The beauty of bringing the right architect on board is that you get a home that functions beautifully while discreetly emanating the personality of the design talent and the home’s owners. Thanks to the gentle flourishes of award-winning practice Taka Architects, number 15 Croydon Green is a home that oozes style and yet isn’t done to such an extent that the next owner can’t put their own stamp on it. The architectural firm in question is one that painted the home of a lifelong Dubs supporter in its signature blue and also brought the colour into the interior; it put an emerald green privacy screen on a mews house in Waterloo Lane and added a jet-black cantilevered spiral staircase to an extension in Ranelagh.
The current owners bought number 15 in January 2010, paying €323,500 for it according to the property price register, and while they added some elements they lived in it for many years before bringing in principals Alice Casey and Cian Deegan.
The reception rooms in these Marino homes can feel on the small side so Taka opened the front room to the back using slick pocket sliding doors; this allows you to circulate through the entire ground floor when you're feeling social, and to screen off each space from the other when you're not. Each room is colourblocked in shades of Farrow and Ball: French grey in the front room and setting plaster in what was the back room but is now an internal space, for there is now a large eat-in kitchen to the rear, down a step. The soft pink internal room feels like a cocoon, as the original door from the hall has been removed, with a round window in its place giving you a view to the hall. It's a charming feature.
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Pooling light
Washed in soft southern light, the kitchen is a place you will want to spend time in. It has a bank of simple oak units at the far right with a large rooflight overhead pooling light in the centre of the room and helping to bring natural light into the pink sittingroom.
To the left is an oak-clad structure in the shape of a house, in effect a very posh outhouse within a house that is a playful interpretation of the brief to bring in a full-size bathroom, explains architect Cian Deegan. Executed by Larry Conroy of Conroy Fitted Furniture for Ruby Building, it is a delightful addition that also factors in a whole load of secret storage. The tiled bathroom has a small window opening out to the side passage, while another round window gives anyone soaking in the bath a peekaboo view of the sky.
The kitchen has a pavilion feel thanks to its sheet metal roof – insulated so that you won’t hear rain rattling above – and this brings a lovely sense of movement to the room when you look up. It extends outside to give shade and shelter.
Underfoot is a salt-and-pepper concrete floor, an idea that is carried out to the patio area, helping to knit the two together. Just beyond the wall of Rayner glazing is a grow space, a glassed-in area to help give plants and fruit and vegetables a good start in life. The area’s boundary is elegantly invisible thanks to its lack of frame.
Morning sun
The southeast-facing back garden gets great morning sun. The lawn leads down to a garden shed that could become a gardenroom project for the next owner. There is pedestrian side access to a gated lane that is shared with the neighbours.
The timber staircase and balustrade are painted bancha green and lead up to the first floor where there is a showerroom and three bedrooms – two doubles and a single. The main bedroom is to the front where it overlooks a green that is filled with russet deciduous trees.
In contrast to the downstairs, upstairs doesn’t feel quite as polished, and the next owner might look at some minor upgrades such as new interior doors and rugs or carpet underfoot, especially if you have kids and want to dial down the clatter. But all told it offers a lot of house in a gorgeous leafy area less than seven minutes’ walk to the Dart and less than 15 minutes to the sea.
The C3 Ber rated home now extends to 106sq m (1,141sq ft) and is asking €595,000 through Sherry FitzGerald.
