TV presenter Mary Kennedy has revealed she is now "settled" into her new home with renovations finally finished.
The former newscaster opened up about the love she has for her new south Dublin house after being there for nine months now.
Speaking in an interview with RSVP Live, the 68-year-old Clondalkin native explained that it was "liberating" to declutter her old family home.
READ MORE: Former RTE star Mary Kennedy reveals she was 'shaking' ahead of her date with boyfriend Tom
Even though she felt anxious at the start, those feelings disappeared as she settled into her home.
She explained: "I enjoyed it from the moment I stepped inside. It’s been nine months now. The anxiety was beforehand because you don’t know what it’s going to be like before you actually do it.
"I would recommend it to anybody. It’s lovely to be doing up a house again, I loved doing that all over the winter. I have the garden done now and I have it perfect for sitting in and enjoying.
"I feel very settled now. I’m only half a kilometre away from the old house. It was too big. I still have my friends from there and now I have new friends from around this house.
"The wonderful thing about people from this cul-de-sac is that they’re all young families. I think those intergenerational relationships are very important.
"They say it’s very important for older people to be around young people, but it’s also very important for young people to have older friends.
"It’s not just a one-way street. There’s a lot of wisdom, common sense and compassion that can be passed from the older generation. It’s about understanding what they’re going through."
Even though the house is just a bit smaller than her old home, it is still full of room for her children and grandchildren.
"There is upkeep that needs to be done with a bigger house and it needed a little bit of TLC because it was 50 years old," Mary said.
"My new one is three years old. Everything is all new, clean and it’s A-rated. It has had a massive difference in fuel bills over the winter.
"It’s bright, airy and looking out on the green. It’s smaller than the house I was in, but it’s a four-bedroom, with two bathrooms and a downstairs loo. It’s not a small house, but it’s much smaller than I had.
"I need to have four bedrooms because my family lives in Limerick. When they come up, they stay over. It’s lovely."
Throughout her move, Mary's children were incredibly supportive and gave her some great advice.
"My children were totally 100 per cent supportive," she shared.
"They thought it was a great idea. I said to them, ‘You grew up here and there’s an emotional attachment to the house’.
"They said, ‘Yes, but home is where you are’. I appreciated that from them. I found it very liberating to declutter. I don’t think we do it enough. I would recommend it to everybody.
"We went through things in the house, had a good laugh and threw them out, like old birthday cards."
