Across the world, people are tweaking their living rooms, painting their bedrooms and generally Marie Kondo-ing their homes. One person who isn't, however, is Dermot Bannon.
You might assume that the celebrated architect has a to-do list as long as his arm, and make no mistake, he does. It's just that he's not doing anything on it.
"I'm embracing it a little bit more now", he told Ray D'Arcy on his show. "The first couple of weeks were tough. I'm kind of used to racing around everywhere and putting the breaks on things, it was a bit like when a train hits something – I kept going forward but the rest of the world wasn't.
"I'm finding time in my life to do things I never did, I'm enjoying cooking, I'm enjoying playing football with the kids, all the time that I would have spent in the car. I'm still working, I'm still getting through what I was getting through before but I'm just not travelling to Waterford three times a week."
Leave it to Ray to ask the question we all want the answer for: is he spending much time in his garden bathtub?
"No! There's no water down there yet, it was on the to-do list. But what's been really liberating is, I have this constant to-do list and the house has been part of that because it's a project and, you know yourself, when you move into a house you get to a certain point and then you say, 'right, this is still to be done'. Nothing can be done, so that's part of the psychological liberation.
"I'm doing nothing! I'm using this as an excuse! I know there's plenty of people out there and they're making sourdough ... I'm not buying into that. I'm using this as a reset button for life."
"If you got me three months ago I would have been making the sourdough bread because that's the kind of person I am", he says. "The really important things in life are the family, the kids, getting to spend time with them. "
With Ray preoccupied with sorting his sockets and wires at home, thanks to the arrival of a socket tower and wire box, Dermot agrees that home tweaks are at the top of most people's lists. "People are sitting looking at them now for hours on end. That's the big problem with our homes, we're now seeing things that we didn't see."
Which makes it the perfect time for the RIAI Simon Open Door initiative to start back up. The partnership between the Simon Communities of Ireland and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland has been running for years, and allows people to book a slot with an architect in exchange for a €95 donation.
With access to some of the best architects in the country, those who donate can get expert advice on a home project, from the very small to the very ambitious.
"Before Covid-19, housing and homelessness was one of the biggest issue on the general election, and it's going to be our biggest issue once Covid-19 goes", Dermot said. "You can imagine what it's like in a hostel."
Architects have donated 900 slots already, and this year consultations will be held over a mix of phone calls and video meetings. Dermot himself has already emailed out drawings to clients and held video consultations, so don't worry: "It can be done."
There's another upside to the initiative pivoting to online, Dermot says, as there are more flexibility with appointments. "Normally, slots were sold out in urban centres first, the likes of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford. But now you can have a consultation with anybody."
Bookings for #RIAIsimon have just gone live. COVID-19 poses serious challenges to people who are homeless, we are delighted to support @SimonCommunity with online Registered Architects consultations. Your €95 donation will fund projects around Ireland https://t.co/fbiieAuwds pic.twitter.com/JOeVxwtlGH
— RIAI (@RIAIOnline) April 14, 2020
The Simon Open Door is actually about people at home and about redesigning your homes and engaging with an architect to do either a small little job like a storage unit at one end of the room, to redesigning half the house.
And if there's a big change in mind, but you're not ready to break ground on them, so to speak, you can hold onto your slot and use it when restrictions lift!
To find out more about the RIAI Simon Open Door initiative, and to hear the rest of Dermot's chat with Ray, click the link above.
