible it was only 50,000. A number of similar houses available for that here.

Red Kev

heldel00 wrote: »

Husband went in on Google Street view afterwards (I know he's a nosey fecker) and there was a billboard style thing up on that site advertising that it had planning for an apartment block. I could be wrong but I very much doubt that they bought the site for 50k.

Google Street View in Moate is from June 2009. The company that owned the site went into receivership in January 2013, owing over €7,000,000: http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/ij_news_more_details/appointment-of-joint-receivers-luxury-homes-(galway)-limited
https://www.duedil.com/company/IE032215/luxury-homes-galway-limited

So it's possible the site went for very little in the end compared to the original price.

Incidentally the houses behind their didn't sell after launch and are offered at a 30% discount. It's on a sign beside the house as well.

The company that originally owned the site were in an infamous court case in Clare back in 2004 as well.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/couple-dropped-planning-appeal-after-payment-1.1145482

The houses were to be built beside a knacker's yard, i.e. a place to offload dead and worn out animals. Crazy stuff altogether. You'd have to wonder how the estate agents would market that one. :pac:

Mary63

I watch the programme because I am hoping some week Dermot will do something a bit different, but no, its the same every week, he pulls a 3d design out of his bag and its the same basic glass box whether the house is in Dublin 4 on a secluded private site or on a busy road In Moate.I am perfectly entitled to watch whatever I like and comment on it too so buzz off popcorn and eat your popcorn, there, that felt good.


Totally agree with you cianmcliam and anyone who has teenagers would know too.Teenagers won't bring friends home if they can't either bring them into a sitting room with a locked door or a bedroom they don't share with someone else.Its all very well having two year olds with you all day in open plan houses, its a very different scenario when you have teenagers up very late at night.

People don't sit and watch wanderly wagon together anymore, people have different choices and most families have two TVS in separate small spaces with doors that close and walls you can't see through, I mean who wants to watch their teens snogging or worse through a glass wall.

That house was a sterile glass box with too much white everywhere, you would feel cold looking at it never mind getting up in the dark and coming home to it in the dark half the year.

freshpopcorn

Mary63 wrote: »

I watch the programme because I am hoping some week Dermot will do something a bit different, but no, its the same every week, he pulls a 3d design out of his bag and its the same basic glass box whether the house is in Dublin 4 on a secluded private site or on a busy road In Moate.I am perfectly entitled to watch whatever I like and comment on it too so buzz off popcorn and eat your popcorn, there, that felt good.


Totally agree with you cianmcliam and anyone who has teenagers would know too.Teenagers won't bring friends home if they can't either bring them into a sitting room with a locked door or a bedroom they don't share with someone else.Its all very well having two year olds with you all day in open plan houses, its a very different scenario when you have teenagers up very late at night.

People don't sit and watch wanderly wagon together anymore, people have different choices and most families have two TVS in separate small spaces with doors that close and walls you can't see through, I mean who wants to watch their teens snogging or worse through a glass wall.

That house was a sterile glass box with too much white everywhere, you would feel cold looking at it never mind getting up in the dark and coming home to it in the dark half the year.

Your clearly didn't watch the programme Mary63. There was a play room for the children when they were young and this will change into more of a teenage room as they grow up.
You haven't lived in a house like this!
Dermot is all about open plan living and having lots of light in a space and often puts on a snug if the clients requests.
Your can watch what ever you want but Dermot is never going to do what you want because that's not what he does or his clients wants.
I've spent many nights and days in one of these styles houses and their not sterile and they aren't cold because they're really warm once their properly insulated!

Thoie

I only watched late last night, and had held off reading this week's comments until after I'd seen it

I, too, was surprised at people not liking the couple - I thought they were just gently teasing poor Dermot - maybe just a different sense of humour. While I appreciate the difference between standing seam zinc and corrugated iron, the first thing that came to mind was a cattle shed.

I completely understand her obsession with a utility room and if I was building a house from scratch it would be my priority too - and I don't even have people coming in with muddy sports gear. I had missed the fact that it didn't have a separate entrance, must go back and watch again. To me a utility room is a convenient storage space for rarely used things that would otherwise be cluttering up the rest of the house, as well as a laundry room.

I think it was a pity too that they didn't close off the upstairs room - they could have built a small wall with glass the rest of the way up. I'd say anything like a TV or radio on downstairs could echo up to there, making it just an awkward space for anything.

