DIY back garden project in Co Cork

Musician Áine Duffy recounts how she built her own DIY annexe on her parents’ land for a song. 

To build my little studio, I first went to the Credit Union and got a loan of €12k, then drove to a company that has a seconds factory where I bought the windows. I designed around these, keeping sunlight and privacy in mind.  

     I repurposed an old door my cousin had lying around and made it like the outside of my house; I put a film over the window for privacy. 

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Written by Astrid Madsen

Astrid Madsen is the editor of the SelfBuild magazine. She previously held the same role in an Irish trade publication, before that she worked at the National Standards Authority of Ireland. She graduated with a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University in New York and holds an MBA from the Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles in Madrid. France of origin, she now lives in Portarlington, County Laois, where she's taken on the task of renovating a listed building! Email astrid.madsen@selfbuild.ie

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