Dé of reckoning for funky home

Deora Dé in Bweeng, Co Cork, is full of visual quirks, appeal, and art — it’s an upgraded, once-modest cottage B

Sat, 12 May, 2018 - 01:00

Deora Dé in Bweeng, Co Cork, is full of visual quirks, appeal, and art — it’s an upgraded, once-modest cottage

MIRROR, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?

Well, around Bweeng, north of Cork City, a likely contender is Deora Dé, a rustic and rural family home, originally a modest cottage given a funky decor and twists, extension, upgrades, and a whole burst of personality.

Little surprise to find one of the owners is an artist and teacher, and the other a musician and handyman among other abilities, as the place is so full of visual quirks, appeal, and art.

Yet, the update to what may have been a century-old two-room cottage has kept faith with much of the old, and brought in much by way of modern, creature comforts.

Set out in quiet countryside, a mile or two from Bweeng itself, close to Dromohane and ten minutes from Mallow, 25 minutes from Cork City, Deora Dé is at Seanavoher, or the ‘old road’.

Deora Dé means ‘God’s Tears’, the Irish name for fuchsia: the name suggested itself, as the grounds were so blessed with fuchsia.

This c1,400 sq ft home is full of character and on 0.75 acres at Seanavoher, and includes a couple of outbuildings, while stone from an old fallen shed has been repurposed and used to create walls and steps in dry-stone fashion.

It has just been listed for sale with estate agent John Singleton of Sherry FitzGerald Mallow, with a €250,000 guide. He notes you wouldn’t get a city or suburban three-bed semi-d on a postage stamp-sized plot for that sort of sum.

He reckons it will have an extra special appeal to those who value the beauty and tranquillity of the countryside, within a reasonable commute of the city. The vendors have jobs, respectively, in Limerick and in Cork City, and are only moving to complete a coastal property renovation, and as children move to the ‘big school’ stage of family rearing.

It was bought in a raw state 14 years ago, this month, with the aforementioned fuchsia starting to put on pendulous floral displays being the clincher and drive to purchase.

After committed and hands-on labours, inside and out, it’s since become ”an old-world cottage, true to original form with new-world charm, given a new lease of life with modern extensions, bright spacious accommodation, and three double bedrooms,” says Mr Singleton.

Features include a double-aspect, double-height volume in the main living room, overlooked by a glazed wall mezzanine/first-floor bedroom, and the wood-floored room has a multi-fuel stove inset in a gable wall flue/chimney, with feature off-set and angular windows either side.

Art abounds in this reworked T-shaped dormer recreation, including the main and back halls. The timber staircase is painted in a two-tone pattern of treads and risers, and all three bedrooms are doubles, while the main family bathroom has a jacuzzi bath.

Outside walls again get put to artistic purposes, with one gable wall home to seven mounted, round mirrors, reflecting garden features, rural views, and the distant Galtee mountains.

VERDICT: A fair reflection of the work lovingly gone into Deora Dé.