Renovate Your House & Home
Summer 2004

OUTSIDE IN

Light, bright and oh-so-stylish, this sleek Dublin city pas is a renovation lesson in just how to create a seamless, coherent space, bringing the outside in, while not scrimping on comfort and practicality.

INSIDER INFO

The Owner: Donal Clissman
The Location: Ringsend, Dublin.

“I wanted somewhere accessible to the city and near the neighbourhood in which I grew up. There are a lot of apartments going up nearby but there is still a community feeling. The facilities are good. I’m a five-minute walk from the Dart Station. There’s a huge park nearby as well as a new sports stadium. And the proximity of the East Link Bridge means I can be in the airport within half an hour.”
Type of house: A red brick Edwardian mid-terrace.
Purchase Price: The asking price was €180,000 in an executor’s sale and the combination of the owner’s bargaining skills and the lack of competition meant he secured it for less than that.
The architect: David Dwyer of Box Architecture, Dublin. Donal contracted him after checking out the work of the award-winning architects.
The brief: To renovate the existing house and provide additional accommodation to consist of a home office and new kitchen with separate utility space and bathroom facilities at first floor level. This was all to be achieved on a limited budget and to include the retention of the existing garage, while creating an open plan area on the ground floor.
Budget: Between €50,000 and €70,000.
Planned time for the job: Six months.
Time it actually took: One year.
Value renovation has added to home: Don’t know.
Planning issues: None. Planning permission was not required because the size of the extension was within the limit.
Biggest challenge: Getting the work done. “The design was there but it was of keeping the job going,” says Donal.
Problems encountered: Confusion over roles and differing perceptions in the project. “This raised its head in the plumbing system. I thought I was getting one thing and the plumber believed he was delivering something else.”
Best bargain: The MDF kitchen which cost €1,000 and was installed by the builder. It was painted in Farrow & Ball green stone.
Verdict: Happy, with one or two things to finish, such as the insulation which is missing from the office. “As a result the room is a bit chilly in winter but in the summer its fantastic, very airy,” says Donal.

Bringing the outside in and the inside out was the thinking behind the tasteful transformation of this terraced Ringsend house. With no less than three courtyards, there’s certainly room outside of this sleek city pad, which has emerged from its dark dingy shadows to become light, bright and ultra modern.

“The brief was fairly broad. I didn’t want to put too many constraints on the architect. I wanted to let the designer design,” remarks owner Donal Clissman. “However, I definitely wanted to use natural materials, creates lots of light and bring the outdoors in and the indoors out and this is reflected in the tiling, which runs from the living area into the courtyard, with even the grouting lines the same for a seamless effect,” he says.

Apart from making over the existing building, Donal specified the addition of a home office that could also double as a living space; a new kitchen with separate utility space; and a bathroom.

Coherent Whole
The rear of the gardens of the house to the west and the two houses to the east formed part of the plot. The architect’s task was to create a coherent whole of the unusual site, with the initial t-shape at the back a central consideration. “This was to achieved by the introduction of the courtyards bounded by the existing house and garden, and the new part which was conceived as a series of volumes stacked up and juxtaposed to gain maximum use of natural daylight, having regard to its northerly aspect,” says David Dwyer of Box Architecture.

“This is manifested by the bathroom box with the kitchen gathered under, spanning from the existing house to the new utility block, which is placed at the node of the cruciform,” explains the designer. “A plate is placed over the whole of this junction to form the home office space. A roof light is placed in the north-west of the plate so that the space can achieve the benefits of moving light all day.”

Remodelling
An initial proposal to put the bathroom in between the two bedrooms was shelved as Donal wasn’t keen on reducing the space in the bedrooms.

The original kitchen, (a cubby hole which came off the back of the living room), outside toilet and out-buildings were demolished and a conservatory, which had been built over the rear garden, was dismantled and replaced by a courtyard. The old downstairs layout of an entrance hallway and two living rooms gave way to one big space that benefits from the morning sun. A raised open fireplace, regularly used by Donal, is a focal point and the Flexform grey sofa adds to the inviting effect.

The new galley kitchen is a link between front and back, and the old part of the house and the new. A beech bar area at the floor at the floor-to-ceiling windows looks out onto the courtyard, a favourite spot for the barbecues. A built-in hinge operated door leads into the utility area, a timber clad box.

At the back of the house is the spacious study and den designed for both work and play with its desk and brown leather sofa. This area can be closed off for privacy. A sliding door opens into a large courtyard. “It’s great because there are no windows overlooking it. It’s the perfect spot to eat out, have a game of cards or just out with a few beers,” says Donal.

The wooden stairs and original floorboards in both bedrooms were painstakingly sanded down and the original fireplaces upstairs retained. Walls throughout were painted almond white and spotlights on dimmer switches installed.

Contemporary Comfort
When it came to furnishing the house, Donal wanted a clean, contemporary look with comfort and practicality a priority. “I went through a good few versions of the rooms before the ideas came. I saw things in magazines and came up with other looks through brainstorming.”

The blissful bathroom features Villeroy & Boch sanitaryware and a clever shelving system, designed by the architect and made by the carpenter. Nice touches include the hidden shelves beside the sink and the way the door recesses into the towel shelves when it opens.

Hard Work
As he chills out after a busy day, listening to music in his living room, Donal is happy with his purchase and the renovation, although a few things remain to be sorted out. “I could see the house had potential and I had a lot of ground space to play around with,” he says.

Hailed as ‘a builder’s dream’ in the estate agents’ brochure, Donal found out they weren’t joking. “It took an awful lot of work. I was just back from travelling and living with my parents, so I had time but the job was actually bigger than first expected,” he says.

The team ‘discovery’ began to haunt him during the process, with ‘we’ve discovered something else’ a common catchcry. Deeper foundations had to be poured than first envisaged and plaster needed to be taken off and a damp-proof treatment put on, all hiking up the cost. “The price given is never the price you pay. The trick is to specifically approve any changes to the original plan,” recommends Donal.

As well as confusion over who was responsible for providing insulation in the office, with the end result being that none was installed, zoning of the heating system has yet to be sorted out. “I want the ability to have a thermostat in each room so that I can control the under floor heating zones separately,” says Donal.

Learning Process
“At the moment the heating is either on or it’s off and it is linked in with the hot water, which means I have no real control of it. The pipes are fine, it’s just the fine tuning is not here. If I were doing it again, I would go for a pressurised hot water system. It’s an intelligent system which ensures the hot water is there on demand.”

It’s been a learning process but the final product is well worthwhile, oozing pared-down simplicity and style. Although located on a busy street with the front door opening into the living space, stepping beyond the hall door is a real revelation.

Now that the work is almost complete, Donal can get on with enjoying his abode. It’s a sociable house as all ground floor rooms are linked and with all that outdoor space there’s never a sense of overcrowding. Roll on those hot summer nights!

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