We set deadlines for our house moves. See what happened

Setting a move-in date for a special occasion can be hit or miss. Sinead McDonagh and Aoife Tobin share their experiences

Sun, 11 Feb, 2024 - 17:50

Carol O’Callaghan

It is said that one of the most stressful things we can do is move house. It’s right up there with the death of a loved one or divorce, and when you factor in wanting to be moved into your new house for a special date or event, the pressure is really on with success, it seems, being in the lap of the gods.

Sinead McDonagh, global head of homeware design, Penneys/Primark. Picture: Moya Nolan

Sinead McDonagh, global head of design for Primark homewares and lifestyle, aimed to be in her new home with her husband, Corkonian David Coleman, and their two young children by Christmas 2023, after selling up their previous home 14 months earlier.

“We sold a smaller 2.5-bedroom house in August 2022, in Monkstown, Co Dublin, a beautiful location, but too small for a growing family,”

After viewing-filled weekends and eventually an arduous bidding war, they closed on a house in Dalkey, getting the keys last November. The race was then on to remedy the outdated cold 1967 build in time for the festive season.

Pulling up carpets, sanding floorboards, improving heating and lighting and stripping wallpaper were among them, which is no mean feat with just weeks to Christmas and little room for error as Sinead found out.

“I made a rookie mistake of getting jobs done in the incorrect order,” she says. “I had all the painting and decorating done and new skirting boards put in looking beautiful, before being told by the electrician he had to drill the perfect, painted walls and uproot the new skirting to chase the walls for the wall lights. This cost me extra cash to get the painter back in to skim walls and repaint after lights were fitted.”

It was a lesson learned and from it, Sinead has wise words for anyone following in her footsteps.

“It sounds simple but start by writing down a list of everything that needs to be done in the house, before you move in.

"There’ll be lots of other bigger jobs that can wait. Place in order what task should be done when — electrics and plumbing first, painting and carpets last. Always allow a few weeks or months’ buffer depending on how big your job is.

"There are always problems and delays. We thought we’d be in four weeks earlier.”

For Aoife Toibin, interior architect at interior design studio Style So Simple, there was no happy ending when she had an ambition to move into what she thought was a new home for her to share with her husband Barry and their pet pug last Christmas.

“We’ve been living in Belfast for two years and found a period home near a street we love and a park where we take the dog. We felt lucky up to it going wrong.”

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Thanks to Barry’s foresight, they had opted for an in-depth survey and it revealed more problems than they could have anticipated, among them rising damp.

“We were expecting something to be wrong as it was a period property but not this much,” she says. “Annoying, but we dodged a bullet.”

Although she had the kitchen designed and the house was in sufficiently good shape for moving in with what she describes as needing just a clean, a lick of paint and sanding back features, she’s sanguine about the experience.

“It might not have been our forever home. Barry is from Limerick and works in Dublin and I’m from Kerry, so now we’re looking in Limerick as my work is all over the country. I’m so glad we went for the full report. It was £600 but it was the best money spent.

“I’d say to anyone, be ready for the unexpected. Wait for the report before contacting tradespeople. I totally understand the pressure to get in. It’s important to see yourself in the space, so it’s a little crushing to tell someone not to do it. and you do get invested in it. Next time I won’t be telling anyone until I have the keys in my hand.”