Property 18-02-2012

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18.02.2012

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Georgian home has gracious curves in all the right places PLUS • TRADING UP • STYLISH HOMES • GET THE LOOK • ANTIQUES • STEP BY STEP DIY

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TERAPROOF:User:noelcampionDate:16/02/2012Time:13:11:02Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:2

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PROPERTY

HOUSE WEEK OF THE

XP1 - V1

Tommy Barker reports

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A

decade or so after some masterful FitzGerald, the firm that also sold No 3 back in 2009. conservation, the three terraced houses in No 2’s no longer furnished, as the vendors moved Cork’s Bellevue Villas (where No 2’s a market out some time ago and it has been rented for some of relaunch) are among the city’s best examples the interim, but it still shows well. Purists who want of manageable, period home grandeur. architectural detailing and originality will find much It’s a niche enclave of three immaculate period to admire here, on all of its five levels, three main Georgian gems, plus converted coachhouse, within a floor plus attic, over a self-contained basement with flat walk of Cork city centre on the Lower Glanmire both internal and independent access.

Road, reached via a brand new bridge over the CorkNo 2 has great integrity, gracious rooms, high Midleton rail line: the ceilings, immaculate bridge was built by CIE ornate plasterwork, Location: Tivoli, Cork at a reputed €15m cost, is straight and true, Price: €525,000 to service a handful of and with central houses and replacing heating supplied via Size: 370 sq m (4,000 sq ft) (on safety grounds) a age-appropriate cast Bedrooms: 5, plus self-contained basement iron radiators. private level crossing.

The terrace backs up Best room is the BER rating: Exempt against a tall sandstone first floor drawing Yes cliff below Lover’s Walk, Broadband: room, 28’ by 16’, creating a virtual with three southBest asset: The real deal microclimate, with some facing tall windows lovely mature overlooking the communal grounds, reserved parking, and a retained river, and the Cork-Cobh/Midleton rail line. The wrought iron pedestrian bridge over the rail tracks. ground floor, meanwhile, has two interconnecting The painstaking work done to all three Bellevue reception rooms, with a kitchenette behind: the larger Villas houses, facing south overlooking the Marina kitchen is in the basement. and River Lee has been well-chronicled in these pages A new owner might want to extend the kitchenette down the years, as has the occasional market outing back into the rear drawing/dining room, but other they’ve had. than that there’s little to change, bar a bit of The last resale was No 3, over a year ago, making a freshening up: it was last decorated using top brands c€800,000 sum, having been put on the market several such as Mulberry, Zoffany, Osbourne and Little, years beforehand with a high, €1.7/2m aspiration.

Colefax and Fowler, and Farrow and Ball paints.

Now, No 2, which also has had a long period on the There’s scope for up to six bedrooms, three of them market (it launched in ‘ 08, guiding €1.65m), has had a at first and second floor levels, and there are three change of agents, and a precipitous price reduction to attic rooms, and a basement bedroom as well, so it’s a €525,000, with Michael O’Donovan of Sherry little unconventional, yet adaptable.

CONTENTS 4

TRADING UP Get 40 acres, thousands of trees, polytunnels, a pond and a house in Clare.

6

STARTERS No Blarney: Builders O’Leary & O’Sullivan are building 11 homes near Blarney.

7

FEATURES A suburban semi-d has a designer interior, and greenfingered gardens.

8

COVER STORY Cork harbour’s Carrigmahon House has had an expert overhaul.

12 14 16 20 22

Two of the bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, but they’ll have to be shared with the other bedrooms, as despite there being four WCs in all, there’s no standalone family bathroom in the current configuration.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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VERDICT: Bellevue Villas’ setting is a little bit special, removed from the throng yet its costly new bridge access opens it up a whole lot more for its owners. It has a great aspect — and there’s a lot of great house here for the right buyer.

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INTERIORS DIY WISH LIST IN THE GARDEN ANTIQUES

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

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��������������������������������� IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

3

TERAPROOF:User:noelcampionDate:16/02/2012Time:13:11:02Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:2

Zone:XP1

XP1 - V1

PROPERTY

HOUSE WEEK OF THE

XP1 - V1

Tommy Barker reports

���� ����

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� ��������� �������� �������� ���� ��� �� � � ����� �� �� ������� ����������� ��������� ��� ����������� ��������� ������ �������� � ���� ������ ���� ���� ����� ����������� ���� ������ ���� ������� ����� ����������� � �������� ���� � ��������������������� ���� � ������ � ������� ���� � �� � ������ � � �������� � � �������� � ������ ���� � ��������� ���� �� ����� ���� ������� ��������� ��� ��� ���� � ��� ��� ����

A

decade or so after some masterful FitzGerald, the firm that also sold No 3 back in 2009. conservation, the three terraced houses in No 2’s no longer furnished, as the vendors moved Cork’s Bellevue Villas (where No 2’s a market out some time ago and it has been rented for some of relaunch) are among the city’s best examples the interim, but it still shows well. Purists who want of manageable, period home grandeur. architectural detailing and originality will find much It’s a niche enclave of three immaculate period to admire here, on all of its five levels, three main Georgian gems, plus converted coachhouse, within a floor plus attic, over a self-contained basement with flat walk of Cork city centre on the Lower Glanmire both internal and independent access.

Road, reached via a brand new bridge over the CorkNo 2 has great integrity, gracious rooms, high Midleton rail line: the ceilings, immaculate bridge was built by CIE ornate plasterwork, Location: Tivoli, Cork at a reputed €15m cost, is straight and true, Price: €525,000 to service a handful of and with central houses and replacing heating supplied via Size: 370 sq m (4,000 sq ft) (on safety grounds) a age-appropriate cast Bedrooms: 5, plus self-contained basement iron radiators. private level crossing.

The terrace backs up Best room is the BER rating: Exempt against a tall sandstone first floor drawing Yes cliff below Lover’s Walk, Broadband: room, 28’ by 16’, creating a virtual with three southBest asset: The real deal microclimate, with some facing tall windows lovely mature overlooking the communal grounds, reserved parking, and a retained river, and the Cork-Cobh/Midleton rail line. The wrought iron pedestrian bridge over the rail tracks. ground floor, meanwhile, has two interconnecting The painstaking work done to all three Bellevue reception rooms, with a kitchenette behind: the larger Villas houses, facing south overlooking the Marina kitchen is in the basement. and River Lee has been well-chronicled in these pages A new owner might want to extend the kitchenette down the years, as has the occasional market outing back into the rear drawing/dining room, but other they’ve had. than that there’s little to change, bar a bit of The last resale was No 3, over a year ago, making a freshening up: it was last decorated using top brands c€800,000 sum, having been put on the market several such as Mulberry, Zoffany, Osbourne and Little, years beforehand with a high, €1.7/2m aspiration.

Colefax and Fowler, and Farrow and Ball paints.

Now, No 2, which also has had a long period on the There’s scope for up to six bedrooms, three of them market (it launched in ‘ 08, guiding €1.65m), has had a at first and second floor levels, and there are three change of agents, and a precipitous price reduction to attic rooms, and a basement bedroom as well, so it’s a €525,000, with Michael O’Donovan of Sherry little unconventional, yet adaptable.

CONTENTS 4

TRADING UP Get 40 acres, thousands of trees, polytunnels, a pond and a house in Clare.

6

STARTERS No Blarney: Builders O’Leary & O’Sullivan are building 11 homes near Blarney.

7

FEATURES A suburban semi-d has a designer interior, and greenfingered gardens.

8

COVER STORY Cork harbour’s Carrigmahon House has had an expert overhaul.

12 14 16 20 22

Two of the bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, but they’ll have to be shared with the other bedrooms, as despite there being four WCs in all, there’s no standalone family bathroom in the current configuration.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

��� �������� ��������� ����� � � ����� �� �� ������� � ������ � �������� �������� ���� ������� �� ��� ������ ������ �� ������� �� ��� �� ����� ���� �������� � ������ � ������ � ���� � ���������� � �� � � ���� � ���� ���� ��� �������� ��� ��� ���� � ��� ��� ����

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VERDICT: Bellevue Villas’ setting is a little bit special, removed from the throng yet its costly new bridge access opens it up a whole lot more for its owners. It has a great aspect — and there’s a lot of great house here for the right buyer.

��� ������� ������� ��� ������� � ���� ���� ��������� � ��� ���� �� ������ ��������� � ���� � ���������� � ������ � �� � � ���� � ��� � ���� ��� �� � � ����� �� �� ������� ���� ����� ����� ��� ��� ���� � ��� ��� ����

INTERIORS DIY WISH LIST IN THE GARDEN ANTIQUES

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

2

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PROPERTY

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We scan a selection of trading up homes around the country

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NEWCESTOWN, CO CORK €295,000 Sq m: 186 (2,000 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

Carrying an unusual name, Cloud Lea is a modern, two-storey home newly up for sale in rural mid-west Cork’s Newcestown.

A well-finished 2,000 sq ft family home, with four bedrooms, it has rural views that go on for miles from its site, with some wrap-around decking for outdoor seating and al fresco dining.

Painted an assertive terracotta shade on its gabled front facade, Cloud Lea has an asking price of €295,000 with agents Sherry FitzGerald Brennan Busteed in nearby Bandon, who note it’s only a few minutes walk from services in Newcestown itself.

Apart even from the accommodating size, it’s got a good spec for the price level, with a sun room to the side, granite tops on the kitchen units, there’s a range cooker in the 23’ by 13’ kitchen/diner, a Jacuzzi in the main bathroom, and one of the first floor’s three bedrooms is en suite.

Bed four, or optional office/family den, is at ground floor level, next to a bathroom. The hall, and landing, are larger than standard adding to the feel of airiness inside, while outside, the airiness continues with those rolling views going on for miles.

VERDICT: Freedom of country living, 15 minutes from Bandon.

TULLA, CO CLARE €575,000 Sq m: 217 (2,345 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

There’s quite a lifestyle option, and a smidgin of an income, to be had with this Tulla, Co Clare home and land near the Limerick-Clare motorway. Plus, there’s the quiet satisfaction that you’re doing something good for the environment, by creating your very own carbon offsets via forestry.

It comes on 40 acres of land, with a ¾ acre amenity pond with a tiny island that looks like it needs a coconut palm tree instead of a stand of silver birches.

Then, there’s 30 acres of commercial mixed forestry, planted 12 years ago and with eight more years of €5,600 pa premium income, plus six acres of older forestry, and four acres of gardens and plant nursery, along with seven irrigated polytunnels for the truly green-fingered.

Selling agents are de Courcy auctioneers in Limerick, guiding €575,000, and once bought selfsufficiency seems quite assured.

And, that’s before ever seeing the restored two-storey 2,300 sq ft four-bed house, with two solid fuel stoves and gas central heating. The L-shaped house, fronted by lush lawns, is a pleasant mix of render, and exposed stone with stone reveals around the windows.

There’s also some old stone outbuildings with galvanised roofs.

VERDICT: Could be a private idyll.

MODEL FARM ROAD, CORK €275,000 Sq m: 100 (1,100 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

VERDICT: A very strong, sellable location, near schools colleges and hospitals. Coming on the back of a recent neighbouring Woodlawn sale, there are underbidders on the prowl.

Withdrawn from the market in 2009, when it was in the mid-600,000s, this time round no 37 Fernwalk has a guide of €450,000 and already has an offer over €400,000.

Close, but no cigar.

Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald is looking for further offers for the family-friendly four bed.

And it combines those two greats of the property market, location and orientation. Facing full south and with a professionally designed back garden that’s fully mature, this house has a large site in a quiet, rather exclusive neighbourhood at Greenfields.

Most of the neighbours, like 37, were self-build

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

With one similar vintage house sold in jig-time in popular and mature Woodlawn off Cork’s Model Farm Road, the omens are looking good for 7 Woodlawn.

The quite original three-bed semi-d comes to market after recent drains and underpinning work has been done to it, says agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing, adding “it’s located on one of Cork’s premier roads.” He guides it at €275,000.

With around two dozen homes in all, Woodlawn near Dennehy’s Cross was built around 1960 and this is only the seventh or eighth house to be sold in the park in over 50 years, Mr Olden adds.

No 7 comes along shortly after Sherry FitzGerald sold a very similar Woodland semi, after heavy viewings and bids to over €300k.

No 7 needs further work now that the essential foundations work has been sorted out, so buyers are likely to be in the trading-up category rather than first-time buyers.

There’s off-street parking in front, the house faces a green, and the back garden is east facing.

KILLUMNEY, CO CORK €450,000

CARRIGALINE, CO CORK €295,000 Sq m: 140 (1,500 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

A sub-€300,000 asking price attaches to the three-bed dormer home at Woodgrrove, close to Carrigaline town centre at Kilmoney.

For sale with agent Michael Pigott of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan Daly, the 1,500 sq ft, brick-facaded dormer home has been recently upgraded internally while its back gardens have been heavily planted around the edges for colour and birdlife.

They’re south-facing at the back, as a bonus, whilst the front drive is largely brick paved for easy of maintenance and car parking. There’s also a practical steel shed, on a concrete base for gardening implement, bikes, etc.

Mr Pigott says the Woodgrove home is in superb decorative order: it has a nice tiled hall with hardwood stairs, a knotty pine kitchen with tiled floor and ceramic Belfast sink, dining area off it, as well as a main living room with oak floor and a TV room with walnut floor.

One of its three bedrooms is at ground floor level, by a bathroom with a bath, and the two overhead bedrooms are served by a shower room.

Heating is via gas, and the decor level makes it a walk-in trading up proposition.

VERDICT: Great nick, but the fact there’s only three bedrooms right now might rule it out for larger families.

Sq m: 208 (2,250 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

projects at a time when sites were generous and were placed to take advantage of the Ballincollig bypass which is just down the road.

The house comes with a double length living room, a large kitchen diner with sunroom and family room and the kitchen is hand built by Coachhouse Kitchens, in birch. Overhead, there’s a long, U-shaped landing with a really big master suite, a second en suite bedroom and two other rooms with main bathroom.

Verdict: Lots of space, lots of room outside and plenty of extras make for a good family buy. Worth a viewing.

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TRADING UP

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CONTACT: Property Advertising Ph: 021-4802100

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Village Green House, Douglas West, Cork

A O P RE AR NL M TM Y 3 A E IN N IN TS G

TERAPROOF:User:noelcampionDate:16/02/2012Time:13:20:00Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:4

Drurys Mews Apartments, Midleton, Co. Cork

Price: €85,000

• All apartments have 2 double bedrooms with built-in cupboards; the master bedroom has a large en-suite.

• Fully furnished to a very high standard, integrated kitchens & bathrooms tiled floor to ceiling, timber flooring and leather sofas.

• Accessed from the ground floor parking by lift or stairs, all have their own balconies.

• GFCH and a utility room plumbed for 2 appliances.

• Designated parking space, although everything is within walking distance.

For further details/viewings contact our Douglas Office Michael Creedon T: 021 4897300

www.dngcreedon.ie IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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PROPERTY

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We scan a selection of trading up homes around the country

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NEWCESTOWN, CO CORK €295,000 Sq m: 186 (2,000 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

Carrying an unusual name, Cloud Lea is a modern, two-storey home newly up for sale in rural mid-west Cork’s Newcestown.

A well-finished 2,000 sq ft family home, with four bedrooms, it has rural views that go on for miles from its site, with some wrap-around decking for outdoor seating and al fresco dining.

Painted an assertive terracotta shade on its gabled front facade, Cloud Lea has an asking price of €295,000 with agents Sherry FitzGerald Brennan Busteed in nearby Bandon, who note it’s only a few minutes walk from services in Newcestown itself.

Apart even from the accommodating size, it’s got a good spec for the price level, with a sun room to the side, granite tops on the kitchen units, there’s a range cooker in the 23’ by 13’ kitchen/diner, a Jacuzzi in the main bathroom, and one of the first floor’s three bedrooms is en suite.

Bed four, or optional office/family den, is at ground floor level, next to a bathroom. The hall, and landing, are larger than standard adding to the feel of airiness inside, while outside, the airiness continues with those rolling views going on for miles.

VERDICT: Freedom of country living, 15 minutes from Bandon.

TULLA, CO CLARE €575,000 Sq m: 217 (2,345 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

There’s quite a lifestyle option, and a smidgin of an income, to be had with this Tulla, Co Clare home and land near the Limerick-Clare motorway. Plus, there’s the quiet satisfaction that you’re doing something good for the environment, by creating your very own carbon offsets via forestry.

It comes on 40 acres of land, with a ¾ acre amenity pond with a tiny island that looks like it needs a coconut palm tree instead of a stand of silver birches.

Then, there’s 30 acres of commercial mixed forestry, planted 12 years ago and with eight more years of €5,600 pa premium income, plus six acres of older forestry, and four acres of gardens and plant nursery, along with seven irrigated polytunnels for the truly green-fingered.

Selling agents are de Courcy auctioneers in Limerick, guiding €575,000, and once bought selfsufficiency seems quite assured.

