A 1930s home in Ballinteer, Co. Dublin has been completely transformed, putting a contemporary, Scandinavian twist on one of the oldest properties in the area.
Cliona Hosty and her husband Derek had always wanted to buy a home in Ballinteer Park, and so when a house became available, they took their opportunity.
Speaking to The Irish Mirror, Cliona said: "We bought an apartment in 2006 in Cork Street in town before we got married. Got married, had our daughter Saoirse and then I got pregnant again, and we had Fia, but the apartment was too small, so we decided to rent somewhere bigger.
"A woman that my husband worked with lived in Ballinteer and said that they were moving to New York for a few years, maybe long-term, and they had a four-bedroom house in Ballinteer if we wanted to rent it. So we jumped at it, and we said yes."
After living in the area for some time, the couple began to look for potential properties they could buy to create their dream home.
Cliona said: "Ballinteer Park are the original houses in Ballinteer. I suppose they were built in the 1930s when most of Ballinteer was farmland… They were built as two up two down houses with massive gardens so over the years people have changed them.
"There's not very many left that haven't been touched, but we always said that if we stayed in Ballinteer, this is one of the houses we wanted."
In 2015 the pair tried to get a second mortgage but were unable to do so as they were in negative equity, having bought an apartment before leaving it to rent somewhere with more space for their growing family.
Cliona's husband was then offered a job in Norway, so the family decided to move once again before returning to Ireland in 2018.
"We moved to Norway with four kids in 2015. We came back with five kids in January 2018, and four weeks after we got home, we saw that one of the houses in Ballinteer Park was for sale."
Cliona added: "We just jumped at it. We said we have to. It was the right aspect. I phoned Derek at work, and he said what aspect is it, and he said just put in an offer and tell them we will come and see it tomorrow. So we were sale agreed, and we had no mortgage."
After eventually getting a mortgage, the couple got an architect to draw up plans.
"We got refused planning permission first because they said it was too overbearing on next door, and then we had an issue with a three-inch water pipe that goes through the back of all these houses.
"Years ago people used to build over them, up to five years ago you had to divert it… and then Irish Water changed it that you had to leave space on either side of your house. Three metres on either side of your house and then put it down the back garden, but if you did that sure, you wouldn't end up with a house because the sites are only so wide."
Ten months passed, and after countless emails back and forth, Cliona decided she would go to Irish Water herself to rectify the issue.
She said: "I went into Irish Water myself because we were just getting these generic kind of emails back saying… there's a three-inch water pipe in your garden. Please tell us how you're going to solve this.
"So eventually I went in, and I said look, we can't do what you're asking us to do because we'd end up with a minus house if you want us to put three metres on either side of it. I said why can't we just do what everyone else did and divert it as far down the back of the garden as you want us to and let us build our house, and they said okay, and that was after eight weeks of getting emails from them saying they couldn't do it.
"So after 14 months of paying rent, we were paying over three grand in rent we were paying rent and the mortgage on the house for 14 months, we decided to move to Galway to live with my husband's parents for six months."
The house was renovated in 2019 while the family waited for planning permission.
But when Covid hit, things were delayed further, and the couple ran out of money to fund their project.
Cliona said: "Our builder took so much money off us for the renovation we had nothing left for the extension.
"We tried to get another mortgage, took ten months to get another mortgage because of Covid and all the things the bank wanted and then we eventually got a second mortgage.
"So we started again in November 2020, then we did up to January, then Covid stopped us in January for nine weeks, and then we started again in March, and we moved in on the very last day of July.
"So we ended up in Galway for two years, and we thought it would be six months.
She added: "So five kids living in his parents in our 40s for two years. It was the hardest thing we've ever done."
However, after all the ups and downs, the family of seven now have the home they always wanted, with Cliona even thinking of pursuing her passion for interior design in the future.
