Makeover turned Cork beach getaway into home from home 

See how a design professional transformed couple's Inchydoney holiday apartment into a haven fit for three generations 

Bench seating with much needed storage beneath is made comfortable with cushions for sitting and enjoying the beach view.

Who wouldn’t have loved a beachside apartment during the heatwave?

The sunshine might not have lasted much more than a week or so before we plunged into autumn, but we hope reminiscing about beach trips and absorbing much needed vitamin D will keep us going through the coming winter.

Colours used are inspired by the natural environment. Laminate floors and plywood benches cite the sandy beach nearby. Grey, white and blue accents reflect the sea and sky.

For one couple, Dublin based, who’ve been migrating for years with their family to the south coast for a blast of sea air and beachside living, their two-bedroom apartment overlooking the sea at Inchydoney had become impractical, the family having expanded to include three generations.

The balcony offers an unimpeded view of the beach and sea and somewhere to enjoy watching the sunset.

What they needed was an architect with an eye for maximising space and using every available centimetre to better accommodate their adult children and five grandchildren.

“They all tend to be there at the same time,” says architect Lucy Jones of Antipas Jones, who worked on the couple’s Dublin home and was asked to bring her exacting eye to this compact space consisting of hall, open living, kitchen and dining, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

Lucy Jones, architect, Antipas Jones.

Dated in style, it had a pine kitchen and magnolia walls, once the standard finish beloved by builders, but as any estate agent will tell you it’s all about location, and this apartment has views from the kitchen window and balcony directly onto the beach, straight out to sea, and a panorama taking in coastal headlands of west Cork.

The problem with an apartment, though, is nowhere to slap on an extension, so how do you elasticate the space for eight or nine people to sit, sleep and stow their clothing, plus the all-important buckets and shovels? 

Plus, factor in how to make adequate space for the client, who is an accomplished cook, to prep and serve.

Taking the view as inspiration for the renovation project, it informed new colour choices and finishes in addition to clever space planning.

“The view of the sea is incredible,” says Lucy. “The clients used to pull up their stools to the sink to look out the window in the morning.”

But it wasn’t an ideal set up so Lucy moved the sink to another wall and replaced it with a breakfast bar and some bright red stools where the clients can now enjoy their morning coffee and the views in comfort.

Opposite, a bank of floor-to-ceiling grey finished cabinets with an integrated oven provides much-needed storage, with airy open shelves on another wall so the small space isn’t made oppressive by wall cabinets.

Attention to detail includes blue and white striped effect wall tiles running the length of the kitchen work surfaces, the latter made of stone as are the sills, with a speckled quality which Lucy tells me is to suggest sea foam.

Sandy-coloured birch ply is used throughout the project to reflect the beach theme and is used in storage and bench seating.

Overall, the effect is fresh and lightsome and a little Scandi with a white Ikea kitchen table and an American influence with Eames’ Eiffel chairs in soft green.

Space restrictions meant the project happened slowly according to Lucy. “We had to find the perfect rug, the perfect sofa,” she says.

But it’s the precise space planning which the Antipas Jones practice is particularly adept at that has resolved seating issues for so many people in the living area, using fitted benches with cushions and much-need storage underneath.

While two bedrooms sleep four in total, that perfect sofa also had to be a sofa bed. For others needing a bed, roll-out mattresses do the trick, in what Lucy says is, “sleep-over style.”

What child wouldn’t love that?

Lighting is flexible and can be moved with ease, while sheer, lightweight fabric curtains leave the view unimpeded when drawn.

What’s been achieved here is remarkable for the size of the space, while being testament to what a design professional can achieve.

When the possibility of lockdown started to become reality in early 2020, the owners took the decision to decamp from Dublin to Inchydoney and ended up spending the pandemic there. 

Thanks to the design transformation where the apartment has gone from being somewhere casual to decamp for a couple of weeks or weekends in summer it’s become a well-loved home from home for the owners where they have everything they need and everything has its place.