One of a kind in the heart of a vibrant west Cork town

Rose Martin is impressed by this eccentric house in Skibbereen.

NUMBER 87, Upper Bridge Street is not an off-the-shelf production, despite being one of six in a row, it’s a one-off original.

And that’s thanks to vendor, Helen Collins, whose treasure trove of art and furniture gives this house its personality.

She managed to raise a family of three here on this little street close to the heart of Skibbereen.

There’s a very laid back feel to the house.

No 87 is not a minimalist palace, despite the Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier pieces. It shows its provenance — which is a late-eighties overhaul — the height of the Laura-Ashley-stripped-pine era.

This house, however, has less of the swags and more of the Japanese in its attention to design detail. A wealth of different features are included in a space of 1,500 square feet.

The most surprising has to be the sauna, tucked neatly behind a landing doorway and a bathroom, which manages to have a full bath in a tight space by being sunk to floor level.

The main living room is approached almost immediately from the street, save for an internal hallway, which also has a cloakroom fitted into its small square.

The seating area is around an antique fireplace at one end of the room and this overlooks the garden. At the other side is an ordinary pine table, jazzed up with Arne Jacobson chairs.

This is the key to the look here, era mixed with era and bits with bits in a freeform style that’s very liberating.

Despite the modest terrace appearance at the front, (with a handy side doorway), a large extension has been added to the rear, as part of a terrace-wide renovation completed in the late 80s.

This two-storey leg houses a simple, galley kitchen, a modern breakfast suite with modern classic chairs and a line of old pine shelves heavy with a family dinner service.

This conjunction of the modern with the vernacular really works and just goes to show that themes aren’t everything.

Furniture is individually sourced and put together to one person’s taste — the dictates of a glossy magazine don’t apply here — it’s a continual improvisation, a work in progress.

If she were to stay, Helen Collins says the back patio would be covered with glass to make the most of the aspect and to offer more space to the kitchen.

As it stands, the house comes with three bedrooms in the overhead space, but that’s too bland a description for these colourful, personality-filled spaces.

One of the rooms has access to the south-west sunroom which in turn opens on to the high end of the steep rear garden.

The master bedroom has an exquisite range of units in sycamore by local craftsman, Ian Camfield.

“He asked me what I wanted in terms of design and I said I was looking for something like a well-cut suit — with no whirly-gigs at all. He came up with the design and said, ‘is that well-cut enough for you’. It’s fabulous, I’m really pleased with the way it worked out.”

It’s hard to imagine that the tree some gardeners regard as a thug can produce such beautiful, ash blond furniture — but the proof is in Helen Collins’ home — and Dublin Castle following its ‘Chaz Mahal’ makeover by the late Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.

Now that the family have grown up and a relocation is on the cards, Helen Collins’ virgin blue and white terraced house hits the early winter market at a guide of €370,000.

And while this may be a hard time to sell an older house — creeping cold can be felt by even the most innocent of viewers — this house can stand the strain.

On a cold north-easterly day, the house was snug and very warm thanks to old thick walls and modern damp-proofing.

It also has something that pictures and words can’t encompass: viewing is the only way to gauge the quality of this eccentric house.

Maeve McCarthy of Charles McCarthy Auctioneers, Skibbereen, is the agent to contact.