And, that’s before ever seeing the restored two-storey 2,300 sq ft four-bed house, with two solid fuel stoves and gas central heating. The L-shaped house, fronted by lush lawns, is a pleasant mix of render, and exposed stone with stone reveals around the windows.

There’s also some old stone outbuildings with galvanised roofs.

VERDICT: Could be a private idyll.

MODEL FARM ROAD, CORK €275,000 Sq m: 100 (1,100 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

VERDICT: A very strong, sellable location, near schools colleges and hospitals. Coming on the back of a recent neighbouring Woodlawn sale, there are underbidders on the prowl.

Withdrawn from the market in 2009, when it was in the mid-600,000s, this time round no 37 Fernwalk has a guide of €450,000 and already has an offer over €400,000.

Close, but no cigar.

Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald is looking for further offers for the family-friendly four bed.

And it combines those two greats of the property market, location and orientation. Facing full south and with a professionally designed back garden that’s fully mature, this house has a large site in a quiet, rather exclusive neighbourhood at Greenfields.

Most of the neighbours, like 37, were self-build

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

With one similar vintage house sold in jig-time in popular and mature Woodlawn off Cork’s Model Farm Road, the omens are looking good for 7 Woodlawn.

The quite original three-bed semi-d comes to market after recent drains and underpinning work has been done to it, says agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing, adding “it’s located on one of Cork’s premier roads.” He guides it at €275,000.

With around two dozen homes in all, Woodlawn near Dennehy’s Cross was built around 1960 and this is only the seventh or eighth house to be sold in the park in over 50 years, Mr Olden adds.

No 7 comes along shortly after Sherry FitzGerald sold a very similar Woodland semi, after heavy viewings and bids to over €300k.

No 7 needs further work now that the essential foundations work has been sorted out, so buyers are likely to be in the trading-up category rather than first-time buyers.

There’s off-street parking in front, the house faces a green, and the back garden is east facing.

KILLUMNEY, CO CORK €450,000

CARRIGALINE, CO CORK €295,000 Sq m: 140 (1,500 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

A sub-€300,000 asking price attaches to the three-bed dormer home at Woodgrrove, close to Carrigaline town centre at Kilmoney.

For sale with agent Michael Pigott of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan Daly, the 1,500 sq ft, brick-facaded dormer home has been recently upgraded internally while its back gardens have been heavily planted around the edges for colour and birdlife.

They’re south-facing at the back, as a bonus, whilst the front drive is largely brick paved for easy of maintenance and car parking. There’s also a practical steel shed, on a concrete base for gardening implement, bikes, etc.

Mr Pigott says the Woodgrove home is in superb decorative order: it has a nice tiled hall with hardwood stairs, a knotty pine kitchen with tiled floor and ceramic Belfast sink, dining area off it, as well as a main living room with oak floor and a TV room with walnut floor.

One of its three bedrooms is at ground floor level, by a bathroom with a bath, and the two overhead bedrooms are served by a shower room.

Heating is via gas, and the decor level makes it a walk-in trading up proposition.

VERDICT: Great nick, but the fact there’s only three bedrooms right now might rule it out for larger families.

Sq m: 208 (2,250 sq ft) BER rating: Pending

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

projects at a time when sites were generous and were placed to take advantage of the Ballincollig bypass which is just down the road.

The house comes with a double length living room, a large kitchen diner with sunroom and family room and the kitchen is hand built by Coachhouse Kitchens, in birch. Overhead, there’s a long, U-shaped landing with a really big master suite, a second en suite bedroom and two other rooms with main bathroom.

Verdict: Lots of space, lots of room outside and plenty of extras make for a good family buy. Worth a viewing.

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CONTACT: Property Advertising Ph: 021-4802100

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Village Green House, Douglas West, Cork

A O P RE AR NL M TM Y 3 A E IN N IN TS G

TERAPROOF:User:noelcampionDate:16/02/2012Time:13:20:00Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:4

Drurys Mews Apartments, Midleton, Co. Cork

Price: €85,000

• All apartments have 2 double bedrooms with built-in cupboards; the master bedroom has a large en-suite.

• Fully furnished to a very high standard, integrated kitchens & bathrooms tiled floor to ceiling, timber flooring and leather sofas.

• Accessed from the ground floor parking by lift or stairs, all have their own balconies.

• GFCH and a utility room plumbed for 2 appliances.

• Designated parking space, although everything is within walking distance.

For further details/viewings contact our Douglas Office Michael Creedon T: 021 4897300

www.dngcreedon.ie IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

5

TERAPROOF:User:sueoconnorDate:16/02/2012Time:12:55:11Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:6

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STARTER HOMES DOUGLAS, CORK €215,000 Sq m: 93 (1,000 sq ft) BER rating: Pending THERE’S a garage on the side, all ready for easy conversion at the three-bed semi-d 5 Ashdene — near Nemo Rangers, on Cork’s South Douglas Road.

For sale with Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing who seeks €215,000, it’s within a short walk of Douglas village and is perfect for first time buyers, say the agents.

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

Crimson Mews could be just right for downsizers or holiday home buyers

This end-of-terrace three-bed in Rosscarbery boasts lots of extras. Rose Martin reports

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PROPERTY FEATURE

A home set to blossom

No 30 Kilbrody, Cork has a classical look and feel inside, writes Tommy Barker

VERDICT: There’s a great sports facility on the doorstep.

MILLTOWN, CO KERRY €130,000 Sq m: 185 (2,000 sq ft) BER rating: B1 You might have to finish out the inside, but estate agent John O’Sullivan says this Kerry bungalow home at 2 Ballyoughtragh Heights is “the best value home on offer in Kerry right now”.

Fully finished similar homes here in the Milltown development of 11 houses had been sold for up to €330,000, he says, so even allowing for the cost of internal finishes, there’s a clear 40% reduction.

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

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

VERDICT: You can dictate final level of finish and look. Ideal for anyone handy and village services are to hand.

As lock up and go holiday homes go, this property at 1 Crimson Mews is perfect.

The Rosscarbery end of terrace house is right in the heart of the village, has great lake views, but is resolutely low-maintenance.

On the market with Jeremy Murphy and Associates, the three-bed end of terrace is also directly across from the local playground, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on one’s point of view.

Tulach Rua blazes new homes trail Courtbrack scheme has six of 12 properties booked, Rose Martin reports

A

RE they mad? Building a new scheme in the teeth of a recession? Appears not.

Construction firm O’Leary and O’Sullivan Ltd has been tipping away throughout the dark days of the downturn and this month, officially launch a new scheme at Courtbrack, Blarney.

The development of predominantly detached houses is close to Blarney, Tower and Ballincollig with good schools locally, and is less than 30 minutes to Cork city.

And Coleman O’Leary and Michael O’Sullivan’s hunch on market demands, (no focus groups here), has been on the money so far — literally. The newlynamed Tulach Rua scheme has six of its 12 houses booked, but sales manager, Donal Cronin of O’Leary & O’Sullivan admits it’s not that easy now: he puts the firm’s success down to a number of things, not least “careful management and quick reaction to customers’ demands on pricing”.

The company has completed projects in Kilworth, Ladysbridge, Midleton and Ballincollig, and are now building what they say are market-directed homes.

There are three house types available, designed by Eamonn Gahan of Deady Gahan Architects, and they range from a

6

1,723 sq ft, four bed semi, to a 2,265 sq ft four bed and finally, a 2,885 sq ft five bed.

All of the houses are block built, will be finished with grey stone, grey windows and the odd touch of cedar and all will include sunrooms, but more importantly, they will be insulated and air-tight to 2011 standards.

While Tulach Rua houses are pitched to a B1 energy efficiency levels, many will achieve A3, says Coleman O’Leary, because of the level of finish and the orientation.

Prices start at €234,950 for the semis, €269,950 for the four-bed detached and €299,950 for the five bed detached.

The four-bed semis, because they’re viewed as starter homes, will come with a complete fit-out, down to white goods, and the remaining houses will have a choice of kitchens, bathrooms and other fittings, with good PC sums, says Michael O’Sullivan.

The internal layout of each type is good with an enlightened choice of living space.

The four bed, for instance, includes a ground floor study, as well as the standard offering and the four and five beds are designed to tick all the boxes

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Rosscarbery Co Cork €199,000 93.45 sq m (1,000 sq ft) 3 Pending Yes

It has parking and access at the rear and at the front there’s a fully walled-in garden with side entrance to another space at the rear where the large deck is sited.

Internally, the house comes with a living room, overlooking the water, a kitchen/ dining room, utility, guest wc and three bedrooms, all of which come fitted.

Verdict: Rosscarbery has a lot to offer and this house is ideal for downsizers, as a holiday home or starter home and it’s equipped with lots of handy extras.

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

Courtbrack, Blarney, Cork From €234,950 From 161 sq m (1,720 sq ft) 4/5 B1 to A3 Yes

Colman O’Leary (left) and Michael O’Sullivan Greene (right), directors, O’Leary & O’Sullivan Developers, and Donal Cronin, sales manager, at the Tulach Rua development. Picture: Denis Minihane

for buyers trading up.

Either way, OLOS will bend over backwards for their clients, says Donal Cronin and the company is prepared to hand-hold potential buyers through the mortgage application process and will,

in some cases provide a rent-to-buy option, or delayed closing for clients.

VERDICT: The marketing office will be open this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 4pm.

G

ETTING in at ground level — literally and Colours are from the Farrow and Ball palette, in full metaphorically — stands to the quality of the and half tones, nicely calming, and with architraves house at 30 Kilbrody, inside and out. Its and skirtings done in a darker shade. Maybe it’s an owner since it was built back in 2003 is now illusion, but the house certainly feels bigger than its its vendor, and she’s selling to move back to her native quoted 1,200 sq ft, with the mood set straight away New Zealand and a new job opportunity: her extra from the hall and side stairs on. input to No 30 will significantly benefit its next There’s proper stair access to a quality attic occupants. conversion, a room about 22’ by 12’, with three Veluxes This time of year you to the south-facing rear, mightn’t see too much of a and giving easy access too Location: Rochestown, Cork difference from its to eaves storage: this is a Price: €265,000 neighbours up here in this house that will Mount Oval Village cul de sac accommodate lot of stuff, Size: 112 sq m (1,200 sq ft, setting in Cork, but come a possessions or even people. plus attic conversion) few more weeks of spring, Teenagers will love the and then summer and the remoteness of this top level Bedrooms: 3 gardens will put on their best eyerie, and it makes for a BER rating: Pending performances (these exterior great hobby room too. pics are from last summer.)

Back at ground level, Broadband: Yes They’ve been planted up, this house’s two main Best feature: Quality home fed, weeded and watered reception rooms are since, and are of enough interlinked, with glazed quality to have been used as a double doors on sturdy, setting for a charity fundraiser, impressing even protruding brass hinges, ceilings are coved, and extra hardened plantspersons. They’ve been sourced from high, about 10’, adding to the sense of space. gardens, and garden centres all over Munster, as well The kitchen also to the back was extended out a bit as being brought on from cuttings. Roll on spring, and more than standard as the house was being bought offhidden good surprises. plans, so there’s a nice, restful seating area in the No 30 is new to market with Claire O’Sullivan of kitchen, which has quality maple units and lots of Savills, who loves the look and the feel of the house, capacity. There’s a useful large cupboard behind a eager to start viewings and knowing it’s a box-ticker sliding shutter for appliances, all plugged in, ready to for a wide buying demographic. Just as the gardens do service and then be screened back out of sight. have an assured feel of having been done by someone The kitchen and bathroom floors are done in a who knows their business, the interior similarly is Marmoleum-like lino, warmer underfoot than tiles and accomplished — done by the same hand. less likely to break anything dropped on it, the owner

sensibly advises.

Elsewhere, floor coverings are neutral shades of wool carpet, and again tiles in the fully-tiled bathroom are white, never going to date.

The overall look and feel inside is quite classical, not easy to achieve within the confines of an otherwise standard built product, and its look is enhanced by art on the walls (not for sale) and the very high quality curtains and drapes, which are included in the sale.

This comfortable Kilbrody home signals its differences even in tiny details like the house number 30 in colourful tiles, all the way from New Zealand, and the gardens are ready to bring vibrant colour to the front and back within weeks.

VERDICT: Already looking good, 30 Kilbrody is set to blossom further as spring gets sprung.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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STARTER HOMES DOUGLAS, CORK €215,000 Sq m: 93 (1,000 sq ft) BER rating: Pending THERE’S a garage on the side, all ready for easy conversion at the three-bed semi-d 5 Ashdene — near Nemo Rangers, on Cork’s South Douglas Road.

For sale with Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing who seeks €215,000, it’s within a short walk of Douglas village and is perfect for first time buyers, say the agents.

Bedrooms: 3 Broadband: Yes

Crimson Mews could be just right for downsizers or holiday home buyers

This end-of-terrace three-bed in Rosscarbery boasts lots of extras. Rose Martin reports

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PROPERTY FEATURE

A home set to blossom

No 30 Kilbrody, Cork has a classical look and feel inside, writes Tommy Barker

VERDICT: There’s a great sports facility on the doorstep.

MILLTOWN, CO KERRY €130,000 Sq m: 185 (2,000 sq ft) BER rating: B1 You might have to finish out the inside, but estate agent John O’Sullivan says this Kerry bungalow home at 2 Ballyoughtragh Heights is “the best value home on offer in Kerry right now”.

Fully finished similar homes here in the Milltown development of 11 houses had been sold for up to €330,000, he says, so even allowing for the cost of internal finishes, there’s a clear 40% reduction.

Bedrooms: 4 Broadband: Yes

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

VERDICT: You can dictate final level of finish and look. Ideal for anyone handy and village services are to hand.

As lock up and go holiday homes go, this property at 1 Crimson Mews is perfect.

The Rosscarbery end of terrace house is right in the heart of the village, has great lake views, but is resolutely low-maintenance.

On the market with Jeremy Murphy and Associates, the three-bed end of terrace is also directly across from the local playground, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on one’s point of view.

Tulach Rua blazes new homes trail Courtbrack scheme has six of 12 properties booked, Rose Martin reports

A

RE they mad? Building a new scheme in the teeth of a recession? Appears not.

Construction firm O’Leary and O’Sullivan Ltd has been tipping away throughout the dark days of the downturn and this month, officially launch a new scheme at Courtbrack, Blarney.

The development of predominantly detached houses is close to Blarney, Tower and Ballincollig with good schools locally, and is less than 30 minutes to Cork city.

And Coleman O’Leary and Michael O’Sullivan’s hunch on market demands, (no focus groups here), has been on the money so far — literally. The newlynamed Tulach Rua scheme has six of its 12 houses booked, but sales manager, Donal Cronin of O’Leary & O’Sullivan admits it’s not that easy now: he puts the firm’s success down to a number of things, not least “careful management and quick reaction to customers’ demands on pricing”.

The company has completed projects in Kilworth, Ladysbridge, Midleton and Ballincollig, and are now building what they say are market-directed homes.

There are three house types available, designed by Eamonn Gahan of Deady Gahan Architects, and they range from a

6

1,723 sq ft, four bed semi, to a 2,265 sq ft four bed and finally, a 2,885 sq ft five bed.

All of the houses are block built, will be finished with grey stone, grey windows and the odd touch of cedar and all will include sunrooms, but more importantly, they will be insulated and air-tight to 2011 standards.

While Tulach Rua houses are pitched to a B1 energy efficiency levels, many will achieve A3, says Coleman O’Leary, because of the level of finish and the orientation.

Prices start at €234,950 for the semis, €269,950 for the four-bed detached and €299,950 for the five bed detached.

The four-bed semis, because they’re viewed as starter homes, will come with a complete fit-out, down to white goods, and the remaining houses will have a choice of kitchens, bathrooms and other fittings, with good PC sums, says Michael O’Sullivan.

The internal layout of each type is good with an enlightened choice of living space.

The four bed, for instance, includes a ground floor study, as well as the standard offering and the four and five beds are designed to tick all the boxes

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Rosscarbery Co Cork €199,000 93.45 sq m (1,000 sq ft) 3 Pending Yes

It has parking and access at the rear and at the front there’s a fully walled-in garden with side entrance to another space at the rear where the large deck is sited.

Internally, the house comes with a living room, overlooking the water, a kitchen/ dining room, utility, guest wc and three bedrooms, all of which come fitted.

Verdict: Rosscarbery has a lot to offer and this house is ideal for downsizers, as a holiday home or starter home and it’s equipped with lots of handy extras.

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

Courtbrack, Blarney, Cork From €234,950 From 161 sq m (1,720 sq ft) 4/5 B1 to A3 Yes

Colman O’Leary (left) and Michael O’Sullivan Greene (right), directors, O’Leary & O’Sullivan Developers, and Donal Cronin, sales manager, at the Tulach Rua development. Picture: Denis Minihane

for buyers trading up.

Either way, OLOS will bend over backwards for their clients, says Donal Cronin and the company is prepared to hand-hold potential buyers through the mortgage application process and will,

in some cases provide a rent-to-buy option, or delayed closing for clients.

