Property 17-12-2011 by Evening Echo

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Property 17.12.2011

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PROPERTY

REVIEW

OF 2011

MARKET

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PROPERTY

In search of the magic million

Tommy Barker reports

Kitsborough was the biggest house sale in Cork this year, making over €1.5 million, writes Property Editor Tommy Barker

Boom-time prices back down to basics: Left: Bondi Beach nightclub (previously the Maltings), sold in 2004 for over €5.5 million was bought back by one of its original owners for less than €1 million in 2011. Right: Walford, symbol of the market madness when it made €58 million, is under private offer for NAMA at around €10 million.

ECOVERY in the property market? A bit like Kildare footballers, and Waterford hurlers, it’s a case of dragging out the cliche: “Maybe next year.” We’re five years into a property downturn, the world economy is teetering, NAMA owns half the country and is busy flogging the cherry-picked bits of prime Irish-owned real estate overseas and finally there’ll be the start of significant NAMA releases of Irish stock in 2012. 2011 was the year of distressed auctions, with the bottom-feeders out for clear value. Hundreds of properties did shift via this auction route — to a mix of chagrin and relief among vendors, helping to put a floor of sorts under the market. Good news and decent deals were thin on the ground in 2011 - but there were a few signs of a pulse in the year now stuttering to a halt. Values of even the good residential stock is down 50 to 60%, bad stock is down by more, to the point of some stuff being worthless. For the better sited properties, with potential once the uplift comes, it’s been a year of some bargains, and 2012 will bring many more, principally for cash purchasers as the banks still aren’t lending. If and when we return to a stable residential market — calculated by the new body Property Industry Ireland and agents like Sherry FitzGerald to be around 30,000 new houses a year, plus a turnover of about 2.5% of existing house stock, to match the demographic needs — it’s reckoned the financial sector will need to be lending €11 billion a year for the residential sector: there’s no sign of anything like that amount of necessary money available yet. It mightn’t seem like it to most hard-pressed workers, but there’s waves of money in the country —

CONTENTS 4/5 TRADED UP We round up some of the year’s better house sales.

STARTERS The budget brings 2012 cheer to firsttime buyers.

in mattresses, saving accounts and overseas bank accounts for bricks and mortar investments especially with so much uncertainty hanging over the euro, banks and even governments. Property might be down, but its not entirely out — like stock markets and bank shares. For every developer that goes into NAMA, there’s a (almost always incorrect) rumour the ‘distressed’ individual will buy back the assets at a discount. There’s one case of a property investor/developer having done a buy-back in Cork, but that was pure opportunity. The Sheahan family’s Maltings bar complex near UCC sold back in 2004 to a UK group for around €5.5 million: in 2011, they were was involved in its purchase (named Bondi Beach) once more for a sub €1 million sum. Opportunities are there, indeed. Equally left of field, Cork city’s other significant bar sale was the Viscount, bought by Bishopstown Credit Union for new offices for €1.5m. Some of Dublin’s top homes, in Hubris Height addresses like Shrewsbury and Ailesbury Roads which changed hands in the boom for tens of millions of euros — such as the daft €58m paid for Walford and linked to Sean Dunne’s wife Gayle — are finding buyers at fractions of previous values, yet some are making €8m to €10m, even now. JP McManus has been linked to the c€10m purchase of the former Ailesbury Road home of developer Bernard McNamara. In the general construction scene, building cranes on the skyline are as rare a bird as the avian species would be on these shores, but some few projects trickled on — such as Cork’s Marymount Hospice — to keep a few builders in hard hats, and in the coming year, there’s activity in City Gate in Mahon, and

7/8 MARKET MOVES NAMA’s role will remain critical to the property market recovery.

10 COVER STORY Marybrook House isn’t just for Christmas, parts date back many centuries.

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€100m to be invested in Irish Distillers in Midleton. The Government’s budget 2012 hit most for six — and the €100 property tax was just a small unpalatable taste — but was otherwise notable for sensible measures to foster some return to a functioning property market. The most optimistic commentators hope a bottom will be reached in 2012, with activity levels building a little, and hope continuing through the next year or two to recovery around 2015.

BRITISH INTEREST ■ THE Queen of England came to call on us in 2011, and British-based buyers of Irish property are following in her wake. The re-emergence of UK buyers in our market was a feature of the past year, and between them and Irish ex-pats, there’s a clear niche in evidence. Tapping into that will be agents like SherryFitzGerald who are resurrecting a London showcase of Irish property, on February 4, with a number of their country wide firms to be represented. They reveal

INTERIORS DIY HOME ECONOMICS IN THE GARDEN ANTIQUES

they had 60,000 website visits in 2011 via 859 locations in the UK (37% from the Greater London area alone) representing 8% of their total website traffic, from UK investors, and Irish ex-pats.

PROPERTY EDITOR Tommy Barker, 021 4802221 property@examiner.ie INTERIORS EDITORIAL Sue O’Connor, 021 4802386 interiors@examiner.ie INTERIORS ADVERTISING Ger Duggan, 021 4802192 interiorads@examiner.ie PROPERTY ADVERTISING Marguerite Stafford, 021 4802100 marguerite.stafford@examiner.ie

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

T’S a happy omen, of sorts. The strongest house sale of the year in Cork (at €1.5 million-plus) was a house that featured extensively in these Irish Examiner Property pages, on the very weekend we launched our new look Property and Interiors package. The successful sale was of a very special property mix, a riverside estate of 70 acres, where you could walk your land in the morning, and walk into the city centre in the afternoon. Kitsborough House, on the Lee Road by Carrigrohane featured over several pages here on April 9, 2011, and was being sold by the family of the late judge Sean O’Leary. Although a modern 1990s build, the 4,000 sq ft six-bed house Kitsborough had deep roots, replacing a Queen Anne house on this River Lee estate where previous owners included the Waggett family for the first 150 years, the Riordan family and the Wood family — whose descendant Richard Wood this past year sold off his prize dairy here from Rockrohan just across the river by Inchigaggin. Kitsborough was put up for sale in April guiding €2.2m by Sheila O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, who later reduced the asking price to €1.85 million for the trophy package. It’s likely to have sold for between €1.5m and the €1.85m guide, and was bought “as a lifestyle move” by a family living in the city. It marks the third year when Sherry FitzGerald had some of the top Cork house sales, with Cregane Manor in Rosscarbery back in 2009/2010, and a Montenotte home in an off-market deal in 2010, both selling for about €1.5/ €1.6m. Gone ‘Sale Agreed’ and due to sign before Christmas in Cork was Ballybrack, a Georgian family home of 4,500 sq ft on the edge of Douglas village, on 1.8 luscious wooded acres. It hit the market with Catherine McAuliffe of Savills in June, guiding a modest €1.2m for a very special ‘hidden oasis’ package, and is being sold for a figure understood to be between the magic €1m and the €1.2m asking price. It’s a matter of conjecture what it could have made a few years ago, and must be a banker of a solid buy for years to come. “We have to be at the very bottom end of the market for good houses like this,” said the Savills agent, while Savills and Sherry FitzGerald jointly were involved in Cork’s other known €1m-plus property sale. They handled the sale, for a receiver, of Harbour Lodge, a 10-bed B&B in Scilly Walk, Kinsale, which was bought by Irish buyers for conversion back to a private residence. What’s clear from this mere trio of 2011 €1m-plus sales — apart from how hard it is to hit this sort of price level — is the primacy of location, and of course the sheer value compared to the peak time mayhem of, say, 2005. Back in 2005, these pages were able to round up over two dozen Cork sales above the €1m mark, of which six were for over €2m. Headline makers of the boom 20042006 period include Ballynatray, an estate of hundreds of acres on the Blackwater, selling for €11.2m (and now

The Millpond at Kitsborough, Leemount, Carrigrohane, Co Cork, is a riverside estate of 70 acres, where you could walk your land in the morning and walk into the city centre in the afternoon.

