RTE’s The Big Fix was a ‘life-changing’ experience for Dundalk family

A Dundalk family has described the transformation of their home following a visit by the team from the popular RTE show Home Rescue: The Big Fix as “life-changing”.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Pierce Jeffers, his wife Claire and her mother Doreen, and children Grainne, Sorcha and Oran and dog Tony featured in the first episode of the the new series of the Bafta-winning programme on Thursday night.

The Home Rescue team of designer Dee Coleman and builder Peter Finn had their work cut out as they set about making the Meadow Grove house fit for three generations.

“What they did has made a real difference to us as a family,” Claire told The Argus.

The house was built by her parents Pat and Doreen Kelly back in 1975. Her dad had worked as a fireman with Dundalk Fire Service, and after the new fire station was built, the firemen were provided with sites by Louth County Council to build their homes on.

Before that, the firemen had lived in ‘ the firemens’ houses’ in Market Street, close to old fire station on Defenders Row.

“They did a lot of the work themselves, laying the foundations, and got tradesmen in when they needed them,” recalls Claire.

Sadly Pat now has dementia and is living in Blackrock Abbey Nursing Home.

“After Dad went into the nursing home, we moved in with her as she has health issues and couldn’t live on her own,” explains Claire.

This not only meant that there were now six people living in a house where formerly there had been two, but the contents of two households were being stored there. And to make matters worse, Pat had developed a hoarding habit in the years before he went into the nursing home.

“We had spent a lot of time trying to declutter and had six skips in an effort to clear it.”

It was when she was watching the previous series of Home Rescue that Claire got the idea of applying to the programme to see if designer Dee Coleman and builder Peter Finn could come up with a plan to make their home workable.

“I was watching it one evening and at the end of the show there was a message that anyone who wanted to be featured in the next series could apply to the programme makers.”

Claire wrote away and thought no more about it until until she was told that their house would be getting a much-needed revamp in the new series.

As soon as designer Dee Coleman arrived she could see the problems with the house, not just the clutter, but that the layout wasn’t working for the family.

The kitchen was too small for Pierce, who is in charge of chef duties when Claire is on the road, the dining room was out of bounds, and Oran, who has autism, shared a bedroom with his parents, meaning that they often didn’t get a full night’s sleep.

As Dee and builder Peter Finn, who revealed that he had a connection with the town, having played with Dundalk FC many years ago, began making plans to transform the problem rooms, the family moved out to an airbnb on the Cooley peninsula.

And although Claire and Pierce were caught on camera, enjoying a relaxing drink in PJ O’Hares in Carlingford, their time out of the house was no holiday as they had to supervise the massive decluttering.

Boxes and boxes of posessions were taken from the house to the Community Centre in Muirhevnamor where the painstaking task of deciding what to keep and what to donate to charity or throw out got underway.

They donated books and toys that Oran had outgrown to the ABACAS School in Drogheda.

As she planned a special sleeping area for Oran, Dee Coleman visited the autism unit at Realt na Mara school and spoke with his teacher Ms Adrienne Callan.

At the end of the week, the family returned to see the “life-changing” transformation to their home.

“It’s the first time in my life that I’m speechless,” Pierce said as they walked into the new kitchen. It’s more than I expected. It’s totally life-changing.”

Claire said that it had made the kitchen the “heart of the home again.”

“When we were in our own house, my parents would come round every evening for dinner. We used to sit around the table, have a family dinner, having the craic. That all went out the window when we moved into my parents’ house. Everyone was eating in separate rooms – that’s what we missed the most.”

Oran was clearly delighted with the wonderful sleeping space that was created for him, and there was even a special spot for Tony the dog.

The original plans for the house were framed and hung in a place of honour.

Doreen, who had laid the foundations of the house with Pat, was delighted that two of her favourite souvenirs were on display.

Describing Pat as the love of her life, she recalled that they used to say that their marriage came from heaven as they both worked alongside each other.

“It’s really amazing. It’s hard to believe it’s the same house,” said Claire.

“Everyone who watched the show thought it was fabulous and quite a few of them said it made them cry.”