Room to Improve 2026

[JaneJeffer]

RTÉ 1 at 9:30

Let the gigantic window installation commence!

I am reluctant even to use those loos on trains with the automatically locking doors! Yes, I would be haunted by imagining myself trapped in my own pantry. (Which was a very sparse, Instagrammable pantry -- ours is a useful but far less pretty food store, with unglamorous ranks of canned tomatoes and bags of flour and chickpeas, proudly fronted by a giant vat of Nutella. No winsome bunches of flowers.)

I was amused by Norita and Dermot getting on one another's nerves. If it was a romcom (bossy architect and demanding client with her own ideas clash and fall in love), they'd have kissed at the garden, just after she said she wished she'd been there alone.

Yes, @deeahgwitch -- you could get a perfectly nice-looking kitchen for a fraction of that cost. An IKEA carcass and some nice handles.

I was amused that the camera clearly avoided focusing at all on the 'work in progress' garden in the final 'reveal' visit.

Who stands inside their front door looking at the view for more than a few seconds anyway? I’m sure the GLS lads will appreciate it.

To me the kitchen looked like cheap timber that had been painted with dark varnish not expensive oak.

I’d watch that romcom @FranklyAnd

I'm open to a writing partner.

But I definitely want Claire, the straight-shooting Donegal QS as the love rival. Sort of like 'His Girl Friday', but with hard hats and retrofitting grants.

Who ends up together? The two women maybe. I wonder if there’s any Room to Improve fanfics on AO3? 🤔

There's a thought. I'm afraid to look, since I discovered there was House of Commons fanfic that featured David Cameron and Ed Miliband making eyes at one another...

Maybe there's a mash-up involving Dermot Bannon, Baz Thingie from DIY SOS, George Clarke and your man from Grand Designs. Possibly Phil Spencer.

Ooh this looks like a good one!

Let the woman have her telly Dermot

You can see why they cast these two.

In fact, this season, they clearly went for ‘Women who get on Dermot’s tits’.😀

Nicest one so far.

My favourite by a mile. I thought it had a bit of a cute 1970s vibe still which I loved and I would nearly go for a green kitchen after seeing that.

How do this young couple have so much money? They bought the house for 350 I think? And spent 300 on it. Fair play to them - I wish I'd been as switched on at their age.

I loved the green kitchen.. bit crazy about it being at the front of the house. I loved the big window in the master bedroom but I would have made it doors that open. It's a lovely big site and I imagine it would look amazing in year to come when more planting is done.

One pet peeve I have is bathrooms that don't have windows. I didn't like the little toilet and sink that got squeezed in off the hallway. I have three children myself and I would rather have three bedrooms and a lovely big downstairs bathroom than four bedrooms and a tiny toilet.

Meant to say not crazy about it being at the front of the house.

I didn't like the colour of the render on the house, or the front door or the kitchen!! But aside from the colours I loved the design and especially what he did with the attic space.
I am so nosy I'd love to know how they funded it. They said they bought their first house (which was lovely!) 3 years ago so they were 24/25 when they bought it! And had been renting in Dublin before that! And they didn't seem to have a solid budget for the renovation project at all. I wonder did they win the lotto!!
That 3d space was amazing, I struggle to visualise what a design will be like just from looking at plans so I would find that really helpful. I wonder how much it costs, I'm sure there was a lot of work to set it up.

The 3D thing totally confused me!

I liked the long window at the end of the hall. I thought not this again when he mentioned it first but it was nicer than the ones where there’s living space at the end.

I had a friend whose wife is from France . They live in Dublin and were considering an extension. She told her husband that a school mother she was friendly with had an architect husband and she might ask him a few questions. Of course , it was Bannon who apparently was very nice friendly and gave a few suggestions. Her husband was mortified when he realised who she has been referring to .
Luckily they did not end up with a car showroom like extension either.

The finished house was beautiful great design. Lots of windows though and very overlooked on all sides so will need to get some shrubbery planted ASAP to get some privacy.

Found her hard work at first she seemed more focused on what people would think rather than what her preferences were, glad she got more confident as the process evolved. I was with Dermot on the TV I'm a no screens in the bedroom person, to me it's a space of calm and relaxation.

On the budget, they said they both had been working full-time for 10 years so must have had a lot of time to save and probably made a bit of equity on first home to put towards 2nd. Me and DH bought our first home when we were 24, sold with a good wedge of equity but then lost the good start on our 2nd home as a result of '08 crash.

It was very very overlooked. Straight into that big bedroom window !
I would hate patio doors in my bedroom I think - I’m a scaredy cat ! Though I suppose shutters would work well for security.
I thought that circly thing in the garden looked silly.
What a budget for ones so young.
Her parents’ kitchen was fab.
She came across as the boss.
She described her HR job as
Hire. Fire. And Perspire. 😀

Anyone watch last night's episode? I really enjoyed it, I was worried that the husband would make a total balls of the work but fair play to him (and his brother) he seemed to have done a brilliant job and definitely saved them money. I can't imagine how tired he was when it was finished!

I thought the design was good but having an older teenage son myself I doubt that boy's bedroom (certainly not his bed anyway) will still work for him in 5 years time. I thought they might have been better to do an attic conversion, put a master suite up there for the parents and give the two children bigger bedrooms on the first floor. I know they have an A rated house now but surely a B would be almost as good and they could have used the money to get more space to grow into. I loved the flooring and the kitchen and I absolutely loved her style! So many fabulous jumpsuits! She wore a gorgeous mustard coloured cardigan at one stage if anyone knows where it's from please spill!

I can't believe the series is over already! It seems to have only just started. Such a shame as it's one of the few things I actually watch on TV.

It turned out lovely even though I loved the lived in before kitchen which looked so cosy. Did they throw out the dresser?

I thought the back of the house was lovely because I feared another glass box was incoming.

That bed was very small but maybe it was just staged for the programme and they whacked a bigger one in there the minute Dermot went round the corner.

The floor tiles in that house he showed them were a nightmarish optical illusion. I would have to hold onto the furniture to navigate them.

Her mother must have breathed a sigh of relief when they could move out again!

She was very stylish and had a great figure.

One thing I hate though is a sink facing a wall with presses over it.

I hope next year they go to more counties because except for last week it was all Dublin.

The house was stunning. They were a lovely family

Yes, I liked Jumpsuit Head Teacher woman (maybe not so keen on her BAM! and POW! necklaces?) and her cool mother, though my favourite moments were (1) when Dermot screwed up with the positioning of the heatpump and admitted it (2) when Dermot was shown their dull moodboards and his face fell and (3) when Jumpsuit woman's cool mother called his kitchen suggestion 'obvious'. The entire series was worth it for just (3).

Also, slightly fascinating to see exactly how you make terrazzo flooring, though it still reminds me a bit of my primary school corridors.

Yes to more counties, @JaneJeffer, though presumably the production company partly chooses them for convenience for DB and their crew?

And yes, if you're weeping over the washing up, you at least need a view!

DS2 was watching with me and we both thought the show house looked like our old schools! He was feeling sorry for the builder having to work with people he wasn’t used to but they did a great job. I loved the kitchen lights.