Harbour Lodge B&B Kinsale, Co Cork.

open to paying guests) as well as Gortalough and Inneskerr on great grounds on the Rochestown Road, each making about €4m via Lisney in 2004 and 2007. Record for a city house remains Woodlawn, on a several acres in Sunday’s Well, bought for over €5m by a motor dealer as a family home, sold via Marshs who also hold the city’s auction record, standing at €2.7m for Rosenheim, a Georgian villa on the Blackrock Road, sold in 2006 and which has been massively invested in since by its shipping business family owners. The likes of those sales may never be seen again. A ‘mere’ million is something now to aim for.

Ballybrack House, Donnybrook Hill, Cork is a 4,500 sq ft home on the edge of Douglas village, set on 1.8 wooded acres.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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PROPERTY

REVIEW

OF 2011

MARKET

XP1 - V1

PROPERTY

In search of the magic million

Tommy Barker reports

Kitsborough was the biggest house sale in Cork this year, making over €1.5 million, writes Property Editor Tommy Barker

CONTENTS 4/5 TRADED UP We round up some of the year’s better house sales.

STARTERS The budget brings 2012 cheer to firsttime buyers.

7/8 MARKET MOVES NAMA’s role will remain critical to the property market recovery.

10 COVER STORY Marybrook House isn’t just for Christmas, parts date back many centuries.

12 14 19 20 22

INTERIORS DIY HOME ECONOMICS IN THE GARDEN ANTIQUES

they had 60,000 website visits in 2011 via 859 locations in the UK (37% from the Greater London area alone) representing 8% of their total website traffic, from UK investors, and Irish ex-pats.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

The Millpond at Kitsborough, Leemount, Carrigrohane, Co Cork, is a riverside estate of 70 acres, where you could walk your land in the morning and walk into the city centre in the afternoon.

Harbour Lodge B&B Kinsale, Co Cork.

Ballybrack House, Donnybrook Hill, Cork is a 4,500 sq ft home on the edge of Douglas village, set on 1.8 wooded acres.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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Bargains galore in the high-end house market Tommy Barker rounds up some of the movers and shakers in an otherwise depressed year on the domestic property front

OUSE sales stayed slow in 2011, but there were some notable transactions, and some spirited bidding and happy buyers and sellers alike in the mid and upper-markets. In Kerry, one of the top sales was Mori House, a 2,600 sq ft modern early2000s five-bed home, sold at one time for circa €900,000, and making circa €520,000 by late 2011 via Tadg Gallivan. Other than that, most quality house sales were in the €300,000 to €400,000 bracket, says Michael Coghlan, who reported good sites selling for up to €150,000, and with ex-pat interest now being shown, from Britain in particular. For those high-end vendors in Kerry, still thinking that large new-builds on a few acres were worth millions, the sub€2m sale (essentially a lease with option to buy in a few years) by John Brennan, of Dromquinna Manor on 38 waterfront acres in Kenmare, was a salutary reminder of how values have plummeted. The Park Hotel figure aims to do a “glamping” tourism product here, as exclusively reported in the Irish Examiner in April last (see image p 9). Another period home, and tourism product, eventually selling in 2011 was Duninga House in Kilkenny. This 10,000 sq ft partially-restored house, with 14 tax-incentive holiday homes on 48 acres of land, made a little over €1m via Savills and Dominic Daly. Back in Cork city, just a handful of

top Cork city homes came close to the €1m mark (see other story p3 of €1mplus sellers). They included builder Tim Lawton’s A-rated new builds by the CUH, at Bishopstown, with two of four selling for about the €950,000 mark, the second of which is now being finished off, while work will start on the third with a signed contract in place. The five-bed houses are 3,200 sq ft each, finished extremely well. Another builder happy to sell quality product was Killarney-based Brian Gallivan, whose three energy-efficient Innishannon Cork homes at Rosewood Manor sold after an autumn price reduction. The showhouse (which would have been pitched at the €1m mark as the market turned) made between its €475,000 asking price and the €500k mark, while first-time buyers paid €360,000 for a three-bed, 2,250 sq ft detached home at Rosewood. More houses here in the niche village scheme, ten miles west of Cork city will be built “on demand,” say Savills. They also had one of the most viewed second-hand houses: the bungalow Coolfree, in The Orchard off Farranlea Road/Model Farm Road. The four-bed, not flashy but with a wide appeal, had over 60 viewings, four strong approved keen bidders, and went well past its €375,000 guide with Savills to make over €400,000. It was one we noted in our “Verdict” slot only in September “Don’t dither too long, it should be a quick seller.” Thankfully, we didn’t jinx it.

Another bungalow getting almost as many viewings (but needing work) was Marsala, on Dundanion Road in Beaumont: it made in the mid-€300,000s with O’Donoghue Clarke, who also had some good western suburban sales, and good successes too in Monkstown, such as the US-style Woodhaven, with 2,750 sq ft of comfort, making in the mid€600,000s, and the massive period endterrace at 10 Alta Terrace, Monkstown, gone sale agreed at about €450,000, needing modest work, but a worthwhile period gem with huge potential to come right. Back in Cork’s Blackrock, agent Jeremy Murphy sold a large and upgraded three-bed, called Knocknacura, within a month of going to market, on the corner of Blackrock Road and Crab Lane. It made in the low to mid-€500,000s after ten viewings. On Crab Lane, auctioneer Tim Sullivan sold a tired bungalow, called Glenville, on a site with extension potential for well over its asking price of €300,000, after 50 viewings. And, notably “it won’t be knocked, the days of the concrete wrecking ball are almost gone, they’ll work with it,” he says. He also had circa 50 viewings at a period home called Idaville on Victoria Avenue, selling it under its €380k guide. Across the city, the modern house on a hillside perch just west of Sunday’s Well, Ardfionn, finally found a buyer after over two years on the market. When first offered in 2009, the 2,800 sq ft

Left: Ardfionn, west of Sunday’s Well in Cork, sold in the latter half of 2011 for around €700,000. Above: Knocknacurra, Blackrock Road, Cork, was sold for a figure in the low to mid €500,000s.

An A-rated new build near the CUH at Highfield Avenue in Bishopstown, Cork, sold for about the €950,000 mark.

Papers were signed for 10 Alta Terrace, Monkstown, Cork, for about €450,000.

Mori House in Co Kerry which was signed for about €520,000.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

high-spec home had a €1.1m price guide, less than it cost to build on its awkward site with great views. It sold in the latter half of 2011 with joint agents Cohalan Downing and Frank V Murphy for around €700,000. On the opposite end of Sunday’s Well, a total do-er upper called Landscape House sold after 20 fast viewings for around its €220,000 guide via Michael O’Donovan, of Sherry Fitzgerald. Other strong Sherry FitzGerald sales (see also their “sale of the year” on p3) were a modern build at Bayswater, Carrigaline for around €800,000, and its selling agent Ann O’Mahony also had a Charlement Heights Rochestown house make about €575,000. Sherrys also sold a 2,300 sq ft dormer Listarkin, Glenrichmond, Glanmire for under its €569,000 AMV, probably closer to the

Bayswater, Currabinny Road in Carrigaline, Co Cork, which sold in the region of €800,000.

