See inside transformed redbrick home in Dublin's Portobello 

Turning rooms on their heads has made for an innovative renovation of this 1864-built house for teacher Mona Fox 

Think laterally, or upside down, like primary school teacher Mona Fox did when she purchased a house in Dublin’s Portobello. 

Mona transformed the first floor into a kitchen-cum-dining room and living space.

“It’s okay to be different and do what you need,” she says.

This came after a three-year hunt and getting to sale agreed five times until she and her husband found their 1864-built redbrick.

Previously owned by generations of the same family, it hadn’t been altered and original features removed like other houses on the street which were turned into flats. The only change made was a 1950s extension. 

“We kept the footprint and concentrated on making the best of the space we got," adds Mona.

Mona Fox in the kitchen of her Victorian house.

Fireplaces, window shutters and wooden floors were retained which they repaired while installing mod-cons.

“The two reception rooms are now a dressing room and bedroom,” she says. “Double doors between them were hidden behind an awful partition. They had been covered up probably to insulate the rooms and keep the heat in.”

As it happens, insulation was one of Mona’s top renovation priorities.

“Most of the budget went into stuff that isn’t even seen,” she says. “But 100% we did the right thing. All the windows were changed to reproductions of the original timber sash. We kept lots of original floors but had to do some patching. With staining you wouldn’t see it.”

Melamine kitchen cabinet doors in a stone hue, while storage space is maximised with a library ladder for access.

Stepping upstairs, what was a bedroom on the stairs return is now a bathroom including a free-standing vintage bathtub Mona was told came from a house in Dun Laoghaire.

On the first floor, the second bedroom is a living space she calls the cinema room, painted in Salon Drab by Farrow & Ball, a chocolatey finish over walls and ceiling for a cocooning feel, while next door the sizeable main bedroom with windows overlooking the street is the new kitchen and dining space.

The boudoir-style bathroom is hidden behind a bookcase door on the return of the stairs.

This inspired room arrangement maximises morning light, offers privacy from houses opposite, and has kitchen cabinetry and a small island, while behind a stud partition more unsightly kitchen functions are dealt with.

Recently she replaced her dining table with an 1840s French elmwood trestle.

“I love its thinness. Its depth is less than one inch which means no knee-knocking for tall people.”

Surrounding it is a covetable set of Model 71 chairs designed in the 1950s by Arne Hovman Olsen for Mogens Kold.

A calm colour palette features in the bedroom in a downstairs reception room.

Above hangs an origami-style light shade by designer Issey Miyake for Artemide. It’s one of several interesting lights, something Mona has a particularly sharp eye for.

“We can't neglect lighting,” she says. “Beautiful lights need to be shown like sculpture. They can look just as beautiful off as on.”

Another example is a bentwood shade over the stairwell, so thin the light comes through it.

Stripping walls exposed original plaster, most in good condition which Mona has made part of the décor.

Modern cupboards and a vintage shop display unit provide an eclectic mix of storage in Mona's dressing room.

“As soon as we saw them we wanted to keep them even though there was lots of resistance from family, friends and the builders. 

"The builders did most of the stripping but we used trowels and got the last layer off in the dressing room inch by inch over several weekends. It was painstaking.”

The bedroom, however, required re-plastering which was a prompt to do something dramatic with the ceiling, finishing it with a mural from Rebel Walls with an abstract pattern in which Mona sees Japanese references.

“The house has lots of different influences from travel,” she says. 

An inviting hallway leads to the repurposed reception rooms.

“Inspiration from different cultures is important to me; having little treasures from travelling.”

As she loves auctions and vintage finds, the house is a mix of bargains and special pieces with art featuring large.

Back at hall level a doorway behind the stairs leads to what was the original kitchen.

“We dug down to make a lower ground floor,” she says. 

“We have a garden room which is the 1950s extension, a WC and a wet room.”

The garden room on the lower ground floor.

The garden room would make a perfect guest room but, again, Mona has flouted conventional aspirations.

“I didn’t want a spare room that wasn’t used most of the time. We have a daybed so we can have visitors. It’s modern, flexible living so all the house is used.”

Mona admits that even though she has created a beautiful comfortable and stylish home: “I have a little itch to do it all over again.”

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