Waterford two-bed with sunny garden and converted garage brought back to life in glorious Technicolor

Irish Independent

25-04-2025

Asking price: €189,000
Agent: Brian Gleeson Property, (058) 44200
Caitriona Kiely has been a fan of Escape to the Chateau since it first aired in 2016. In fact, the Channel Four reality TV show, which follows an English couple as they restore a grandiose 19th-century French chateau, inspired Kiely and her husband James Murray to try their hand at restoring a house themselves.
'I was a little bit obsessed with Escape to the Chateau,' says Kiely, a retired hairdresser from Kilmacthomas in Co Waterford. 'I followed the programme religiously for years and I loved what they did. While I wouldn't like to buy a chateau myself, you could say, No4 Shanbally Terrace is my chateau.'
The two-bedroom terraced house, built in the 1980s, was far from a castle when they first visited. 'It was in a dire state,' she recalls. 'There had been an elderly gentleman living there. It had all the signs of a bachelor living on his own, and had been lying vacant for a couple of years after he passed away.'
It was, however, a well-structured, solid concrete home, and they could see its potential. 'There was a really happy vibe when we first walked in,' she adds. 'We just decided to go for it.'
They bought the house in January 2019 and got to work immediately, doing much of it themselves. 'You couldn't get in through the front door because the front garden was so overgrown,' explains Kiely. 'The first thing we did was to clear a pathway. Then we gutted the inside of the house, leaving just the walls.
'There was a lot of pulling and dragging,' she says. 'We went through about 20 skip bags at the time, as well as a few lorry loads of rubbish.'
The floors throughout were replaced, the walls and the roof of the house were insulated and a new plumbing system installed. Most of the work was completed by June 2019, when they moved in.
Entering through the front door, there's a hallway with a sitting room on one side, which now has pale pink walls and pink and black rose-­patterned wallpaper on the chimney breast.
There's also a door from the hall leading to the kitchen. Here, a door to the scullery was done away with to make a wrap-around room. New units in cream and blue, and a mock wooden floor have been installed, and prints hung on the walls.
Kiley and her husband, who comes from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, run a company which fabricates quartz for residential buildings in Youghal.
They have, as a result, used quartz both in the kitchen and in the upstairs bathroom. 'Those big slabs of quartz in the bathroom had to be carried up the stairs and cut up there,' she recalls. 'When I think about it, I don't even know how we managed it.'
The dining room, off the kitchen, has an unusual green and cream colour scheme. Here, Kiely sprayed the built-in cupboards forest green, and a green and black patterned carpet was added underfoot.
From the kitchen, there's a door leading to the back of the house, which has a series of patios on different levels. There's a covered-in area with a table and chair, and some colourful paintings on the wall. It faces a red wooden door, which leads to a shed that is used as a laundry room.
There are steps leading to an area which houses a bicycle, and these lead to a converted garage, which has been insulated and wired for electricity.
It has, until recently, housed a sauna and steam room. 'It would be an ideal space for a home gym and an office, or it could even be a bedroom. It's like a little granny flat,' says Kiely.
Kiely has two sons from a previous marriage, Charlie (28), who works for Coolmore Stud and lives in Australia, and Lee (30), a professional event horse rider who is based in Florida. They stay in the spare room – an airy double room upstairs – when they're home.
The other bedroom, which is the master, has built-in wardrobes, an en suite bathroom, and gold-themed decor.
'Nearly everything in it came from thrift shops,' says Kiely. 'I did a lot of thrifting during the pandemic. I'd visit vintage shops with my mother and we'd rummage for anything I could use in the house, like vintage mirrors or artwork.
'I often bring things home and my husband says, 'What are you doing with that? And I say to him, you'll see! Then I fix it up or spray it. I love bringing things back to life.'
She has also brought the south-facing front of the house back to life. Here, there's decking underfoot, a gazebo and a glasshouse, which has been wired for electricity and has fairy lights that come on at night.
The house is located in Cappoquin, a village with schools, sports clubs, shops and restaurants. 'It's really a beautiful part of the country,' says Kiely. 'It's on the Blackwater River, and there are lots of water-based activities like rowing and fishing locally. You've also got the Glenshelane woods and the Knockmealdown Mountains, nearby, and we're just 15 minutes drive from the Greenway.'
The house is a 20-minute drive from Youghal and Clonmel, while Lismore can be reached in five minutes by car. 'You're kind of in the middle of everything here, and there's a great sense of community. People here are very friendly and helpful.'
While they've enjoyed living there, she and her husband are selling No 4 as they plan to buy a cottage in Youghal, closer to their workplace.
'It will be our next project, and we're looking forward to starting it,' she says. 'We've enjoyed the challenge of bringing this house back to life. It's a sunny home with a happy atmosphere, but it's time to pass it on to the next owner now.'
Brian Gleeson Auctioneers is seeking offers in the region of €189,000.