My objection to everything being open plan these days is the fact that if someone calls to the door, and the kitchen is in a state, all you can do is apologise. While I've never been a believer in a "good" sitting room, I'd like to have somewhere that people can come in and have a cup of tea without having to look at the remains of your dinner. I'm generally pretty tidy, but when people turn up just as you finish dinner, and there are dirty saucepans all over the cooker, and plates and things still on the table it would be nice to have somewhere else to sit. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to clear things away into the dishwasher/sink while simultaneously making tea and conversation.

I wonder about big windows too - I can't live without curtains and large/non-standard size windows can be very expensive to "dress". My current sitting room windows are a standard length, but particularly wide. I was lucky to find a single pair of ready made curtains that fitted them (and even luckier that I liked those curtains), but while I was looking I had started to despair and got a few quotes for getting them made to measure, and the absolute cheapest quote was over €500, for unlined and not very nice fabric. Some of the quotes went up to €2000 for a pair of bloody curtains.

Mary63

Children never play in playrooms fresh popcorn, I am assuming here you don't have children.They play under their parents feet and the playroom is where you put the stuff at the end of the day and close the door.

I couldn't live without blinds and curtains, who wants someone looking in the window when you might be in your dressing gown at midday.

That half glass thing at the top of the stairs was the most ridiculous thing in a home with small children, you wouldn't relax with that at all until children were eight or nine which means having a stair gate in the house until then.its not just your own children you have to worry about, you have to worry about every child who comes into the house, I wouldn't relax for a minute thinking someone might climb on top of that.I would use that space as a utility room because thats all it was useful for.

matrim

Mary63 wrote: »

That half glass thing at the top of the stairs was the most ridiculous thing in a home with small children, you wouldn't relax with that at all until children were eight or nine which means having a stair gate in the house until then.its not just your own children you have to worry about, you have to worry about every child who comes into the house, I wouldn't relax for a minute thinking someone might climb on top of that.I would use that space as a utility room because thats all it was useful for.

That had nothing to do with Dermot and had everything to do with the couple. It was originally designed to be enclosed and they decide half way through to leave it open.

freshpopcorn

Mary63 wrote: »

Children never play in playrooms fresh popcorn, I am assuming here you don't have children.They play under their parents feet and the playroom is where you put the stuff at the end of the day and close the door.

I couldn't live without blinds and curtains, who wants someone looking in the window when you might be in your dressing gown at midday.

That half glass thing at the top of the stairs was the most ridiculous thing in a home with small children, you wouldn't relax with that at all until children were eight or nine which means having a stair gate in the house until then.its not just your own children you have to worry about, you have to worry about every child who comes into the house, I wouldn't relax for a minute thinking someone might climb on top of that.I would use that space as a utility room because thats all it was useful for.

See Mary63 your speaking about YOU!
Dermot wouldn't be a suitable architect for you to use. When his clients use him they know their going to get big windows and big open plan areas.
I've known single people and people with young families and older families who've gone down with similar designs and they all love them.
You want more of a traditional style family house and you never going to get that on Room to Improve.
If you go to and architect who is into contemporary design and you say you want a traditional family home chances are they won't take you on because they wouldn't want to associated with that style house.
Lots of children use play rooms and the children play in them and when they grow up they use them for more of a chille out zone and they can have a TV in them if people want to watch different things!

meeeeh

We have open space upstairs. Both kids managed to survive up till now the apparent death trap that some here think open space upstairs is. How exactly do people think kids in house/apartments with balconies survive. They might not be the most common thing here but in hotter countries they are essential and I didn't come across mass panic of parents anywhere I've been to.

As for the windows, pretty cool modern shutters can be got for them if needed. Also we have curtains only in bedrooms and there are no issues.

Eyepatch

Great posts, Thoie, Mary63, Matrim, Freshpocorn, Meeeeh etc! It's great to find a forum where genuine discussion takes place.

I too, liked the couple and enjoyed the show. They made a big thing of the utitlity room. Not haviing a utility room myself, I can perfectly appreciate the focus on this essential room in a house.

Fair play to Dermot, he's able to poke fun at himself. That goes a long way to making the show the success it is. The other "characters", the clients, the builder and the QS, when she's around, :P add to the fun mix.

Sunny Dayz

I don't think RTE got the brief about privacy that the clients were looking for. I'm from the general area and the couple do keep to themselves. I thought RTE showed its viewers in no uncertain terms exactly where the couple's house is located. Granted it's an unusual location by description but it's in a fairly quiet area. I'm guessing many more people will be passing by the area to have a nosy... I just didn't think that it was fair on the couple, their brief which they stressed a few times was privacy, yet the RTE cameras showed great views of the site and the surrounds.


