Click through the photo gallery above to see the winning home.
In the search for Ireland's 'Home of the Year', judges Hugh Wallace, Amanda Bone, and Sara Cosgrove have visited 21 exceptional homes, giving viewers a peek into some of the country's most beautiful interiors over the past number of weeks.
It's been a series filled with spectacular homes, ranging from re-imagined semi-detached homes to incredible renovation projects, but only one can be crowned the winner of Home of the Year 2023.
In the end, after whittling the impressive entries down to just seven finalists, it was Rob and Janice McConnell's architectural new build in Co. Antrim that won the judges over.
The couple fell in love with the site first, which is situated on the Antrim coast, with rich woodland and stunning sea views.
They wanted their modern home to fit in with its surroundings and decided to build a single-story home and use as many natural materials as possible.
It was important to the couple that the home was renewable and that they made the most of their location by maximising the relationship between the interior and exterior of the home.
The home has panoramic sea, forest, and mountain views and so they made sure to create a patio area with an overhang so that these areas could be enjoyed all year round.
The couple loves the home that they've created and how it feels rooted in its location.
Speaking with the Irish press over Zoom, the couple said that although they were initially hesitant to put themselves forward for the popular show, they were absolutely thrilled with the result - and with seeing their home on TV.
"I don't know if you saw Amanda Bone's post that day [on Instagram], but her and Hugh Wallace were flying down our hall in an office chair," laughs Janice, "which was hilarious because they're normally quite serious, so to see that was just mad."
"We knew Hugh was going to pick up on the lack of lamps, but that's something we're working on," she notes, insisting that she's nowhere near finished with the home.
"We were delighted with how the house looked; it was absolutely beautiful. We were blown away and it was actually quite emotional seeing our house on TV."
Speaking on the interiors of their breathtaking home, Janice explained that the two wanted to use muted tones and minimalist furniture in order to keep the focus on their incredible surroundings.
"We very much wanted to stick with the natural materials that we had used outside for the interiors as well and follow that through," Janice explains. "Obviously, there are so many windows so furniture is to a minimum.
"There's not many walls to put furniture against in this house," she laughs, "so that makes it feel a bit more minimal but we tried to make it flow with natural materials like wood and concrete floor and stone.
"We brought the stone from the outside in and then we didn't want too many colours. We didn't want too many colours in our house because we didn't want to distract again from the beautiful colours outside."
Rob went on to explain that the couple drew inspiration from their travels, and particularly their time in Australia, in order to plan their home to perfection, with plenty of cost-efficient and eco-friendly design features at play.
"Ultimately, we wanted to set the house up that the living space was south-facing and, obviously, then we get the sun coming up in the morning. One, you get that light all day long, but also then you get solar gain.
"One of the things you'll have sort of picked up on is the sustainability aspect of the home; we've got PEG panels, and we've got heat from a number of new technologies that are sort of driving a lower footprint of a home," he explains.
Complimenting his wife's "great eye" for design, Rob said that building his dream home took blood, sweat, and tears, but that being able to share it on Home of the Year has been "an amazing experience".
Speaking on the win, judge Hugh Wallace said: "What a fantastic series! Working with Sara, Amanda and the whole crew from Shinawil, travelling across Ireland again and meeting so many homeowners passionate about creating beautiful spaces has been fabulous. After visiting two hundred amazing homes over the last nine years of Home of the Year, I'm blown away by this year's seven finalists. They should be so proud of their wonderful homes. Roll on series 10 in 2024!"
Click through the photo gallery above to see the winning home.