€500,000 level. Making over €700,000 with Dennis Guerin of Frank V Murphy, was a do-er upper, Bruaidhenabarra in Menloe Gardens, Blackrock, a detached house on one of this park’s best sites. It made about €720,000, having had a € 750k asking price. Also selling well for Guerin was an older five-bed, 2,200 sq ft Mount Oval Rochestown red-brick, in the mid €500,000s, as was a Woolhara estate, Douglas Road detached called Tolca, making about €600,000 and needing modernisation. Buyers for almost all of those had been waiting out the market for a couple of years before deciding to buy, he said, but a difficulty for buyers is houses needing work, as banks are reluctant to lend for further expenditure.

Tolca in Woolhara estate, Douglas Road, was sold for about €600,000.

Bruaidhenabarra in Menloe Gardens, Blackrock, made in the region of €720,000.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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Bargains galore in the high-end house market Tommy Barker rounds up some of the movers and shakers in an otherwise depressed year on the domestic property front

Left: Ardfionn, west of Sunday’s Well in Cork, sold in the latter half of 2011 for around €700,000. Above: Knocknacurra, Blackrock Road, Cork, was sold for a figure in the low to mid €500,000s.

An A-rated new build near the CUH at Highfield Avenue in Bishopstown, Cork, sold for about the €950,000 mark.

Papers were signed for 10 Alta Terrace, Monkstown, Cork, for about €450,000.

Mori House in Co Kerry which was signed for about €520,000.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Bayswater, Currabinny Road in Carrigaline, Co Cork, which sold in the region of €800,000.

Tolca in Woolhara estate, Douglas Road, was sold for about €600,000.

Bruaidhenabarra in Menloe Gardens, Blackrock, made in the region of €720,000.

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First-timer’s home help

Getting back to normal

Mortgage relief of 25% is a welcome boon for the young and for Irish property market, writes Trish Dromey HE end of the tunnel may not yet be in sight for the Irish property market, but the offer of 25% mortgage relief to first-time buyers (FTBs) next year has shed a little light in a gloomy place. Designed to stimulate the market, and increase firsttime buyer activity, the mortgage relief measure has been welcomed. Commentators say the budget didn’t free up credit from the banks, which is what is most needed to stimulate the housing market. But amidst all the economic gloom, the looming Euro crisis, and the fallout from a punitive budget, this availability of 25% relief is good news for young couples and singles who want a home of their own. Also encouraging is the fact that mortgage rates have come down. But the main positive for potential buyers is that house prices have continued to fall. The third-quarter figures from the Central Statistics Office show that house prices have fallen by 45% since their highest level in 2007. These figures show a decrease of 53% in Dublin prices and a 42% decrease in the rest of the country during this period. The CSO records a 15% decrease in house prices nationally for the first three quarters of this year just ending. Sherry FitzGerald report an even steeper fall and say that prices have fallen back to 2001 levels. At the end of the third quarter, they reported that houses prices had fallen nationally by 57.5%, and by 62.3 % in Dublin since 2006. They say that between October, 2010 and October, 2011 house prices have fallen by 16.9% nationally. Their figure for Dublin is 18% and 12.9% for Cork. The EBS/DKM affordability index figures released in November showed that the cost of funding a mortgage on a new home for the average FTB working couple stood at 12.4% of joint income. This has come down from a figure of 26.4% in 2006. According to this report, the average house price in September this year was €178,400 nationally, and for FTBs was €148,000. But the key difficulty for many FTBs is that they are unable to take advantage of falling house prices, simply because they cannot get credit from the banks. This is clearly shown by the latest figures from the Irish Banking Federation, with mortgage loans drawn down for the third quarter this year just 50% on the third quarter last year (from €1.24bn to €623m). In 2010, the total figure for mortgages was €4.75bn, while the figure for the first three quarters of this year was €1.82bn. In this contracting mortgage market, first-time buyers have been increasing their share. In the third quarter this year, they accounted for 47% of all mortgages approved, which Irish Banking Federation say is their highest share yet since current records started in 2005. Savills Cork director, Catherine McAuliffe, reports an increase in cash buyers this year and says their sales to first-time buyers in Cork accounted for 40% of the market, while they put the figure nationally at 35%, up on 30% in 2010. “We did see an increase in first-time buyer activity before the budget and we are now expecting an increase in the new year because of new mortgage interest relief,” she says. Given that first-time buyers are taking the major share of mortgages, it might have been expected that they were increasing their share of house purchases. However, in its third-quarter report Sherry FitzGerald says the FTB share of purchases has dropped, due to an increase in activity of other owner-occupiers who are both trading up and down. This increase is mainly due to the reduction in stamp duty in the previous year’s budget. “First-time buyers are still the most active cohort, but have decreased from 51% last year to 38%, while in Dublin the figure is 27%,” says Sherry FitzGerald’s chief economist, Marian Finnegan.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Opportunities and value all over the country for first time buyers.

She says that there has been an increase in cash buyers and that 28% of active buyers registered with Sherry FitzGerald now have cash. Given the decline in the level of mortgage approval, it might have been expected that overall sales would be down, but because of the increase in cash buyers, Finnegan says Sherry FitzGerald has not found this to be the case. “Overall sales are largely on par with 2010, and in Cork sales are forecast to be up 15% on 2010 by the year end,” she says. While welcoming the new mortgage interest relief measures for first-time buyers, Finnegan has been critical of the Government for not using the budget to introduce specific residential lending targets for the banks. She says that this is the way to restore the market to normality, which she says has now over-corrected. “The banks have been recapitalised, they should be able to lend,” she says. Given that prices are still falling, commentators have mostly given up predicting when the market will bottom out, but most say it will be difficult for this to happen until the freeze on mortgage lending ends. For 2012, FTBs with mortgage approval can take advantage of the reduced prices and increased

mortgage interest relief. Meanwhile, would-be FTBs who are waiting either for mortgage approval, or for the market to bottom out, will be watching very carefully.

“The EBS/DKM affordability index figures released in November showed that the cost of funding a mortgage on a new home for the average first-time buyer working couple stood at 12.4% of joint income. This has come down from a figure of 26.4% in 2006.”

Building and sales have continued in schemes like Manor Farm in Lehenaghbeg in Cork.

