Peter Finn: 'Our house became a home when the kids arrived'

'Home Rescue' builder Peter Finn tells Eve Kelliher about his favourite space and top moments in his new television series

Sun, 16 Apr, 2023 - 09:25

Eve Kelliher

As Peter Finn drew up plans for his own home, he had a dream.

Especially for one particular spot.

“When I built my house, I had this idea for a games room. I had visions of me and the lads playing pool there,” he says.

Then, he met Sharon, now his wife, and along came their three daughters, Miescha, nine, Emma, seven, and Holly six — with Barbie dolls in tow.

“The reality is, our girls have taken over the room completely. It’s now a playroom.”

Does he mourn the chillout boys’ zone that might have been?

“To be honest, seeing the girls playing in there is really cute,” says the Home Rescue: The Big Fix presenter.

“I got a couple of games of pool in — but it’s much more use as the kids’ playroom, really,” he says.

“We do a bit of reading in that room, also. I’m really enjoying it.”

Is it the family’s “red dot” favourite space, to take a cue from RTÉ sibling show Home of the Year?

“Yeah, it would be. It would be the space we come together.

“There’s no television there, we do art with the kids there, and we get to have a bit of fun with them as well,” he says.

Peter built the “forever home” himself, on family land, outside Saggart village, Dublin, where he is from. “I was very lucky — I inherited the land from my mam and dad; they live just below on the same field.

“I’ve cousins, uncles, and aunts all living in the same area. My family, my mother’s family, is rooted there for over 700 years, so they say, in the history books.

“I got planning permission for my house and I had just finished building it when I met Sharon.”

That was 15 years ago and the couple has been married for a decade.

“The house became a home when the kids arrived,” says Peter.

Creating a space that’s perfect for a family and making it more functional gave him particular satisfaction on the current series of Home Rescue. The RTÉ makeover show returned to our screens this Thursday, April 13.

“There was one family we worked with in Clondalkin; nine children and parents living in the one house,” he says.

“A great family, but the house had no sense of function and I feel we did a really good job there.”

Home Rescue: The Big Fix is a series that blends human interest and fast-paced home makeover — so, it’s a whirlwind of decluttering and teamwork.

This series, Peter joins forces with interior designer Dee Coleman.

Formerly based in London, Dublin native Dee succeeds designer and architect Roisin Murphy on the show, as the duo aim to change lives by redesigning rooms, replacing chaos with order.

“We’re doing our usual spread of jobs around the country, visiting homes in Dublin, Meath, Offaly and Kildare — some really diverse jobs as always,” says Peter. “Every job is different. I think we probably achieved some of our best-ever finishes — we did some really high-end joinery on a couple of the projects.

“To turn around such high-end stuff in a short period of time is a challenge and one job, in particular, was one of our toughest to date.”

A carpenter by trade, Peter holds numerous other construction accreditations.

Having learned his trade with a small-house builder, he moved on to a construction management position in Trinity College Dublin.

The call of site and construction adventure encouraged Peter to open his own construction company (he also became a well-known face to TV viewers, thanks to his appearances on Home Rescue, Room To Improve, and Ultimate Hell Week on RTÉ).

While costs of materials aren’t spiralling and supplies are not as difficult to come by as they were in the previous series (“I’d say they’ve settled,” he says), they have not returned to “where we would have hoped”.

“Prices aren’t fluctuating and most products are more readily available than they were 12 or 18 months ago,” says Peter.