From Kazakhstan to Killeagh with 'Home of the Year' detour  

Mags Phelan tells Eve Kelliher how she and her husband John transformed East Cork farm buildings into their dream dwelling

Mags and John Phelan's home. 'We essentially sleep and live in animals’ bedrooms,' jokes John.

Deadlines and timetables. Love them or hate them they can focus the mind.

Mags Phelan worked in the airline industry for many years so her life has revolved around them.

Mags and John Phelan. Pictures: RTE

She and her husband John live with their teenage sons in the home they renovated in East Cork.

And the Killeagh property Mags refers to as “their haven” took centre stage on our television screens this week when it featured on RTÉ’s Home of the Year.

The couple came across their dream residence when house hunting online while living in Kazakhstan and went sale agreed without seeing it in person.

It was “a gamble”, says Mags — but one that paid off. They fell in love with the property the moment they touched down at the gate in real-life. The home is a farm building conversion, made up of a barn at one end, cow shed at the other and a stone cottage. They bought the house in 2015 and began renovating.

 “The original farmhouse on the land was knocked,” says Mags. The property comprises 2.5 acres split up into 12 different gardens. “We very much wanted it to be a home, it’s not a museum to anything — and we’re not slaves to it being a showhouse.”

We essentially sleep and live in animals' bedrooms

John jokes: “We essentially sleep and live in animals’ bedrooms.”

When the family moved to Bishopstown native Mags’s home county in 2015, they started the project. Last year, Mags took a year off work to focus on the house. “Being the type of person I am, I couldn’t sit around doing nothing,” she says.

So, she donned her overalls and painted the entire property, inside and out, before scaling a ladder to plaster the kitchen walls.

“And then I said: I’m going to apply for ‘Home of the Year’,” she says. 

There’s nothing like a deadline. There’s no better incentive than having RTÉ come into the house and film the inside of it to put a bomb under you.”

The couple extended the area of the property outside “to ensure that the flow” worked for the design.

They wanted to upgrade the house and interiors to ensure the home was fit for purpose but at the same time respect and maintain the character of the property.

“We’ve built the entire extension around the fact that we owned a baby grand piano so it dictated both the shape and size of the whole room,” says Mags.

“My husband is a musician and most evenings we’re in here enjoying a glass of wine and some music and the view of the gardens beyond.”

The open-plan area with the baby grand is their favourite spot, adds Mags. “It’s fantastic to have been able to come home and slow down and this is the perfect haven to be able to do it in,” she says.

The judges are impressed with the house and scored it 23 — so that it missed out by just one point to the evening’s winner.

It is another renovated property — coincidentally occupied by a family that returned from travels — that went through to the final in the same episode as a period home in County Down is the fifth to go through to the final.

But back to Cork, and architect Amanda Bone feels “there is something magical about” the Killeagh kitchen. Architect Hugh Wallace’s eye is drawn to the dresser in the same room. “Granny Wallace had a dresser like this,” he says.

Sara is taken by the “warm and hearty environment” created by the woodburning stove.

As for John’s quip about the sleeping quarters where four-legged creatures dozed in years gone by? Hugh Wallace sums it up: “We’d all love a bedroom this size.”

The same goes for the berth occupied by the baby grand: “It’s a great spot for a piano,” observes Amanda.

The instrument’s owner is also a great man for a tune or ten. “As well as playing the piano, he sings and plays the guitar and has performed in various bands,” says Mags. “He was the frontman for a very successful band when we were in Kazakhstan!”

The deceptive façade of one part of the property beguiles the trio of judges. “Goodness, It looked like we were coming into a stone cottage but once we’re in here it’s a state-of the-art home cinema and gamer’s paradise,” says interior designer Sara Cosgrove.

Hugh concludes that Mags and John have transformed the old farmyard buildings into “an inspirational home”.

Mags and John and their sons Sam, 18, and Ben 13, say their journey to TV fame started on social media. “I have an Instagram account that I set up two or three years after we bought the house,” says Mags.

“Somebody told me to and I asked, Why? And I was told it was ‘a thing’ — because I’m a real interiors and house renovations fanatic I thought I would have known about it!”

“I was contacted via my account and asked whether I would be interested in applying for ‘Home of the Year’ — there were no promises, you just go through the application like everyone else,” she says.

“At the time we were going through our renovation and were nowhere near ready for it but I said, give me a shout next year, because I love the show.”

But Mags had not yet moved back from Kazakhstan. “And I wasn’t ready with the house yet.”

Kazakhstan is where their journey to Killeagh in East Cork began — and what inspired the title of their Instagram account kazakhstan_to_killeagh. “We bought our home over the internet. Without seeing it,” says Mags.

Mags lived in Dublin for 18 years and in Kazakhstan for nine, and her job in the airline industry took the family to Kazakhstan.

Now working as head of operations for Ok Tool Hire, Mags always had a passion for houses.

“When we were moving to Kazakhstan, we had been living in County Meath and sold up when we were moving. It wasn’t our forever home.

“I love property so I was always keeping an eye on the market,” says Mags.

“House prices were going up and I kind of hated not having an anchor; I’m not a nomadic kind of person, while my husband would happily move from country to country.

“I thought maybe it would be nice to have a bit of a bolthole here. That’s originally what we were looking for.”

• Home of the Year airs on RTÉ One on Tuesdays at 8.30pm and is on RTÉ Player