An Ambitious Achievement

Project managing the restoration of a Victorian townhouse in Drumcondra, while juggling full-time jobs and organising their wedding, was the ambitious task that Sarah and Francesco took on in order to create their dream home as a newly married couple.

When Sarah, founder of Designknb.com and Francesco, an IT engineer, bought this property in 2017 it was a far cry from the stylish comfortable home it now is. ‘Each room was a bedsit with a mini kitchenette and there were a few shared bathrooms. It was in a complete state of disrepair and not habitable, in fact no one had lived in it for several years,’ explains Sarah. Although the project was slightly daunting, the couple were keen to buy an older property, preferably a redbrick. They could see the potential the house had to offer and liked the location and the pretty street in which the house was situated. ‘It was a big project to take on and project manage, while holding down full-time jobs. We also had planned to get married, so there was a huge amount of planning and decision-making going on. It was very demanding and stressful at times, particularly when nine months into the project we had to find a new contractor. This delayed the whole project, which was only meant to take six months but ended up taking fifteen months.’

Read more in the November issue…