VERDICT: The marketing office will be open this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 4pm.

G

ETTING in at ground level — literally and Colours are from the Farrow and Ball palette, in full metaphorically — stands to the quality of the and half tones, nicely calming, and with architraves house at 30 Kilbrody, inside and out. Its and skirtings done in a darker shade. Maybe it’s an owner since it was built back in 2003 is now illusion, but the house certainly feels bigger than its its vendor, and she’s selling to move back to her native quoted 1,200 sq ft, with the mood set straight away New Zealand and a new job opportunity: her extra from the hall and side stairs on. input to No 30 will significantly benefit its next There’s proper stair access to a quality attic occupants. conversion, a room about 22’ by 12’, with three Veluxes This time of year you to the south-facing rear, mightn’t see too much of a and giving easy access too Location: Rochestown, Cork difference from its to eaves storage: this is a Price: €265,000 neighbours up here in this house that will Mount Oval Village cul de sac accommodate lot of stuff, Size: 112 sq m (1,200 sq ft, setting in Cork, but come a possessions or even people. plus attic conversion) few more weeks of spring, Teenagers will love the and then summer and the remoteness of this top level Bedrooms: 3 gardens will put on their best eyerie, and it makes for a BER rating: Pending performances (these exterior great hobby room too. pics are from last summer.)

Back at ground level, Broadband: Yes They’ve been planted up, this house’s two main Best feature: Quality home fed, weeded and watered reception rooms are since, and are of enough interlinked, with glazed quality to have been used as a double doors on sturdy, setting for a charity fundraiser, impressing even protruding brass hinges, ceilings are coved, and extra hardened plantspersons. They’ve been sourced from high, about 10’, adding to the sense of space. gardens, and garden centres all over Munster, as well The kitchen also to the back was extended out a bit as being brought on from cuttings. Roll on spring, and more than standard as the house was being bought offhidden good surprises. plans, so there’s a nice, restful seating area in the No 30 is new to market with Claire O’Sullivan of kitchen, which has quality maple units and lots of Savills, who loves the look and the feel of the house, capacity. There’s a useful large cupboard behind a eager to start viewings and knowing it’s a box-ticker sliding shutter for appliances, all plugged in, ready to for a wide buying demographic. Just as the gardens do service and then be screened back out of sight. have an assured feel of having been done by someone The kitchen and bathroom floors are done in a who knows their business, the interior similarly is Marmoleum-like lino, warmer underfoot than tiles and accomplished — done by the same hand. less likely to break anything dropped on it, the owner

sensibly advises.

Elsewhere, floor coverings are neutral shades of wool carpet, and again tiles in the fully-tiled bathroom are white, never going to date.

The overall look and feel inside is quite classical, not easy to achieve within the confines of an otherwise standard built product, and its look is enhanced by art on the walls (not for sale) and the very high quality curtains and drapes, which are included in the sale.

This comfortable Kilbrody home signals its differences even in tiny details like the house number 30 in colourful tiles, all the way from New Zealand, and the gardens are ready to bring vibrant colour to the front and back within weeks.

VERDICT: Already looking good, 30 Kilbrody is set to blossom further as spring gets sprung.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Carrigmahon House has best of the old and new

Location: Price: Size:

Monkstown, Cork €1.25 million 510 sq m (5,500 sq ft) plus 1,800 sq ft coachhouse Bedrooms: 4 plus one BER rating: Exempt Broadband: Yes Best feature: Superior renovation

A Cork harbour Georgian period home has great views that haven’t changed much in the past 150 years, Tommy Barker reports

I

T has been a good decade in the history of Carrigmahon House, a Cork harbour Georgian home of quiet distinction and subtle pleasures, inside and out.

Built in the day when Corkonians were discovering the delights of their natural harbour, when ferries and paddle steamers brought citizens to the shores for hot and cold salt water baths, the area between Passage West and Monkstown also got commercialised, used for shipping, despatching soldiers and landing cargoes.

From the wooded private grounds of Carrigmahon House, there are full east and part south and north views of the harbour and Lee that won’t have changed much in the century and a half since this gracious home was built, save for the screening now supplied by its hardwood trees — enormous sentinel beeches, mostly.

The previous owners of Carrigmahon were members of the Dwyer family, of Sunbeam factory fame, and at one time once of the city’s largest employers. Parties and social engagements here were legendary.

It last changed hands back in the early 2000s when a professional couple with grown family who’d been based in the US decided to come back to Ireland and to tackle a bit of a project — the 17th house they’d worked on in their peripatetic married life.

They have done huge favours to Carrigmahon, in an understated way, making it good for decades yet to come, yet intervening in a very sympathetic manner.

It’s sort of a cliche sometimes to describe restored period homes as being as good as new, when in fact in some way they are even better than when first built. Carrigmahon now is

8

undoubtedly more comfortable than at any time in its past in terms of creature comfort: It has proper heating, and decent plumbing and lots of bathrooms, for example, yet they aren’t flash in a Celtic Tiger way. Its basement level is now eminently usable, with bright and usable rooms, no longer confined for servants and only allowed minimal comforts. Today, it’s home to a contemporary kitchen, adjoining family/media/games

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

room, a library, and laundry/ utility, with shower room handily placed for when gardening dirt needs to be hosed off — under a hot torrent.

And, every bit as good as the house is the maturity of the remaining grounds, all three and a half acres of it, with tiered lawns, patios and climbers up old walls, wholly private, and with the bulk of it naturally wooded, and thus easy to keep. There’s just the

right amount for pleasure and amusement, and the hope of drafting an offspring in for an hour of mower duty of a Saturday.

Carrigmahon House comes fresh to market for 2012 after the current, down-sizing owners’ decade here. For any aspiring buyers of a quality, period home they’ve sort of taken the unknown fear factor out of it: it’s in rude good health.

Selling agent is Trish Stokes of Lisney, who bills it as “superb, and perfect for family and entertaining”.

It carries a guide price of €1.25 million, the sort of sum large new-builds in lesser Cork sites were routinely making back in the boom: in contrast, this is the real deal, a natural rarity given its age, setting and excellent condition.

Attention has been paid to the roof, with new ridge lead flashing, it’s been insulated, has a number of new appropriate sash windows, and principal fireplaces are in good working order — handy, when there’s so much free fuel to be had from the grounds. Then, internal upgraded joinery work is first rate, in things like the library’s built-in shelving, new varnished window boards, and all windows shutters are working, allowing rooms be free of fussy drapes — unless a new owner want to add colour or pizzazz.

The house is on a wedge of private ground, up above the main harbour-skirting road above the Glenbrook-Carrigaloe car ferry, on Carrigmahon Hill, with new rustic stone pillars modestly announcing its presence, while a woodland drive (think a domestic equivalent to that entering Maryborough House Hotel) drops down to the graveled forecourt by the house and its adjacent, detached lofted coachhouse.

Carrigmahon’s welcome is its

classic Georgian entrance door, fan-lit with some delicate tracery above the immensely solid door, whose iron hinges inside look capable of holding up barn doors. The entry hall just inside opens to all of the main reception rooms, two of them now inter-connecting and symmetrical, with deep bow windows at each gable, holding tall curved sash frames. It’s crying out to welcome hordes of guests to dinner and drinks parties, steeped in the sense of sociability. And, when guests do come to call, there’s the handy addition of an electronic serving ‘dumb-waiter’ to the

utility room and main kitchen in the basement below.

For all of its c 5,500 sq ft size, Carrigmahon isn’t a house where rooms will lie unused: its drawing and dining rooms will naturally draw use, there’s a quieter reading room/family room to the right of the hall, like its grander counterparts, with a double aspect and with a large cast iron fireplace, walls painted a restful light pink.

Grander fireplaces feature in the white-carpeted formal rooms (a side door leads to the drawing room from the family room for extra circularity) which are now opened one to

another with inter-connecting doors, making conducive siblings or twins of one another. These great rooms have river aspects through winter trees, and their flowing outline is best traced by the simple cornice work around the walls. The dining table, easily accommodated here, seats 12 in comfort, and a side door leads to the pantry and dumb waiter.

Following its trajectory down to the basement, this lower level is surprisingly bright, with new oak floor, there’s a utility with plant room/heating plus the terminus of an

eminently sensible laundry chute from the top floor, and this lower ground level (with garden access) is home to a contemporary Allmilmo kitchen, with large island tightly bound in black granite, and with a top and back-lit glass splashback behind the sink. Sockets for wortktop appliances are placed high up, under the wall-mounted units: neat.

This bang-up-to-date look might seem incongruous in a house of this age — but who’s going to go back to a cast-iron, coal-gobbling range? It’s a good example of keeping what’s old,

old, and sensibly going modern with what makes life easier.

You can sense that the couple who did all this work had lived in a lot of houses, on both side of the Atlantic in the decades while they raised a family.

For those with a young family now, the fact this kitchen/dining room is next to a large games room and separated only by a stud wall may mean easy opening up of one giant lower ground floor, it would make for a great space on a size par with its grander, formal rooms overhead.

Skip up the two, bluecarpeted staircases >>>

Carrigmahon now is undoubtedly more comfortable than at any time in its past in terms of creature comfort

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Carrigmahon House has best of the old and new

Location: Price: Size:

Monkstown, Cork €1.25 million 510 sq m (5,500 sq ft) plus 1,800 sq ft coachhouse Bedrooms: 4 plus one BER rating: Exempt Broadband: Yes Best feature: Superior renovation

A Cork harbour Georgian period home has great views that haven’t changed much in the past 150 years, Tommy Barker reports

I

T has been a good decade in the history of Carrigmahon House, a Cork harbour Georgian home of quiet distinction and subtle pleasures, inside and out.

Built in the day when Corkonians were discovering the delights of their natural harbour, when ferries and paddle steamers brought citizens to the shores for hot and cold salt water baths, the area between Passage West and Monkstown also got commercialised, used for shipping, despatching soldiers and landing cargoes.

From the wooded private grounds of Carrigmahon House, there are full east and part south and north views of the harbour and Lee that won’t have changed much in the century and a half since this gracious home was built, save for the screening now supplied by its hardwood trees — enormous sentinel beeches, mostly.

The previous owners of Carrigmahon were members of the Dwyer family, of Sunbeam factory fame, and at one time once of the city’s largest employers. Parties and social engagements here were legendary.

It last changed hands back in the early 2000s when a professional couple with grown family who’d been based in the US decided to come back to Ireland and to tackle a bit of a project — the 17th house they’d worked on in their peripatetic married life.

They have done huge favours to Carrigmahon, in an understated way, making it good for decades yet to come, yet intervening in a very sympathetic manner.

It’s sort of a cliche sometimes to describe restored period homes as being as good as new, when in fact in some way they are even better than when first built. Carrigmahon now is

8

undoubtedly more comfortable than at any time in its past in terms of creature comfort: It has proper heating, and decent plumbing and lots of bathrooms, for example, yet they aren’t flash in a Celtic Tiger way. Its basement level is now eminently usable, with bright and usable rooms, no longer confined for servants and only allowed minimal comforts. Today, it’s home to a contemporary kitchen, adjoining family/media/games

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

room, a library, and laundry/ utility, with shower room handily placed for when gardening dirt needs to be hosed off — under a hot torrent.

And, every bit as good as the house is the maturity of the remaining grounds, all three and a half acres of it, with tiered lawns, patios and climbers up old walls, wholly private, and with the bulk of it naturally wooded, and thus easy to keep. There’s just the

right amount for pleasure and amusement, and the hope of drafting an offspring in for an hour of mower duty of a Saturday.

Carrigmahon House comes fresh to market for 2012 after the current, down-sizing owners’ decade here. For any aspiring buyers of a quality, period home they’ve sort of taken the unknown fear factor out of it: it’s in rude good health.

Selling agent is Trish Stokes of Lisney, who bills it as “superb, and perfect for family and entertaining”.

It carries a guide price of €1.25 million, the sort of sum large new-builds in lesser Cork sites were routinely making back in the boom: in contrast, this is the real deal, a natural rarity given its age, setting and excellent condition.

Attention has been paid to the roof, with new ridge lead flashing, it’s been insulated, has a number of new appropriate sash windows, and principal fireplaces are in good working order — handy, when there’s so much free fuel to be had from the grounds. Then, internal upgraded joinery work is first rate, in things like the library’s built-in shelving, new varnished window boards, and all windows shutters are working, allowing rooms be free of fussy drapes — unless a new owner want to add colour or pizzazz.

The house is on a wedge of private ground, up above the main harbour-skirting road above the Glenbrook-Carrigaloe car ferry, on Carrigmahon Hill, with new rustic stone pillars modestly announcing its presence, while a woodland drive (think a domestic equivalent to that entering Maryborough House Hotel) drops down to the graveled forecourt by the house and its adjacent, detached lofted coachhouse.

Carrigmahon’s welcome is its

classic Georgian entrance door, fan-lit with some delicate tracery above the immensely solid door, whose iron hinges inside look capable of holding up barn doors. The entry hall just inside opens to all of the main reception rooms, two of them now inter-connecting and symmetrical, with deep bow windows at each gable, holding tall curved sash frames. It’s crying out to welcome hordes of guests to dinner and drinks parties, steeped in the sense of sociability. And, when guests do come to call, there’s the handy addition of an electronic serving ‘dumb-waiter’ to the

utility room and main kitchen in the basement below.

For all of its c 5,500 sq ft size, Carrigmahon isn’t a house where rooms will lie unused: its drawing and dining rooms will naturally draw use, there’s a quieter reading room/family room to the right of the hall, like its grander counterparts, with a double aspect and with a large cast iron fireplace, walls painted a restful light pink.

Grander fireplaces feature in the white-carpeted formal rooms (a side door leads to the drawing room from the family room for extra circularity) which are now opened one to

another with inter-connecting doors, making conducive siblings or twins of one another. These great rooms have river aspects through winter trees, and their flowing outline is best traced by the simple cornice work around the walls. The dining table, easily accommodated here, seats 12 in comfort, and a side door leads to the pantry and dumb waiter.

Following its trajectory down to the basement, this lower level is surprisingly bright, with new oak floor, there’s a utility with plant room/heating plus the terminus of an

eminently sensible laundry chute from the top floor, and this lower ground level (with garden access) is home to a contemporary Allmilmo kitchen, with large island tightly bound in black granite, and with a top and back-lit glass splashback behind the sink. Sockets for wortktop appliances are placed high up, under the wall-mounted units: neat.

This bang-up-to-date look might seem incongruous in a house of this age — but who’s going to go back to a cast-iron, coal-gobbling range? It’s a good example of keeping what’s old,

old, and sensibly going modern with what makes life easier.

You can sense that the couple who did all this work had lived in a lot of houses, on both side of the Atlantic in the decades while they raised a family.

For those with a young family now, the fact this kitchen/dining room is next to a large games room and separated only by a stud wall may mean easy opening up of one giant lower ground floor, it would make for a great space on a size par with its grander, formal rooms overhead.

Skip up the two, bluecarpeted staircases >>>

Carrigmahon now is undoubtedly more comfortable than at any time in its past in terms of creature comfort

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

GETTHELOOK

Some great ideas for you to use in your home and where to get them 1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Frame it. Use the space around a door frame to display favourite art and craft items

2 Mix your eras: Don’t be afraid to mix furniture of different periods. This piece is American, from the mid-1900s

3 Lattice, pray. Using lattice work in a glazed door adds to a sense of privacy

4 Stair well. A hardwood handrail and painted spindles is a classic look

5 La vie en rose: Selecting rose-tinted window glazing adds defining distinction to a frame

6 Book in. A quiet basement space is perfect for a private library

SOURCEBOOK Selling agent for Carrigmahon House: Trish Stokes, Lisney, 1 South Mall Cork 021-4275079 >>> (pausing only only to admire the views north via a new, rose-tinted and edge gable window) to the top floor, and Carrigmahon’s top floor is home to four bedrooms. All come with fireplaces, appropriate new stand-alone furniture and wardrobes, there’s a main bathroom and a top-drawer master bedroom suite, with his and hers dressing rooms and its own private bathroom.

Families wanting more bedrooms my consider using one of the lower ground floor rooms, and for guests or an au pair the lofted converted coachhouse is perfect. This picturesque, rustic building has a selfcontained one-bed apartment at its upper level, reached via an external staircase shrouded with (ready to take off) wisterias, and oozes character. With high ceilings, a cast iron stove and a small galley kitchen, WC with shower and a bedroom, it’s a perfect nest for a single or a couple.

10

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Downtairs, this coachhouse has two rooms for garden/DIY equipment and hobbying, while the recent covering-in of its side wall and roof has created a super-large space for cars, bikes, caravans or boats.

For those into boats, the waters of Cork harbour are 250 yards away, and it is possible to moor a boat within walking distance of your new home, while there’s a new marina a mile away in Monkstown, near the sailing club. For golfers, Monkstown is just over the hill, while Cork city is a 15 to 20 minute commute.

