Home building 'stressful but worth it'

“It’s been stressful, but worth it in the end,” said Noreen.

“I lived round the corner,” she explained. “I used to walk my wee dog here and saw the potential in the site.”

“The house was a shell when we bought it,” she continued. “It was a blank canvas.

“The architect and builder had plans for the house but we wanted it different. We took some of the walls out and left doors off to let more light in and make the house more open plan.

“We were meant to have a garage but I turned it into my studio. In the master bedroom there was meant to be an en suite and dressing room but instead we kept the room open and went for a platform with a copper bath on it at the end of the bed.”

“We wanted to make a house for entertaining and also have somewhere where we could relax,” added her husband.

“We went for stone flooring to give a Spanish/Mediterranean look,” said Jean-Paul, who used to live in Barcelona.

Their jobs mean they do a fair bit of travelling and as such they’re able to pick up decor from all over the world for their home. Their accessories from different cultures blend together perfectly in their Aghalee home.

“There’s things we’ve picked up in Spain, India, Shanghai, Pakistan, Indonesia and Jamaica,” said Noreen.

“The water feature in front of the house is from South Africa,” Jean-Paul pointed out.

“I carried a piece of driftwood from Murlough for the dining room and the kitchen is a prototype from Nottingham.”

Noreen is a painter and has an upcoming exhibition in the Village Centre in Hillsborough. She has used her artist’s touch to revamp a lot of old furniture in the house and they’ve also picked up a good few items from Wilson’s in Dromore

Explaining how she got involved in the BBC NI programme Noreen said: “My mum saw it two days before the closing date. She thought what we’d done to the house was something completely different. It’s all down to her that we ended up on the programme.”

John Paul and Noreen met in Bangkok and Jean-Paul pretended he liked fishing so he could use it as an excuse to come to Ireland.

“I don’t like fishing,” he said. “It’s boring. I only said I did so I could come to Ireland to see Noreen because I fancied her.

“I fell in love with Noreen and with Ireland,” he continued. “The people here have a very similar sense of humour to the Dutch. And the countryside is beautiful.”

Originally from Amsterdam, Jean-Paul played for the same Ajax team as Frank Rikjaard which was managed by Johan Cruyff. The striker also went on the play for Malaga, Middlesborough, Chelsea and Fort Lauderdale.

Noreen’s dad, Henry Orr, also made a name for himself as a footballer, playing for Peterborough and Sheffield United as well as Portadown and Distillery in the 1960s.