RTE star Dermot Bannon has revealed a basic design flaw that causes worry in Irish homes.
Since the start of March 2020, people have been spending more time in their homes which now function as their offices, schools, gyms and more.
Celebrity architect Dermot explained that the priority for homeowners has moved from aesthetically pleasing to practicalty.
Speaking on Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show on Tuesday, he said: "People often were like, “I love my home”, but I think it was very much an aesthetic thing and people were getting the house to look a certain way.
"The people who were most house-proud were the ones sticking it up on Instagram, taking pictures.
"I think we’ve gone a little bit beyond that now because people are frustrated with how the house works and they don’t really care if the cushions are this year’s coral or not.
‘You need a gut and that’s the thing that’s missing in a lot of houses."
Dermot went into more detail on the 'gut' of a home, he added: "You know when people knock down all the walls to make their houses lovely and open plan and there’s loads of space? And then they realise — “where do I put the clothes horse?”
"Now all the stuff that is lying around your house, you’re looking at it. It’s like every bit of life’s disappointments is staring back up at you — the treadmill that was never used, the skis. That’s what’s causing a huge amount of mental anxiety.’
"Years ago, everybody had a good dining room and that was brilliant for putting all the boxes. It was great to have loads of rooms in your house that were unused because you could throw everything into it."
People want their homes to be more functional now.
Dermot added: "As soon as we started knocking down all the walls, all the stuff is looking back at us. That’s causing most of the mental anxiety because it’s chaos.
"When you go into your office, it’s clean enough. It’s only work stuff. Whereas at home if there’s work stuff, school stuff, clothes drying stuff — all of that stuff of life is staring you back in the face.
"So if you’ve got a stressful job, and then you’re looking at a stressful house it’s not good for you. That’s the gut, somewhere to put all the stuff of life so wherever you’re sitting and relaxing, you’re not looking at that."