VERDICT: Carrigmahon House is one of the most manageable quality period homes to come on the greater Cork market in some time. The fact that so much work has recently been done makes it an easy proposition for today’s buyers — as does the price tag, surely just a fraction of what it would have been bid to in the mid 2000s.

...........................................................................

Kitchen: Allmilmo, Check Bushell Interiors, Parkwest Dublin 12, 01-6712593 www.bushellinteriors.com ...........................................................................

Replacement sash windows, large arched window, etc: Ben Russell, Kealkil, Bantry 0276613 ...........................................................................

Other joinery: Leo Linehan, Linehan Designs, 3,4/5 Grattan Street Cork.

021-4254285

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY

GETTHELOOK

Some great ideas for you to use in your home and where to get them 1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Frame it. Use the space around a door frame to display favourite art and craft items

2 Mix your eras: Don’t be afraid to mix furniture of different periods. This piece is American, from the mid-1900s

3 Lattice, pray. Using lattice work in a glazed door adds to a sense of privacy

4 Stair well. A hardwood handrail and painted spindles is a classic look

5 La vie en rose: Selecting rose-tinted window glazing adds defining distinction to a frame

6 Book in. A quiet basement space is perfect for a private library

SOURCEBOOK Selling agent for Carrigmahon House: Trish Stokes, Lisney, 1 South Mall Cork 021-4275079 >>> (pausing only only to admire the views north via a new, rose-tinted and edge gable window) to the top floor, and Carrigmahon’s top floor is home to four bedrooms. All come with fireplaces, appropriate new stand-alone furniture and wardrobes, there’s a main bathroom and a top-drawer master bedroom suite, with his and hers dressing rooms and its own private bathroom.

Families wanting more bedrooms my consider using one of the lower ground floor rooms, and for guests or an au pair the lofted converted coachhouse is perfect. This picturesque, rustic building has a selfcontained one-bed apartment at its upper level, reached via an external staircase shrouded with (ready to take off) wisterias, and oozes character. With high ceilings, a cast iron stove and a small galley kitchen, WC with shower and a bedroom, it’s a perfect nest for a single or a couple.

10

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Downtairs, this coachhouse has two rooms for garden/DIY equipment and hobbying, while the recent covering-in of its side wall and roof has created a super-large space for cars, bikes, caravans or boats.

For those into boats, the waters of Cork harbour are 250 yards away, and it is possible to moor a boat within walking distance of your new home, while there’s a new marina a mile away in Monkstown, near the sailing club. For golfers, Monkstown is just over the hill, while Cork city is a 15 to 20 minute commute.

VERDICT: Carrigmahon House is one of the most manageable quality period homes to come on the greater Cork market in some time. The fact that so much work has recently been done makes it an easy proposition for today’s buyers — as does the price tag, surely just a fraction of what it would have been bid to in the mid 2000s.

...........................................................................

Kitchen: Allmilmo, Check Bushell Interiors, Parkwest Dublin 12, 01-6712593 www.bushellinteriors.com ...........................................................................

Replacement sash windows, large arched window, etc: Ben Russell, Kealkil, Bantry 0276613 ...........................................................................

Other joinery: Leo Linehan, Linehan Designs, 3,4/5 Grattan Street Cork.

021-4254285

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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INTERIORS

INTERIORS

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

SOMETHINGEXTRA

Themes

This week we love...

■ ...some funky lighting from Klickity in the form of the new Allium shade which bears a notional resemblance to the flower of the same name but finished in on-trend red or yellow.

Available from Kilkenny and www.klickity.ie. Priced at €54.95

Take care if following a theme to brighten up your rooms, Carol O’Callaghan advises, as it can be a tricky business

Feminine charm works Try the new up-to-date take on the boudoir theme and set some feminine objects against vibrant pink, green or yellow walls.

Choose a delicate lamp with a pretty feminine shade finished in a floral trim (approx. €15 at Heatons).

Shabby chic works well with in-vogue florals and patchwork quilts (Next Interiors version of the theme includes a panel print bedset €32, throw €77, rug €116, Rochelle beside chest €279, Victoria bedstead €315).

Insert some favourite photos in a collage frame and hang on your newly decorated boudoir wall (Selina frame €24.50 at Meadows & Byrne).

Candlelight is essential for the boudoir. Try an elegant glass holder set on a painted wrought iron and floral base (€18 at Dunnes Stores).

Eclectic, but humorous

Rough luxe sets beautiful furniture and accessories into a rough unfinished interior to stunning effect. Focus on the best and most luxurious fabrics you can afford for this look (Bruxelles headboard from the Homes in Heaven range at Boulevard Interiors from €450).

I

NTRODUCING an interior design theme inspired by a programme on television or a holiday abroad can be a tricky business. Those brilliant blues and stark whites that absorb the Moroccan sunshine and cool down stiflingly hot interiors may not translate to your north-facing room with its cold greyer light, so bear a few pointers in mind before you start.

Firstly, a theme is not the same as a trend. The latter is what’s in fashion now, whereas a theme is a very distinctive look regardless of fashion, such as nautical, rustic, shabby chic, rough luxe or Spanish finca. These will look great if you have the appropriate context, like a clapboard seaside house, an old building in need of renovation, or if you’re the owner of a holiday home in the sun.

If introducing a theme is a deliberate departure from your usual style, bear in mind it will take considerable care to make it work in the average house, as it may scream at the rest of your decor.

Ideally, if you are lucky enough to have a games’ room or a basement area then you can afford to experiment, and should your result be greeted with horror by your loved ones, you can keep the door shut and ignore your decorating eyesore while you consider a remedy.

Even if it’s successful, there’s the likelihood that after a year you’ll be thoroughly sick of your theme unless

12

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

you’re a salty ol’ sailor who cannot live on land and so have opted for the nautical look.

If a theme really is your heart’s desire, focus your mind and your budget initially on easily changeable things like paint, rugs and cushions before you invest in a boat-shaped bed or a recently distressed table and matching chairs. Also consider the aspect of the room you are proposing to change. Don’t change a room dramatically just because it’s the one in need of decorating. If it has a lovely sunny south- or westfacing aspect, then the whitewashed look will work, but if it’s northerly or dark because of small windows, all of those gorgeous terracotta ornaments and bowls with brightly painted finishes you brought home from your sunshine holiday won’t warm up the space.

Orange, yellow and the current vogue for bright colours in general can bring real warmth to a space, but having four walls finished in them can have a very oppressive result.

If the theme you hanker for also happens to be a current trend like the feminine boudoir look, then it’s less likely to impact in a dramatic way on the look of the rest of your house.

The new boudoir no longer focuses on reds, ruched lace and gold tassels of yore, but has lightened up with vibrant greens, pinks, and yellows that neither fade to pastel nor plunge into oppressive darker shades.

Opt for eclectic as a theme and introduce a few witty and interesting objects into your home Hang hats in the hall or jewellery in the bedroom from the Harvest rake hanger (€28 at www.designist.ie).

Try a statement cushion emblazoned with an exotic cushion like the Flamingo (approx. €35 at M&S).

The rustic look doesn’t have to be twee. Clean lines of elegant dark woods with painted finishes and modern lighting contemporise the theme (kitchen from Abbeywood Furniture from €10,000).

Teamed with ornate mirrors, chandelier light fittings and vintage furniture painted white, it off-sets against plain carpets in in-vogue shades like grey so the final look reflects the theme but also has a fresh modernity.

■ Next week we look at how to maximise space and light in a pokey dark room.

Rich yellows and ochres bring hues of sunshine in darker, rooms. Combine with pale floors and cabinets with glass front to keep the look light (Dulux paint €56.99 p/5 ltrs).

Create a nautical flavour with the colours associated with the theme. Blue and white stripes lend themselves to sun rooms and bedrooms (Rebecca duvet from €89 at The Drapery Shop).

The Halo wall clock by Peter McCann is an ultra modern take on the pendulum clock(€125 at www.nofixedabode.ie).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

13

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INTERIORS

INTERIORS

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

SOMETHINGEXTRA

Themes

This week we love...

■ ...some funky lighting from Klickity in the form of the new Allium shade which bears a notional resemblance to the flower of the same name but finished in on-trend red or yellow.

Available from Kilkenny and www.klickity.ie. Priced at €54.95

Take care if following a theme to brighten up your rooms, Carol O’Callaghan advises, as it can be a tricky business

Feminine charm works Try the new up-to-date take on the boudoir theme and set some feminine objects against vibrant pink, green or yellow walls.

Choose a delicate lamp with a pretty feminine shade finished in a floral trim (approx. €15 at Heatons).

Shabby chic works well with in-vogue florals and patchwork quilts (Next Interiors version of the theme includes a panel print bedset €32, throw €77, rug €116, Rochelle beside chest €279, Victoria bedstead €315).

Insert some favourite photos in a collage frame and hang on your newly decorated boudoir wall (Selina frame €24.50 at Meadows & Byrne).

Candlelight is essential for the boudoir. Try an elegant glass holder set on a painted wrought iron and floral base (€18 at Dunnes Stores).

Eclectic, but humorous

Rough luxe sets beautiful furniture and accessories into a rough unfinished interior to stunning effect. Focus on the best and most luxurious fabrics you can afford for this look (Bruxelles headboard from the Homes in Heaven range at Boulevard Interiors from €450).

I

NTRODUCING an interior design theme inspired by a programme on television or a holiday abroad can be a tricky business. Those brilliant blues and stark whites that absorb the Moroccan sunshine and cool down stiflingly hot interiors may not translate to your north-facing room with its cold greyer light, so bear a few pointers in mind before you start.

Firstly, a theme is not the same as a trend. The latter is what’s in fashion now, whereas a theme is a very distinctive look regardless of fashion, such as nautical, rustic, shabby chic, rough luxe or Spanish finca. These will look great if you have the appropriate context, like a clapboard seaside house, an old building in need of renovation, or if you’re the owner of a holiday home in the sun.

If introducing a theme is a deliberate departure from your usual style, bear in mind it will take considerable care to make it work in the average house, as it may scream at the rest of your decor.

Ideally, if you are lucky enough to have a games’ room or a basement area then you can afford to experiment, and should your result be greeted with horror by your loved ones, you can keep the door shut and ignore your decorating eyesore while you consider a remedy.

Even if it’s successful, there’s the likelihood that after a year you’ll be thoroughly sick of your theme unless

12

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

you’re a salty ol’ sailor who cannot live on land and so have opted for the nautical look.

If a theme really is your heart’s desire, focus your mind and your budget initially on easily changeable things like paint, rugs and cushions before you invest in a boat-shaped bed or a recently distressed table and matching chairs. Also consider the aspect of the room you are proposing to change. Don’t change a room dramatically just because it’s the one in need of decorating. If it has a lovely sunny south- or westfacing aspect, then the whitewashed look will work, but if it’s northerly or dark because of small windows, all of those gorgeous terracotta ornaments and bowls with brightly painted finishes you brought home from your sunshine holiday won’t warm up the space.

Orange, yellow and the current vogue for bright colours in general can bring real warmth to a space, but having four walls finished in them can have a very oppressive result.

If the theme you hanker for also happens to be a current trend like the feminine boudoir look, then it’s less likely to impact in a dramatic way on the look of the rest of your house.

The new boudoir no longer focuses on reds, ruched lace and gold tassels of yore, but has lightened up with vibrant greens, pinks, and yellows that neither fade to pastel nor plunge into oppressive darker shades.

Opt for eclectic as a theme and introduce a few witty and interesting objects into your home Hang hats in the hall or jewellery in the bedroom from the Harvest rake hanger (€28 at www.designist.ie).

Try a statement cushion emblazoned with an exotic cushion like the Flamingo (approx. €35 at M&S).

The rustic look doesn’t have to be twee. Clean lines of elegant dark woods with painted finishes and modern lighting contemporise the theme (kitchen from Abbeywood Furniture from €10,000).

Teamed with ornate mirrors, chandelier light fittings and vintage furniture painted white, it off-sets against plain carpets in in-vogue shades like grey so the final look reflects the theme but also has a fresh modernity.

■ Next week we look at how to maximise space and light in a pokey dark room.

Rich yellows and ochres bring hues of sunshine in darker, rooms. Combine with pale floors and cabinets with glass front to keep the look light (Dulux paint €56.99 p/5 ltrs).

Create a nautical flavour with the colours associated with the theme. Blue and white stripes lend themselves to sun rooms and bedrooms (Rebecca duvet from €89 at The Drapery Shop).

The Halo wall clock by Peter McCann is an ultra modern take on the pendulum clock(€125 at www.nofixedabode.ie).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

13

TERAPROOF:User:sueoconnorDate:16/02/2012Time:10:34:02Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:14

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DIY

DIY

KITCHEN CONUNDRUM CRACKED

DIYTIPS

Adjusting Kitchen Hinges

The concealed hinge that holds up the vast majority of kitchen cabinet doors is a perfectly engineered little levelling device. If your cabinets are yawning open or crooked, they may need just a quick adjustment. The cross-shaped part attached to the cabinets is where you make the adjustments. This slides along a slot to connect it to the second element of the hinge on the door.

YOU WILL NEED: ■ A crosshead screwdriver.

■ Patience ■ Adjust both hinges unless stated.

With smart storage solutions and clever layout, a compact kitchen need not be a hindrance, writes Kya deLongchamps

S

MALL wonder. It’s a curious thing, but most TV chefs when cooking at home appear to favour a compact kitchen. Two steps from their cooker, island studded sink and heaving fridge, they don’t ramble around. A small space can be full of rangy ideas, and in a hard pressed workplace like the kitchen planning ahead, offers unique challenges.

elements, mounting a hob in the island or counter and take the oven to waist level including storage beneath.

Fridge freezers can be streamlined to tall 48cm models, or divided, taking the freezer to another 50cm to 60cm spot you can spare in a cool room. Side by sides are less space efficient than stacked fridge/freezers so think about where you would appreciate that extra 20cm, on the hob or in a cooler cabinet.

LIMITLESS LAYOUTS The entire walk between the key kitchen elements of the cooker, sink and fridge should be no more than 7-8 metres. ‘L’ shaped kitchens that inhabit a corner are a favourite for open plan arrangements and can be neatly enclosed by an island, breakfast bar or dining set to partition the kitchen from the rest of the room.

If two of you are going to use the space, ensure there’s enough counter on each wall, perhaps putting the sink on one side and the cooker on the other. If you have just one wall for a kitchen, it makes sense to treat the kitchen table as another primary work surface.

Galley kitchens formed by a corridor don’t have to command culinary slavery and offer multiple benefits. You only have to swing around to find another counter. Cabinets can run on both sides or just on one. You’ll need at least 120cm for two adults to move around the space comfortably between cabinetry, so don’t wall yourself in. Open shelving creates a more comfortable feel at eye level than facing a blank wall hung door.

Add cabinets at the end of the galley and you have a classic ‘U’ shape, ideal for setting your fridge, cooker, sink triumvirate at reasonably equal distances. You’ll have two blind corners to handle, so pull out and swing wirework will be crucial to their success. Ask Express Kitchens for details of their Magic Corner units. www.expresskitchens.net.

GO TALL Take your storage right to the ceiling with tall pantry style cupboards and then stack your goods efficiently. Lesser used items should go high or very low, with everyday items at waist level and to the fore. Tall terraces of cupboards can be claustrophobic. Break the arrangement up into hanging cupboards with counters below, and some clear runs of floor cabinets with the airiness of open shelving or a reflective splash back.

Pale country kitchens in painted wood are an obvious choice, but clean contemporary, high gloss units can really shine in cramped quarters.

Streamlined and on trend, take a look at Faktum frames set with lofty doors from the Abstrakt range from IKEA. B&Q offer a full height 360 revolving corner unit (890X890mm) ideal for tucking into a cramped idle recess. Cooke & Lewis. €1,050.

COMPACT APPLIANCES Sprawling ranges and double wide fridge/freezers look great on the showroom floor, but can crowd your floorspace often without practical advantage. Look for compact models that do their job retaining those sophisticated looks in a tighter profile, such as the 60cm 2-4 Aga, €3,995. A handsome range can grandstand in a stand-alone situation a frolic from the kitchen proper. If you still want a double-wide wonder, consider creative placement of the cooker, or split its

14

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS Cabinets will dominate your space, whether built in or free-standing. That plain yawning base unit with a shelf or two is not as useful as a set of drawers in the same carcass, and they can vary from pot drawers to shallow trays for cutlery.

Get the most from that cm of depth with fully extending drawers with a good weight bearing capacity, and detail their interior with dividers and cutlery trays. Even 30cm of width can deliver a taller pull-out. Add a soft close to ensure bottles and jars are not rudely shaken when you use the unit. From €147 for a 30cm unit for a non-framed door configuration. Soft close from €268.

B&Q. Consider where the contents of the storage unit will be moving to and from.

It makes sense to put cutlery and flatware cupboards and drawers close to the dishwasher and sink for instance.

Wall mounted cabinets are around 35cm deep (wall ones 60cm in general) so don’t plan to stuff your appliances up there.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Blind corners in a ‘U’- or ‘L’-shaped kitchen are no longer a scrambling reach with wirework such as this Magic Corner from Express Kitchens. www. POA. www.expresskitchens.net.

