HoME RESCUE
Have you fallen out of love with your home? Do you struggle to find space, stranded in a sea of clutter? Well, take heart. Home Rescue is on the way!
Let’s face it – as a nation we’re slow to let go. Old furniture and random knick-knacks, unused clothes and unfinished projects – eating up space and burying precious memories under a blanket of clutter. One day, a Spring clean will come, but somehow, it never does. Until now.
Home Rescue: The Big Fix is a heart-warming mix of human stories and home makeover – a whirlwind of decluttering, teamwork and positivity – changing people's lives for the better by redesigning their homes, replacing chaos with order and rediscovering the things that really matter.
The Home Rescue crew is one big family where everyone plays their part and - for designer Dee, builder Peter and their team of fitters, painters, chippies, clutterbusters and house-clearers - every second counts because they have just five days to complete each makeover.
That’s right: five days from first sight to finishing touches!
Each week, we take an existing cluttered home – this could belong to a family, an individual or a group of friends – and we tackle their clutter head on and offer them real resolutions with an entire makeover of two of the worst rooms in their house.
EPISODE LIST
SERIES 7 – THE BIG FIX
Episode One | DUNDALK
In Dundalk, County Louth, Granny Doreen Kelly, her three grandchildren, her daughter Claire and Claire’s unflappable stay-at-home husband Pierce share a bungalow–originally built by Doreen’s husband, former firefighter Pat. Three generations of the one family sharing space in a house that should be big enough for all of them, but just isn’t. Claire, Pierce and the kids moved in with Granny Doreen two years ago when Pat, who has dementia, moved out to a care home. But, despite its size, the house is no longer fit for purpose.
Episode two | kildare
Near to the train station in Kildare town, Gaeilgeoir and primary school teacher Shónagh struggles with the rising tide of clutter at the railway cottage she shares with her four young children. Both Shónagh and her brother Ciarán, who contacted the Home Rescue team on her behalf, are still mourning the loss of their beloved Mum. Over the years, maintaining the cottage has been overwhelming for Shónagh and she struggles to cope with a long list of repairs and unfinished projects brought on by her ADHD. Pete and the build crew have their work cut out as they set about paneling the hallway, moving radiators and cutting into a wall dividing the kitchen and dining room to create the ‘tearoom’ ambience Dee has her heart set on.
Episode three | swords
The last decade has been difficult for Monica, who lost both her husband Dick and her son Richie to cancer in that time. Since the loss of her husband, Monica hasn’t slept in her own bedroom for ten years, instead bedding down on the sofa every night. Over the years, the house has become hopelessly cluttered with charity shop bargains and legacy furniture. Determined to restore Monica’s home as an ‘open house’ for the whole family, designer Dee envisages a u-shaped, ‘diner-style’ kitchen and a complete makeover for the currently unused inaccessible bedroom upstairs.
Episode Four | clare
In the rural heartland of Tulla in County Clare, Josephine and her husband Ger live with their grown-up son Johnny and their daughter Bridget in the house where they raised six kids. But - despite the space freed up since four of the children moved out – the house is less functional as a family home than it ever was. With a huge workload already underway and a bespoke ‘Atelier’ to construct from scratch, Builder Pete and designer Dee have very different priorities. And one highly optimistic carpenter goes off-plan and decides to create a custom shelving unit for the living room.
SERIES 6 – THE BIG FIX
Episode One | Ballybrack
In Ballybrack in south Dublin, Luke and Amy share the house where Luke grew up, with their young kids Summer and Beau James, but what should be their forever home still feels like someone else’s. With a poor layout and limited storage, the house is barely fit for purpose but the real reason things haven’t moved on are bittersweet memories of Luke’s late mother and brother. In what will be Dee’s very first Home Rescue - she sets out to create a properly functioning kitchen, but her ambitious design for the rest of the house creates headaches for Peter and the crew.
