Meet the Kerry 'Home of the Year' stars who built their dream coastal property

Ahead of her family's appearance on their favourite TV series this week, Toni Walsh tells Eve Kelliher what she loves about their residence

Sun, 08 Mar, 2026 - 23:45

Eve Kelliher

Kerry couple Toni and Fionán Walsh and their son Noah, five, love tuning into Home of the Year every spring.

But this year it’s going to be more exciting than ever because the Glenbeigh haven they built from scratch will feature on episode two of the RTÉ One series. “We’re so nervous — it’s a big deal, isn’t it?” says Toni.

“I’ve been living in Ireland for seven years now, and from the first year that I moved here, I watched ‘Home of the Year’ with my husband. I’ve always loved the show, the judges and the diversity of the houses.”

Welcoming the three judges, the late Hugh Wallace and his fellow architect Amanda Bone and interior designer Siobhán Lam, “was an absolute honour and pleasure”, according to Toni. “They really do see the beauty in all things, big and small, and spend time in the home to encounter the experience of the family.

"We feel incredibly privileged that we were able to be a small part of Hugh’s journey. I even left a banana bread on the side during the judging (for decor), and I received a note from production that he loved and finished every crumb! I’ve now renamed the recipe as ‘Hugh’s Banana Bread’. What a joy he brought to us all.”

The much-missed architect and TV personality’s signature exuberance was on the same frequency as their Kerry haven. Toni and Fionán named it Hakuna Matata — Swahili for “no worries”, says South African-born Toni: “My son would be singing that song all the time, and I said, ‘Do you know what, that’s the perfect name for our house’. “We’ve kind of merged some African themes in with the Irish coastal theme.”

Their property is, she adds, a dream come true. The couple devoted huge amounts of time and effort into its creation and, adds Toni, it now acts as a wellbeing hub for their loved ones — including her parents, Patricia and Gabriel Bryson. “The build is an open-plan, free-flowing home, featuring a warm and contemporary aesthetic with design details inspired by our travels and time spent working together,” she says.

RTÉ Home of the Year: Inside the 'joyful, playful' first property through to the final

“It is absolutely everything we love, and we feel extremely blessed to wake up in it every day.”

Toni and Fionán have recently started a homestead where they get eggs from their chickens and honey from their bees. “We love that we’ve made it such a wonderful and sustainable place for our son to grow up in,” adds Toni.

Originally from Johannesburg and raised in Essex and London, Toni describes herself as a seafarer, which is apt, given that her Kerry home has a coastal setting and vibe.

For several years, glamorous superyachts served as both workplace and living quarters for Toni and Fionán. “I met my husband on international waters,” she says.

A decade ago, she boarded a luxury vessel about to set sail from Singapore: “I was employed as a scuba diving instructor and deckhand.” Fionán, a marine engineer, was on the same crew. “When I joined the boat, I went down to the mess, and he was the second engineer,” she says.

Seven years later, Toni and Fionán had swapped the South China Sea and the Singapore Strait for the Atlantic Ocean and Castlemaine Bay, as they exchanged wedding vows in Fionán’s native Cromane, Co Kerry, in August 2019. “We got married in Jack’s Coastguard Restaurant, and it was wonderful,” says Toni.

At the time, the couple were living in Cromane and planning their forever home, a few miles away in the seaside town of Glenbeigh.

They built it in 2023, next door to Toni’s parents, who had relocated to Kerry to live close to them. “I’ve been designing a house since uni — I don’t know why, I just loved the thought of designing homes — and I’m very interested in architecture,” says Toni. “My husband and I sat down with a pen and paper and looked at our Cromane house and the beach.

"We knew the things we loved from the yachts and knew the things we didn’t like. And we had a baby and two dogs (Mara and Maui), and were taking my health into consideration.

“We built the house from scratch, next to my mum and dad’s home. We got a builder, James Sweeney, and an architect, Tony McGrath (TMG Designs), who did a fantastic job.”

Both Toni and Fionán are creative. “My husband is such a hard worker; he and my father did all the carpentry work and the craftsmanship, and they worked tirelessly,” says Toni.

Their decision to disembark from their superyacht careers was in part due to Toni’s health. “God brought us here. It’s part of our story,” says Toni. “We had been really progressing in our careers when I was diagnosed with stage four cancer.

“My health has definitely affected my whole life — I’ve never taken a good, healthy day for granted.”

The Walsh homestead is next door to Toni's parents.

Rewinding to her early years, Toni emigrated to England from South Africa with her parents at the age of eight. “I was ill at the time and needed to be treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children,” she says. “I had to have a kidney transplant. I had a very rare condition, and there was one doctor, really, who could help me out.”

Toni underwent the life-saving surgery with Patricia as the organ donor. “I got my mother’s kidney so I’ve been well for 17 years,” she says.

But Toni and Fionán had been dating barely two years when she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. “I was taken into hospital, and was there when he proposed — he thought I wouldn’t make it, but I made it!” she says.

“My husband is so supportive, and he’s always trying to look after my family’s health after what we’ve been through. When I was in hospital for the chemo, I was hospitalised for six months. I felt so out of control of things, so now I don’t take anything for granted.”

Outdoor living is important to the family, who included a built-in barbecue space.

Well-being was their priority when designing their home, says Toni, who is fortunately now in remission from cancer. “The way we even built and designed the house had my health in mind,” she says. “Our home is a place of healing — and it’s also a productive place. I get so excited we’ve got such a beautiful home.

“I work from home a bit, and we’re trying to be self-sufficient; everything is at home. We’ve got the chickens, the bees — everything’s accessible for me!”

Light is also what strikes anyone who enters the house. “That was a priority — for the light to flood in to give the feeling of space,” says Toni, who has a degree in marine and natural history photography.

A bright spot in the community is the beachside business Toni established when she arrived in Kerry, The Boathouse Café in Cromane. “When Fin and I were dating, and were looking out from the yachts, we’d say to one another, ‘What are we going to do after?’

“We bought The Boathouse a few months before I was diagnosed. I’d never even made a fancy coffee in my life — but I had experience in marketing and branding. And all these ideas came flooding into my mind. The Boathouse Café is so special.”

The weather “can be a challenge” in all aspects of the Irish lifestyle, Toni has adopted, she agrees. “But that was part of our design plan — adapting the house to the Irish weather,” says Toni.

They have also maximised space. “It’s not necessarily a big house, but we make sure our son has room to run around!” she says. “All of our windows look out to the sea, and so it feels like we can connect to the outdoors. We can see the sea from upstairs, and there are views of Dooks Mountain and the bog.”

Toni’s day job also inspires her — she is head of marketing at Boyles hardware store in nearby Killorglin. “It’s great, because I get so many ideas,” she says. “I come into work and come out with a bag of shopping!”

They also stuck to a budget while building and decorating: “Everything is within our means; we had to DIY everything.”

Amanda Bone, Hugh Wallace and Siobhán Lam. Picture: RTÉ

What did they do while the judges were checking out their living space? “We went to Mum and Dad’s, and obviously we were next door and had to take the dogs, but I was thinking, ‘I hope the chickens are behaving!” she says.

Homeowners in this week's episode of Home of the Year, series 12, episode 2, above left, Esther and Robyn, below left, Toni and Fionán and Noah; and right, Kate and Ross and their family.

The storey-and-a-half layout means the Walshes have a guest bedroom upstairs. “As a family, we live downstairs and treat our home as a bungalow house,” says Toni. “I like to put my guests upstairs, where they get the views and the privacy.

“Our home is not perfect — we have the pawprints to prove it — but we adore it.”