- "Now I'm also looking at new kitchens as the itch has been scratched!"
- "We have decided to give the garden some TLC and we are also putting ensuites into the bedrooms."
Television Presenter Lorraine Keane has an exciting time ahead as renovation work is about to begin in her fabulous period family home in Monkstown.
With a keen eye for interiors and a clear passion for renovating properties, Ms Keane very graciously took time out of her busy schedule to discuss the impending works with this publication.
“We’re living in the house for the last 18 years and when we bought the house it was originally in eight flats and the house was a labour of love as we spent every penny we had to buy the house so we hadn’t much money left over for when it came to working on the property and changing it from flats back over to a house,” said Lorraine Keane.
“This house was a labour of love and it is my fifth house renovation in almost 30 years so in hindsight in some ways it was the easiest one I’ve done in terms of the house having its bone structure and bringing it back to what it was originally.
“The work on the house was extensive as it dates back to the 1850’s and when we got the keys to the house I was seven months pregnant with our eldest daughter, Emelia but over time we literally just moved from room to room and floor to floor and it took us about 18 months to get the house to a stage where we could invite people in,” added a laughing Ms Keane.
“Up to that point we were literally living with a two ring stove and a toaster on the floor! We were lucky that we have the basement which is ground floor level which has its one separate entrance so that basement floor was a kitchenette/ small bathroom and shower room and we lived there for six months before moving upstairs.
“I returned to work when Emelia was four months old and then room by room and floor by floor we worked on the house.
Two years ago we decided that we would sell the house because it really is a very big house for Peter, two children, two very small dogs and I. I had seen a doer-upper around the corner and as I haven’t done a renovation project in almost 20 years I was itching to do one. After the sudden passing of Peter’s Mum we decided to take our house off the market and it has been the best thing we have ever done because the pandemic happened and we realised that we needed the extra space in the house due to us working from home and the kids doing their school work she enthused.
“Now with me having the itch to do a renovation project, we have decided to give the garden some TLC and we are also putting three ensuites into the bedrooms as there are no ensuites in the house due to the shape of the Georgian houses. We have two bathrooms and with two teenagers it is great fun!
“I have a great builder, Padraig Corrigan of Loughcrew Enterprises who I met through our neighbours and he’s going to start our renovations in October and I can’t wait to get started! Now I’m also looking at new kitchens as the itch has been scratched!”
“I’m more attached to this house than I was to my previous four houses and for me, it is the people that are in the house that make it a home but I suppose because we had the girls here and they have grown up in this house and because the house was such a huge labour of love we definitely have an attachment to this house.
“We’re going to stay in this house for another few years and then we may be home alone! Who knows?
Emelia is doing her Leaving Certificate and Romy is doing her Junior Certificate this year so it’s going to be a very interesting few months in this house,” concluded Lorraine Keane.