NAMA has to engage with the market in 2012 and funding for buyers must improve, writes Peter O’Flynn

AST year I predicted here that there would be opportunities in the market and NAMA would start disposing of its Irish portfolio: unfortunately my prediction was not fulfilled. It may not be politically correct, and is certainly not a media friendly message to portray, but Ireland is in need of a functioning property market which will assist in the national economic recovery. We will never go back to the poorly managed position where such a high percentage of public funds was derived from the construction industry, but the pendulum has now swung in the opposite direction which is equally unhealthy from an economic stand point. The reality is a functioning property industry encourages construction and this generates employment. Transactions in the commercial property sector have all been at a standstill since 2008 with the lack of confidence coinciding with the Government’s (two governments) lack of action towards the proposed changes to the retrospective upward only rent reviews. The biggest challenge within the sector is that the property industry is now almost totally dependent on government and, by extension, NAMA. With a directive from government to continue the disposal of Irish property and slash €7.5 billion off its €13bn debt by the end of 2013, NAMA has to engage with the market in 2012. NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh publicly stated they would not be disposing of any assets at more then a 10% discount on their purchase price in November 2009. Realistically, prices in real terms have fallen 20% since that date so we can see this as an obvious problem for the market place. The Government in some of their budget decisions have obviously tried to add some stimulus to the market place and as an essential industry these have generally been welcomed. The political games had to be played on the rent review issue, but the correct decision has finally been made. Any international investment funds looking at Ireland were never going to invest until this issue was off the table. The other measures introduced, including the reduction in stamp duty, capital gains tax incentives and mortgage interest reliefs, should assist in the reengagement of the Irish property market. We are now close, if not at the bottom of the market, with all property values down between 50%-60% across the board which, in addition to the other stimulus, should look attractive to investors. The principal difficulty that will remain is funding. NAMA will assist in some of the larger acquisitions, but unless we have a healthy and active banking system in place, the funding will remain a problem going forward. Understanding that Irish bank balances are still over-invested in property, you

Grape of Wrath: Like Ireland, Greece has its own NAMA — only in its case, it is a sweet red wine, popular on the island of Santorini. Ironically, here in Ireland, the best blog on NAMA is called — of all things — namawinelake.wordpress.com Picture: Denis Scannell

can see their reluctance to reengage at any significant level. The introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS), part of the Fine Gael election manifesto, would certainly help in allowing investors getting involved at a lower level of investment and bring capital to the property market outside the standard banking system. These are common in many countries around Europe and the US and are professional managed funds which can form part of an investment portfolio, working in parallel with more traditional pension funds. Indeed many pension funds invest in REITS as part of their overall portfolios. Unless we can look at alternatives such as REITS, funding will remain one of the major obstacles. The main ingredients for recovery of both the commercial and residential property sectors will continue to be affordability, funding, demand and continued population growth. For instance, in the 3rd generation office market in Cork city centre, we are already beginning to see a shortage in terms of supply, however, construction costs are now substantially higher then prevailing prices and this will inevitability lead to some price increases in the long term. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remains critically important to Ireland in terms of the export market and attracting new employment driven industry. The Government, IDA, Enterprise Boards and local interests remain active in

trying to attract new FDI to their specific regions. One element of this that is starting to become a problem is the provision of good quality 3rd generation office space being available for these enquiries when they arise. The lead in period tends to be between 3-6 months and if product is not in place for viewing at the initial stage it is highly unlikely the location will remain on the list of possibilities. In an industry where effective development has all but ceased, this will become a real issue going forward for Ireland as an attractive FDI location. Construction activity has all but ceased in both the industrial and office markets in Cork, Galway and Limerick. The only active site in Cork is City Gate in Mahon where 200,000 sq ft of offices is currently under construction, with a third of this already accounted for by Quest Computing, the leading management information system specialists. In the Cork market, levels of uptake in office space for 2011 will be in the region of 12,000 sq m. However, with a number of strong enquiries currently in the market we would expect this to increase to over 15,000 sq m for 2012. The industrial market remains weak and although the uptake for 2011 will be in the region of 15,000 sq m, rents and capital values have plummeted sharply from their peak level. Unfortunately, 2012 will remain difficult, but there will certainly be opportunities in this market as any product for sale in this

sector will inevitability be at competitive levels. The retail market, the most vocal in terms of its opposite to the upward only rent reviews, has actually preformed reasonably well in the Cork market, and although there are vacancies in secondary areas, the prime locations have remained popular, albeit at much reduced rents. Although relationships between landlord and tenants will have been tested over the last few years, the reality is if landlords are not prepared to be reasonable in terms of their negotiations with tenants, they will end up having empty units, which is the last thing required in the current market. The German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, and Tesco have remained active throughout 2011 and the big story for the retail market for 2011 was the acquisition of Superquinn by the Musgrave Group. A mood of cautious optimism is now prevailing in commercial property markets. The budget has certainly helped in terms of providing some stimulus to investors and NAMA have clearly directed their borrowers to place portions of their portfolios for sale on the market in 2012. The challenge to the industry will be to find the purchasers with the financial backing in place.

■ Peter O’Flynn is a director of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald based in Cork.

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First-timer’s home help

Getting back to normal

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Opportunities and value all over the country for first time buyers.

mortgage interest relief. Meanwhile, would-be FTBs who are waiting either for mortgage approval, or for the market to bottom out, will be watching very carefully.

Building and sales have continued in schemes like Manor Farm in Lehenaghbeg in Cork.

NAMA has to engage with the market in 2012 and funding for buyers must improve, writes Peter O’Flynn

■ Peter O’Flynn is a director of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald based in Cork.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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PROPERTY

Hopes for 2012 activity Budget 2012 has offered a lifeline to the property market and has the potential to bring about much-needed stability and confidence to a sector which has been hard hit in recent years, writes PJ Power

DEQUATE access to finance, transparency around real property prices and enhanced consumer protection and regulation of estate agents, coupled with the Budget 2012 incentives, have the potential to put our property market on a sound footing for the future. The budget measures to increase mortgage interest relief of up to €5,000 per year for seven years for firsttime buyers in 2012 was unexpected, and, along with historically-low interest rates, provides a compelling reason for first-time buyers to consider buying their own homes. However, access to finance remains the key issue. According to the recent Irish Banking Federation/ PwC Mortgage Market Profile, the volume of lending in quarter-three of 2011 was down 50% compared to the previous year. And while we welcome the recent announcement that Bank of Ireland will make €1.5bn in loans available for first-time buyers, it remains to be seen how many will be granted mortgages. While no one wants a repeat of the frenzied demand for mortgage and properties witnessed during the boom years, a return to normal levels of demand is necessary for any properly-functioning economy. Transparency in the property market is clearly needed to provide consumers with confidence and certainty. The CSO Residential House Price Index for October, 2011 reported that property prices in Dublin were down 51% since the peak in 2007, and 42% throughout the rest of Ireland. The experience of many members of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, who are auctioneers, is that selling prices are even lower, at around 60%, and even further in some parts of the Munster region, where prices are down by up to 70% in some locations. While we have many reports of property prices, some of which are based on asking prices, what consumers need is access to real transaction prices. The Property Services (Regulation) Bill, 2009, which is due to be enacted before the end of the year, will provide for the establishment of a National Property Price Register. This register will list actual property sales prices and will be available online for the public. This data is available in Britain and many other European countries and it is long overdue in Ireland. This information, when integrated with other spatial and economic data, should provide a better foundation for planning for future development in Ireland. The Property Services Bill will also license and regulate auctioneers, estate agents, and, for the first time, property management agents. The bill, once passed into legislation, will establish the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) on a statutory basis. While the PSRA was set up several years ago, it did not have the statutory powers to regulate and investigate consumer complaints. The society welcomes this as it will require higher standards in the property services sector, which are needed more than ever. The decision by the minister to reduce stamp duty on commercial property from 6% to 2%, and not to interfere with existing lease contracts, gives a strong signal to international investors that Ireland is open for business. Previously, the commercial property market was at a standstill compared to only a few years ago and this was largely due to the uncertainty around rent-review clauses in pre-2010 leases, as well as a lack of access to finance. According to research by CBRE, investment levels dropped to about €180m in 2011, compared to €3bn in 2006. The SCSI expects the new measures will stimulate the market and boost investment and employment opportunities. While the decision to retain upwards-only rent reviews in pre-2010 leases was not welcomed by retailers, we would encourage tenants who are in serious financial difficulties to engage with landlords.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Up to 2,000 jobs will be based in City Gate, Mahon, Cork when phase 11 now under speedy construction will be finished in 2012. The €50 million block seen here is 40% committed, with Quest Softwear taking 80,000 sq ft for 150 workers by August, capable of swelling to 500 staff.

