When the SOS went out, EZ Living Interiors stepped up with community spirit to help a family challenged by disability have the home they need and deserve.

High viz vests and hard hats to the ready: Baz Ashmawy is back on RTÉ One with a new series of DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland. 

Bringing us one hour on Sunday nights from 6.30pm, it’s filled with hard work, generosity and determination to change the lives of a deserving family, and you’ll need tissues as it’s a tear-jerker but (spoiler alert) like the best stories it has a happy ending with bonus interior design. 

Marshalling crews of builders, designers and volunteers, Baz retrieves his role this season as chief motivator, getting everyone working together to transform the home of wheelchair user, nine year old Cayden from Tallaght, Co. Dublin.

Cayden suffers from arthrogryposis, a condition affecting the muscles of his hands and feet, and scoliosis which has required him to undergo 50 surgeries to date, with more anticipated as he progresses through his teens. 

Although Cayden’s occupational therapist recommended his home be adapted to accommodate his needs, the cost was prohibitive, leaving him and his devoted family; mam Sinead, dad Ron and 15 year old brother Ethan struggling with the limitations of a typical family home. Hall and doorways were too narrow for a wheelchair to fit through, and no accessible downstairs toilet necessitated carrying Cayden up and downstairs, something that would become increasingly challenging for the family as he grew.  

Nine days was all the volunteers had to make the necessary changes in what actually amounted to a near-rebuild. 

“They go at it like a Dublin demolition disco,” says Baz on day one when the building crew starts to rip out the interior. What follows are long days of intensive work while the family waits it out at a friend’s caravan in Wexford. 

On their return, it’s total astonishment from Sinead and Ron seeing their transformed kitchen, a light-filled hub with streamlined cabinetry and plenty of turning room for Cayden. 

“All I said was if Cayden had a bedroom and a bathroom downstairs, I’d be the happiest person in the world,” says Sinead as she sweeps her hand over the Malone extending dining table, its pedestal legs making it as suitable for a wheelchair to fit to as it is for the Albany dining chairs which supplement banquette seating overlook the new courtyard. 

This furniture, along with many more pieces have been donated by EZ Living Interiors, and prove that with a discerning eye furniture for an adapted home doesn’t have to be clinical or institutional, nor does it have to be anything less than beautiful for a devoted, resilient and deserving family. 

“I can’t get the smile of my face, I just can’t get it off,” says dad Ron as he and Sinead enter their bedroom now enlarged to include what had been the box room. 

“This is like a very fancy hotel,” says Sinead, her eyes scanning built-in wardrobes, and a cosily bedecked bed, but it’s the additions that make it home: a soft neutral colour palette to which they can add their own personality later. 

Cayden’s ground floor bedroom is high tech, “a gamer’s dream,” according to Baz, with a voice activated sliding door and an en-suite wet room. 

Big brother and Liverpool FC fan Ethan gets a suitably themed bedroom, complete with desk and the Donovan office chair. But it’s the living room with its inky blue colour scheme that is cocooning and inviting for the family to relax together. 

The Scott three-seater sofa is accessorised with cushions and throws for maximum style and comfort, with the contrasting Copenhagen arm chair in beige. The Duarte gold and glass coffee table duo sit together, with the bronze Sami storage table, Abstract on Linen wall art and Quinn round mirror all tying the look together. 

If there’s a challenge to essentially rebuilding a family home for wheelchair accessibility, while making it work for the family as a whole, it has been met thanks to the work of many and not just skilled trades but neighbours, friends and retail. 

“The way the world is now with so many terrible things going on, I think it’s really important to witness good people doing great things for others,” says Baz. Showing kindness and empathy feels more important than ever, and really that’s the whole essence of this series.”