Larger homes, and a lot of family history
Many of the family homes around Carrickmines, Cabinteely and Foxrock are big houses on generous plots, lived in by one family for decades. When a parent dies, the house is full of more than furniture. There are the dining room pieces that came from grandparents, the pictures everyone grew up with, wardrobes of good clothes, a study full of papers, and an attic and garage that haven't been fully emptied in a generation.
Clearing a home like that can't be rushed, and it shouldn't be. Our job is to help the family do it carefully, in their own time, without the heavy lifting. Our main bereavement house clearance page explains how we work; this page is about the larger homes in this corner of Dublin 18.
The furniture relatives may want
In bigger houses, the first question is usually who wants what. Brothers and sisters, grandchildren setting up their first homes, cousins who remember a particular chair. We make sure that's settled before anything leaves.
- A walk round with the family, or photos of each room if people are far away.
- Tags or stickers on everything someone wants, with a shared list on WhatsApp.
- Tagged pieces moved to one room, so they're safe from the clearance.
- Time to collect, with the pieces kept aside until each person has what they want.
Once that's done, we clear the rest. If a piece is going to a relative close by, we can often drop it over on the day of the clearance, so mention it when you send photos. And if, in the end, only a few large pieces need to go, furniture removal may be all you need.
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Good pieces: value first, clear after
Some homes here hold antiques, art, silver or collections that are worth more than they look. We're not valuers, and we'd never guess at what something is worth. If you think anything might have value, have an auction house or a valuer see it first, and check with the solicitor whether the estate needs it recorded. We clear around those pieces and come back for them, if needed, once the family has decided.
Our page on what happens to a loved one's belongings explains how everything is sorted into keep, family, donate, recycle and dispose.
Working at the family's pace
There's no right speed for this. Some families want it done in one go so the house can be sold; others need several visits over a few months. A gentle pattern that suits a lot of larger homes:
- First visit. The attic, the garage and anything clearly unwanted, while the family is still deciding about the main rooms.
- Family time. Everyone goes through the house and tags what they want.
- Second visit. The main rooms cleared, around the tagged furniture.
- Final visit. Collection of anything held back, and a last check of every room.
We check every drawer, wardrobe and coat pocket as we go. Papers, photographs, jewellery and anything personal are collected together and given to the family.
Clearing a parent's home in Dublin 18? Send photos when you feel ready, or ask a relative to. We'll suggest how to stage it and give you a fixed price, with no pressure at all.
Clothes, books and the everyday things
The furniture gets the attention, but most of the work in a family home is in the everyday things: wardrobes of clothes, shelves of books, kitchen presses, linen, ornaments and the contents of a study. Families often find these the hardest to let go of, because they're the most personal.
We handle them with the same care as everything else. Clothes and linen in good condition are bagged for reuse where possible, books go into crates rather than bin bags, and we keep an eye out for anything tucked inside. Cards, photographs and money turn up in books and pockets more often than people expect. If you'd like a few of your parent's books or clothes kept, set them aside or tell us, and they'll go with the family pieces.
Attics, garages and garden rooms
Larger houses usually mean more storage, and more of it out of sight. The attic often holds boxes from every stage of family life, the garage has tools and old furniture, and the garden may have a shed or a garden room. We clear those too, as part of the same job or as a separate visit. See attic clearance in Carrickmines, garage clear-outs in Carrickmines and shed clearance in Carrickmines.
Reuse, recycling and a tidy house
Furniture and household things that someone else can use are kept for reuse wherever we can, white goods and metal are recycled, and whatever is left goes to a licensed facility. As an authorised waste carrier (NWCPO-25-13287-01), fully insured on every job, we make sure nothing from the house is ever dumped. The house is left with its floors swept or vacuumed, ready for the estate agent or for the family.
For the area's houses more generally, see our Carrickmines house clear-out and Foxrock house clearance pages, and our bereavement clearance guide for the steps executors usually take.