Left: Earlier in 2011, Apple leased the top two floors of Owen O’Callaghan’s €75 million Half Moon Street building for 350 new staff. Right: The Opera site in Limerick city centre is being bought from NAMA by Limerick City Council for €12.5 million for a publicly-backed civic and residential development. It was assembled at a cost of over €100 million for a retail-led and Anglo-backed project, spearheaded by developers Terry Sweeney, Jerry O’Reilly and David Courtney.

The new NAMA guidance note, available on its website, should also help. The €100 household charge introduced in the budget was inevitable and well-flagged, and while it is another imposition on hard-pressed homeowners, it should provide a more sustainable and stable source of funding for the exchequer than that provided by stamp duty, which was dependent on the level of transactions. Furthermore, the income from the levy should be ring-fenced for local government, and the public should see an improvement in the services delivered as a result. At a regional level, we believe that it is essential that local authorities have adequate funding to support the delivery of local services and key developments. In Limerick, plans to redevelop the Opera site have been welcomed as a boost to the city, and the merger of Limerick city and county councils will ensure that the overall management of Limerick will be more progressive under one local authority. In Cork, the final publication of the Local Area Plan is expected imminently and it is interesting to note that “de-zoning” of land has taken place in some peripheral locations, while flooding issues have also been addressed, to some degree, in accordance with recent government directives Members of the Society of Chartered Surveyors in the mid-west region have made a formal submission in respect of the master plan presently being prepared by the Shannon Foynes Port Company in relation to the Shannon estuary. This includes a series of

recommendations to put in place a definite land-use plan to accommodate further, future expansion and development of the estuary with a view to attracting investment and industry. Environment Minister Phil Hogan recently addressed SCSI members and reiterated the need for higher standards in construction, and we welcome his announcements of measures to improve compliance with building regulations as part of a more rigorous inspection regime. British building pathology expert Professor Malcolm Hollis says regulation, developed for the protection of the consumer, should be enforced to the highest of standards and recommends that a system, similar to that used in Britain, be adopted in Ireland, whereby approved independent inspectors work with the developer before, during and after construction to ensure a stringent approach to compliance with building regulations. While we appreciate the fact that local authorities are starved of resources, perhaps funds raised from the new household charge could finance their role in ensuring supervision and inspection of projects throughout the construction process. This is essential if situations like the one we have seen in Priory Hall recently are to be avoided in future. ■ PJ Power is chair of the southern region of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, recently formed as a result of a merger between the Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCS) and the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI). Its role is to enhance, advance and enforce professional standards in property, land and construction in Ireland.

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PROPERTY

Focus on country homes There are encouraging signs of an appetite for Irish country houses, writes Michael H Daniels

Pictures: Denis Scannell

LTHOUGH acknowledging the Irish economy is in rough shape, the New York Times commented this month that many are pointing to us as a model for how to get out of trouble — as Europe’s leaders scramble to overcome the continent’s debt problems. Recent praise too from Merkel and Sarkozy… “an outstanding example” and “almost out of the crisis”. A nice change for us to be perceived as anything but an economic basket case fit only for ridicule. Then again, we had obligingly just coughed up billions when ‘asked’ to by our friendly European bank bondholders, who had helped us make that same basket with decades of cheap credit. All markets crave stability and we are showing the world that we are willing to take the hair shirt, just as the Greeks have shown they are not. The medicine has been beyond unpalatable, and the human cost brutal, with a real threat of too much damage being done to the economy with so much belt-tightening. It is stability that breeds confidence and there is a real sense that if the eurozone debt crisis can be solved, the scales could tip from property bust to property opportunity. It is hard to imagine that there are prospective international buyers looking at buying in Ireland — as we suffer with flagellation and penance for our collective sins — but there are signs of an appetite for Irish country property returning from home and foreign shores. Dr Sean Kay, a professor of politics at Ohio University and the author of a recent book examining our crisis, was also quoted by the New York Times — “The Irish are being praised for doing what they were asked to do, which is important for bringing investors back to the country“. In an undoubted statement of confidence, a highlight this year was the sale of Coolmore House in Kilkenny with 250 acres for a figure believed to be in the €3.25 million region to a Hong Kong businessman. To invest such a sum in a shattered market takes courage, yet the buyer and the vast majority of agents would agree that this deal was excellent value for money. The ideal of a Georgian house with acres is still alive for those with necessary funds and footloose aspirations. Those with Irish blood abroad and who still dream of a return are now moving to take advantage of the huge reduction in prices which have seen entry levels plummet from around € €1.5m to €500,000 for a good period house with some acres. Prices at the top end of the market have fallen with jaw dropping speed for three years………down 25% in Dublin in the last year, according to Knight Frank’s Prime International Index, some way behind Dubai where values fell by 10%. We are now at levels where the attraction of purchasing is perceived as beginning to equal if not outweigh the risk of further falls.

The agricultural land market is tied closely to the country house market. In marked contrast, 2011 may well be seen as the year in which land prices bottomed out as there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they may come back strongly in the coming year. The mattress money salted away prior to the crash and sitting idle since is beginning to find a home again in land — the alternatives are far from attractive, as few of the certainties in life remain untouched by the current recession. The herd mentality hard-wired into all of us dictates that we buy when everyone is buying and sell when everyone is selling. However, it is the clever money that manages to jump the circuit, and there are indications that there is a gathering demand building for country property. This has yet to transform intovisible sales data, but it has always been difficult to read the sector due to the peculiar qualities pertaining to it even in ‘normal’ as the country house market is able to operate where a sizeable percentage of properties for sale are not actually advertised or promoted to the open market. Foreign buyers are almost always surprised by this, expecting a plethora of opportunities such as those which adorn the glossy pages of the UK bible, Country Life. This off-market approach, where perhaps as much as 60 % of the available stock is not offered to the open market, has always been an important facet of the country market, but the proportion offered via the private market has shot up in recent times for a number of reasons. The main reason is that sales can be achieved this way and it is certainly less painful if a bid can be achieved in confidence. The market is very thin with

While not quite country estates, the sales in 2011 of two period properties with tourism potential shows the drop in values for country pads with land. Left: Kerry’s superbly-sited Dromquinna Manor’s lease/purchase was agreed at a sub€2 million sum by John Brennan, of RTÉ and Park Hotel Kenmare fame, who intends to run an upmarket camping or glamping venture there. Right: In Kilkenny the 10,000 sq ft Duninga House, Goresbridge, with 14 tax incentive rental holiday homes on 48 acres of land, made under its revised €1.25 m guide via Savills and Dominic Daly.

