The old stone exterior that could be straight out of a Thomas Kinkade painting was what first captivated the owner of No 33 Terenure Road North when he and his partner were looking for the perfect home in 2014.
“We’d just returned from New York after eight years and decided we wanted to live in the south of Dublin,” he says. “I’m very into Thomas Kinkade pictures and various themes come up in his paintings, including old cobblestones and stone houses. We were driving around and I saw this cobblestone cottage on the road and it had a ‘For sale’ sign on it and I thought, this is meant to be.”
A subsequent viewing of the house — one of a terrace of four and built in about 1890 — compounded that feeling. “As I walked around it I knew it needed a facelift. It had personality and character but it needed to be brought out. I thought to myself, I really want this.”
The couple moved in six years ago and spent about 12 months living in the house before starting any significant work. “But I couldn’t live with the colours, so we got a painter in and he painted everything, including the kitchen cupboards,” the owner adds.
Simon Open Door, a Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland initiative which offers homeowners an hour-long consultation with an architect in return for a donation to the Simon Communities of Ireland homelessness charity, was the kick-start for bigger changes. Des Kennedy, a partner in Kennedy Woods Architecture at the time and now a senior architect in the Office of Public Works, did the consultation. “We talked through things and he made a few suggestions and we started to work with him.”
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What followed was a complete reconfiguration of the space, both upstairs and downstairs. “The house was dark and needed the light. With clever design, we divided some of the rooms and brought more space and light in but have retained the old stone cottage feel to the property,” the owner says.
The kitchen has been moved from one side to the other at the back of the house. “The old kitchen was small, dark and gloomy and really was in need of attention. We put in top quality units — they’re solid wood in a nice Farrow & Ball painted white finish. Most people now go for greens and greys, but the white lifts the entire room. The granite came from Co Mayo. It is spread across the worktops and the splashback, and you do get that wow factor when you walk in.”
What was previously the kitchen is now the dining area, a utility room and a shower room, which is accessed from the lounge. The latter can now double up as a bedroom. A timber-framed garden room with single glazing was taken down and has been rebuilt as a family room, with two walls of glass — now triple glazed — facing the garden on one side and the covered terrace area on the other. The back wall of the room is exposed stone.
Exposed beams and brick in the living room have been covered over for the most part. A single beam remains, along with a strip of exposed brick from floor to ceiling on either end of it. “We decided to keep something original,” he says.
Upstairs, three bedrooms have been turned into four. What was a very large main bedroom with an en suite shower room has been split into two rooms with Jack-and-Jill access to the bathroom, which, like the other bathrooms in the house, has Villeroy & Boch fixtures.
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A new addition to what is now the main bedroom is a large balcony directly above the family room. It is surrounded by tempered glass and accessed through large double doors.
One practical challenge of living in a cottage-style house if you’re on the taller side has also been addressed. “Some of the doors were too low so we upped them to a normal height,” says the owner, who is 198cm tall.
The focus has not just been on the aesthetics: the house has been rewired and replumbed and fully insulated. A new combi boiler was also added, bringing the BER up from C2 to B3, despite the number of fireplaces being increased from one to three.
Most of the fixtures and fittings were bought locally. “By locally I mean a radius of 5km to 7km,” the owner says.
As regards the outside space, it was a case of enhancing what was already there. There’s a good sized space at the front: a semi-circular paved area has off-street parking for three cars. Up five steps towards the house, there’s a path to the front door with lawn, trees and beds on either side.
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The front is pretty much as it was when the house was bought. “We power-hosed everything and did a little repointing but there was nothing substantial to be done. We did a lot of planting: we now have a lot of different colours every season.”
The back garden had plenty of appeal but was also more green than colourful. “I love colours throughout the entire garden. The garden is a hobby of mine and I’ve spent thousands and thousands putting in plants, fronds and just renovating.
“It now produces the most unusual plants — we have an exotic fern at the back, for example. We also have a waterfall feature that trickles all around the garden and comes down three levels, and the most fantastic fountain. Sitting outside you feel like you’re in the countryside,” the owner adds.
With an aviary just beyond the end of the garden, it can sometimes feel even further away than that. “There are nightingales in it this year. If you’re sitting outside having your coffee in the morning, the singing of the birds is unreal — if you close your eyes, you think you’re in the Caribbean.”
The owners spent “a few hundred thousand” on doing up No 33 Terenure Road North, after buying it for €720,000. “We did a full facelift and it needed that. It’s been worth every penny. It’s a quality house that’s gone from having character to bursting with personality.”
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The front of the house continues to charm passers-by. “We do get the odd person knocking on the door, saying the house is amazing and asking if they can look around. And every day there are people stopping and taking photographs.”
The 192 sq m house, which is a couple of minutes’ walk from the centre of Terenure village, is now on the market for €1.1 million through Mullery O’Gara. The decision to move is career driven and the plan is to find somewhere near Lough Erne and to commute to Belfast.
The ideal scenario would be to find somewhere in turnkey condition this time. “But I do love character houses. If something came up with access to Lough Erne, I’d jump at the opportunity and relish the chance of doing that up as well.”