Episode Two | Tullamore
Errigal Cottage in the little village of Killeigh near Tullamore County Offaly is home to Ginny, her son Jody and her dad Pearse. Still devastated by the loss of her mother Brighidin, whose presence can still be felt in her favourite room, Ginny still feels like a teenager at Errigal Cottage despite the love and support of her dad. The house is cold and cluttered, the layout is chaotic. In order to give the family the warm and welcoming home they deserve, Dee hatches an ambitious plan to rescue no less than FIVE rooms.
EPISODE THREE | CLONDALKIN
This week the team are in Clondalkin in Dublin, where Lisa and John share a modest three bed terraced home with seven of their nine children. John works five days a week and Lisa has a full-time job as a stay-at-home mum – somehow managing to feed, clothe and organise an army of kids in the most cluttered, least functional home imaginable. Downstairs, the living room and hallway are completely hemmed in, the kitchen is filled with bags of clothes and the layout makes no sense for this busy family. Faced with this monumental challenge Dee is straight in at the deep end - determined to bring the heart of family life back to this home.
Episode four | Kilcullen
This week, childhood sweethearts Alan and Orla Condron share a three bed house in the Kildare town of Kilcullen with their kids Bele and Rhys, Peaches the dog, Bobo the cat, a feisty rabbit called Moo Moo and two birds, Spike and Gerry. The house is filled with the warmth of family life but, due to her heart condition, Orla spends much of the day resting upstairs with the curtains closed. Taking her inspiration from Orla’s favourite painting - an idyllic pastel portrait of a lighthouse – Dee is determined to bring the same clean lines and sense of freedom to the house.
EPISODE FIVE | DUNBOYNE
In the village of Dunboyne in County Meath, Dublin bus scheduler Gavin has shared a house with his mother Sharon since they moved from Enfield when he was a teenager. Sharon is full of life and optimism but - following a bus accident and subsequent health issues, her limited mobility means that Gavin is her right hand man. Determined to provide Sharon, Gavin and grandson Austin with a warm, bright home that’s finally fit for purpose, Designer Dee hatches an ambitious plan to open up the ground floor - revamping Sharon’s extension and knocking the existing kitchen and living room together to dispel the gloom.
EPISODE SIX | CARLOW
In this the last episode of the series, the Home Rescue team travel to Co. Carlow, where for the last six years, Katherine, David and their three kids have been living in a 1960s three bed semi that’s never really been a proper family home for them. Filled with the décor and legacy furniture of the previous owners, the house is stuck in the past with a chaotic living room doubling as a playroom but functioning as neither. As Katherine attempts to separate family treasure from the clutter of the past, the whole team joins forces to renovate the house, future-proofing this family home that time forgot will be no easy task.
SERIES 5 – THE BIG FIX
EPISODE ONE | KILCULLEN
Rose Cottage, just outside Kilcullen in county Kildare, is home to eight-year-old Elanor, her mum, Celine Garvey, three chickens, two cats and Terry the terrapin. Róisín plans to make sense of Rose Cottage by removing an internal wall raising a ceiling to the full height of the roof, creating a secret hatch to the kitchen and installing a roof light. But, like many old houses, the cottage is stubbornly resistant to change.
EPISODE TWO | KILCOCK
In the village of Kilcock on the Royal Canal in north Kildare, Marie and Dan live with their twin sons Max and Cuinn, both of whom are autistic. Serious health problems have put Dan out of work, leaving Marie the sole breadwinner as a part time instructor for young adults with special needs. Architect Róisín hatches a plan to rescue the house by rejigging the layout – swapping the kitchen and sun room but, with a tangled legacy of wires and pipework to relocate, Builder Peter and the crew are faced with a huge challenge.
EPISODE THREE | KILMEAGUE
Siobhan and her three children Ben, Ella and Faye live in a large house in Kilmeague in County Kildare, built by Siobhan’s late husband Vin. It’s been eight years since Vin passed away from leukemia and wife Siobhan has never quite recovered from the grief of losing her beloved husband. Unlike other Home Rescues, Róisín knows that this project is more about reconnection than decluttering and she devises a plan to link three rooms with new doorways, creating new space for the family to dine together.
