The Perfect Project

When Geri and Cathal came across a derelict cottage in Limerick they knew they’d found their future home.

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Sitting on a beautiful acre and a half site, an old, derelict cottage was the perfect project for interior designer Geri O’Toole and her husband Cathal who owns a construction company. They purchased the site nine years ago but it was four years later before they finally moved in along with their son Finley and their dog Baxter. ‘It was the site and its location that really sold this property. It’s ideally located for us, close to work and other amenities and we weren’t put off by the extensive renovations that lay ahead,’ explains Geri.

The couple avoided the need for planning approval by working within the footprint of the existing building and rather than engage the services of an architect they put their heads together to extend and renovate the property.

As Geri explains, ‘Cathal has loads of building experience and I have worked on the interior schemes of so many houses that we know what can be achieved and how to get the best use of the available space, so it just made sense to keep costs down and do it ourselves. As well as knocking out all of the internal walls that were dividing the cottage up into a series of small, pokey rooms we also needed to convert it from a single storey and add an upstairs extension.’

As well as creating a large, welcoming open-plan space downstairs, Geri and Cathal added two bedrooms, one with an ensuite, and a large family bathroom upstairs, all of which are accessed by a staircase centrally positioned to accommodate an existing chimney stack.