Check out this Kildare house vying for Home of the Year next week

Check out this amazing Kildare residence which is due to feature on RTE's Home of the Year next Tuesday.

Vivian Wong McKendry and Philip McKendry live in Co. Kildare with their three dogs.  

During the height of the Covid pandemic, Vivian and Philip moved into a completely empty shell of a house with no kitchen, flooring, or even a functional bathroom. After eight long months their redesign began, with the couple having worked hard on design plans and the layout, completely changing the internal function of the house.

Vivian and Philip went for a contemporary mid-century style, creating a cohesive yet visually stimulating aesthetic throughout the house.

Although the build was time-consuming for the couple, it was all worth it, as they created the show stopping home they had always envisioned. 

Vivian Wong McKendry and Philip McKendry live in Co. Kildare

Episode 7 also features  the home of Joan Woods and Richard Bradburn from Cork. The couple live in their old stone-built farmhouse, surrounded by animals and the sea. Their children have just left for college.

Living in London with two small children, the family decided they needed a better quality of life and moved to West Cork. They bought this house in 2006. Estimated to originally date from the mid-19th century, the building was dilapidated, damp, and cold, with any period details long since removed. Over two years they rebuilt it using only traditional materials and methods, with natural or recycled materials, breathing new life into their home with a classic period style, natural fabrics and materials creating a warm family friendly home.

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The family describe the style they went for as being period, natural, rustic and organic as they wanted to be sympathetic to the farmhouse building and heritage of the property and its surroundings.

The couple also love that they each have their own spaces in the home. Richard, an editor and writer, has his study, and Joan, a artist and perfumier, has her studio to work on and make her perfumes.

The third home on the programme is owned by Claire Hawkins from Dublin.

Claire’s home was built around 1850, and, in its original form, was quite a small and traditional cottage. After purchasing the home, the family undertook a deep renovation and gutted the whole house doing a full energy upgrade by heaving up the foundations, walls, roof, windows doors, etc. and bringing the property from a C2 to A+ rating and adding a small extension to the rear.  

The main bonus of these renovations, aside from making the home warmer, was the windows in the front of the house could be made bigger so they could view the sea from almost anywhere inside the house. 

Claire loves the views and the open airiness throughout the home and that there’s lots of space for dancing in the kitchen, for her and her 3 children! 

Home of the Year airs on Tuesdays at 8.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player