Inframe Ivory cabinets wrap around a tight corner in style swallowing up 45cm of storage. Glazed units take weight from the arrangement. POA Cash & Carry Kitchens. www.cashandcarrykitchens.ie.

1 2 3 4 5

For loose doors: Tighten up the locking screw at the point furthest inside the cabinet. Leave a 1mm gap between door and cabinet when open. Check the fixed door screws on the door are tight.

For creaking (binding) door. Loosen that same locking screw, deepest inside the cabinet to release the door a fraction.

For doors hanging too low. Loosen and adjust the screws on the vertical element of the hinge. These will pull the door up and down a few mms on the frame. Re-tighten.

For moving doors to left or right. Loosen the screw on the cabinet closest to the door on the horizontal of the cross. You may have to loosen its counterpart (the locking screw) if you need more leeway. Re-tighten.

To align a crooked door. Use your screw nearest the gap again, on one or other of the two hinges to set straight.

Q&A

Lifting storage right to the ceiling, Abstrakt high gloss white and new Rubrik/Abstrakt green kitchen on Factum frame. Note the clever inclusion of a small office. Aluminium handles and black laminate worktop. €2,980. IKEA.

LET THE LIGHT IN Glazed units, lit from within offer a floating feel to a hemmed in busy kitchen. As with all openly viewed storage, the contents should be staged attractively. Glass and any reflective material will bounce light around the room, so keep this in mind for accessories, tiling and splash-backs.

Freestanding furniture on legs allows light a passage, and one or two well chosen pieces married to built-in cabinets will deliver character too.

When introducing artificial light, a wide wash of light if preferable to tightly honed spots that will create shadows that are not only diminishing to the sense of space but dangerous in a busy kitchen environment. Undermounted lights for wall mounted cabinets and shelving are ideal for an extra injection of task lighting.

DINE IF YOU DARE Eating areas don’t have to be vast, and a deep, glorified counter can take

Neptune in-frame country kitchen from Blackrock Kitchens in Dublin. www.blackrockkitchens.com.

Tel: 01-2108005.

breakfast and snacks with a simple over-hang to disguise some stools. When placing the chairs or stools keep in mind, that chairs move. Leave 90cm between the edge of the table and traffic flow behind it.

A 50s style Butterfly dining set can be pulled out of a 33cm resting position and folded down to accommodate four people over 139cm. Take a look at Argos’ Emperor rectangular and oval sets from €315 in oak or chocolate that swallow up four folding chairs, or IKEA’s Norden

Gateleg in white with six handy drawers.

A corner bench is another approach to tailoring a perch for light meals, but ensure the seat depth is appropriate to the largest backside in the family.

In an open plan area, bridge the kitchen with furniture style pieces that can sit happily on the edge where you might not have thought of storage solutions.

Counters and bars can play sideboard for the dining space on one side and kitchen servant for storage on the other. A really satisfying double performer.

Do you have a DIY question you would like answered?

Send it to interiors@examiner.ie

Q. I have an open plan house and want to re-design the ‘L’-shaped kitchen. What built-in elements are most appropriate for a young family?

Q. Coloured cabinets seem too daring, and I would prefer to stick to cream. What other ways can I have a colourful contemporary kitchen?

A. An island or deep bar would not only give you extra snacking room on the room side (double height counters are super kid friendly), but sets a clear no-go area when keeping little ones out from under your feet. It will also partition visually and practically the function of that area in a wider space.

Add some low storage for children’s stuff.

A. Paint is cheap and easy to alter, tiling a greater and more permanent investment, and for something truly eye catching you could run a glass splashback right around the area over your main counters. Digital colours and images make this an infinitely creative process. Try www.splashbacks.ie created by Cork Glass. You can mix cabinet colours, to create a colour block effect too.

Q. I want a country-style kitchen but I’m worried it will look dated. Is it a bad investment?

A. Of course not. The classic country kitchen has never really gone out of style. If you find raised panel designs too busy, explore in-frame designs where the door sits inside the cabinet in a sleek up-to-the-minute Shaker look.

Contemporary plain splashback from www.splashbacks.ie

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

15

TERAPROOF:User:sueoconnorDate:16/02/2012Time:10:34:02Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:14

Zone:XP1

XP1 - V1

XP1 - V1

DIY

DIY

KITCHEN CONUNDRUM CRACKED

DIYTIPS

Adjusting Kitchen Hinges

The concealed hinge that holds up the vast majority of kitchen cabinet doors is a perfectly engineered little levelling device. If your cabinets are yawning open or crooked, they may need just a quick adjustment. The cross-shaped part attached to the cabinets is where you make the adjustments. This slides along a slot to connect it to the second element of the hinge on the door.

YOU WILL NEED: ■ A crosshead screwdriver.

■ Patience ■ Adjust both hinges unless stated.

With smart storage solutions and clever layout, a compact kitchen need not be a hindrance, writes Kya deLongchamps

S

MALL wonder. It’s a curious thing, but most TV chefs when cooking at home appear to favour a compact kitchen. Two steps from their cooker, island studded sink and heaving fridge, they don’t ramble around. A small space can be full of rangy ideas, and in a hard pressed workplace like the kitchen planning ahead, offers unique challenges.

elements, mounting a hob in the island or counter and take the oven to waist level including storage beneath.

Fridge freezers can be streamlined to tall 48cm models, or divided, taking the freezer to another 50cm to 60cm spot you can spare in a cool room. Side by sides are less space efficient than stacked fridge/freezers so think about where you would appreciate that extra 20cm, on the hob or in a cooler cabinet.

LIMITLESS LAYOUTS The entire walk between the key kitchen elements of the cooker, sink and fridge should be no more than 7-8 metres. ‘L’ shaped kitchens that inhabit a corner are a favourite for open plan arrangements and can be neatly enclosed by an island, breakfast bar or dining set to partition the kitchen from the rest of the room.

If two of you are going to use the space, ensure there’s enough counter on each wall, perhaps putting the sink on one side and the cooker on the other. If you have just one wall for a kitchen, it makes sense to treat the kitchen table as another primary work surface.

Galley kitchens formed by a corridor don’t have to command culinary slavery and offer multiple benefits. You only have to swing around to find another counter. Cabinets can run on both sides or just on one. You’ll need at least 120cm for two adults to move around the space comfortably between cabinetry, so don’t wall yourself in. Open shelving creates a more comfortable feel at eye level than facing a blank wall hung door.

Add cabinets at the end of the galley and you have a classic ‘U’ shape, ideal for setting your fridge, cooker, sink triumvirate at reasonably equal distances. You’ll have two blind corners to handle, so pull out and swing wirework will be crucial to their success. Ask Express Kitchens for details of their Magic Corner units. www.expresskitchens.net.

GO TALL Take your storage right to the ceiling with tall pantry style cupboards and then stack your goods efficiently. Lesser used items should go high or very low, with everyday items at waist level and to the fore. Tall terraces of cupboards can be claustrophobic. Break the arrangement up into hanging cupboards with counters below, and some clear runs of floor cabinets with the airiness of open shelving or a reflective splash back.

Pale country kitchens in painted wood are an obvious choice, but clean contemporary, high gloss units can really shine in cramped quarters.

Streamlined and on trend, take a look at Faktum frames set with lofty doors from the Abstrakt range from IKEA. B&Q offer a full height 360 revolving corner unit (890X890mm) ideal for tucking into a cramped idle recess. Cooke & Lewis. €1,050.

COMPACT APPLIANCES Sprawling ranges and double wide fridge/freezers look great on the showroom floor, but can crowd your floorspace often without practical advantage. Look for compact models that do their job retaining those sophisticated looks in a tighter profile, such as the 60cm 2-4 Aga, €3,995. A handsome range can grandstand in a stand-alone situation a frolic from the kitchen proper. If you still want a double-wide wonder, consider creative placement of the cooker, or split its

14

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS Cabinets will dominate your space, whether built in or free-standing. That plain yawning base unit with a shelf or two is not as useful as a set of drawers in the same carcass, and they can vary from pot drawers to shallow trays for cutlery.

Get the most from that cm of depth with fully extending drawers with a good weight bearing capacity, and detail their interior with dividers and cutlery trays. Even 30cm of width can deliver a taller pull-out. Add a soft close to ensure bottles and jars are not rudely shaken when you use the unit. From €147 for a 30cm unit for a non-framed door configuration. Soft close from €268.

B&Q. Consider where the contents of the storage unit will be moving to and from.

It makes sense to put cutlery and flatware cupboards and drawers close to the dishwasher and sink for instance.

Wall mounted cabinets are around 35cm deep (wall ones 60cm in general) so don’t plan to stuff your appliances up there.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

Blind corners in a ‘U’- or ‘L’-shaped kitchen are no longer a scrambling reach with wirework such as this Magic Corner from Express Kitchens. www. POA. www.expresskitchens.net.

Inframe Ivory cabinets wrap around a tight corner in style swallowing up 45cm of storage. Glazed units take weight from the arrangement. POA Cash & Carry Kitchens. www.cashandcarrykitchens.ie.

1 2 3 4 5

For loose doors: Tighten up the locking screw at the point furthest inside the cabinet. Leave a 1mm gap between door and cabinet when open. Check the fixed door screws on the door are tight.

For creaking (binding) door. Loosen that same locking screw, deepest inside the cabinet to release the door a fraction.

For doors hanging too low. Loosen and adjust the screws on the vertical element of the hinge. These will pull the door up and down a few mms on the frame. Re-tighten.

For moving doors to left or right. Loosen the screw on the cabinet closest to the door on the horizontal of the cross. You may have to loosen its counterpart (the locking screw) if you need more leeway. Re-tighten.

To align a crooked door. Use your screw nearest the gap again, on one or other of the two hinges to set straight.

Q&A

Lifting storage right to the ceiling, Abstrakt high gloss white and new Rubrik/Abstrakt green kitchen on Factum frame. Note the clever inclusion of a small office. Aluminium handles and black laminate worktop. €2,980. IKEA.

LET THE LIGHT IN Glazed units, lit from within offer a floating feel to a hemmed in busy kitchen. As with all openly viewed storage, the contents should be staged attractively. Glass and any reflective material will bounce light around the room, so keep this in mind for accessories, tiling and splash-backs.

Freestanding furniture on legs allows light a passage, and one or two well chosen pieces married to built-in cabinets will deliver character too.

When introducing artificial light, a wide wash of light if preferable to tightly honed spots that will create shadows that are not only diminishing to the sense of space but dangerous in a busy kitchen environment. Undermounted lights for wall mounted cabinets and shelving are ideal for an extra injection of task lighting.

DINE IF YOU DARE Eating areas don’t have to be vast, and a deep, glorified counter can take

Neptune in-frame country kitchen from Blackrock Kitchens in Dublin. www.blackrockkitchens.com.

Tel: 01-2108005.

breakfast and snacks with a simple over-hang to disguise some stools. When placing the chairs or stools keep in mind, that chairs move. Leave 90cm between the edge of the table and traffic flow behind it.

A 50s style Butterfly dining set can be pulled out of a 33cm resting position and folded down to accommodate four people over 139cm. Take a look at Argos’ Emperor rectangular and oval sets from €315 in oak or chocolate that swallow up four folding chairs, or IKEA’s Norden

Gateleg in white with six handy drawers.

A corner bench is another approach to tailoring a perch for light meals, but ensure the seat depth is appropriate to the largest backside in the family.

In an open plan area, bridge the kitchen with furniture style pieces that can sit happily on the edge where you might not have thought of storage solutions.

Counters and bars can play sideboard for the dining space on one side and kitchen servant for storage on the other. A really satisfying double performer.

Do you have a DIY question you would like answered?

Send it to interiors@examiner.ie

Q. I have an open plan house and want to re-design the ‘L’-shaped kitchen. What built-in elements are most appropriate for a young family?

Q. Coloured cabinets seem too daring, and I would prefer to stick to cream. What other ways can I have a colourful contemporary kitchen?

A. An island or deep bar would not only give you extra snacking room on the room side (double height counters are super kid friendly), but sets a clear no-go area when keeping little ones out from under your feet. It will also partition visually and practically the function of that area in a wider space.

Add some low storage for children’s stuff.

A. Paint is cheap and easy to alter, tiling a greater and more permanent investment, and for something truly eye catching you could run a glass splashback right around the area over your main counters. Digital colours and images make this an infinitely creative process. Try www.splashbacks.ie created by Cork Glass. You can mix cabinet colours, to create a colour block effect too.

Q. I want a country-style kitchen but I’m worried it will look dated. Is it a bad investment?

A. Of course not. The classic country kitchen has never really gone out of style. If you find raised panel designs too busy, explore in-frame designs where the door sits inside the cabinet in a sleek up-to-the-minute Shaker look.

Contemporary plain splashback from www.splashbacks.ie

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

15

TERAPROOF:User:sueoconnorDate:16/02/2012Time:09:47:45Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:16

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WISH LIST

Wouldn’t you just love a splurge on something new?

Carol O’Callaghan goes shopping to tempt you to open up those purse strings and add a little pizzazz to your interiors.

Having a set of chairs matching in shape but finished in a spectrum of colours is a new trend to tap into. Try the ultra modern Basil by Calligaris around your wooden dining table (€129 each at Casey’s Furniture).

Avoid sticky fingers and jammy cuffs when trying to scrape the remnants from a jam jar with the extra long Elevate jar spoon by Joseph Joseph (€9.95 at Meadows & Byrne).

Cheer up the drudge of floor cleaning with a funky animal print mop (€8.99 at TK Maxx).

Wording on cushions is very on-trend, and the Take Your Seat chair pad tells it as it is (approx. €25 at Debenhams).

A pretty vase in delicate duck-egg blue and gilt trim offers a touch of vintage and off-sets white flowers beautifully (Polka 1930s style vase from Royal Albert €50 at Brown Thomas).

Knitted throws draped over the arm of a sofa are cosy for chilly evenings. Opt for cream or taupe to fit in with any colour decor (€20 at Dunnes Stores).

With a surge of interest in home baking again, you’ll need some tins to store your goodies. Check out the heart and leaf-patterned cake tins from M&S (€20).

Proper storage boxes are key to maintaining order in a child’s room. The Kidspace Paddington 2-door Storage Cupboard, €52. from www.littlewoodsireland.ie

The Kidspace Orlando Ottoman €62 makes for a pretty and practical addition to the room from www.littlewoodsireland.ie

Orange is one of the big colours for 2012.

Try it out as a finish on a new kettle like the Kenwood jug model (€59.99 from Soundstore).

Modular furniture can be bought in units and configured as the user wishes. A range like the Arianne by Fama also allows for an all over colour or a mix and match of plain and patterned (configuration shown €2,895, also available in smaller from April at New Furniture Centre).

16

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

A floor-standing lamp not only throws dedicated light on a specific area but can be an eye-catching addition to a room (Gooseneck lamp from Aoki Interiors €129).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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WISH LIST

Wouldn’t you just love a splurge on something new?

Carol O’Callaghan goes shopping to tempt you to open up those purse strings and add a little pizzazz to your interiors.

Having a set of chairs matching in shape but finished in a spectrum of colours is a new trend to tap into. Try the ultra modern Basil by Calligaris around your wooden dining table (€129 each at Casey’s Furniture).

Avoid sticky fingers and jammy cuffs when trying to scrape the remnants from a jam jar with the extra long Elevate jar spoon by Joseph Joseph (€9.95 at Meadows & Byrne).

Cheer up the drudge of floor cleaning with a funky animal print mop (€8.99 at TK Maxx).

Wording on cushions is very on-trend, and the Take Your Seat chair pad tells it as it is (approx. €25 at Debenhams).

A pretty vase in delicate duck-egg blue and gilt trim offers a touch of vintage and off-sets white flowers beautifully (Polka 1930s style vase from Royal Albert €50 at Brown Thomas).

Knitted throws draped over the arm of a sofa are cosy for chilly evenings. Opt for cream or taupe to fit in with any colour decor (€20 at Dunnes Stores).

With a surge of interest in home baking again, you’ll need some tins to store your goodies. Check out the heart and leaf-patterned cake tins from M&S (€20).

Proper storage boxes are key to maintaining order in a child’s room. The Kidspace Paddington 2-door Storage Cupboard, €52. from www.littlewoodsireland.ie

The Kidspace Orlando Ottoman €62 makes for a pretty and practical addition to the room from www.littlewoodsireland.ie

Orange is one of the big colours for 2012.

Try it out as a finish on a new kettle like the Kenwood jug model (€59.99 from Soundstore).

Modular furniture can be bought in units and configured as the user wishes. A range like the Arianne by Fama also allows for an all over colour or a mix and match of plain and patterned (configuration shown €2,895, also available in smaller from April at New Furniture Centre).

16

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

A floor-standing lamp not only throws dedicated light on a specific area but can be an eye-catching addition to a room (Gooseneck lamp from Aoki Interiors €129).