Coolmore House, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny which was reportedly sold for about €3.25m to a Hong Kong businessman this year.

an overall stock of few properties in the prime areas of demand; as compared to other European countries — it is also very specialised in terms of agents who actually cover the market. To be on the market is often seen as weakening one’s position with an almost automatic but incorrect assumption that there is pressure to sell. The risk of being stuck on the market, in full view for a considerable time, is not a pleasant prospect as is the probable attraction of overzealous parties wishing to press unwelcome ‘distressed-auction’ level bids. It takes courage and perseverance for foreign buyers to find and buy here, where things are rarely certain, even for initiated big-hitting buyers used to negotiating on their own terms. Both parties are hampered by the lack of a price register, which can serve only to erode the confidence of both parties to deal — often vendors are reluctant, casting nostalgic glances to the past whilst buyers try to bring their ‘buyer’s market’ hardball ‘A’ game into play. The offmarket property often has no official price whilst the buyer has little or no on-market evidence against which to weigh an offer. This leads to considerable casualties amongst overseas buyers who are defeated by this process. There is too little clarity for them, coupled with the unrelenting backdrop of negativity they encounter from many advisors. Undoubtedly the fall in house prices has been exacerbated by a lack of facts and figures — just as the crazy rise in the bubble years was. The price crash is also now in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby those who cannot see an end to the fall in prices will surely ensure that this is the case. Although some of the cloak of secrecy will be lifted by such a move, the setting up of a property price register will be a most welcome development and can only instil confidence and trust in the market at a time when it needs it most. ■ Michael Daniels, SCSI, is the principal of Michael H Daniels & Co., country house specialists, based in Fermoy, Co Cork. www.michaelhdaniels.com

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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PROPERTY

Focus on country homes There are encouraging signs of an appetite for Irish country houses, writes Michael H Daniels

Pictures: Denis Scannell

Coolmore House, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny which was reportedly sold for about €3.25m to a Hong Kong businessman this year.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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COVER STORY

Labour of love reaps the rewards at period mansion

Location: Price: Size: Bedrooms: BER rating: Broadband

Kanturk, Cork €750,000 327 sq m (3,500 sq ft) 4 Exempt Yes

Peeling away layers of history, a renowned conservation engineer has restored an old world gem to its original splendour, reports Laurie O’Flynn

OU have the comfort of Georgian living but with the medieval option of pouring hot oil on unwanted visitors at Marybrook House on 13 acres just outside Kanturk, Co Cork, where its history dates back almost 500 years. The original building of 1550 was a fortified tower on a manor farm believed to serve the Knights Templar. Almost 200 years later it became a Georgian farmhouse, and has changed very little since then. In 2007, the perfect match was made when conservation engineer Chris Southgate moved in and undertook to return the property to its former glory. “I loved it for its history and architecture and the fact it was virtually untouched. It had been re-roofed so it was in reasonable structural condition and at 3,500 sq ft, it was small enough to handle,” he said. It was Marybrook’s certified organic farm and the centuries’ old parkland trees that attracted Southgate’s wife Karen, who also has ample experience in renovating period houses, just for the love of it. Comparing today’s external photographs of Marybrook House to those taken four years ago, there are some positive changes. Three bricked-up windows have been opened, the windows and shutters have all been replaced and a new front door installed based on the remnants of the 19th century one found in the hen house. Fragments of an earlier 17th century door were also discovered there but not enough to reconstruct. The chimneys have also been rebuilt as well as a wall bordering what was once a terraced garden at the front. Bringing the property up to the 21st century are the broadband

Pictures: Denis Scannell and satellite dishes. The main visible changes inside are the removal of 17 tons of debris from the dining room to reveal an Inglenook fireplace, and the completion of the top floor which had never been plastered or sub-divided. Some air-to-air heaters have also appeared in the rooms, but there isn’t a wire or a water pipe in site, as they are all housed in an alcove at one end

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

of the house, well out of sight. All of the work on the house itself is now complete, according to Southgate. What remains to do, however, is restore the terraced and walled gardens as well as a 17th century cottage on the grounds, which has been partially conserved. There is the potential to get Section 482 status should a new owner wish to take these on, allowing

for tax relief in respect of expenditure incurred on repair, maintenance or restoration. The very thought of living in a tower-cum-farmhouse conjures up images of thick, cold walls and dark rooms. Not so in this case. Because the house is one room deep, there are windows of generous proportions on more than one side in most rooms which warms the surprisingly bright building. Southgate describes the restoration process as ‘a forensic examination of the fabric of the building’, which revealed some interesting finds including one window dating from 1630 and believed to be one of the earliest ever recorded in Ireland. Also, while repairing cornicing in the dining room, plaster from the 1580s was found behind them. “It was like peeling away layers of history,” he said. Although possessing an impressive history, today Marybrook is a compact family home. The ground floor has the bright, cosy kitchen with a Waterford Stanley range, the dining room, which is in the original tower house with an Inglenook fireplace and bread oven, and the sitting room, with a Wyatt window overlooking the small river that flows by the property. The floorboards show evidence of another huge fireplace in this room, which the owners have decided to leave closed. They also discovered a collapsed arch, similar to those found in Kanturk Castle just a few miles away. On the first floor is the master bedroom, which has three large windows, a library with a wood burning stove and the main bathroom, with an impressive free-standing bathtub. The top floor of Marybrook

was built in 1820 but never finished or occupied so it gave the owners the opportunity to finish and insulate it to modern standards. This level has three bedrooms and a bathroom off which is a walk-in hotpress. There are two sources for heating the house, oil and an air-to-air heat pump, which can be switched on and off in individual rooms. According to Karen

Southgate, so far the heating costs the same as a three bed semi-d. The basement is under the dining room and is a perfect wine cellar. Marybrook has some of the oldest farm buildings in Munster, and they are all fully restored and functional. There is a lofted cow shed, three stables with direct access to the apple orchard, and a coach

house. There is also a polytunnel. The 13 acres of organic land is in REPS at present with two years left in the scheme. Wood is in plentiful supply while also on the grounds are a 17th century fish pond, a spring well and a small river. Chris and Karen Southgate have preserved Marybrook, hopefully, for another few hundred years, and

all future owners need to do is remember to paint the windows. The property is on the market with Kanturk auctioneer, Liam Murphy, who is quoting an asking price of €750,000.

“Although possessing an impressive history today Marybrook is a compact family home”

VERDICT: Painstaking renovation, overseen by one of the country’s acknowledged conservation specialists.

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COVER STORY

Labour of love reaps the rewards at period mansion

Location: Price: Size: Bedrooms: BER rating: Broadband

Kanturk, Cork €750,000 327 sq m (3,500 sq ft) 4 Exempt Yes

Peeling away layers of history, a renowned conservation engineer has restored an old world gem to its original splendour, reports Laurie O’Flynn

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

all future owners need to do is remember to paint the windows. The property is on the market with Kanturk auctioneer, Liam Murphy, who is quoting an asking price of €750,000.

“Although possessing an impressive history today Marybrook is a compact family home”

VERDICT: Painstaking renovation, overseen by one of the country’s acknowledged conservation specialists.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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INTERIORS

We take a detailed look at one aspect of the home every week ...

GORGEOUS GIFTS

Yule spree

This week we love... ■ A beautifully crafted object makes a gift for life that can be passed on to future generations and doesn’t have to cost the earth. The Lavit Gallery, Cork has a Christmas exhibition of Irish craft available to buy, starting at €3.50, and runs until December 25.