I've watched R.T.I. for as long as I can remember. One or two houses featured over the years have been in areas I was kinda familiar with but I could never place exactly where they were cos the tv program wouldn't show that much.

matrim

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I don't think RTE got the brief about privacy that the clients were looking for. I'm from the general area and the couple do keep to themselves. I thought RTE showed its viewers in no uncertain terms exactly where the couple's house is located. Granted it's an unusual location by description but it's in a fairly quiet area. I'm guessing many more people will be passing by the area to have a nosy... I just didn't think that it was fair on the couple, their brief which they stressed a few times was privacy, yet the RTE cameras showed great views of the site and the surrounds.


I've watched R.T.I. for as long as I can remember. One or two houses featured over the years have been in areas I was kinda familiar with but I could never place exactly where they were cos the tv program wouldn't show that much.

Almost every week there is a link to google maps of the houses. If you want privacy and for people to not know where your house is then don't go on TV showing it being built.

Yourself isit

As my great grand uncle used to say. "If you want privacy don't go on the telly box"

meeeeh

They will grow a hedge or something, a few trees and that will give the privacy from the road in the house. It's a big site so it's not like the house is right besides the road. But where the privacy is actually needed is the garden and u shape is handy for that.

Eyepatch

Mentioning the disused railway station building and showing the school-playing fields are a dead giveaway to passing motorists as to where exactly it is. I presume what the clients had in mind re privacy would centre round the greenway walkers, which pass right by the house and possibly pupils as well, whose playing fields are right next door.

liam7831

Privacy my hole, they obviously love the limelight

Red Kev

Eyepatch wrote: »

Mentioning the disused railway station building and showing the school-playing fields are a dead giveaway to passing motorists as to where exactly it is. I presume what the clients had in mind re privacy would centre round the greenway walkers, which pass right by the house and possibly pupils as well, whose playing fields are right next door.

The house is on a cul de sac. You go over the old train tracks into what was the train station car park. It is now the car park for the Greenway and for the Golf Course.

They can't really complain about privacy as they put the house on RTE. But Dessie Dolan will never have full privacy in his life. He will always be one of the Leinster winning team for Westmeath GAA fans, and Leinster club champion with Garrycastle a few years ago, as well as being one of Westmeaths greatest ever players.

She met him at the height of his career and took all that on board. He's a local hero in the Athlone/Moate area and always will be.

Thoie

I got the impression that the talk of privacy was not an overwhelming "we want to live anonymously in the shadows", but more "I want to be able to go to the kitchen in my knickers without everyone staring straight in at me."

Even if you weren't somewhat well-known already, you can't live in a town that size without everyone knowing where you live, but that's not the same as people being able to see directly into your bedroom window.

Utopia Parkway

Thoie wrote: »

I got the impression that the talk of privacy was not an overwhelming "we want to live anonymously in the shadows", but more "I want to be able to go to the kitchen in my knickers without everyone staring straight in at me."

That's what I thought as well especially considering there was roads on either side of the house. You obviously don't want to be view for everyone to see.

retro:electro

Ah they were only slagging Dermot. Sure he's able to give it back twice as bad when he wants. Anyone else get the impression that the wife wasn't overly happy or impressed with the finished result? She seemed a bit disappointed.

And as for privacy, sure it was Dessy himself that pointed to his house from the school yard so perhaps he shouldn't have done that if he wanted to remain undisclosed, a sentiment that I did not get at all from watching the show FYI.

Radio5

Until I watched this episode I would have thought that Moate had a functioning railway station as I saw it was a commuter town for Dublin.

Any idea what is up this week?

freshpopcorn

Radio5 wrote: »

Until I watched this episode I would have thought that Moate had a functioning railway station as I saw it was a commuter town for Dublin.

Any idea what is up this week?

It's about a woman who returns to her childhood home in Sutton with her young family!

sunbabe08

Dublin again?? *sigh*

BabysCoffee

Ah god, this is so sad. The poor lady with the parents dying so young

HeidiHeidi

Oh gawd.... sad start

tampopo

The QS features. I think. I hope!!!

HeidiHeidi

omg the pelmets!!!

BabysCoffee

Knock the house down and start again

HeidiHeidi

BabysCoffee wrote: »

Knock the house down and start again

Absolutely!

It's a museum piece - the avocado bathroom suite!