{"id":103961,"date":"2025-10-05T11:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T11:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103961\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T11:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T11:45:11","slug":"see-inside-harrison-gardners-family-home-in-co-clare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103961\/","title":{"rendered":"See inside Harrison Gardner’s family home in Co Clare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harrison Gardner is interested in solutions, not problems.<\/p>\n

His is a practical response to the housing crisis \u2014 unsurprising for a man who built his own home and now teaches others to do likewise.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t think you could take on a self-build job? How about this for a pep talk from the eco-builder extraordinaire: \u201cFor a lot of people, whether they feel useless or not, they\u2019re running out of options.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We can sit all day and talk about it; there are people out there who are finding solutions, and they are not conventional.<\/p>\n

Seizing the keys to our own front doors should be \u201cachievable, not aspirational\u201d, he believes. \u201cStart gathering skills,\u201d is Harrison\u2019s advice. \u201cMoney isn\u2019t the only commodity when it comes to building a house. Gather a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HarrisonHarrison Gardiner at his kitchen table, where he originally started his Build School. Picture: Shantanu Starick<\/p>\n

“What skills could you learn that could really help you? Don\u2019t be scared of not being amazing at it, don\u2019t be scared of getting it wrong at the beginning \u2014 that\u2019s all part of the process. We need to take more agency and control of more elements in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our conversation takes place during a week that the master builder, broadcaster and author\u2019s second TV series Build Your Own Home starts airing on RT\u00c9 One. In it, he works with everyday people taking on the challenge of creating \u201cthe homes they need with the budgets they\u2019ve got\u201d, as Harrison describes it.<\/p>\n

In this season\u2019s first episode, on Wednesday, viewers watched newly married homeowners Aoife NicChraith and Louis Brennan save over \u20ac200,000 by building their own home in Tuam, Co Galway, with Harrison\u2019s guidance, in comparison to quotes from contractors\/builders.<\/p>\n

\"HarrisonHarrison Gardner with homeowners Aoife NicChraith and Louis Brennan and their daughter Caoime on RT\u00c9’s Build Your Own Home.\"Before:Before: The exterior of the house in Tuam, Co Galway, on RT\u00c9’s Build Your Own Home.<\/p>\n

They essentially attached a brand-new three-bedroom residence to an existing 200-year-old house to cater to their growing family.\u00a0Aoife is a practising corporate lawyer, and while Louis had done some labouring before, he had no construction experience of a project on this scale. Harrison adds, \u201cI\u2019m a builder, so to me, building my own house isn\u2019t so impressive. My parents built their own house, and for me, that was what I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his mother and father relocated to Australia from South Africa, they set about crafting their own home just north of Sydney. It was still under construction as Harrison and his parents moved in. \u201cMy only toys growing up were tools and building materials,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"After:After: The house in Tuam, Co Galway, on RT\u00c9’s Build Your Own Home.<\/p>\n

Since tipping away at his childhood home, Harrison has notched over 15 years of experience designing and building conventional, sustainable and alternative dwellings all around the world and in recent years co-founded Common Knowledge ( Ourcommonknowledge.org<\/a>), a non-profit social enterprise in Co Clare, to help people develop the skills and confidence to live more sustainably. \u201cWe teach everything from home building and DIY to growing food, making furniture, and mending clothes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Harrison had worked for sustainable building company Earthship Biotecture for several years as an international foreman, teaching what he describes as \u201ca very niche off-grid type of building\u201d. \u201cWhat I realised was that of the hundreds of students coming through, none of them had picked up a tool before, and they were just excited to do that,\u201d says Harrison.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe house that Harrison and Erin built. Picture: Shantanu Starick<\/p>\n

He met his wife, Erin McClure, a textile and graphic designer from Co Clare, in Dublin at the Fumbally Caf\u00e9. \u201cI had been on the road for 10 years, and my friend told me about Ireland. Ireland wasn\u2019t on my radar \u2014 and now we both live here and we both have Irish wives,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harrison and Erin bought, revamped and sold a property together, which proved to be a bonding experience. \u201cErin had been living in London for years and had grown up in East Clare. We went halves on a small townhouse in Ennistymon. We tore it apart and rebuilt it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It really was a crash course in each other,\u201d says Harrison.<\/p>\n

They then fell in love with an old cottage near Ennistymon, in west Clare, that they have renovated to become their dream home. Fortunately, they discovered their aesthetic styles \u201cweave well together\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe comfortable living space in Harrison Gardiner’s Co Clare home. Picture: Shantanu Starick<\/p>\n

Harrison adored learning to work with stone. \u201cI came to Ireland for the stone ruins. Our property is an old stone ruin that I\u2019m very proud to have contributed to, along with the builders from hundreds of years ago,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His and Erin\u2019s children, Inari, five, and Isla, two, will grow up as confident around construction as he did, adds their dad: \u201cWe have two more little minds in the mix \u2014 with very strong opinions!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n It gives me great peace knowing my daughters will never worry about housing because they can build when they need to.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

“Other kids feel freedom when they can paint their bedroom another colour, whereas they will say, \u2018That wall should get\u00a0 knocked down!\u2019 The way their minds work just feels bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe light-filled bathroom at the home Harrison Gardiner shares with his wife and two daughters. Picture: Shantanu Starick<\/p>\n

And Harrison would like them to live in an Ireland where we all feel a sense of agency and community: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have a culture that encourages people to give it a go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Like I said, people are running out of options. I just really believe in people, and I believe in our ability to learn these skills, rather than waiting for someone to do it for us, or worse, waiting for someone to sell it to us. We are more than just consumers. We\u2019ve lost confidence in ourselves. If you\u2019re sitting in the pub and someone says they want to build their own house, encourage them, don\u2019t laugh at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA bedroom at Erin and Harrison’s home in West Clare. Picture: Shantanu Starick<\/p>\n

West Clare\u2019s community as well as its drystone walls, inspire his work.<\/p>\n

When he and Erin were expecting their elder daughter, they were also renovating the then-derelict cottage. Knocks arrived at their door. \u201cAll of these people were contacting me about their own projects,\u201d says Harrison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so Build School was also born that year. \u201cWe had a brand-new baby, and we had six people come to that first Build School. We sat around my breakfast table, talked about everything, and we went out and did it.\u201d<\/p>\n