'Renovating a house is like climbing a mountain in that you need to remain confident that you are going to succeed'

'Renovating a house is like climbing a mountain in that you need to remain confident that you are going to succeed'

Frank remembers buying a house in Dublin and renovating it.

Frank Gaynor

Trinity College Dublin

1977

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Frank Gaynor

Marriage and Family

Life Story

Dublin, Ireland

1970's

In January 1977 we traded our house in Rochfortbridge for a house in Dublin. This proved to be a very advantageous move. The Dublin house was a large, basically sound building, in need of a large dose of hard work which included cleaning, painting, wiring, plumbing and furnishing. We engaged Pat, a qualified electrician, who did both the electrical and plumbing work. My brother Paddy helped us with some woodwork. We tried to do the rest ourselves. From January to June we spent our weekends working on that house, with the four children amusing themselves racing around the house, up and down stairs and playing in the back garden. After Pat lifted flooring boards in all the rooms we were on constant alert for a child coming through a ceiling. We need not have worried; the only feet that came through any ceiling there belonged to either me or Monica. Renovating a house is like climbing a mountain in that you need to remain confident that you are going to succeed. At one stage when the whole house was in a mess I nearly panicked; Monica's calm confidence kept us going. By July the work was completed. That house, which is well located for letting, provided accommodation for our children while they were at university. As it increased in value over the years it became our pension fund, and for a few short weeks in 2006 put us on the then rapidly expanding list of Dublin's millionaires who were asset rich and cash poor. We now look back on 1977 as a very fruitful year of unemployment.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)