Ramona’s home transformed by ‘DIY SOS’ after her husband’s sudden death
Ramona Connolly with her son Oran: 'There's a lot of healing to do'
A KILDARE mother whose husband died suddenly just weeks before Christmas has described the emotional moment when she saw the family home they had been building together transformed by the team.
Baltreacy local Ramona Connolly and her five-year-old son Oran were at the centre of the opening episode of the new series, which returned to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player last Sunday, 4 October. Ramona’s husband Daragh died suddenly in December 2025 after developing sepsis following complications from a hernia.
The couple had been building their ‘forever home’ in Baltreacy, near Naas, and had only recently installed the windows and doors when Daragh became seriously ill, having had no prior health issues.
Ramona recalled how the family had been at the unfinished house on the Saturday before his death, tidying up after another stage of the build.
“We had just gotten the windows and doors in. It was like another step in the building,” she said.
Daragh complained of severe stomach pain and asked to go home. His condition deteriorated rapidly and, after being taken to hospital, he underwent emergency surgery.
He was subsequently moved to intensive care, but the infection developed into sepsis and spread through his organs.
“It was very quick. It was hard to process what was happening,” Ramona said.
The couple had been together since 2006 and married in 2017. Their son Oran was born in March 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“He was an amazing husband, and an amazing dad,” Ramona said.
When Daragh died, the unfinished house was the last thing on Ramona’s mind as she focused on caring for her young son. “I couldn’t even think that far ahead what I was going to do with the house, with the site,” she said. “Oran was a big priority.” The family’s involvement with came about without Ramona’s knowledge.
Her family had submitted an application to the show on her behalf. Ramona said she did not know anything about it until after Christmas, when the production team wanted to visit the site and meet her.
“I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think it was real,” she said.
The team subsequently took on the project, completing the house in just over a week.
Ramona and Oran left the site on Tuesday 19 January, while work was carried out, and returned the following Thursday, 28 January, to see the finished home.
“It was amazing to see that they had come to help,” she said of the large team of tradespeople and volunteers who worked on the house.
Among those who volunteered were friends of Daragh and people who had known him, alongside tradespeople and members of the wider community.
The completed home contains a number of personal touches designed to reflect the family’s life together.
One particularly poignant addition is an artwork based on a recording of Daragh’s voice saying “I love you”, displayed outside Ramona and Daragh’s bedroom.
“We see that when we get up every morning,” Ramona said.
Oran was also given a Lego-themed bedroom, while the garden was transformed with a fire pit and a treehouse.
The house itself was designed to be open, airy and full of light – a setting that was constructed intentionally to be a safe, sanctuary for the grieving family.
Ramona said the finished home went far beyond anything she and Daragh had originally envisaged.
“What they delivered was ten times more than what we could have ever done,” she said. “They just took little things that I said and they just elevated them so much.”
Asked what she thought Daragh would have made of the finished house, Ramona said: “He would have loved it.” She said the barbecue area, in particular, would have suited him, recalling how he had imagined spending weekends surrounded by family and friends. “He would have loved it. This would have just been his haven.”
The finished house has also given Ramona and Oran a sense of security as they continue to come to terms with their loss.
“It has definitely given us a safe place to try and come to terms with what we’ve been through,” she said.
The new four-part series of sees Baz Ashmawy and his team take on projects in Kildare, Limerick, Bray and Offaly.
Designers Kerry Hiddleston, Gwen Kenny and Jenny Butler lead the various projects, while specialist garden teams also transform the outdoor spaces. At the heart of the programme is the contribution of local volunteers, tradespeople, suppliers and communities who come together to transform each family’s home.
For Ramona, the newly-completed house is about much more than the physical transformation from bricks and mortar to the finished product. “It’s just about enjoying the house and just getting through this loss that myself and Oran have had,” she said. “There’s a lot of healing to do.”
Despite the sadness attached to the home, she believes Daragh would have been happy that his family have a safe and beautiful home to call their own.