EPISODE FOUR | WEXFORD
Mary O’Brien lives in the tight knit community of Bridgetown in County Wexford. Perky, welcoming and beloved by her colleagues at Wexford Garda Station, she loves where she lives, but the family home she inherited from her parents is not suited to her needs.
As a little person, Mary’s had to adapt herself to a house that was never designed for her. Tall kitchen units, a deep dark airing cupboard and out-of-reach storage makes the house cluttered and difficult to navigate.
EPISODE FIVE | CARLOW
In Carlow, Ann ‘Sis’ Shannon, her son Matthew and her daughter Kayleigh live together in a house filled with clutter – from multiple appliances, kitchenware and utensils to the raw materials of Sis’s ongoing craft projects. Architect Róisín arrives with a plan to make sense of the chaos and reclaim the space the family has lost, creating storage space outside, redesigning worktops and replacing a kitchen window with patio doors.
EPISODE SIX | TALLAGHT
Since they moved to Tallaght from the Liberties decades ago, Brigid and Chris have raised two sons but never had the time or the resources to make the most of their family home. As their youngest son Adam prepares to move out, the soon to be empty nesters are keen to enjoy a little space, but with three cramped ground floor rooms and a garden shed filled to the rafters, they need help.
Series 4
Episode One | Swords
In this first episode, the Home Rescue team are in Swords, north county Dublin, Róisín, Peter and the clutterbusters come to the home of super-mum and hairdresser Sinead and her 11 year old daughter Jodi. Róisín hatches a plan to rescue the room, bringing light and space back into Sinead’s home
EPISODE TWO | GOREY
Outside Gorey in County Wexford, Róisín, Peter and the crew come to the rescue of local girl Suzi, her husband Warren and their daughters Willow and Ruby.
15 years ago, Suzi and Warren bought their ‘dream family home’, having availed of a Celtic Tiger mortgage. Unfortunately, they lost their jobs in the crash, but even though they’ve since found new work, the current lockdown has them working from home with little time or energy to focus on a rising tide of clutter.
EPISODE THREE | KILTEGAN
Róisín, Peter and the clutterbusters come to the century-old Rose Cottage in the pretty Wicklow village of Kiltegan – home to Dubliner Martin McKenna and a lot quieter than his old home in Crumlin.
Currently sleeping in the living room, working all day as a lorry driver for the council and avoiding the mountain of clutter in case he ‘can’t find his way out again’ Martin dreams of having his grandkids to stay, but there’s barely enough room for himself.
EPISODE FOUR | DROGHEDA
Unlikely housemates 69-year-old Carol and her 21-year-old granddaughter, Sharmyne live together in the home that Carol once shared with her late husband. Over the decades, the kitchen and its adjacent extension have been renovated many times but, as new layers of décor were added and the clutter accumulated, functionality has taken second place.
Determined to rescue the pair from chaos, Róisín unveils a plan to reorganize the kitchen in ‘Venetian’ style – adding new units and stripping back the layers to reveal the history of the house.
Episode Five | Tullamore
In Tullamore county Offaly, Carol Scott lives with her 16-year-old daughter Moira, diagnosed with autism in sixth class. With the unwavering support of her mum, Moira excels in her favourite sports but her training regime, and Carol’s part time job as a public health nurse, leaves no time to tidy or organise their home.
Enter: Róisín with a plan to create an innovative ‘she-shed’ for Moira’s extensive collection of sports gear and turn Carol’s bedroom into a ‘five-star hotel room’.
Episode Six | Booterstown
The Home Rescue team are in Booterstown, Co. Dublin to help 53-year old Mairead tackle her clutter and home design issues.
After Mairead was diagnosed with facial cancer four years, she underwent massive surgery and lost an eye to save her life and now sees in 2D. Despite losing an eye, the irrepressible Mairead recovered, but the trauma of that time put an end to her chances of fixing the place up.
