‘The cottage is extremely run-down but we welcome the challenge’
Inspired by watching her father renovate old homes in West Cork during the 1970s, Orla Ward started her houseflipping hobby at the age of 23 in London, where she revamped and sold Victorian properties.
When Orla met David, the pair realised they were a match in more ways than one — not only did they both have children from previous relationships, they shared a passion for refurbishing period properties.
The couple got married five years ago and created a blended family. Their projects include a 250-yearold home in Northern Ireland and a holiday home on a Greek island. Together they run
Red Gable Cleaning, which cleans red and green algae from the exterior walls of properties.
Orla, a former nurse, and David, a one-time marine engineer, currently live in a fourbed 3,595 sq ft home in the Longford village of Lanesborough. The pair purchased the home in 2017 when it was just a shell, with no wiring, plumbing, stairs or second floor.
“We essentially bought it in the dark,” says 54-year-old Orla. “All the windows were boarded up and we could only get in the back door. We had to use the torchlight from the phone to look around.” That home, which now has a cinema room and a sauna, is on the market for €650,000 as the Wards plan on moving on to their next project: a derelict cottage in Mitchelstown that has no septic tank or indoor toilet, but has stone outbuildings, one of which could be used as a recording studio for one of their sons.
“We are in the process of putting in an offer on it and hope it will be accepted,” Orla says. “It’s extremely run-down, but we welcome the challenge. We plan to do it up to the same standard as the house we’re living in. It’s not going to be a twee cottage on the inside; we want to try and keep the character of it, but make it warm and modern with a contemporary interior.”
The prospect of the work involved doesn’t faze Orla and David.
“This is our hobby — we don’t have a TV and we don’t go to the pub.”