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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INTERIORS

HOME ECONOMICS

ASK THE

DESIGNER

Q

I know it’s a tradition and all, but do I really need to spring clean my home?

A. With modern electric vacuum cleaners, static-charged dusters and cleaning products, we no longer need to throw open our windows to beat the dust from the rugs like our grandmothers. But spring cleaning is a good idea anyway because it gives you a chance to check your house for signs of wear and tear, such as mold, cracked window panes or peeling paint — and repair it before it gets any worse. So get those rubber gloves on.

Q. Where should I to start the spring cleaning process?

A. First things first — declutter.

Whether it’s an overflowing wardrobe or under the stairs, start with the area that you think will most benefit from dejunking. A proper purge can take a few hours — especially if you start reminiscing over old photos or letters — so allocate one evening for each area on your list. Arm yourself with four large plastic boxes and sort items into essentials that you use regularly, rubbish or recycling, items that can be sold on and keepsakes. Once categorised, invest in proper storage for your remaining belongings. Some smart storage solutions include vacuum bags for your winter clothes, door-mounted storage racks and magazine files. Try IKEA, Howards Storage World or Argos to help declutter your home.

Q. Any tips on the cleaning process?

A. To make the task less daunting, start

1

Finding myself in Blackrock, Co Dublin, with an hour to kill, I ventured into Lost Weekend. What a treat.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the website is a great way to keep in touch with what goodies they have in store. The store features Magis designer furniture for children, Architect Made, favourites from Normann Copenhagen, Black & Blum and Irish-made Klickity. Its furniture and product sections have a Scandinavian look, which can be tailored perfectly into many an Irish home.

■ www.lostweekend.ie

18

Six steps to slash bills Your service providers may not be giving you the best deals says Kya deLongchamps, so get online and seek alternatives

by making a checklist. Upholstery and carpets really only need to be deep cleaned every couple of years. For synthetic fabric, you can rent a carpet extractor — try www.azhire.ie, but for more expensive fabrics like wool it’s best left to the professionals. Curtains can be either hung out on the line to fresh up or hoovered on a very low setting and a rubber-edged squeegee will clean windows in seconds. Clean out the fridge with a warm water and baking soda solution, using a toothbrush to scrub crannies. Unscrew lightbulbs and clean with a damp microfibre cloth, taking care to avoid the metal base, or use a telescopic duster for recessed lighting. Start as you mean to go on by restocking your cleaning supplies and making a rota of household chores for all the family to keep your home clean.

Q. How can I give my newly spotless home a bit of spring energy?

A. On-trend floral print is perfect way to beat the winter blues on a budget. This season’s florals are bold but not gaudy — think raspberry pink, duck egg blue and moss green. Designers are also mixing and matching floral prints with other patterns, like dots and stripes in the same colour scheme. Add some petal power to your living room with floral wallpaper or wall art decal, silk floral print cushions, flower-shaped mirror or large floral print rug. In the bedroom, pair crisp white bed linen with a floral duvet set and complete with a vase of fresh-cut flowers and scented candle such as Irish-made Max Benjamin White Lilies by the bedside. Avoca, Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley are among the brands famous for their florals.

WEB WATCH Lost Weekend

Interior designer Aisling O’Toole otooleaisling@gmail.com answers all your spring cleaning queries.

Email: interiors@examiner.ie

2

Averting Debt Disaster

I Left: Flower cushion, €18 and Rosa Rug €122 available from Next. Right: Mix ‘n Match florals design idea by www.designersguild.com.

Pouring over your bills or switching service provider may seem like a chore, but in the long run it could save you money.

H Left: Watercolour Cushion, €35 available from Paul Costelloe at Dunnes Stores. Right: Max Benjamin Water Lilies scented candle €28 available from www.maxbenjamin.ie.

Every week Sue O’Connor picks her top three interiors sites. If you have a favourite you’d like to see featured, email: interiors@examiner.ie

Ceadogán

3

Designist

With glowing testimonies from Monart, Kelly’s Resort and Dunbrody Country House hotel, Ceadogáin is an Irish company which specialises in producing contemporary gun-tufted rugs and wall hangings. The site guides you though examples of their craft and gently advises on collections or commissions available. A collection worth noting is Mainie Jellett, and her cubist rug designs whose colour and depth leap from the page. For those looking for more, it has a charming three-minute video on the intricacies of handmade rugs.

I wanted to use many images from this site to show what great things they have. I settled for this image, on the right, and hope you will take a look at the rest online. A cooking guide apron, with numeric conversions, freezing instructions cooking times for vegetables... they must have heard me. No more greasy fingers leafing through cookbooks.

Other ideas include an exploding grenade for flowers... yes, it’s guerrilla warfare of the wild flower variety.

Products that would not look out of place in a Star Trek programme.

■ www.ceadogan.ie

■ www.designist.ie

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

No more excuses for those burnt carrots: Cooking Guide Apron from designist.ie for €22.

OW often do you sit down and really pour over your household bills? Have you really any idea if you are getting the best possible deal for the tens of thousands flying out the door every year on those necessities, entertainment and the communication tools we simply feel we can’t live without? Here are just a few ideas to help you to become more in control of your billing and to trim those figures into shape for 2012.

1. CHANGE UTILITY PROVIDER. You might be amazed to find that the long term supplier of your electricity, telephone or gas is not giving you with the best deal possible. Go online to find out more about this increasingly competitive market. For example if you change from Energy Ireland (formerly the ESB) to Bord Gáis Energy and combine your gas and electricity bill, Bord Gáis Energy say you could save as much as 14% on your current tariff (2% of this is given for making use of a direct debit facility and the potential saving could be as much as €125 per year). Log onto www.thebigswitch.ie with your latest bill and bank account details to switch online or by phone at 1850-485868. Explore what your current firm is doing too, as deals can arise that are not highlighted for existing customers.

2. USE THE COMPARISON SITES TO SHOP FOR SERVICES It’s the information age, but streaming that information into one or

two master sites can make looking up pricing so much easier. Do keep in mind that in most cases, firms pay to be included on a comparison site. This doesn’t mean the information is tainted, but you need to look elsewhere for figures relating to other firms in the same sector, for example for broadband or mobile phone services. Compare.ie, Freetocompare.ie and Compareireland.com are just three sites covering everything from pet insurance to phone services magazine subscriptions and television package providers. For phone usage try the Government Commission for Communication’s www.callcosts.ie for independent advice.

3. SHOW ME THE MONEY (BUT IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY).

The number you get for say one unit of gas, or for a month’s internet access cannot always be compared like for like. You have highly individual circumstances and habits that may make the product of one firm better than another. Features and support vary, and what may seem cheap will seem very expensive when you’re sitting on a free phone line attached to a recorded message. Read the small print and be aware that great deals can be time limited from a few weeks to an entire year, at which point new tariffs and conditions may kick in. If you’re not on top of your credit card bill, simply switching lender may prove short term relief, but it’s your spending habits that ultimately need to change.

4.THE NO PAPER BILL E-billing, where there the monthly or bi-monthly cost is paid by direct debit from your bank account, invoiced as an email, and carried out without a regular paper bill often comes as a condition of a package. Where the bill varies, for example in gas or power use, check your meters and submit an exact reading to keep the number on track.

You should check all your bills whether in your hand or on your PC every month, to ensure there are no wild fluctuations that cannot be explained.

5. BUNDLE OF JOY A number of bundles are now available combining the price of your home phone, your mobile phone costs and even your internet service, or teaming up two of these three essential services. For home phone service and internet services you can decide on a pay as you go service or an all inclusive price with unlimited local calling for example. Read the detail picked out

Using the Economiser, you can find out how your spending compares to the real statistical analysis in Ireland, and how to cut those costs

f you find you can’t pay your regular bill, whether it be a gas bill or a mortgage payment, going to ground is the single worst choice of action.

In the case of utilities, you’ll simply find yourself cut off, and getting the service back may prove not only uncomfortable but more expensive than dealing with the issue head on.

Let your service provider know well in advance of the last due date of payment that you are having difficulty paying your bill. This potentially puts the supplier on your side, where they can come up with a reasonable payment plan taking into account the severity of the debt, your ability to pay, and your past payment history.

There are state agencies, bodies and charities with expertise in this area, and your case can be forwarded to someone who can really help.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides information and assistance to customers putting in place budget plans for bill payment and have 52 offices for confidential help nationwide.

Their free helpline number is 1890 283 438, and the line is manned Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm. Log onto www.mabs.ie for more advice.

with any sly asterixes, including download limits for broadband, critical if you stream entertainment or you or your children are gamers. Examine each element of the deal independently rather than being swayed by the total figure.

6. USE THE ECONOMISER Get educated with the superb Economiser tool offered by the National Consumer Agency of Ireland. Using the Economiser you can find out how your spending on everyday essentials from TV to groceries compares to the real statistical analysis in Ireland, and discover detailed plans to cut those costs in every area of your life. The figures you enter into the tool are protected under the Data Protection Act and will not be handed on to any third parties. If you don’t have access to a PC, stop into your local library and book a session on one of their machines during a quiet time and get started. For more call: 1890 432 432.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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INTERIORS

HOME ECONOMICS

ASK THE

DESIGNER

Q

I know it’s a tradition and all, but do I really need to spring clean my home?

A. With modern electric vacuum cleaners, static-charged dusters and cleaning products, we no longer need to throw open our windows to beat the dust from the rugs like our grandmothers. But spring cleaning is a good idea anyway because it gives you a chance to check your house for signs of wear and tear, such as mold, cracked window panes or peeling paint — and repair it before it gets any worse. So get those rubber gloves on.

Q. Where should I to start the spring cleaning process?

A. First things first — declutter.

Whether it’s an overflowing wardrobe or under the stairs, start with the area that you think will most benefit from dejunking. A proper purge can take a few hours — especially if you start reminiscing over old photos or letters — so allocate one evening for each area on your list. Arm yourself with four large plastic boxes and sort items into essentials that you use regularly, rubbish or recycling, items that can be sold on and keepsakes. Once categorised, invest in proper storage for your remaining belongings. Some smart storage solutions include vacuum bags for your winter clothes, door-mounted storage racks and magazine files. Try IKEA, Howards Storage World or Argos to help declutter your home.

Q. Any tips on the cleaning process?

A. To make the task less daunting, start

1

Finding myself in Blackrock, Co Dublin, with an hour to kill, I ventured into Lost Weekend. What a treat.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the website is a great way to keep in touch with what goodies they have in store. The store features Magis designer furniture for children, Architect Made, favourites from Normann Copenhagen, Black & Blum and Irish-made Klickity. Its furniture and product sections have a Scandinavian look, which can be tailored perfectly into many an Irish home.

■ www.lostweekend.ie

18

Six steps to slash bills Your service providers may not be giving you the best deals says Kya deLongchamps, so get online and seek alternatives

by making a checklist. Upholstery and carpets really only need to be deep cleaned every couple of years. For synthetic fabric, you can rent a carpet extractor — try www.azhire.ie, but for more expensive fabrics like wool it’s best left to the professionals. Curtains can be either hung out on the line to fresh up or hoovered on a very low setting and a rubber-edged squeegee will clean windows in seconds. Clean out the fridge with a warm water and baking soda solution, using a toothbrush to scrub crannies. Unscrew lightbulbs and clean with a damp microfibre cloth, taking care to avoid the metal base, or use a telescopic duster for recessed lighting. Start as you mean to go on by restocking your cleaning supplies and making a rota of household chores for all the family to keep your home clean.

Q. How can I give my newly spotless home a bit of spring energy?

A. On-trend floral print is perfect way to beat the winter blues on a budget. This season’s florals are bold but not gaudy — think raspberry pink, duck egg blue and moss green. Designers are also mixing and matching floral prints with other patterns, like dots and stripes in the same colour scheme. Add some petal power to your living room with floral wallpaper or wall art decal, silk floral print cushions, flower-shaped mirror or large floral print rug. In the bedroom, pair crisp white bed linen with a floral duvet set and complete with a vase of fresh-cut flowers and scented candle such as Irish-made Max Benjamin White Lilies by the bedside. Avoca, Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley are among the brands famous for their florals.

WEB WATCH Lost Weekend

Interior designer Aisling O’Toole otooleaisling@gmail.com answers all your spring cleaning queries.

Email: interiors@examiner.ie

2

Averting Debt Disaster

I Left: Flower cushion, €18 and Rosa Rug €122 available from Next. Right: Mix ‘n Match florals design idea by www.designersguild.com.

Pouring over your bills or switching service provider may seem like a chore, but in the long run it could save you money.

H Left: Watercolour Cushion, €35 available from Paul Costelloe at Dunnes Stores. Right: Max Benjamin Water Lilies scented candle €28 available from www.maxbenjamin.ie.

Every week Sue O’Connor picks her top three interiors sites. If you have a favourite you’d like to see featured, email: interiors@examiner.ie

Ceadogán

3

Designist

With glowing testimonies from Monart, Kelly’s Resort and Dunbrody Country House hotel, Ceadogáin is an Irish company which specialises in producing contemporary gun-tufted rugs and wall hangings. The site guides you though examples of their craft and gently advises on collections or commissions available. A collection worth noting is Mainie Jellett, and her cubist rug designs whose colour and depth leap from the page. For those looking for more, it has a charming three-minute video on the intricacies of handmade rugs.

I wanted to use many images from this site to show what great things they have. I settled for this image, on the right, and hope you will take a look at the rest online. A cooking guide apron, with numeric conversions, freezing instructions cooking times for vegetables... they must have heard me. No more greasy fingers leafing through cookbooks.

Other ideas include an exploding grenade for flowers... yes, it’s guerrilla warfare of the wild flower variety.

Products that would not look out of place in a Star Trek programme.

■ www.ceadogan.ie

■ www.designist.ie

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

No more excuses for those burnt carrots: Cooking Guide Apron from designist.ie for €22.

OW often do you sit down and really pour over your household bills? Have you really any idea if you are getting the best possible deal for the tens of thousands flying out the door every year on those necessities, entertainment and the communication tools we simply feel we can’t live without? Here are just a few ideas to help you to become more in control of your billing and to trim those figures into shape for 2012.

1. CHANGE UTILITY PROVIDER. You might be amazed to find that the long term supplier of your electricity, telephone or gas is not giving you with the best deal possible. Go online to find out more about this increasingly competitive market. For example if you change from Energy Ireland (formerly the ESB) to Bord Gáis Energy and combine your gas and electricity bill, Bord Gáis Energy say you could save as much as 14% on your current tariff (2% of this is given for making use of a direct debit facility and the potential saving could be as much as €125 per year). Log onto www.thebigswitch.ie with your latest bill and bank account details to switch online or by phone at 1850-485868. Explore what your current firm is doing too, as deals can arise that are not highlighted for existing customers.

2. USE THE COMPARISON SITES TO SHOP FOR SERVICES It’s the information age, but streaming that information into one or

two master sites can make looking up pricing so much easier. Do keep in mind that in most cases, firms pay to be included on a comparison site. This doesn’t mean the information is tainted, but you need to look elsewhere for figures relating to other firms in the same sector, for example for broadband or mobile phone services. Compare.ie, Freetocompare.ie and Compareireland.com are just three sites covering everything from pet insurance to phone services magazine subscriptions and television package providers. For phone usage try the Government Commission for Communication’s www.callcosts.ie for independent advice.

3. SHOW ME THE MONEY (BUT IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY).

The number you get for say one unit of gas, or for a month’s internet access cannot always be compared like for like. You have highly individual circumstances and habits that may make the product of one firm better than another. Features and support vary, and what may seem cheap will seem very expensive when you’re sitting on a free phone line attached to a recorded message. Read the small print and be aware that great deals can be time limited from a few weeks to an entire year, at which point new tariffs and conditions may kick in. If you’re not on top of your credit card bill, simply switching lender may prove short term relief, but it’s your spending habits that ultimately need to change.

4.THE NO PAPER BILL E-billing, where there the monthly or bi-monthly cost is paid by direct debit from your bank account, invoiced as an email, and carried out without a regular paper bill often comes as a condition of a package. Where the bill varies, for example in gas or power use, check your meters and submit an exact reading to keep the number on track.

You should check all your bills whether in your hand or on your PC every month, to ensure there are no wild fluctuations that cannot be explained.

5. BUNDLE OF JOY A number of bundles are now available combining the price of your home phone, your mobile phone costs and even your internet service, or teaming up two of these three essential services. For home phone service and internet services you can decide on a pay as you go service or an all inclusive price with unlimited local calling for example. Read the detail picked out

Using the Economiser, you can find out how your spending compares to the real statistical analysis in Ireland, and how to cut those costs

f you find you can’t pay your regular bill, whether it be a gas bill or a mortgage payment, going to ground is the single worst choice of action.

In the case of utilities, you’ll simply find yourself cut off, and getting the service back may prove not only uncomfortable but more expensive than dealing with the issue head on.

Let your service provider know well in advance of the last due date of payment that you are having difficulty paying your bill. This potentially puts the supplier on your side, where they can come up with a reasonable payment plan taking into account the severity of the debt, your ability to pay, and your past payment history.

