Custom house
Behind a traditional terrace, an architect and interior designer have made a home that manages to perfectly balance minimalist sensibilities with warm details, says Marie Kelly.
Tucked in behind the traditional façades of a primarily Victorian neighbourhood in Dublin 6 sits a very modern mews. At first glance, the unassuming 300-square-metre structure appears as a single dwelling, but behind the uniform glass and Iroko exterior lie two separate 150-square-metre homes. The terrace was originally designed and built as three individual homes by Paul Kelly of FKL Architects and Dermot Boyd of Boyd Cody Architects in the late 1990s, and was occupied by 13 people in total – three couples, seven children and two dogs – until two years ago, when Dermot sold his home in the middle to Paul and to his other neighbour (and brother) Shane Boyd, who each took 50-square-metres.
Paul bought the mews plot, which originally housed a commercial shed, at auction in 1999. “I just happened to drive by the plot one afternoon and saw that it was up for sale,” explains Paul. “I showed up to the auction the following day and won the bid.” The original vision was to create three urban homes that were economical to build and aesthetically consistent. Almost 20 years on, the houses remain a perfect example of compact city living, with efficiency of scale, materials and space. As well as the single façade, the two homes share a small outside space to the front and each has a landscaped four-metre-deep courtyard to the rear. It’s communal living, of sorts.
Paul and his wife Deirdre Whelen, interior designer and associate at Scott Tallon Walker, live in the first house, with their 13-year-old daughter Anna May and their miniature pincher Moon. Although each house was identical in its original open-ended tubular design, each owner commissioned their own internal fixtures and fittings. Paul and Deirdre (who you may recognise as a judge on RTÉ’s Home of the Year) opted for a pared-back palette of white walls and a solid oak floor as the canvas for their carefully curated collection of artwork and furniture.
A 1.2-square-metre Patrick Scott artist’s proof welcomes visitors in the entrance hall, which leads to a study and two modestly sized bedrooms, as well as a family bathroom with glazed mosaic tiles. It was after the couple acquired the extra 50 square metres that they added the new master bedroom on the ground floor with en suite, as well as an extra living room upstairs. “We didn’t want to replicate the feel of the rest of the house in these two rooms,” explains Paul. “We decided to lay carpet in both and create warmer, more intimate spaces.”
Upstairs, the oak veneered panel-walled living room connects to the original, generously sized open-plan kitchen and dining space. Although the new living room is north facing, Paul designed a small 90cm square rooflight with mirror to reflect sunlight into the room. The larger space is dual aspect, but also benefits from a substantial rooflight to make the most of any available sun. “You can tell when it’s noon by the way the shadows fall on the wall,” remarks Paul. It tells a very different story to the parlour-style living spaces typical of the surrounding redbrick houses. A three-and-a-half- metre-long stainless steel-topped island is the hub around which the family work, rest and play, and acts as a natural divider between the TV area and dining space, which are at opposite ends of the room. The couple had their white, streamlined kitchen and central island custom made for their heights by Period Design. The ergonomic space creates a harmonious flow to the upstairs, which, although contemporary, is neither cold nor austere. Indeed, the pared-back structure of the house and its minimalist fittings showcase beautifully the couple’s inherent understanding of how to “dress” a space. Carefully selected pieces of furniture and well-considered artworks look chic and sophisticated, and might appear somewhat serious if not for the peppering of family photos and colourful drawings courtesy of Anna May.
Deirdre, whose projects include The Marker Hotel and the original Residence, tells me that hanging artwork too high on a wall is a common mistake made by clients. Much of the couple’s collection, which includes prints by Felim Egan, Sean Scully and Fergus Martin, is displayed above low-level cabinets custom-made by joiner Shane Healy, which run the length of the room’s back wall, while an oversized Richard Gorman canvas provides a graphic punctuation behind the sofa.
The dining area is simply furnished with a white extendable BoConcept table and Gio Ponti chairs that Deirdre imported from Italy through O’Hagan Design. At the other end of the room, a charcoal BoConcept sofa and a Persian rug frame the TV area along with a marble-topped coffee table bought by Deirdre in Denmark.
In the carpeted living room, the couple has created a cosy, conversational space without compromising their spartan approach to interior décor. A Le Corbusier chaise longue and grey BoConcept sofa flatter a Dik Geurts stove, which sits off-centre on a marble plinth made by a stonemason in Drogheda. A vibrant Mark Francis canvas and a line-up of colourful cushions bring texture, pattern and personality to the room.
Despite its urban location, this house has a strong connection to the outdoors. Downstairs, both bedrooms plus the family bathroom and en suite have floor-to-ceiling glass doors that lead directly onto the rear courtyard.
Every window in the upstairs frames a tree outside. They’re like natural canvases that feel as integral to the character of the space as the collection of artworks acquired by the couple, and they demonstrate beautifully Paul’s sensitivity to the location he was designing within. This is a modest and unassuming, friendly and welcoming house, just like its owners.
Originally published in IMAGE Interiors & Living, Jan/Feb 2019