April saw RTÉ’s ‘The Great House Revival’ arrive in Laois as the eyes of the nation were fixed on Stradbally.
Stradbally will be the focus of prime time television on Sunday evening in the latest episode of a popular RTE show.
The Great House Revival is onto series 3 and the second episode will be focused solely around a house in Laois.
In 2016, Maryrose Simpson’s grandmother Angela passed away and she left her home on Main Street in Stradbally to her granddaughter.
The three bedroom corner house is where their family have lived for five generations.
Maryrose’s father David died when she was twelve and she treasured every detail of his family home.
So rather than knock the house down, Maryrose was determined to renovate it and speaking to LaoisToday, she explained how she ended up doing the works on television.
Maryrose said: “A lot of people think I applied for the show but that actually isn’t what happened.
“Setting out on this journey three years ago, I decided to just start, and like anything I do, take a million pictures.
“I created a secret Instagram account that I used to capture and document how I felt clearing out the house, saying goodbye and sharing small memories before I tracked an entire digger through it.
“This was a secret Instagram account which was never meant to be anything and only just for me.
“It somehow caught the attention of researchers at a Irish production company. They reached out and loved the story of the house and I agreed for us to come together.”
The Great House Revival is fronted by architect Hugh Wallace and he met with Maryrose in late 2019 to discuss plans.
Maryrose said: “We started in the height of Covid in early 2020 so there was a lot of stop-starting.
“This time last year, construction was closed so we were waiting for that to come back.
“I moved in at the end of January this year and the final reveal was in February.
“My builder Colm Walsh, who comes from Ballyroan, I want to give a huge shout out to him.
“He is the most amazing man that I ever met – nothing phased him and he couldn’t do enough for me.
“Every single person that he brought in on the project was unbelievable – so tidy and their level of work was unreal.
“I’d also like to give a shout out to Hugh Wallace who was amazing throughout the whole thing – exactly like you see on TV.
“He was a great confidant and couldn’t help me enough – a great person to lean on whenever I needed him.”
Maryrose has a big social media presence with almost 300,000 followers on TikTok.
She works for the multinational online company Shopify and is delighted that she can continue her work from her incredible renovated new home.
Maryrose said: “I’m very fortunate to work for a company that has allowed me to work from home for the last four years.
“Living in rural Ireland comes with its challenges but I’m so fortunate to work for a global entity that allows me to work from home.
“I get to live locally but I am connected globally to the whole world which I think is phenomenal.”
The latest episode of The Great House Revival airs at 9.30pm on Sunday on RTE One. Maryrose is both nervous and excited to see it.
She said: “I am nervous but I am very excited to get to watch the last two and a half years in an hour.
“I just hope I can do Stradbally proud!”
