Heaven for seven
For nearly 10 years the housing market was a rollercoaster for Derek and Cliona Hosty, yet they never deflected from their plan to create a dream home for themselves and their five children
Water is a controversial entity in this country, despite the fact that we’re surrounded by it and we get plenty of it in the form of rainfall.
Nearly a decade ago Irish people were so consumed with the subject of water that they took to the streets to protect what they considered to be their natural right to an Irish resource.
For different reasons, six years ago Derek and Cliona Hosty had their own battle over water which threatened to derail their plans to extend the small 1930s Dublin home they had bought for themselves and their five children.
It was a mere two-up-two-down and they needed to add living space and more bedrooms. Their first redesign was refused and then when they came up with an alternative, planning permission was stalled as Irish Water objected to their plan to move a water pipe in the back garden which meant they couldn’t build as they wished, despite the fact that neighbouring houses had earlier been given permission to do similar jobs.
“Irish Water were telling us you have to have access to the pipe on both sides of the house, which meant you had to have six metres (18ft) on each side of the pipe and there wasn’t that space,” Cliona says. “We were getting emails from Irish Water saying we’d have to do it, but it wasn’t possible. For six, seven weeks we were getting replies from them with no give.
“Then one Monday morning, I decided I was going into Irish Water. I told them at reception that I had an appointment, which I hadn’t, and the two guys I’d been dealing with came down. One said
‘Hi Cliona, we didn’t have an appointment, did we?’
“I said ‘No but we’re not getting anywhere with this and we’ve been waiting a year for our planning.’ He said ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I put the plans out in front of me and said ‘This is what we want to build, that’s the pipe, can we not please just do what other people have done and divert it down the back garden and, wherever you want it to go, we’ll do it?’ And he looked at it and he went ‘Yeah, that’ll work.’”
Irish Water finally wrote the email agreeing to their design and the planning went through. “I think the problem was they were completely under-resourced and understaffed and probably still are,” says Derek.
It was just one of the many setbacks Derek and Cliona had over the three years from the time they bought the house to the date they finally moved in. Yet this »
» resilient, resourceful pair were never daunted.
Their aim was to build the best possible home for their large family and they succeeded to such an extraordinary extent that they were placed in the top three in last year’s Home of the Year final, with a home that is three times the size of the original. It’s tailored in every way to their family and at the same time abounds with light, space, storage and clever design details.
It’s an incredible achievement considering that from the moment they got involved in buying a home of their own, Derek and Cliona seem to have been affected by every vagary of the Irish property market, but it didn’t deter them from enjoying their family and making the most out of life.
Derek grew up in Galway, one of two sons and he studied engineering and telecoms at the University of Limerick. Cliona grew up in Cork, one of three kids and she studied radiotherapy in London for two years before deciding it wasn’t for her. “I used to come home each day after college crying. I found it hard at that age dealing with oncology patients.”
She returned to Ireland and soon after got a job in Dublin where she worked as an office manager for six years until she was made redundant. Derek also came to Dublin and they met 18 years ago in a pub/nightclub called 4 Dame Lane.
“We met the old-fashioned way,” Cliona laughs. “When you know, you know. We moved in together two months later and we bought a two-bedroomed apartment after six months with a 100pc mortgage, thinking we’ll buy this, it’ll increase in value and then we’ll sell and buy a house. Instead it dropped in value by €180,000 a year later, ” Cliona recalls. It was 2006/2007, the end of the Celtic Tiger, the beginning of the recession.
Their eldest child Saoirse, now 14, was born while they lived in the apartment. However, when Fiadh, 13, arrived 17 months later they realised it was too small for all four of them. They couldn’t sell the
apartment so had to rent a home, but they had a stroke of luck; one of Derek’s colleagues was moving to New York and offered to rent out their home in Ballinteer to the Hostys and they lived there from 2011 to 2015.
By 2015 the family had increased from two children to four with the addition of their older two boys Donnacha, 11, and Senan eight. (“We always wanted a big family,” says Cliona. “At one stage we had five under seven and three in nappies.”)
Renting in Ballinteer made them realise it was the area in which they’d like to raise their family. According to the pair, it has everything — proximity to the M50 for travel abroad as well as down the country, the Luas and more importantly, schools, parks and shops. “This area is very walkable which is what you want,” says Derek. They tried to get a mortgage to buy a house there but failed, then Derek was offered a job in Norway. “I was feeding Senan on the couch when Derek told me. I said no — who moves to Norway, bring me to the States,” Cliona laughs.
However, off they went in 2015 to Norway where Derek worked in Telenor and it was an interesting experience for all. “It’s a good work-life balance,” says Derek. “There’s amazing equality between mams and dads. For example, you’d see many more dads at the school gate than here. Also childcare is so affordable, it was less than €300 per month. And childcare closes at 5pm and most children are picked up at 4-4.30pm, no rushing to pick up at closing time, because most leave work at 4pm.”
They had a particularly good experience when Seimi, their fifth child, now seven, was born in Norway. “There was a bed in the hospital for me, I stayed there three nights and when I left they handed me a bill for just €50 for all my meals,” says Derek.
Life was different in some aspects — for example, infants slept outside in their prams while parents were socialising indoors. “They’re wrapped in layers. Seimi slept outside in -10C,” Cliona
» 2020 and construction stopped. When it started again, the couple project managed the build and so, in addition to work and looking after five children, they travelled every second Friday from Galway to Dublin to assess progress and make sure everything was done according to plan.
They moved in in July 2021 — three years after they bought the house. The old house was totally renovated — they gutted it and had it replastered, insulated, underfloor heating put in and totally redecorated. They made some design changes in this area, including dropping the floor levels, moving the front door to the side of the house and in the space of the original door they put in a window. This original space houses two living rooms downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs.
The new extension consists of a huge open-plan kitchen/living/ dining room with a massive island, lots of lights, an ample amount of units, and some unusual features, including an oven on either side of the sink. “Most people put them on top of each other, I like symmetry,” says Cliona.
There is also a new downstairs bathroom. The upper floor of the extension houses two more bedrooms, one of which is en-suite with a walk-in wardrobe and the other has an unusual sleeping unit accessed via a ladder, which could sleep several children if necessary. The decor is quite minimalist and Cliona admits that the two years in Norway influenced her style.
While living in Norway she did her first bit of interior design — decorating one of the kids bedrooms — a friend was so impressed he suggested she start her own account and since then she has built up a following of 20,000. She also made many useful contacts while decorating the house.
“I put up a post about lights for the house and got a message from Greg [Gawel] of New Style Lights who offered us a discount. Since then we got all our lights from
Greg and I love them, they’re all