We stumbled upon this old farmhouse in 2006 on a Sunday drive. Standing on an old patio chair, I could just make out the lake beyond the overgrown garden. A ‘legitimate’ viewing the next day sealed the deal. Regardless of what work was needed to save the house, we fell in love with the view. Then came the ideas. Should we do this? Or should we just give it a lick of paint and save our pennies? Wise words from Sean’s dad encouraged us to take the chance and think outside the box. The renovation was to be the only one and had to last. All sounds great until the builders start and literally leave three walls standing. The day before they started we were advised it would be cheaper to knock everything and start new; but we loved the fat walls, the quirky nooks and crannies, everything that made it an unconventional house. We may have gotten away with knocking it without planning permission; at the time Cavan was regarded as an easy location for building. Trying to use existing window and door openings in the original house to link into the extension proved challenging but created the unusual layout we have today. With the garden cleared, our main focus was to keep the house bright and take advantage of the views over Lough Sillan. The more we cleared, the more we realised how blessed we were with the view. The old stone house in our garden and the islands on the lake all gave lots of dimensions to the view. The lounge at the back took centre stage. We raised it two steps to give a better eye line. We wanted a room to relax in for reading and music with no television. With two contemporary walls of glass and a sloped ceiling, I was conscious of it not looking like a goldfish bowl. I chose eclectic second-hand period pieces of furniture to create a comfortable interior. In theory it shouldn’t work but it does. Now, while I am at this stage, let me briefly mention project managing. I visited the site at the weekends whilst living in Dublin. I arrived one day to find the foundations for the lounge two steps down instead of two steps up. An easy mistake to make when there is not someone on site regularly to keep track. You can save so much money doing this yourself. As with most renovations, actual costs went above our budget and money ran out towards the end. We had a shell with limited internal doors, no kitchen and one bathroom downstairs. Starting in 09 we started to decorate ourselves, room by room, over the years. We tried to do at least one or two projects every year. The economic crash affected us and the kitchen took a lot longer to arrive than initially planned. Faced with a situation not everyone would relish, we had a new found appreciation and excitement any time something new arrived. 90% of the furniture was picked up from second-hand websites like Adverts and Donedeal, markets, skips and charity shops. People passed on lots of unwanted furniture and I always found a home for them. This has ensured every room has a different look and story to tell. In 2019, with most of the house completed, we decided to landscape our gardens and finished our verandah. We were lucky with our builder for the veranda, and this encouraged us to create a bigger project than planned. There will always be projects to be done but for now we are enjoying the peace and calm here.