There are state agencies, bodies and charities with expertise in this area, and your case can be forwarded to someone who can really help.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides information and assistance to customers putting in place budget plans for bill payment and have 52 offices for confidential help nationwide.

Their free helpline number is 1890 283 438, and the line is manned Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm. Log onto www.mabs.ie for more advice.

with any sly asterixes, including download limits for broadband, critical if you stream entertainment or you or your children are gamers. Examine each element of the deal independently rather than being swayed by the total figure.

6. USE THE ECONOMISER Get educated with the superb Economiser tool offered by the National Consumer Agency of Ireland. Using the Economiser you can find out how your spending on everyday essentials from TV to groceries compares to the real statistical analysis in Ireland, and discover detailed plans to cut those costs in every area of your life. The figures you enter into the tool are protected under the Data Protection Act and will not be handed on to any third parties. If you don’t have access to a PC, stop into your local library and book a session on one of their machines during a quiet time and get started. For more call: 1890 432 432.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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IN THE GARDEN

Work for the week. . .

IN THE GARDEN

GARDENNOTES

Irene; a woman of substance

■ GIY Clonmel is hosting a talk about potatoes at 2pm on Saturday, Feb, 25, at Hotel Minella, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. The entry fee is €8 which includes tea and scones. Expert gardeners Dermot Carey and Dave Langford will offer advice on how to grow potatoes In addition, there will be an opportunity to buy seed potatoes and to watch a cookery demo. For further information or to purchase tickets please telephone: 086-075 6448 or email lucymoor@gmail.com Tickets are also available at Bob Fitzgerald Hardware, 29 O’Connell St, Clonmel. Tel: 052-6122564

by Charlie Wilkins

by Charlie Wilkins

CAMELLIAS: Modern hybrids of Camellia are very hardy and in most gardens are very free-flowering.

Names to bear in mind include ‘Bow Bells’ in light pink and ‘Debbie’ which is a darker pink. This latter form is quite a stunner, and most reliable even on soils which are not decidedly acid. These evergreens appreciate a lightly shaded position in soil that is rich in peat, leaf mould or pine-needles.

To keep the leaves dark green on soils where these are not plentiful, feed regularly during the period midsummer to autumn, with the likes of Miracid plant food. If you love these shrubs and want to splash out on their long-term well-being, then collect a tidy bag of pine-needles and spread then beneath the branch spread. You’ll give them the lift of a lifetime and they’ll respond accordingly.

■ Limerick’s Garden World at Ellen Street have taken delivery of over 50 varieties of seed potato for allotment and garden enthusiasts (including blight resistant strains). Selection of other garden products and accessories also in stock.

■ Mitchelstown Flower and Garden Club will have Beatrice Hartog to demonstrate at their meeting on Thursday next at 8pm in the Town Hall.

■ Ladysbridge and District Flower and Garden Club will meet on Monday at 8pm in the Garryvoe Hotel. Guest speaker Michael Clancy from Fota Garden Centre will speak on preparing for your garden for spring. Plants for sale.

MILD WEATHER: This year’s mild winter may lead to smaller fruit crops this autumn with a subsequent rise in prices. Most hardy fruit plants need a period of chilling during winter in order to encourage flowering. If there is not a prolonged cold period, plants will start growing earlier than normal and may flower early too. This could put them at a greater risk of damage if there is frost during March, April and early May. Early flowering may also mean less fruit being set as there may be fewer pollinating insects around. Any cold spells may help, but many fruit experts suggest that a long spell would better ensure that any growth and flowering development is held back. If you have only one or two fruit bushes that have started filling their buds then these should be covered with some horticultural fleece or an old curtain in hard frosts.

CROCOSMIAS: We used to call them montbretias, and they are often neglected and left to form such large clumps that the blooms become small. The newer varieties will not tolerate such neglect and they’ll deteriorate quickly unless lifted and divided into small portions every other year. This is best done early on this month.

BEGONIAS; Tuberous begonias can be revived this month in a greenhouse or propagator if the temperature can be kept around 13 degrees centigrade during the daytime. Just push the kidney-shaped tubers into some seed and potting compost with the hollow side uppermost. Give but a single watering to the compost, but spray the corms daily with tepid water to encourage new growth.

■ Kevin Waters, vegetable expert will speak, demonstrate, and answer questions on vegetable growing’ today from 9am to 6pm at Hosfords Enniskeane. Repeat tomorrow from noon to 5.30pm. Free admission.

■ Clare Beumer will talk on gardening in shade to members of the Mallow Flower and Garden Club on Tuesday next at 8pm in the Mercy Centre.

Plants will be for sale and all welcome.

Modern hybrids of Camellia are very hardy and in most gardens are very free-flowering.

Once the leafy shoots emerge, the tubers can be potted individually. Dainty trailing species are excellent for conservatories or outdoor summer containers. Your local garden centre should be able to supply you with some of these along with an astonishing range of other forms in different colours and growth styles.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS; As spring struggles to supplant winter, the variegated pulmonarias deserve a big hand and these should be allowed grow into broad patches in otherwise untenanted ground between shrubs. One might suppose that

these plants lack vigour (as variegated perennials often do) but I have not found this to be the case.

The multi-leaved clumps wax fat and produce flower stems in multitudes if you let them grow as they like. Having loose morals, they are inclined to self-seed wildly, obscuring their parent’s lineage in the process. The flower heads of Pulmonaria saccharata (the most common form) change from pink to blue over a number of weeks and since they open successively, both colours can appear at the same time. I believe this to be the reasoning behind their common name of Soldiers and Sailors.

Left: Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (red), and right; Giant Montbretia flowers (Crocosmia masoniorum) will not tolerate neglect and will deteriorate unless they are looked after.

20

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

■ Learn how to arrange flowers by coming along to the Bandon Flower Club work night on Monday next at 8pm in the Munster Arms Hotel.

Designs on the night will be a crescent or a petite. Open to non-members. Bring oasis and suitable plant material.

■ Cork Alpine Hardy Plant Society will meet on Thursday next at 8pm in the Lavanagh Centre to hear David Haselgrove of Pelham House, Herts speak on Pelham House garden in spring.

Irene Patterson grows in the company of snowdrops and alongside a large bottle feature. A few more are scattered about where light is always at a premium, for their leaves seems to radiate what little there is.

I

n Donegal the Northern Lights may still be filling the winter sky, but here in the far south Orion continues his nightly stride across the heavens towards the horizon. Soon he will disappear into summer oblivion. His movement is a portent, a sure and welcome sign that winter is losing the jurisdiction battle, thus allowing spring its subtle arrival.

The great flush of bulb growth that the new season brings will delight gardeners for weeks to come, but we must also look for delicate white and cream blossoms on dark, wet twigs, the swelling of sticky chestnut buds, and the arrival of fresh green foliage on garden trees and shrubs.

Beware however, when planting up a winter garden (especially those that are somewhat sha dy) for you can end up making them even gloomier. Put in a tree and you lose the light completely. Evergreen shrubs and climbers simply deepen the shadows.

For these reasons, the contents of the decorative garden should contain a balance between evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. Too great a preponderance of evergreens leads to a heaviness and dullness and the seasons are not allowed their sway. On the other

hand, if the plantings all lose their leaves in winter the place will feel cold, draughty and bare.

What’s the best approach?

Planting half and half is about right I suspect, but much will depend on the climate of the garden for it is accepted that most of the deciduous types will be found the hardiest, while many evergreens have difficulty in coping with cold, icy winds.

In the south, where the winters are decidedly warmer, there should be no shortage of contenders for the title ‘best garden evergreen’ and when it comes to the family pittosporum, there are many fine varieties to choose from.

Apart altogether from their attractive foliage they make terrific hedges quite capable of tolerating salt-laden winds, and they’re beloved by floral artists of every persuasion.

My favourite among this large family is pittosporum ‘Irene Patterson’ a slow-growing, shortjointed, and easily cultivated wonder with white crinkled leaves splashed with tiny spots of lime green. Irene has other alluring qualities:. She is sun loving and generally drought tolerant but won’t mind some shade provided it does not border on total darkness which

would ruin her fair complexion.

A seaside garden will be very much to her liking for she likes fresh air, and can withstand salt spray or excess rain as long as the land drains easily. In a city or town garden she would reign with elegance and look supreme. Her jewellery shows when her tiny, almost inconspicuous blooms appear in March/April and these are delicately perfumed to attract whatever pollinating insects happen to be on the wing just then.

In winter, when all else is rather dismal looking she will provide valuable interest either growing on her own or as part of grouping. It is for the splash of winter colour in the border that she will be chiefly esteemed.

Like all women of substance she has one or two easily understood foibles. All in her family, herself included, resent being repositioned following an initial planting. An open, airy site will suit her handsomely but try to avoid cold, draughty aspects.

Regarded in many counties as not being reliably hardy, her stay at Villa Marie had been uninterrupted since her arrival years ago and even last winter’s freeze did little to dull her charms. She’s worth her presence.

■ Cork Flower Club will host Sheila Gilbert to demonstrate inspiration — spring on Tuesday next at 8pm in the Canon Packham Hall Douglas.

■ Free noon talks on grow your own with advice on when and where to plant vegetables takes place at the Greenbarn, Killeagh today and tomorrow. Advice on organic methods. Enjoy lunch today for just €10. Gardening classes begin on Monday at 10am. Contact 024-90166.

■ Ardfield/Rathbarry Gardening Club hosts Sheila Crean on Thursday at 8pm in the parish hall.

Shelia’s topic is grow your own, make your own.

■ Practical demonstrations on how to plant potatoes and sow vegetable seeds followed by a gourmet lunch takes place at Griffins Dripsey on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week for €10. Call 7334286 for details.

■ Ballymaloe Cookery School host Norbert Platz in a Garden Workshop on building willow structures” on Monday next from 9am to 2pm.

Light lunch included. Some places still available so contact 021-4646785 ■ Nangles, Model Farm Road have Dave Murphy to demonstrate, speak, and take questions on growing your own vegetables on Saturday next at 11am. All welcome.

■ Snowdrop Week at Altamont Gardens, Tullow, Co Carlow takes place from Monday, Feb 20 to 26. Tours with head gardener at 2pm daily cost €2, but gardens are free. Contact 059-9159444.

■ Charleville Flower and Garden Club will host a ‘Quiz Night’ (in aid of funds for the World Championships in Dublin) this Monday at 8.30pm in the GAA Hall, Bakers Road. All welcome.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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IN THE GARDEN

Work for the week. . .

IN THE GARDEN

GARDENNOTES

Irene; a woman of substance

■ GIY Clonmel is hosting a talk about potatoes at 2pm on Saturday, Feb, 25, at Hotel Minella, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. The entry fee is €8 which includes tea and scones. Expert gardeners Dermot Carey and Dave Langford will offer advice on how to grow potatoes In addition, there will be an opportunity to buy seed potatoes and to watch a cookery demo. For further information or to purchase tickets please telephone: 086-075 6448 or email lucymoor@gmail.com Tickets are also available at Bob Fitzgerald Hardware, 29 O’Connell St, Clonmel. Tel: 052-6122564

by Charlie Wilkins

by Charlie Wilkins

CAMELLIAS: Modern hybrids of Camellia are very hardy and in most gardens are very free-flowering.

Names to bear in mind include ‘Bow Bells’ in light pink and ‘Debbie’ which is a darker pink. This latter form is quite a stunner, and most reliable even on soils which are not decidedly acid. These evergreens appreciate a lightly shaded position in soil that is rich in peat, leaf mould or pine-needles.

To keep the leaves dark green on soils where these are not plentiful, feed regularly during the period midsummer to autumn, with the likes of Miracid plant food. If you love these shrubs and want to splash out on their long-term well-being, then collect a tidy bag of pine-needles and spread then beneath the branch spread. You’ll give them the lift of a lifetime and they’ll respond accordingly.

■ Limerick’s Garden World at Ellen Street have taken delivery of over 50 varieties of seed potato for allotment and garden enthusiasts (including blight resistant strains). Selection of other garden products and accessories also in stock.

■ Mitchelstown Flower and Garden Club will have Beatrice Hartog to demonstrate at their meeting on Thursday next at 8pm in the Town Hall.

■ Ladysbridge and District Flower and Garden Club will meet on Monday at 8pm in the Garryvoe Hotel. Guest speaker Michael Clancy from Fota Garden Centre will speak on preparing for your garden for spring. Plants for sale.

MILD WEATHER: This year’s mild winter may lead to smaller fruit crops this autumn with a subsequent rise in prices. Most hardy fruit plants need a period of chilling during winter in order to encourage flowering. If there is not a prolonged cold period, plants will start growing earlier than normal and may flower early too. This could put them at a greater risk of damage if there is frost during March, April and early May. Early flowering may also mean less fruit being set as there may be fewer pollinating insects around. Any cold spells may help, but many fruit experts suggest that a long spell would better ensure that any growth and flowering development is held back. If you have only one or two fruit bushes that have started filling their buds then these should be covered with some horticultural fleece or an old curtain in hard frosts.

CROCOSMIAS: We used to call them montbretias, and they are often neglected and left to form such large clumps that the blooms become small. The newer varieties will not tolerate such neglect and they’ll deteriorate quickly unless lifted and divided into small portions every other year. This is best done early on this month.

BEGONIAS; Tuberous begonias can be revived this month in a greenhouse or propagator if the temperature can be kept around 13 degrees centigrade during the daytime. Just push the kidney-shaped tubers into some seed and potting compost with the hollow side uppermost. Give but a single watering to the compost, but spray the corms daily with tepid water to encourage new growth.

■ Kevin Waters, vegetable expert will speak, demonstrate, and answer questions on vegetable growing’ today from 9am to 6pm at Hosfords Enniskeane. Repeat tomorrow from noon to 5.30pm. Free admission.

■ Clare Beumer will talk on gardening in shade to members of the Mallow Flower and Garden Club on Tuesday next at 8pm in the Mercy Centre.

Plants will be for sale and all welcome.

Modern hybrids of Camellia are very hardy and in most gardens are very free-flowering.

Once the leafy shoots emerge, the tubers can be potted individually. Dainty trailing species are excellent for conservatories or outdoor summer containers. Your local garden centre should be able to supply you with some of these along with an astonishing range of other forms in different colours and growth styles.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS; As spring struggles to supplant winter, the variegated pulmonarias deserve a big hand and these should be allowed grow into broad patches in otherwise untenanted ground between shrubs. One might suppose that

these plants lack vigour (as variegated perennials often do) but I have not found this to be the case.

The multi-leaved clumps wax fat and produce flower stems in multitudes if you let them grow as they like. Having loose morals, they are inclined to self-seed wildly, obscuring their parent’s lineage in the process. The flower heads of Pulmonaria saccharata (the most common form) change from pink to blue over a number of weeks and since they open successively, both colours can appear at the same time. I believe this to be the reasoning behind their common name of Soldiers and Sailors.

Left: Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (red), and right; Giant Montbretia flowers (Crocosmia masoniorum) will not tolerate neglect and will deteriorate unless they are looked after.

20

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

■ Learn how to arrange flowers by coming along to the Bandon Flower Club work night on Monday next at 8pm in the Munster Arms Hotel.

Designs on the night will be a crescent or a petite. Open to non-members. Bring oasis and suitable plant material.

■ Cork Alpine Hardy Plant Society will meet on Thursday next at 8pm in the Lavanagh Centre to hear David Haselgrove of Pelham House, Herts speak on Pelham House garden in spring.

Irene Patterson grows in the company of snowdrops and alongside a large bottle feature. A few more are scattered about where light is always at a premium, for their leaves seems to radiate what little there is.

I

n Donegal the Northern Lights may still be filling the winter sky, but here in the far south Orion continues his nightly stride across the heavens towards the horizon. Soon he will disappear into summer oblivion. His movement is a portent, a sure and welcome sign that winter is losing the jurisdiction battle, thus allowing spring its subtle arrival.

The great flush of bulb growth that the new season brings will delight gardeners for weeks to come, but we must also look for delicate white and cream blossoms on dark, wet twigs, the swelling of sticky chestnut buds, and the arrival of fresh green foliage on garden trees and shrubs.

Beware however, when planting up a winter garden (especially those that are somewhat sha dy) for you can end up making them even gloomier. Put in a tree and you lose the light completely. Evergreen shrubs and climbers simply deepen the shadows.

For these reasons, the contents of the decorative garden should contain a balance between evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. Too great a preponderance of evergreens leads to a heaviness and dullness and the seasons are not allowed their sway. On the other

hand, if the plantings all lose their leaves in winter the place will feel cold, draughty and bare.

What’s the best approach?

Planting half and half is about right I suspect, but much will depend on the climate of the garden for it is accepted that most of the deciduous types will be found the hardiest, while many evergreens have difficulty in coping with cold, icy winds.

In the south, where the winters are decidedly warmer, there should be no shortage of contenders for the title ‘best garden evergreen’ and when it comes to the family pittosporum, there are many fine varieties to choose from.

