Staying in the Irish countryside in a picturesque 200-year-old cottage sounds pretty dreamy, doesn’t it? We sure think so!
Well, visitors in Mullinahone, Ireland can enjoy that kind of holiday as soon as Jack Shelly finishes renovations on his grandfather’s 200-year-old cottage.
Jack’s grandfather bought the cottage in 1959 when he was 29-years-old.
“So, my father, his parents, and his five brothers and sisters grew up in this two-bedroom house,” Jack said in his video. “With no insulation and singled-glazed windows.”
Jack’s grandfather lived in that house until he passed away in 2010 at the age of 89.
The cottage was left to Jack’s father and from then on, it spent about a decade falling into disrepair.
“Since then it’s being vacant and slowly deteriorating. At the beginning of this year, I decided to bring it back to life,” Jack told Newsflare.
Jack decided to not only update and repair the cottage but also turn it into something new: a business.
With a budget of just under $30,000, he is fixing up the apartment so it could be used as an Airbnb rental.
But there was a good amount of work to be done before the renovation could begin.
“My father and I began clearing it out and getting rid of anything that wasn’t needed. When the clearing out was finished it was time to start with the actual renovation,” Jack said.
That’s when Jack got another brilliant idea.
He started to record his progress on social media.
And there was something about his work that completely intrigued others on TikTok and Instagram.
His videos started going viral and Jack had thousands of people watching the renovation’s progress.
“It was around this time that I started documenting the journey on TikTok and Instagram. This video went viral and I got 45,000 followers in 24 hours. I have been documenting the whole journey in detail since and have really enjoyed interacting with people through these platforms,” Jack explains.
Jack did most of the work himself. You can see him on the video hacking away massive amounts of greenery that grew over the home.
Cutting away pieces of walls, smashing windows and sinks, and jackhammering away at the foundation to break up the concrete.
Jack also went parts of the property with a bulldozer and powerwasher.
There was a ton of stuff to get done.
He had to add new slats to the roof, insulation, windows, electrical, and plumbing.
And he’s still not done but the results so far are absolutely outstanding.
“I was hoping to have it finished by the end of August but now it’s looking more like the end of October. When it is finished I am going to rent it on Airbnb.”
We’re not sure if Jack is finished yet but the outside of the house already looks drastically different than it did.
The exterior went from a dirty white color to a clean grey with a pretty pinkish red door.
Watch the transformation happen in the video below.
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