Presents to woo a goddess

Carol O’Callaghan looks at affordable festive gifts that even friends who are not house proud will welcome

even shopping days to Christmas: does it fill you with

horror? If it does, then it’s likely you’ll rush to the shops, and without the luxury of time for afternoons of traipsing around the stores, gift-buying won’t come cheap, as battling with the ever-growing crowds will force you into making impulse purchases, just to get the process over with as quickly as possible. At a time when money is short for lots of people, why not simply ask friends and family what they want, instead of buying a load of old toot they’ll send to the charity shop as soon as Christmas is over. But if you enjoy the element of surprise, buy them something for their home so at least it’s likely to be practical and useful, and to get some satisfaction from the process, see how far you can get with an under €25 budget. It’s amazing the fantastic things you can pick up quickly and affordably rather than throwing the credit card at costly items just to get the job done. Although it’s a bit late for internet shopping, do use this valuable research facility to check what’s in the shops. Many websites allow you to shop not only by category, but by price range too. Another option is to pick up store catalogues, after which you can compile your list of gifts recipients and intended purchases, and plan your route from one end of the main street to the other. Also, make sure

Treat your domestic god or goddess to a practical and stylish product to add a little wow to their table.

Timothy Sillery’s salt and pepper cellars are a novel take on this rather humble tabletop item. Made from cast porcelain, they cost €22 each at I Heart Design.

Above: Some handy kitchen kit makes a very welcome gift like on-trend striped tea-towels (€13 for two), a retro weighing scale (€25) and some matching acrylic and wood storage jars (from €8). All at M&S. Left: Give a practical but humorous gift with a dog doorstop or draft excluder (from Heatons €10 each).

Designer mugs make a lovely stocking-filler or gift when visiting friends over the holidays (Orla Kiely Stem mug €10.95 at Kilkenny and Brown Thomas).

A beautiful candlestick like the Loop makes a striking statement on the table or mantlepiece (€23 from Pop Up Market, Cork).

Practical treats for Christmas You can never have enough practical textiles like tea-towels and oven gloves at Christmas so they’ll always be a welcome gift.

Buy someone you love an Aga — oven glove set that is (€27 from Aga stores nationwide).

Tea pots and cosies are back. The Country Cottage Collection by Rachel Allen includes a charming set of four mugs (€20) and a traditional cosy (€15). From Blarney Woollen Mills. Table settings make a lovely gift. Opt for a non-traditional theme so it’s usable all year round (heart napkin ring €3.95, black plate €7.95, dinner plate €6 at Meadows & Byrne).

you have a reward planned once the shopping is complete: the thought of a creamy latté and cupcake, perhaps, or a late afternoon glass of wine will make you move faster and get the job done more quickly. And don’t forget to don a comfortable pair of shoes, and a coat with a hood. If it’s raining you’ll want both hands free for lugging bags and not

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

want to deal with an unwieldy umbrella. Even friends who are not necessarily house proud will welcome something practical, especially if it is of particular value during the Christmas season. Consider a pair of lovely china mugs, as contemporary or traditional in shape and pattern as you wish for you and a friend to share

a leisurely pot of tea together. Or for a domestic goddess of your acquaintance, opt for a cake stand as a way of making Christmas and Madeira cakes look special when the table is set for tea. Cloth napkins mean more laundry but they’re lovely on Christmas day or other special occasions and make a lovely gift rolled together and tied

with a ribbon. Do consider the recipient’s interior colour scheme and remember that while blue may be your favourite colour, your present is destined for the re-gifting box if the recipient is a fan of reds and burgundies. A very successful gift, if you lack inspiration, is the home interiors lucky bag. Get a small gift bag and fill it with three or

four useful items including fancy paper napkins, a candle, a tea-towel and an unusual Christmas decoration. Just a quick swoop on your favourite home interiors store will provide the lot.

■ We’ll be back after the festive season on January 7, with details of all the new colour trends for 2012.

The Onion for M&S shows tea-towels don’t have to be dull and boring (€12 for three).

Pop an apron or some stylish tea-towels and pot stands into a gift bag with a few other interiors goodies and take them to a friend’s house when visiting (apron €9.59, pot stands €2.59 for two, tea-towels from €4.39 for two from Ikea).

You’ll need somewhere to store extra laundry or pop this hessian basket in your guest room (€21.95 from Meadows & Byrne).

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INTERIORS

We take a detailed look at one aspect of the home every week ...

GORGEOUS GIFTS

Yule spree

Presents to woo a goddess

Carol O’Callaghan looks at affordable festive gifts that even friends who are not house proud will welcome

even shopping days to Christmas: does it fill you with

Treat your domestic god or goddess to a practical and stylish product to add a little wow to their table.

Timothy Sillery’s salt and pepper cellars are a novel take on this rather humble tabletop item. Made from cast porcelain, they cost €22 each at I Heart Design.

Designer mugs make a lovely stocking-filler or gift when visiting friends over the holidays (Orla Kiely Stem mug €10.95 at Kilkenny and Brown Thomas).

A beautiful candlestick like the Loop makes a striking statement on the table or mantlepiece (€23 from Pop Up Market, Cork).

Practical treats for Christmas You can never have enough practical textiles like tea-towels and oven gloves at Christmas so they’ll always be a welcome gift.

Buy someone you love an Aga — oven glove set that is (€27 from Aga stores nationwide).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

four useful items including fancy paper napkins, a candle, a tea-towel and an unusual Christmas decoration. Just a quick swoop on your favourite home interiors store will provide the lot.

■ We’ll be back after the festive season on January 7, with details of all the new colour trends for 2012.

The Onion for M&S shows tea-towels don’t have to be dull and boring (€12 for three).

You’ll need somewhere to store extra laundry or pop this hessian basket in your guest room (€21.95 from Meadows & Byrne).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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DIY

PUT YOURSELF IN MOOD FOR THE NEW YEAR

DIYTIPS

Make your own jam-jar snow globes for festive season

With the children climbing the walls on their school holidays, defuse the tension with this family craft project to make your own snow globes out of old jars. Ensure the jars are watertight! A collection in different sizes will look wonderful backlit by a lamp or on a windowsill. WHAT YOU NEED: ■ Some medium to large wide mouthed glass jars with screw lids ■ Distilled water (ask the local chemist)

Using a mood board can help you help inspire you to reinventing your home’s interiors, writes Kya deLongchamps

E’RE teetering on the brink of the year’s end, so what’s in store for your home for 2012? With the economy still in flux, it’s easy to become utterly discouraged at throwing time, energy and money at a property, but realising any dream has to start somewhere. In terms of interior design, a mood board provides a practical and inspirational way to sort and archive your ideas. Even where the funds, or even the space is not yet available to take action on one room or an entire extension, visualisation left on show will not only keep the dream alive but can subconsciously propel you forward towards what you want. You can find colours, shapes, designers and entire lifestyle schemes from the huge pool of free and inexpensive resources all around you. What better time to quietly distil your own high personal plans for future improvements? Starting with a board limits expensive mistakes by keeping your aspirational canvas firmly in the planning stages before you invest real money in materials and labour. THE BOARD

You need something big enough to take lots of samples, from paper ephemera to paint splotches, but light enough to carry around from room to room (more of that later), so consider something at least A3 in heavy cardstock or a wipe board. The best way to assemble a mood-board is using horizontal layers that correspond roughly to the levels in the room, from the flooring, through the furnishings, with window treatments, lighting and accessories moving up the board, so we need something square or politely rectangular. A glue-stick, double-sided tape, or even poster putty is fine for sticking things to the board, and keep in mind you may be moving the components around as your ideas ebb, flow and develop. The only other thing you need is a folder to keep your gathered material in, and perhaps an old ice-cream carton or something for paint sample pots or anything larger. A digital camera is useful, as you can snap not only things you see, but things you already own can be photographed and turned into images with contributing shapes and colours to add to the board.

