Over the past number of weeks, Home of the Year has given us an all-access pass to some of the country's most beautiful homes, revealing daring interior design styles and breathtaking renovations.
It's been a series filled with spectacular homes, but only one can be crowned the winner of Home of the Year 2022.
After whittling 21 entries down to just seven finalists, it was Kate and Shane Byrne in Wicklow who won the judges over.
The couple and their son live in a 150-year-old farmhouse with modern extension. The property has been in Shane's family for decades but when they moved in, in 2018, they knocked through all the smaller rooms and added an extension to create an open plan living space with lots of natural light.
The family love the sense of history in their home and that their son is the 4th generation of Byrne to grow up there and that, in time, it’ll be a place for his own family.
Judge Hugh Wallace said, "Arriving up you knew there was something special and walking through the door I just loved the hall. The scale and size of the kitchen was terrific and that big dining room table was smashing! It was amazing because once you went through that door you could just feel the heartbeat of this spectacular home.
We caught up with Kate Byrne to find out more about the winning home.
What made you decide to go on HOTY?
I've always been into interiors and I decided a couple of years ago to set up an Instagram account (@thefamilyfarmhouse_) for our house. I love a good nose on Instagram of other people's houses so I thought that maybe people would want a nose at ours.
I set it up and one of the lovely girls [from HOTY] messaged me and asked if I wanted to take part in the next series. Myself and my husband had a chat about it and we said we might as well. It's one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that comes up. We're really proud of what we created here. It might not be everyone's favourite but we love it.
What's it like watching your home on TV?
My heart was in my mouth. I know there's always going to be somebody out there who will say 'I'm not keen on that house' but you just want people to be positive about your house.
People's homes are their homes, and they've poured their savings into them and will probably spend their lives paying for them. Everybody loves their house so you just want to get positive feedback. You don't want the whole country saying 'did you see the two eejits from Wicklow on the telly?'.
It's been overwhelmingly positive I'd be the person on the Facebook posts and the Instagram posts looking for the negative, but we've been blown away by how well received it's been.
Tell me about the history of the house.
The house was bought by my husband's grandad nearly 100 years ago. Our little boy Max is the fourth generation to grow up in this house. Every generation that has lived here so far has put their own stamp on it, and when we were doing the renovations we were finding so many types of wallpaper and things like that.
Every generation has put their spin on things and this is our turn. Our hope would be that Max or any other children we hopefully have will do the same. Hopefully in another 100 years there will be the eighth generation of the Byrne family looking back at what we did.
It's not just a house to us, it's part of Shane's family.
How would you describe the style of the house?
The house is a very old and traditional farmhouse. When people drive up to it, we want people to know what it is. We don't want to knock it down and build some big modern new build. We want people to know that it's old and it's got history and it's got character.
When you walk into the hallway, the walls are bumpy and uneven because of old plaster and, I suppose, we could have taken that down but we didn't because it's part of what makes the house what it is. We were lucky because Shane's handed the house to us in a very good state, they really maintained it, but the rooms were small and the windows are low - we wanted it to be more open plan, bright and airy.
How will you be celebrating the win?
We'll have a glass of something but it's a funny one because no one knows we've won yet, you can't plan a party until after the show! At the weekend, we'll have some friends over to celebrate. A lot of work has gone into the house from Shane's parents and my parents so I think it's as much their win as it is ours.
Any advice for anyone thinking of taking part in the show?
Go for it. The production crew and everyone we met that was involved in it were so lovely, they made the process so easy and were so accomodating. It is work because the house has to look like nobody lives in it but I think you just have to go for it.
If you have a house that you're proud of, you should showcase it.
