Room to Improve

Room to Improve starts with Martina Mullin and Padraig Whelton, recently married and are living in a dark, dreary ex-council house in Donnycarney. They bought their home at the end of the property boom and now it's worth less than they paid for it. So the improvements they need have to be made while keeping within a strict budget of 30,000 euros.

Dermot is in Timahoe, Portlaoise with Dolores and Donal O'Connell. Their five children are all grown-up but still live in the area. Dolores loves having them all home regularly for big family get-togethers. However, their children now have partners and there's five grandchildren so when everyone is back at home it's totally crammed.

Cathy and Michael Keane bought their house when it was being used as a cowshed. They converted it, had four children and over the years Dad, Michael, has added on bits to it. The extension behind the original cottage took eight years to complete. Now the house is a warren of disconnected small rooms.

Declan and Judy Cadwell from Clontarf share a small terraced home with their three sons, Christopher 19, Ross 17 and Jake 13. But only just.

Marie Duffy moved into her Victorian townhouse off the South Circular Road four years ago. Her friends all thought she was mad to buy it because there was so much work to be done. Over the years Marie spent most weekends and evenings attempting to bring the house back to its former glory. She reclaimed the front living room, the hall, a bedroom and bathroom and then ran out of ideas.

Dermot encounters a stumbling block or two when he turns his hand to a badly laid out bungalow in Co Offaly. There's only one thing wrong with the Declan and Anne Conlon's bungalow in Edenderry, Co Offally and that's the entire ground-floor layout. Since they had their bungalow built, nearly three decades ago, Anne and Declan Conlon have changed the layout several times.

Dermot revamps a Rathfarnham four-bed to suit the changing needs of its occupants Peter, Lisa and their twins Grace and Louise (9) live in a four-bed house in Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. They moved into their detached home just three years ago, shortly afterwards Lisa was diagnosed with MS. Now her needs and those of her family have completely changed.

A young couple with three children seek Dermot's help in revamping their small three bedroomed bungalow in Ballinteer Ailish and Patrick Bates are a young couple running out of space - fast! They live in a small 3 bedroomed bungalow in Ballinteer, Dublin 16. They have a three-year-old and one-year-old twins and are very conscious that their boys are getting bigger by the day!