■ A drop of glycerine (no more, it’s just to slow the glitter) ■ Clear drying epoxy crafting style glue ■ Some seasonal plastic figures used for cake decorations, trees, houses, snowmen etc. Metal ones will rust

HUNTER GATHERER

■ Packets of glitter ■ A little enamel paint

It’s time to release your inner magpie. If you find yourself drawn to the colours in anything from a favourite painting to an old rug with a compelling grouping of shade and textures, this may be the place to start. We all have a very individual eye, so whereas a whole room put together in a magazine may contribute to your fantasy, don’t ignore your response to things closer to home. If it’s a large item or an illustration fastened into a book, try photographing it and getting the colours as close to life as possible on your PC, before printing it out in a manageable image size. If there’s a pattern, think about scale in relation to the other items on the board. Room sets, or what are termed ‘lifestyle images’ in print, online and in catalogues, can short-circuit the aesthetic safari, offering classic combinations of colours and accessories. Again, tear or photograph and print them out, keeping a copy in your folder. There may be one thing you can build the room around, or you may be in for a more leisurely wander over weeks and even months putting together a stage all your own. Most fabric and wallpaper merchants are delighted to provide a small snip of material, and if you want a larger area of paint colour to consider, pick up a sample pot rather than squinting at a small tablet on a colour card. Online sample colours can vary according to your PC monitor, so go for real renditions rather than electronic ones where possible.

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Paint the outside of the lids white, red or green to keep in the Christmas theme. Allow to dry. Give the inside of the lid a little sand with paper or an emery board for a ‘key’ . Using your epoxy glue fix the figures onto inside face of the lid. Fill the jar with distilled water and add a drop of glycerine. Pour in some glitter. Screw on the lid and invert. Check for leaks.

Q&A Finding the balance. Before you take to a dramatic scheme like this, sketch out the colour story on your mood board in tester pots, using what’s left for a wall test. Milk White, Fresh Cream and Purple Passion from Crown Paints. €24.00 for 2.5 litres.

This handmade Tree of Life Rug is inspired by renowned symbolist artist Gustav Klimt and made in Kashmir. A strong beautiful piece, perfect for kicking off an entire scheme on your board. £345 (size 180 x 120cm) Cushions from £39.95. Iapestus.co.uk.

Print furniture out to a relative size to the other key ingredients using a photocopier to get the scale right. If you’re going with one wall colour, just paint the entire mood-board with the tester pot, otherwise split the board into proportionate areas to say take in a feature wall too. Once you’ve fixed everything onto the board, you can take it to the room and leave it in place to catch daylight and

artificial light over the course of the days, while your dreams percolate over the sherry and Christmas pudding. You may be pleased or disappointed, and if there may be still more diminutive lifting and shifting to do, but guess what? You haven’t spent more than a few euros and the promise of a whole New Year lies ahead to get it just right. ■ Have a wonderful Christmas — Kya.

Do you have a DIY question you would like answered? Send it to interiors@examiner.ie

Q. Is there any computer planning tool I can use to virtually move my furniture around on a plan before actually lifting and shifting it in real life? A. The one I would recommend for starters would be Arrange-A-Room, provided by Better Homes & Gardens (BHG). It allows you to pick a room size close to your own, and choose from a huge gallery of furniture and accessories. Ensure you duck the email updates if you don’t want them by clicking on the form. www.bhg.com/ decorating/arrange-a-room.

ASSEMBLING THE DREAM Before lashing anything into place, take some of your chosen materials and using the layering technique or floor to ceiling, lay them out on a large table. Move them around. Accessory colours, such as cushions, lamps, metallics, etc., can be scattered around the collection more loosely. If there’s something that’s going to take up a lot of visual realestate in the room, such as wall colour or a sofa fabric, physically take it to the space and consider it in the light thrown on it at different times of the day. Fabrics and paint can react in surprisingly lively ways to a room’s colour temperature. The quantity of colour one thing delivers will count to the overall finish, so we’ll put more area of sample on the board if there’s going to be more of it in the room to see how things balance.

Cover the table before you start as this can be messy.

Q. I’m having trouble selecting the right colour for my dining room walls. I have a rug I want to take a scheme from. Ideas? A. Try Dulux’s Colour Click. Order a ‘frame’ online, place it over an area of the rug and take a digital image including the whole frame. Upload it and the team at Dulux will suggest the closest matches from their ranges. http://www.dulux.co.uk/colours/ colourclick

Q. Can I design my own extension using PC software?

This stunning Scandinavian room promises Spring in the Archipelagos and is dominated by a strong vertical stripe. On a board the ratio of the heavy stripes would reflect its presence in the room. Furnishings from the Newport collection at Soul, Beacon South Quarter, Dublin. www.soullifestyle.ie.

A. Well, you can start, but I would suggest using any computer aided design (CAD) as an introduction to working with your architect. Their software will be more sophisticated and their ideas based on professional experience. For sketching out your thoughts try www.floorplanner.com for a free introductory tool.

An example of a Dulux shade on its colour click website under the Fresh Reds section.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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DIY

PUT YOURSELF IN MOOD FOR THE NEW YEAR

DIYTIPS

Make your own jam-jar snow globes for festive season

Using a mood board can help you help inspire you to reinventing your home’s interiors, writes Kya deLongchamps

HUNTER GATHERER

■ Packets of glitter ■ A little enamel paint

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

Do you have a DIY question you would like answered? Send it to interiors@examiner.ie

Cover the table before you start as this can be messy.

Q. Can I design my own extension using PC software?

An example of a Dulux shade on its colour click website under the Fresh Reds section.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 17.12.2011

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WISH LIST

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Have you been naughty or nice? Ask Santa to fill your stocking with something from Carol O’Callaghan’s wish list.

Your turkey and ham will go further if you have a good sharp knife to cut even slivers. Check out the Aga carving knife and fork set (€56.95 from Aga stores nationwide).

Give a young visitor the job of handing around biscuits from the Santa Claus cookie holder (€12.95 from Carrig Donn). A new development in dishwashing is the introduction of cleaning with steam which claims a better quality clean with effective removal of burnt on food and stubborn stains (€949.99 Sound Store and Harvey Norman).

The Bird placemat by Linum is finished in a naive-style motif giving the traditional bird depiction a fresh contemporary look (set of four linum placemats €22 at The Drapery Shop, Cork).

Don’t let biscuits go stale once you’ve opened the box. Store them in the Orla Kiely Abacus jar to keep them nice and fresh for dunking in coffee (€34.95 at Brown Thomas).

Try the Mocha Dunk mug with integrated compartment to hold the biscuits, saving on washing up a plate (€19.87 at www.notonthehighstreet.com).

The Reindeer cushion from Meadows & Byrne offers a touch of subtle Scandinavian style (€13.50).

Try the study and near-indestructible Le Creuset casserole (approx. €120 at Brennans Cookshop).

Make sure the turkey doesn’t burn to a crisp and your roast potatoes won’t resemble charcoal embers by carefully timing with the Joseph Joseph timer (€9 at Brown Thomas, Avoca and Meadows & Byrne).

Fancy having a bar in the house to serve cocktails to friends but haven’t got the space? Try the multi-functional bar coffee table from Aoki Interiors (€750).

The contemporary design of the Victor sideboard with splashes of 1960s psychedelic colour create a striking statement-piece (from Roche Bobois €5,283).

Children’s 8 Piece Nativity Set €9.99 from Dairygold Co-Op Superstores in Carrigaline, Mallow, Midleton in Co Cork and Raheen, Co Limerick.