Series 3
EPISODE ONE | BORRIS
For over a decade Ann’s home has been getting more and more cluttered. In 2007, her twin daughters, Becky and Megan, were born prematurely. With all of Ann’s time and energy taken up caring for the girls, the house took a back seat. Downstairs is inundated with a tidal wave of books, magazines and paperwork! Upstairs, Ann’s bedroom is so crowded with clothes, duvets and bed linen that even the sun can’t get in!
EPISODE TWO | AUGHRIM
Derek and Valerie’s semi-d is so full it’s about to burst! Valerie’s clothes have had 14 years to grow and multiply! And husband Derek has reached tipping point!
As a dedicated follower of fashion, Valerie has taken up every spare inch of their home. She loves to shop online and in store and loves a bargain. With so many clothes and so little wardrobe space, Valerie has taken to stuffing her work clothes into the hot press and has taken over the spare room too!
EPISODE THREE | ADARE
Just outside the pretty town of Adare, county Limerick stands the equally picturesque colourful Rainbow Cottage – a tiny, century old estate house shared by former adventurer Mary McKeon, her daughter Leah and their three dogs.
Designer Róisín’s quite elaborate plan to brighten two rooms with just one roof light is the first of many challenges for Builder Peter. But with time ticking away and more issues with painting added to the mix. Will Róisín, Peter and the team change Rainbow Cottage from cramped and cluttered to a crock of gold?
EPISODE FOUR | BRAY
Last year, when Isabel was born with Down syndrome, the house took a back seat. With their space now cluttered, the current layout just isn’t working for this family, with Isabel’s physio needs happening in the middle of the living room floor! The house itself has plenty of space, but lacks function. And right now, what should be big sister Emily’s playroom is so crammed with toys, it’s more of a storeroom, with no space to play.
Caoimhe and Barry need help to sort their clutter and make the house more of a family home with new storage and less stuff!
Episode FIVE, Laois
Meet Dolores. Her family are staging an intervention. Over the last ten years as Dolores’s three children have moved out, she has moved more and more clutter in! The house is now at bursting point with clothes, shoes and paraphernalia for community events.
Róisín’s design challenge in this house, is only one aspect of this Home Rescue. Convincing Dolores to let go of clothes and event props will be a completely different task for the clutter busters to tackle! This dedicated fashionista will have difficult choices to make!
EPISODE SIX, GLASNEVIN
This four-bed semi was where Jim and his wife Ann raised their six kids – a happy home and a busy one. Unfortunately, in 2010, Jim’s wife passed away after a long illness and ever since then he has been turning the house into a man shed!
Jim longs to get back to entertaining in his precious home. But with only three days, can Róisín, Peter and the Home Rescue team transform his home in time for his 70th birthday party?
SERIES 2
Episode One | CORK
At an end of terrace house in the Cork suburb of Ballyphehane, Róisín and Peter face a real challenge as they come to the rescue of Carmel and Konrad – a former Mr. Gay Cork and the sixth of Carmel’s eight sons! Known locally as the Kork Kardashians!
Emptying two rooms filled with wool, craft materials and elaborate drag queen costumes is one thing, but the real challenge for Róisín is designing two multifunctional rooms with extremely limited space.
Episode TWO | DUBLIN 1
Róisín, Peter and the crew come to the rescue of Latvian mum Maria at the small apartment she shares with young sons Armands and Lukas and her mum Gita.
With two year old Lukas and granny Gita in one of two bedrooms and Armands in the other, Maria has relegated herself to a corner of the living room which also houses the dining area and the kitchen. To add to the problem, an adjacent closet is packed to the ceiling with clutter.
Episode THREE | EAST WALL
In Dublin’s East Wall, Róisín, Peter and the crew are about to attempt their biggest home rescue to date. The small terraced house shared by Austin (83) and his flatmate Muhammad (24) is in utter chaos. Abandoned by rogue builders midway through a renovation job, the house is a mess of broken plaster, unfinished walls, building debris and dangerous exposed wiring!
