A Donegal woman and her mother are enjoying two beautiful spacious rooms after design experts brought order to their interior chaos on RTE’s ‘Desperate Houses’.
Last night’s episode saw a design team and friends working hard to clear out the home of Margaret Reilly from Kilcar. A frightening turn of events led to Margaret’s mum being taken to hospital during the filming of the show, but thankfully it was all okay in the end.
Margaret is a mother of two adult children and a full-time carer for her mum Bernadette (93) who has severe arthritis in her spine. Any hours of respite that she gets are spent volunteering in the local charity shop, which is where her hoarding habit all began.
Bernadette Doogan and Margaret Reilly in their new living room
Margaret’s many charity shop finds were stored throughout her home, leaving little room for herself and Bernadette to entertain friends. She was the proud owner of 70 handbags, and there were clothes coming out of the pores in the walls!
The clutter was so extreme that architect and designer Róisín Murphy travelled to Donegal to help her break the buying cycle and rescue two rooms.
Before photos of Margaret’s Living Room
Margaret’s New Living Room – Image via RTE
The revamp was not all smooth-sailing however, as Bernadette took ill on the very first day of the project. Margaret’s mum had been staying at the Community Care Centre in Killybegs for the redesign, but the events took a worrying turn when the call came that Bernadette was taken to Letterkenny Hospital by ambulance.
The programme has been filmed shortly after Kilcar won the Donegal Senior Football Championship, proving the locals are made of strong stuff, and Margaret was one such determined person.
The project continued on, and Margaret successfully sorted through her clutter with the help of 5 close friends.
“Becase she does so much for everybody else she deserves something done for her,” said her friend, also called Margaret.
The new living room
Precious items were preserved, including a Donegal badge from 1992 and a tie belonging to Margaret’s late father. New storage furniture ensured items were put on display and the team added a quirky design to suit the eclectic contents of the home.