It’s not in any way surprising that 9 Sallymount Gardens has featured in several interiors magazines. The renovation that transformed the 1930s end-of-terrace house resulted in a warm contemporary home with a long list of stylish details as photogenic as they are practical.
The main work took place about 10 years ago when the house, in a quiet cul-de-sac minutes from Ranelagh’s main street, was in two flats and the owners commissioned London-based Roland Cowen Architects to rework the interior.
In more recent years as their family grew they extended up into the attic so that now the floor area – including the attic – is 120sq m/1,291sq ft.
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Extending to the rear was the obvious choice but the resulting room showed how the architects were able to create a sizeable eat-in kitchen with room for a sofa and any amount of family paraphernalia where light comes from all angles, from the strip of rooflights, an interior window to the hall and, most strikingly of all, the rear wall of floor-to-ceiling sliding glazed doors.
A Bulthaup kitchen, a German brand known for its unfussy modernism, is fitted against one wall with an unusual detail, a cantilevered white Corian sink unit that appears to float about the wide-plank oak flooring. A section of the floor, around the kitchen units, is polished poured concrete, a detail that is continued up to become the splashback behind the range-type cooker.
Interesting details
There are interesting details everywhere in this house; at ground level, the floor-to-ceiling pivot door that opens from the hall to the kitchen and the plain contemporary folding doors that now divide the kitchen from the original front reception room. Upstairs in the family bathroom a long second window has been punched in the wall with the sink positioned in front while a half wall of bookshelves make good use of the landing which also has space for a piano.
The attic room – for planning purposes it is not a bedroom but storage – has a large dormer with a picture window looking down over the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook, and a wet room en suite. Used as the main bedroom it is accessed via a custom designed open slat steel and oak staircase.
The renovation left some rooms as they were, such as the front reception room with its bay window but now with a wood burner fitted in the fireplace and custom shelving; and the two double bedrooms upstairs, although now with built-in wardrobes.
The house is at the end of the cul-de-sac and so benefits from a larger front garden – recently redesigned to include a play area. To the rear, the kitchen opens out to a timber deck and down a couple of steps is a garage, a rare plus in Ranelagh where parking can be tight. The garage opens on to a lane off Sallymount Avenue. While new owners will find the house in walk-in condition, the garage does offer opportunities. If not used for parking it could be turned into a useful home office or work studio.
Lisney is the agent for 9 Sallymount Gardens, seeking €895,000.