Before Róisín can even make any plans, Peter must assemble a double-sized crew to make the building safe and clear a mountain of rubble. But that’s only half the challenge.
Episode FOUR | BALLYFERMOT
In Ballyfermot in West Dublin, Róisín, Peter and the crew come to the rescue of deli worker, Linda. Her home is so cluttered, she and her two sons can barely get around and she never invites guests in.
With a tiny cramped kitchen, a dining space dominated by two huge sofas and a rear extension room that’s become a dumping ground for clothes and old furniture, there’s no room left for family life.
Episode FIVE | KILDARE
Emily and Dave grew up a few doors from each other on the same street in the Curragh of Kildare. They still live on the same street, but the home they share with their six kids is so filled with clutter, they barely have space to move.
In this house, the chaos begins right inside the front door and Róisín arrives with an ambitious plan to solve the family’s two biggest problems.
Episode SIX | LAYTOWN
In Laytown, County Meath, Róisín and the team come to the rescue of avid upcyclers, Trudie, Dan and their sons Ciarán and Connor. The family’s three bed house is filled with the fruit of Mum and Dad’s labour, leaving everyone struggling for space, surrounded by clutter with a kitchen that’s more like a workshop!
Róisín hatches a plan to redesign the entire kitchen area from moving the direction of the dishwasher to removing Dan’s beloved computer desk – part communications hub, part entertainment system. The real challenge for Róisín however is upstairs where eldest son Ciarán’s bedroom requires something more than a simple declutter.
SERIES 1 (Desperate Houses)
Episode One | Tallaght
Róisín and the Desperate Houses crew spend three days with Annette from Tallaght, helping her rescue two hopelessly cluttered bedrooms. With the help of builder Peter Finn and his crew, Róisín sets out to completely redesign the unruly top floor of the house, creating a luxury hotel style bedroom for Annette and a treatment room to help her reconnect with her skills as a Reiki master.
EPISODE TWO | RAHENY
Róisín and the Desperate Houses crew come to the rescue of Glenda, Maurice and their four kids in Raheny, Co. Dublin. At first, the house seems far from desperate, but it soon becomes clear that this otherwise pristine family home hides rooms so filled with clutter, they’ve become no-go area.
EPISODE THREE | PORTLAOISE
Róisín and the Desperate Houses crew join Wendy (37) Daniel (37) and their two kids Jun-Li (9) and Mae-Li (18 months) at their small two bed house in Portlaoise, Co. Laois. For ‘house’, read ‘storage facility’, because ever since Wendy moved the contents of her former hair salon into the kitchen, there’s no room to move!
Resolving to ‘perform surgery’ on the layout, Róisín hatches an ambitious plan to reclaim the ensuite and turn a two-bed house into a three-bed home.
EPISODE FOUR | CLONMEL
Róisín Murphy and the Desperate Houses crew join Bridget and Jack at their home in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary – a former B&B that’s so crammed with clutter, there’s barely room for the owners, let alone any guests!
Hemmed in by a huge legacy of bulky furniture, linen and crockery from the days of the guesthouse, Bridget and Jack are too busy bickering over the small kitchen table to enjoy their well-deserved retirement.
EPISODE FIVE | LEIXLIP
Róisín Murphy and the Desperate Houses crew join Vivenne, Ger and their five young kids at their mid-terrace 3-bedroom house in Leixlip, County Kildare.
Faced with her most challenging redesign yet, Roisin suggests a roof light in the kitchen to illuminate the dark and dreary living room. With such a small space to design for and with so many functional demands, the new kitchen layout is not solved until the last hours of the makeover.
EPISODE SIX | DONEGAL
Donegal. Vast, unspoiled, largely empty. But not this house. The person who lives here shares her space with a collection of clothes, furniture and bric-a-brac that’s growing by the day because she can’t say no to a bargain. Meet Margaret.
Architect and designer Róisín Murphy along with her team are going to help Margaret declutter the items that she no longer needs and give her the space that she craves – her very own sanctuary in her bedroom and a much-needed sitting room for her and her many visitors to enjoy.