There are some wonderful touches to the interiors at 28 The Coombe in Dublin 8. The owners purchased the midterrace two-storey property in 2015 for the sum of €208,000, according to the Property Price Register. They say nothing had really been done to the house, which had been home to two generations of the same family.
“There was no insulation, no proper heating, a tiny kitchen and a loo out back, in addition to six fireplaces, as that was how the family who lived here used to heat the place,” the owner says.
After buying the redbrick house a decade ago, the owners decided to live in it for a year – using the fire for heating – until they got a feel for their new home and their needs.
“Back then the six fireplaces took up a third of the house, so we reduced the number to one.” Now occupied by a stove, it is never used as the C3-rated house has underfloor heating warming the polished concrete flooring throughout the ground level. The old stove is now used as a cocktail cabinet.
Knowing what they wanted, the owners consulted a builder friend who drew up plans to suit their needs. “We wanted a large open-plan kitchen and living area, and we liked the idea of Crittall-style doors, as we needed to brighten up the northern-facing room,” says the owner. With a keen interest in industrial style – where focus is on exposed materials – they set about designing their unique home.
Salvaging was the name of the game for these homeowners.. While building an extension to the rear – that opens out to one of the largest gardens on the street – they saved the old Dolphin’s Barn bricks which they sandblasted and used as an internal feature wall.
In addition, they sourced red deal timber from Mac’s Warehouse in Kilmainham that they used as the base of a kitchen island, and as a pedestal for the downstairs bathroom sink – a solid-marble Italian sink sourced from Done Deal for €100. The couple repurposed a set of old French doors for their pantry.
Period features are retained in the form of original pine flooring, which provides a contrast to the uber-contemporary polished concrete on the ground floor in both the kitchen/living area to the rear and a livingroom to the front.
Upstairs are two double bedrooms that share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom (there is a second full bathroom downstairs) and the utility and plant room are located behind a handmade steel door in an outhouse to the rear.
Another highlight is the parquet flooring in the hallway, which was salvaged from a period pile in Bangor, Co Down. “We did try and do it ourselves but it was covered in bitumen so we got a great carpenter to clean and lay them,” says the owner.
The back garden was about 45sq m when the house was purchased in 2015; now, although smaller due to the extension, it still runs to about 20sq m, laid out as a courtyard. They also had a steel staircase made to access a rooftop terrace, where views over the chimney pots of the Liberties and the spire of St Patrick’s Cathedral can be enjoyed.
Due to its location the owners say they can walk everywhere, with a plethora of eateries, markets, antique shops and music venues in the locality.
As they are now moving to a property with a larger garden in Portobello, they have placed their cool home on the market through Mullery O’Gara, seeking €575,000.
