The beauty’s in the planning — and the execution

All the plans for this house were concocted by its intrepid owner. Rose Martin investigates.

THERE’S a quiet little neighbourhood in a quiet little backwater of Glanmire, Co Cork, where the 21st century has finally struck. In house styles.

Not here the naff embellish-ments of neo-this or neo-that, neither are there disproportionate properties harking back to another period, or even, the same old tired pattern book of forms.

No, instead this enclave is a harbinger for a new focus, one where, despite setbacks, Irish architecture gets to define a new century in its own style.

And it combines clean quality design with new materials in a sustainable, but defiantly modern, approach. There isn’t a “safe” house in this block — the self-builders here took a gamble that taste would override the conservatism of the Irish eye — and it works.

Cork County Council aided and abetted the project by seeking innovative architecture for what was a collection of serviced sites.

The location is a leafy, shady place near the Glashaboy river where the startling white, stone and cedar of the dwellings is a bold statement of intent.

This particular house was conceived by a serial extender who finally ran out of garden — but still needed space for a growing family.

She and her husband chose David Deady from Deady Gahan Architects to create a four-bedroomed house with three distinct living areas: an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, a formal drawing room and an informal family TV room with separate study.

Overhead, there are four full suites and a wealth of open space in the large foyer, as well as gardens that use existing woodland and water as a backdrop to an edgy, but informal scheme by landscape architect Niall Keohane.

The final flourish is a two-car garage with privacy wall along the southern elevation.

The interior designer owner took over all the internal specifications herself.

“I had everything planned beforehand, there were no changes made. There were files for everything and no messing around.

“The builders moved in May and we got the keys the following January,” she says.

And to prove the point, she pulls out lists of specifications, neatly hand-written on sheafs of paper which each contractor was given before tendering.

Even the original design drawings show the updates pencilled in — this self-builder knew what she was doing and how rooms would work for her family.

The result is that she moved doors a foot here or there, changed room sizes to incorporate bigger closets and created decent, en-suite bathrooms.

Even the lighting plan was dotted out in red ink on the working drawings — on her say.

And while she admits there are some elements she’s unhappy with — too many windows on the northern elevation — the house ticks all of the boxes specified.

She’s had her hands full and was all over the project, all the while studying for a degree and bussing three sporty children around to their various meets.

But she still managed to oversee the various elements and heaps praise on her builder, Michael O’Doherty from Fermoy.

He was one of 12 builders to receive tendering package, but one of only three to reply. But it was the height of the boom, she says.

“I interrogated him — he was the builder who did the job on the island crematorium and he was interesting, and he did the toll bridge at Watergrasshill — and for me, he was brilliant. He put a good foreman in charge and I had a point of contact at all times.

“Everything was specified — I had five months of eating those plans while it went through planning and I was finishing my diploma and I was living every minute of it.

“I was here for the turning of the sod and John O’Driscoll, the foreman, he worked six days a week and supervised it — nothing was a problem for him.”

Because every element was specified according to the tendering documents — there was a like-for-like agreement — and because there were no changes whatsoever made once construction was underway, the build was a success for all concerned.

And that’s the secret to a tight build, she says, specify, specify, specify and stick to the specification.

That way the builder can get on with the job and remain on deadline, the client doesn’t get unexpected extra costs at the end and they get the house they planned.

In this particular case, the only real delay was with the staircase, but that was because Darren Dennigan, the award-winning joiner, wasn’t happy with the raw material sourced and only built the stairs when the right type of walnut was delivered.

He has created the focal point of the main entrance hall, which is quite impressive to begin with.

The double height foyer is lit by a south-west facing, 20ft-high window with integrated brise soleils and dressed by lined, silk curtains with a similar drop — they must have cost a fortune. The designer gives a knowing look and moves on.

Despite the spare, flat roof design of the house, which is roughly H-shaped in two wings, the interior is very luxe.

The formal living room, in particular, has wide proportions and asymmetrical flooring in walnut and is the most traditional of all the rooms.

A feature wall painted in stripes by the designer herself is a clever way to pick up on the plum and grey/green scheme.

The flooring and internal doors, both walnut, were supplied by O’Sullivan Brothers/OSB and the owner says she’s really pleased with the way the floor was laid and fitted by the contractor, John Mullins.

The ground floor has oil-fired, underfloor heating with a zoned and pressurised system, and, overhead, it’s radiators, with large airing cupboard.

There are two boys and a girl in this house and their rooms are finished to a tee, with a different design brief for each bedroom.

And that includes bathrooms and walk-in closets, (no built-ins, they’re expensive and they date, she says. Better to go with closets).

The Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday colours dominate the boy’s rooms, and each is filled with locally sourced and, in some cases, locally made furniture.

Then there’s good quality linen, with Ralph Lauren mixed with Blarney Woollen Mills, Brown Thomas and Meadows and Byrne favourites, while the girl’s room has a lot of Top Drawer, some Ikea and Brown Thomas finds. But the look here is very pink and very cute.

Every room has its own wardrobe, shelved and laid out and this is a house with an eye to storage: witness the comprehensive shoe closet that prevents the regular Saturday night “where’s the other one” panic.

Likewise with the bathrooms, storage is incorporated into the design and the colour scheme changes with every room.

There is a level of perfection here that’s impressive, but not off-putting, and that’s helped by an element of quirkiness — be it a chair, a light fitting or some other item or two that may have been sourced online.

The rooms change to suit the temperament of their owners and none more so than in the master bedroom, where the emphasis is on low-key luxury.

Windows are covered in silk velvet chenille with and old gold colour scheme in the drapes and bed linen. The 6ft leather bed came from Brown Thomas and the walnut furniture is from Ideal Living.

And the master bathroom isn’t stinted on either. Here, a corner bath is raised for effect and the WC and shower are hidden from sight, giving a soothing spa feel, helped along with the coffee/cappuccino colour scheme.

The ground floor space includes a big, open-plan living room facing south, but one that’s divided by a fire breast wall and ending in a great walnut kitchen by Jason McGinley of Benchmark Furniture.

Colours are jade and cappuccino and the living area leads onto a huge, south-facing patio.

The family room, where cream leather is used (only takes a wipe to clean, she says), has views over woodland and sliding doors outside.

This really is the ideal house, one that’s been thought through, is built to fit the family and is an accomplishment that few can pull off.

Its project manger should take a bow.