Having rented for years in Dublin 14, Thomas Cashin and Emily Lawn knew that they liked the area and would like to make a permanent home there. Finding somewhere to buy however, was not going to be an easy task.
Over the course of a year or two, they viewed a huge amount of properties and even put bids in on several of them — but for various reasons, a sale always fell through.
“We were renting different properties in the area for about five years beforehand,” says Thomas. “We saw lots of properties during the hunt and dedicated every Saturday to doing the rounds. We kept meeting the same people over and over again and probably viewed around 50 houses, seriously bidding on around 10 of them. We got used to being outbid — but while it was disheartening, we were conscious of our budget.
“We also saw some absolutely woeful properties with toilets fitted in wardrobes, showers in kitchens, and many which had questionable boundary issues and uncontrolled access to areas into properties.
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“So although we were house hunting for a while, we had many false dawns.”
But, in 2019, their extensive search finally paid off, as they stumbled across the perfect place. And although they didn’t realise straight away, and were preparing themselves once again for disappointment, the three-bedroom former corporation house in Churchtown would soon be their home.
“We didn’t know straight away that this house would be ours, as we had put emotional stock into a few other properties previously, so we’d prepared ourselves to let it go during the bidding,” says Emily. “It was in need of modernising and remodelling for modern life, but what drew us in was the location of the house, along with the aspect and orientation of the back garden which has a magnificent view of the church. We were also attracted by local amenities and access to transport links in the area.
“It had been owner occupied since the 1950s so many of the features were original — including fireplaces, red teal internal doors, galley kitchen with pantry and coal shed at the back. Downstairs had a small hall, front room, a decent sittingroom and the small kitchen. Then upstairs, there were three bedrooms with the toilet in a separate room to the shower and sink. The rear of the house is southeast facing on to a long garden.”
The house was the perfect size and location for the couple, who both work as teachers, but they knew that it would need some work in order to modernise it and put their stamp on it. So, hiring experts for the big jobs, they also got their hands dirty by undertaking all the smaller renovation tasks.
“The footprint of the house is small so we wanted to maximise storage and to come up with clever solutions and enhance usability of the living spaces,” says Thomas. “We knocked the wall to create a kitchen diner in the back and put in new windows and external doors. We had to rewire, install a new kitchen, new flooring and a new wardrobe in the main bedroom.
“And there was lots of wallpaper stripping with layers of history — we stripped every inch of every internal wall in the house and it was epic. Each layer brought us back a decade or two — we even found a copy of the Evening Press from 1962 under the lino in the bedroom and thankfully it was as dry as a bone. Mind you, I took every piece of advice I could get about wallpaper stripping and none of it worked — pure brute force and time were the only things that got the job done.
“We also did lots of painting inside and outside. Basically, we did what we could by ourselves — including painting, sanding, power hosing and the laying of downstairs floors with the invaluable help of skilled friends. I laboured with the carpenters when installing the kitchen and wardrobes and we both worked hard on the front and back gardens — also Emily’s Dad helped us with a few small plumbing jobs.
“Emily decided on the interiors and it was largely her vision — her sister Orla Lawn works as a designer in the UK and we used some of her Spelk product (a bespoke material used for interior surfaces) for the kitchen kickboards. We also glazed the kitchen door ourselves to get natural light into the hall and salvaged a Burmese teak parquet floor from a skip outside Roscommon Hospital and which is now in the sittingroom.”
The refurbishment job took around 10 months in total, but the combination of a global pandemic and the arrival of a new baby (Kitty, now 2½), did cause some delays — but the couple managed to stick within budget.
“Early on in Covid it was crazy for everyone and our builders were pulled to HSE jobs for ‘essential works’ so were greatly restricted in coming to work on our house,” says Emily.
“So, with Covid delays, all the works took about nine months to do. But it certainly focused us on getting the project finished and gave us a general deadline to aim for with certain milestones. We had a guide budget of €40,000 for renovations and we were as strict as we could with it, as we didn’t want to go over what we thought the house would be worth when we finished.”
According to Thomas, the price of the house was under €500,000, and while he has only just put the finishing touches on the job, he says they have gained a lot of knowledge from the experience and would be happy to take on another project in the future.
But, for now they are more than happy where they are and would advise others who have just bought a property or are about to undertake a renovation project to have a plan of action and try to stick to it.
“I only finished painting our cast iron gutters a few weeks ago and it was only then that I finally felt like we’d finished the refurb,” he says. “There was huge relief and a great sense of achievement and our families were buzzing for us. We moved in when the carpets were put down upstairs and I had put up the blinds that week.
“We learned a lot from the experience and we would certainly have our eyes open going into another project like this. I’m sure we will probably need more space in the future as our family grows up or if priorities change, but we have got room to extend so we have some options here.
“Our advice to others undertaking a building project is to be prepared to wait. Also, don’t be afraid to be a stickler about what you want from any of the tradespeople you are paying to do work. And be persistent — prioritise your areas of need relative to your budget and stick to the decisions you make. Also, set up a social media page for yourselves as a pictorial record of all your work.”
The property: A former corporation house with original features and a long back garden in Churchtown, Dublin 14, home to Thomas Cashin and Emily Lawn and their daughter Kitty (2½).
Biggest mistake:
“We tried to review the wiring diagram we had drawn up for the sockets and light switches two weeks after Kitty arrived. So now we would recommend making sure that everything is written down clearly and displayed in and around your build, rather than having the information delivered orally and left in someone’s head.”
Biggest win:
“The light and space we have in the kitchen diner exceeded our expectations. The ease to which we can flow into the garden when family call over is another bonus.”
