Room to Improve

In the ten years since they first met Avril and Andrew Wilson-Rankin have been dreaming of owning their own home. Now they've bought a property in Dun Laoghaire south county Dublin but it's as far from being a home, or even a house, as you could imagine.

Jean Robinson and Daithi Elliffe have bought themselves what they hope will be an ideal family home in a unique location - a listed 19th century former schoolhouse at Kilternan with spectacular views of the Dublin mountains, but all is not as it appears.

Struggling with a tight schedule, a limited budget and the traditionalist taste of his clients, can Dermot balance their love of classic farmhouse design with his own vision of clean urban functionality?

Sally-Ann, her husband Trevor, and their four children live in Sally-Ann's childhood home - a huge, distinctive 1970s architect-designed home outside Mullingar in Westmeath that they've dreamed of rennovating for years.

Since they married two years ago, Paul and Sabina Horgan have become the proud parents of baby Mia and the owners of a property on the North Dublin coast: Lismara - a dilapidated 1940s cottage in Portmarnock in an extremely poor condition.

GP, writer and budding musician Dr Pat Harrold, his wife Marita, a physiotherapist, and their four kids returned to Pat's home town of Nenagh 10 years ago and they have been looking for a place to call home ever since.

Leonard and Caroline live in house once owned by Leonard's grandparents in the south Dublin suburb of Dundrum - a 1960s three-bed semi that hasn't changed at all since the couple bought it two years ago.