Restore, reuse, recycle
A partly demolished listed building in South Dublin has been sensitively renovated and exquisitely curated to create a calm and restful family home on the edge of the city, says Marie Kelly.
Restoring a dilapidated 18th-century listed building in a vibrant village in South Dublin brought with it a “huge responsibility”, explains owner Grainne Flynn, who with her husband, respectfully and painstakingly brought a 173 sq m terraced house back to life for the couple, their 11-year-old son and goldendoodle Nell. Situated within a stone’s throw of her son’s school and with a 35 metre south-facing back garden, it had the makings of an idyllic family home if they were willing to take on the enormous challenge of renovating a protected structure that was partly demolished.
A graphic designer and photographer by profession, Flynn had renovated properties before, but not on this scale. “The house dates back to 1782 and it was so broken, more than I realised when we bought it,” she explains. “It was structurally unsound and needed an enormous amount of work.” Flynn had a firm vision in mind for the property, which involved retaining as much of the original building as possible, so it was important to her that she worked with professionals who supported her in this. She chose Dublin practice DUA architects who, she says, did a superb job putting the bones of the house back together.
The first step was having the original bricks cleaned and reused. “An architect from Dublin Civic Trust told me they would have been handmade in the gardens from locally imported clay.” She was also keen to make the existing footprint of the house work rather than extend, and within it, create a bright and warm home that functioned for the way her family lived. From there, natural materials, freestanding furniture and a pared-back colour palette would help to create an interior that felt faithful to the house’s origins but appropriate for contemporary living.
Reclaiming, reusing and restoring were integral to every aspect of the design strategy, partly to avoid waste and partly because it would deliver the authentic lived-in look Flynn was after. All of the original Kilkenny marble fireplaces were stripped of years of paint and meticulously restored. Old schoolhouse radiators were reclaimed from Wilsons Yard in Dromore in Northern Ireland, while the original bannisters were slowly stripped by Flynn’s husband “and became even more beautiful”, she says.
Natural materials, freestanding furniture and a pared-back colour palette helped to create an interior that felt faithful to the house’s origins but appropriate for contemporary living.
The original lime plaster walls throughout the house were painted in Farrow & Ball’s Skimming Stone for a textured, earthy backdrop and the original wooden floors were saved where possible. “We matched the rest with reclaimed boards from Wilsons Yard,” Flynn says. All of the windows had to be replaced – there was no opportunity for restoration as the original six-over-six sash windows had been taken out by the previous owner – and because the building was listed, Flynn worked with MacLyn Conservation Joinery in Dublin, whom she says were wonderful, again respecting, understanding and translating her vision. “The house’s listed status never scared me, in fact I loved the fact that it ensured that this beautiful building would be protected. There is the caveat of greater expense, though.”
With the fundamentals of the house in place, Flynn focused on fixtures and fittings. The kitchen is from UK-based company deVOL. “I’d always had an idea that I’d like to work with them,” she says. “I visited the showroom and then everything after that was done remotely because Covid hit in the midst of the project. The kitchen was delivered and our architects helpfully arranged for a company from Galway to fit it.” All of deVOL’s cabinetry is made to a traditional Georgian spec, Flynn explains, and she chose marble countertops from The Stone Gallery in Dublin to finish the look. The island is a French antique shop counter she sourced from UK antiques dealer Andy Thornton and the old coin drawer has proved a convenient place to keep their house keys.
Although the couple loves to cook, Flynn admits she chose a French Lacanche cooker primarily because it looks beautiful. The black colourway mirrors the weathered black wood of the kitchen island and brings a punctuation to the otherwise muted palette. Taps and other hardware were chosen in unlacquered brass because it burnishes beautifully over time. Flynn wanted that same naturally weathered appearance on finishes as well as on furniture. The black wall lights on either side of the cooker are from Rose Uniacke in London and provide useful task lighting, while the pendant lights from reproduction antique lighting company Jamb London make the most of the room’s generous Georgian proportions.
A collection of stoneware provides an understated display in the kitchen and includes a small urn Flynn found in the garden when they first bought the house. Like many of the decorative pieces throughout the home, the bulbous vase which sits on the side table was found on their travels in India. The table was sourced from East London pop-up shop Considered Things.
Morocco is another of the couple’s favourite destinations and the living room rug was brought home from a holiday there. Flynn wanted to keep the walls clutter-free to maintain a quiet and calm atmosphere so an oversized wreath from Dublin design studio Elements of Action wrapped in foliage from creative floral design studio The Garden is the only ornamentation in this space. A luxurious vintage leather Danish sofa from Kilkenny antiques store Joy Thorpe has a tactility that brings a warmth and intimacy to the room, while a brass lamp found in India reinvented with a shade from London interiors store Matilda Goad is perfectly placed by the sash window to catch the sunlight.
Flynn’s homage to the original building continues upstairs in the master bedroom where the restored fireplace frames the original exposed brick. Within it sits an old dairy pot from Flynn’s family home in Donegal and above it two pictures from the now closed Printmakers Gallery on Dublin’s Drury Street. Both of the old pine wardrobes were thrifted from Adverts.ie and cost just €500, while the console was found in an antiques shop in Drumsna in Co Sligo.
In the generous en-suite, the wall cabinet, which was once the top half of an old Georgian dresser, provides storage and acts as decoration, while the café curtains made from Irish linen from The Cloth Shop in London allow for privacy without blocking out light. Flynn found the slipper-back chair in a market outside London and had the back reupholstered by Mia’s Upholstery in Dolphin’s Barn but left the beaten-up bottom half as it was, complete with exposed horsehair. Flynn’s love of period design allows her to see the beauty in even the most battered of objects.
In her son’s room, an old railway clock, thrifted milking stool and wooden school chair bring character and nostalgic charm to the space, which is furnished with a trundle bed from Finnish Design Shop. Flynn also put one in the guest room. “It extends out into a super king-size bed when we need extra accommodation, but otherwise the room isn’t swamped by furniture,” she says. Day-to-day, it can function as an office or playroom or any number of useful spaces. An old farmhouse chair from a secondhand shop in Sligo and vintage picture of the Madonna and Child are the only other elements in the room.
Though it took Flynn two full years of researching online and visiting thrift stores, antiques fairs and boutique interiors stores to curate this exquisite family home, she reveals that the house developed its own voice as it came back into its own. “This house knows what it is. If I put something into it now and it’s wrong, the house will reject it.”
This article was originally published in The Sunday Times Ireland, February 2025