REAL HOME
We’ve proved that small is beautiful! With clever storage solutions and streamlined furniture, Niamh O’Carroll has turned a dated garage conversion into a stunning bijoux apartment
‘T
his house in Glasnevin, Dublin, is the home my father grew up in,’ says PR consultant Niamh O’Carroll. ‘My grandparents bought it in 1928; it was the first house built on the new road. Oddly enough, on exactly the same date, 70 years later, my husband Paul and I bought the house from my uncle and aunt, so it feels like it was really meant to be ours.’ Niamh first came to live in the house when she left her Limerick home to go to college in Dublin in the 1990s. Niamh’s uncle had inherited it and she was lucky enough to be able to stay in the converted garage. But she’s not the only one – seven of her brothers, sisters and cousins have also lived in it at various times, as students and or when they first started working. Later, when Niamh and Paul bought the house the positions were reversed, with Niamh’s family living in the house and her aunt and uncle using the flat as a Dublin base. Then, 20 years and three children (Cian, Tara and Barry) later, a leak in the apartment’s bathroom set off a rising tide of renovation. ‘It did start with a leak, but there was also an underlying need to upgrade the whole flat,’ says Niamh. ‘The garage of the original house had a bedroom built over it in the 1930s and was extended in the 1970s, so it wasn’t in great condition and had limited insulation – it was an icebox in the winter. My aunt wanted it fully modernised and I was keen to take on the project.’ Niamh started making a list of the things that the property needed: proper insulation for a start, an extra bedroom, a downstairs WC, a low-maintenance garden… And suddenly the project had grown from a renovation into a complete rebuild. ‘As we wanted to make sure that everything was done for the future we added electric weathersensitive Velux skylights, artificial grass in the garden, heating that can be controlled from your phone and a power cable for an electric car charger in the front: I tried to think of everything!’
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