Apart altogether from their attractive foliage they make terrific hedges quite capable of tolerating salt-laden winds, and they’re beloved by floral artists of every persuasion.

My favourite among this large family is pittosporum ‘Irene Patterson’ a slow-growing, shortjointed, and easily cultivated wonder with white crinkled leaves splashed with tiny spots of lime green. Irene has other alluring qualities:. She is sun loving and generally drought tolerant but won’t mind some shade provided it does not border on total darkness which

would ruin her fair complexion.

A seaside garden will be very much to her liking for she likes fresh air, and can withstand salt spray or excess rain as long as the land drains easily. In a city or town garden she would reign with elegance and look supreme. Her jewellery shows when her tiny, almost inconspicuous blooms appear in March/April and these are delicately perfumed to attract whatever pollinating insects happen to be on the wing just then.

In winter, when all else is rather dismal looking she will provide valuable interest either growing on her own or as part of grouping. It is for the splash of winter colour in the border that she will be chiefly esteemed.

Like all women of substance she has one or two easily understood foibles. All in her family, herself included, resent being repositioned following an initial planting. An open, airy site will suit her handsomely but try to avoid cold, draughty aspects.

Regarded in many counties as not being reliably hardy, her stay at Villa Marie had been uninterrupted since her arrival years ago and even last winter’s freeze did little to dull her charms. She’s worth her presence.

■ Cork Flower Club will host Sheila Gilbert to demonstrate inspiration — spring on Tuesday next at 8pm in the Canon Packham Hall Douglas.

■ Free noon talks on grow your own with advice on when and where to plant vegetables takes place at the Greenbarn, Killeagh today and tomorrow. Advice on organic methods. Enjoy lunch today for just €10. Gardening classes begin on Monday at 10am. Contact 024-90166.

■ Ardfield/Rathbarry Gardening Club hosts Sheila Crean on Thursday at 8pm in the parish hall.

Shelia’s topic is grow your own, make your own.

■ Practical demonstrations on how to plant potatoes and sow vegetable seeds followed by a gourmet lunch takes place at Griffins Dripsey on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week for €10. Call 7334286 for details.

■ Ballymaloe Cookery School host Norbert Platz in a Garden Workshop on building willow structures” on Monday next from 9am to 2pm.

Light lunch included. Some places still available so contact 021-4646785 ■ Nangles, Model Farm Road have Dave Murphy to demonstrate, speak, and take questions on growing your own vegetables on Saturday next at 11am. All welcome.

■ Snowdrop Week at Altamont Gardens, Tullow, Co Carlow takes place from Monday, Feb 20 to 26. Tours with head gardener at 2pm daily cost €2, but gardens are free. Contact 059-9159444.

■ Charleville Flower and Garden Club will host a ‘Quiz Night’ (in aid of funds for the World Championships in Dublin) this Monday at 8.30pm in the GAA Hall, Bakers Road. All welcome.

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

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ANTIQUES & FINE ART

ADVERTISING

£500k expected for Osborne Feeding the Chickens work Important Irish artist’s painting at Bonhams sale, Des O’Sullivan reports

A

painting by Walter Osborne, unseen on the open market since 1913, is to be sold at Bonhams this summer.

Feeding the Chickens (1884-85) will be on display at the official opening of Bonhams new offices at 31 Molesworth St., Dublin next Friday.

Estimated at £500,000£700,000, it is from a private collection in Ireland. Walter Frederick Osborne RHA, ROI (18591903), regarded as the most important Irish artist of his generation, was at the height of his short career when he painted this work.

Charles O’Brien, head of Bonhams 19th Century Paintings Department,

said: “It is a remarkable example of the dramatic change that Irish painting underwent towards the end of the 19th century, with artists increasingly being influenced by movements in continental Europe.”

From the mid-1880s to 1890 Osborne regularly visited many small towns, villages and harbours in England. He frequently painted local people at work tending livestock, feeding chickens and ploughing fields. Feeding the chickens is mentioned in a letter to his father while the artist was working at in Warwickshire. It will be sold in London on July 11 as part of the 19th century paintings sale.

AUCTION OF FURNITURE & EFFECTS, ANTIQUES, SILVER & ART Now accepting for next auction in our City Centre Auction Rooms

WOODWARDS AUCTION ROOMS 26 COOK ST CORK ∙ 021-4273327 ∙ www.woodward.ie

Feeding the chickens by Walter Osborne at Bonhams. It will be on display at the official opening of Bonhams new offices at 31 Molesworth St, Dublin next Friday.

Big selection for collectors Auctions at Bandon and Mitchelstown tomorrow will provide plenty of interest for Cork collectors. At Hegarty’s in Bandon there is a large selection of Victorian and Edwardian inlaid furniture among 350 lots in a sale that starts at 3pm and is now on view. Regency lots include a wine cooler and a library table.

There is a seasonal garden selection and about 30 lots of Irish and continental art.

Collectibles include an Irish bog oak inkstand carved as an owl.

In Mitchelstown Edward Walsh Sales will

offer a selection of furniture on the instructions of Canon Patrick Twomey.

Parochial House, Kildorrery, who has retired and other clients. The auction of over 300 lots includes a Georgian sideboard, a Georgian card table, a Victorian mirror back sideboard, 10 spoon back chairs, a Victorian bureau, a Georgian longcase clock with painted dial and a cast iron garden seat.

Viewing at the Firgrove Hotel is from 7pm to 9pm this evening and from 10am until the start of the sale at 2.30pm tomorrow.

ANTIQUE AUCTION in Doneraile, Co. Cork

Auction on Saturday 25th February @ 1.00pm

ANTIQUES AND GENERAL AUCTION Sunday 26th February at 12 Noon Viewing Friday 24th 10am to 8pm, Saturday 25th 10am to 6pm and morning of the sale

CORK AUCTION ROOMS

12 Southlink Park, Ballycurreen Road, (off the Airport Road) Cork Tel 021 4847689 or 086 8165329 Web www.corkauctionrooms.com

THE SPRING SALE - Our Auctions consist of approx 500 lots with interesting items for every room in the house. Our auctions appeal to everyone as we have items to suit every budget.

We are pleased to offer items to include Antiques, Paintings, Collectables, Period and later furniture, Clocks, Ceramics, Glassware, Pictures and prints, Dining Tables, Sets of Chairs, Bedroom Cabinets, Wardrobes, Chest of Drawers, Occasional Tables, Painted Furniture, etc.

For fully illustrated catalogue go to www.irishcountryhome.com VIEWING in our Auction Rooms: Friday 24th February (2-8pm) and the morning of the sale from 11am to start of sale at 1pm.

AIDAN FOLEY ANTIQUE & FINE ART AUCTIONEER

The Old Schoolhouse Auction Rooms, Doneraile, Mallow, Co. Cork. 022-72992/086-8290680

EDWARD WALSH SALES - MITCHELSTOWN Phone 025-84107 or 086-2540645

Auction of Parochial Antique and High Class Furniture on the instructions of Rev. Canon Patrick Twomey PP. Parochial House Kildorrery, who has retired and other clients on this Sunday February 19th at 2.30pm at the Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown.

THERE IS OVER 300 LOTS.

There will be viewing Saturday evening from 7 until 9 pm and morning of auction from 10am.

Further details from above.

22

IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

SALE VIEWS Viewing for Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art sale at the Radisson at Little Island in Cork on Monday at 6.30pm gets underway at noon tomorrow. This is a sale with a good selection of work by leading Irish artists and more affordable newcomers. Viewing is from noon to 10pm tomorrow and from 10am to the start of the auction on Monday. ........................................................................

SALE RESULTS The top lot at Woodwards sale in Cork was a portrait of a girl by Ken Hamilton. It made €2,400. A Georgian cellarette by Mack Williams and Gibton made €900, a walnut davenport made €680, a Georgian bureau bookcase sold for €650 and a Regency sofa table made €650. ........................................................................

LIMERICK AUCTION More than 400 lots come under the hammer at Limerick Auction Rooms in a sale which gets underway at 1.30pm today. ........................................................................

ATTIC SALE In Dublin, James Adam will hold an attic sale with 400 lots of decorative arts, silver, painting and furniture at 11.30am tomorrow. ........................................................................

VALUATIONS Sotheby’s will hold valuations at their offices at 16 Molesworth St, Dublin next week. There will be valuations of Irish and British paintings on Monday and Tuesday and of Chinese

ceramics and works of art next Friday. ........................................................................

SCHOLAR’S PROPERTY Property from the collection of Mughal scholar Dr Linda Leach will be offered at Bonhams in London on Apr 24. Dr Leach catalogued the Mughal and Indian miniatures in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. The Rajput schools of Indian miniatures are well represented in her 30-piece collection. An image of the jamas worn by the two early 19th century Jodhpur rulers seated in conversation is estimated at £3,000-4,000. ........................................................................

BRONZE SCULPTURE A 1922 Michael Collins commemorative plate , a bronze sculpture of the Death of Cuchulain from the original in the GPO by Oliver Sheppard, RHA and a 1920 $10 bond issued by Éamon de Valera for fundraising in the War of Independence are among the lots on offer at Cork Auction Rooms on Sunday, Feb 26 at noon.

Cork Auction Rooms, Southlink Business Park, Ballycurreen Road, is a new venture by Tom O’Connell of Kerry Auction Rooms, Moyderwell, Tralee and Michael Watson of Lissardagh Antiques in Cork. Viewing from 10am next Friday. ........................................................................

350 LOTS Matthews of Oldcastle, Co Meath have a sale of over 350 lots at 116 Capel St, Dublin at 2.30pm tomorrow.

IRISH ART AUCTION Monday, 20th February 2012 at 6.30pm

Left: The Antique Shop by Ivan Sutton at the Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale on Monday.

Above: Indian Company School gouache circa 1855 is in Hegarty’s in Bandon tomorrow.

Its estimate is €800/€1,200.

Tony O’Malley

Ger Duggan Tel: 021-4802192 email: interiorads@examiner.ie ��������� ���� ���������

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Over 280 lots representing a wide selection of well known tradtional and contempoary Irish artists

Catalogue with full illustration can be viewed on w w w . m o r g a n o d r i s c o l l . c o m

This small oil on board by Paul Henry (1876-1958) is estimated at €20,000-€30,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale.

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Vi ewing Ti mes The Radisson Blu & Spa, Little Island, Cork Sunday 19th February 2012: 12noon - 10pm Monday 20th February 2012: 10am - 6pm

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Harry Kernoff

Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork; Tel: 028 22338 · Mob: 086 2472425 email: info@morganodriscoll.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL

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Radisson Blu & S p a , L i t t l e I s l a n d , C o r k

Briefly as follows:

Georgian Mahogany Sideboard, Georgian Mahogany fold over card table, Victorian Mahogany mirror back sideboard, Victorian Inlaid Bedroom Suite, a set of 10 Mahogany spoon back chairs, Large Mahogany dining room table and two leaves, a set of 8 Mahogany dining room chairs, Victorian inlaid writing bureau, Victorian Inlaid Mahogany display cabinets, Pr of Victorian Mahogany Hall chairs, Georgian grandfather clock, Victorian Vienna wall clock and slate mantal clocks, Mahogany hall tables and Mahogany chivale mirror, Victorian Scotch chest, Mahogany bedroom lockers, Cast iron garden seat, Victorian dinner and tea services, Pr of Cpri-de-monti figures, Mahogany hall stand, oil paintings, water colours and household contents.

IN BRIEF

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

23

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ANTIQUES & FINE ART

ADVERTISING

£500k expected for Osborne Feeding the Chickens work Important Irish artist’s painting at Bonhams sale, Des O’Sullivan reports

A

painting by Walter Osborne, unseen on the open market since 1913, is to be sold at Bonhams this summer.

Feeding the Chickens (1884-85) will be on display at the official opening of Bonhams new offices at 31 Molesworth St., Dublin next Friday.

Estimated at £500,000£700,000, it is from a private collection in Ireland. Walter Frederick Osborne RHA, ROI (18591903), regarded as the most important Irish artist of his generation, was at the height of his short career when he painted this work.

Charles O’Brien, head of Bonhams 19th Century Paintings Department,

said: “It is a remarkable example of the dramatic change that Irish painting underwent towards the end of the 19th century, with artists increasingly being influenced by movements in continental Europe.”

From the mid-1880s to 1890 Osborne regularly visited many small towns, villages and harbours in England. He frequently painted local people at work tending livestock, feeding chickens and ploughing fields. Feeding the chickens is mentioned in a letter to his father while the artist was working at in Warwickshire. It will be sold in London on July 11 as part of the 19th century paintings sale.

AUCTION OF FURNITURE & EFFECTS, ANTIQUES, SILVER & ART Now accepting for next auction in our City Centre Auction Rooms

WOODWARDS AUCTION ROOMS 26 COOK ST CORK ∙ 021-4273327 ∙ www.woodward.ie

Feeding the chickens by Walter Osborne at Bonhams. It will be on display at the official opening of Bonhams new offices at 31 Molesworth St, Dublin next Friday.

Big selection for collectors Auctions at Bandon and Mitchelstown tomorrow will provide plenty of interest for Cork collectors. At Hegarty’s in Bandon there is a large selection of Victorian and Edwardian inlaid furniture among 350 lots in a sale that starts at 3pm and is now on view. Regency lots include a wine cooler and a library table.

There is a seasonal garden selection and about 30 lots of Irish and continental art.

Collectibles include an Irish bog oak inkstand carved as an owl.

In Mitchelstown Edward Walsh Sales will

offer a selection of furniture on the instructions of Canon Patrick Twomey.

Parochial House, Kildorrery, who has retired and other clients. The auction of over 300 lots includes a Georgian sideboard, a Georgian card table, a Victorian mirror back sideboard, 10 spoon back chairs, a Victorian bureau, a Georgian longcase clock with painted dial and a cast iron garden seat.

Viewing at the Firgrove Hotel is from 7pm to 9pm this evening and from 10am until the start of the sale at 2.30pm tomorrow.

ANTIQUE AUCTION in Doneraile, Co. Cork

Auction on Saturday 25th February @ 1.00pm

ANTIQUES AND GENERAL AUCTION Sunday 26th February at 12 Noon Viewing Friday 24th 10am to 8pm, Saturday 25th 10am to 6pm and morning of the sale

CORK AUCTION ROOMS

12 Southlink Park, Ballycurreen Road, (off the Airport Road) Cork Tel 021 4847689 or 086 8165329 Web www.corkauctionrooms.com

THE SPRING SALE - Our Auctions consist of approx 500 lots with interesting items for every room in the house. Our auctions appeal to everyone as we have items to suit every budget.

We are pleased to offer items to include Antiques, Paintings, Collectables, Period and later furniture, Clocks, Ceramics, Glassware, Pictures and prints, Dining Tables, Sets of Chairs, Bedroom Cabinets, Wardrobes, Chest of Drawers, Occasional Tables, Painted Furniture, etc.

For fully illustrated catalogue go to www.irishcountryhome.com VIEWING in our Auction Rooms: Friday 24th February (2-8pm) and the morning of the sale from 11am to start of sale at 1pm.

AIDAN FOLEY ANTIQUE & FINE ART AUCTIONEER

The Old Schoolhouse Auction Rooms, Doneraile, Mallow, Co. Cork. 022-72992/086-8290680

EDWARD WALSH SALES - MITCHELSTOWN Phone 025-84107 or 086-2540645

Auction of Parochial Antique and High Class Furniture on the instructions of Rev. Canon Patrick Twomey PP. Parochial House Kildorrery, who has retired and other clients on this Sunday February 19th at 2.30pm at the Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown.

THERE IS OVER 300 LOTS.

There will be viewing Saturday evening from 7 until 9 pm and morning of auction from 10am.

Further details from above.

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

SALE VIEWS Viewing for Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art sale at the Radisson at Little Island in Cork on Monday at 6.30pm gets underway at noon tomorrow. This is a sale with a good selection of work by leading Irish artists and more affordable newcomers. Viewing is from noon to 10pm tomorrow and from 10am to the start of the auction on Monday. ........................................................................

SALE RESULTS The top lot at Woodwards sale in Cork was a portrait of a girl by Ken Hamilton. It made €2,400. A Georgian cellarette by Mack Williams and Gibton made €900, a walnut davenport made €680, a Georgian bureau bookcase sold for €650 and a Regency sofa table made €650. ........................................................................

LIMERICK AUCTION More than 400 lots come under the hammer at Limerick Auction Rooms in a sale which gets underway at 1.30pm today. ........................................................................

ATTIC SALE In Dublin, James Adam will hold an attic sale with 400 lots of decorative arts, silver, painting and furniture at 11.30am tomorrow. ........................................................................

VALUATIONS Sotheby’s will hold valuations at their offices at 16 Molesworth St, Dublin next week. There will be valuations of Irish and British paintings on Monday and Tuesday and of Chinese

ceramics and works of art next Friday. ........................................................................

SCHOLAR’S PROPERTY Property from the collection of Mughal scholar Dr Linda Leach will be offered at Bonhams in London on Apr 24. Dr Leach catalogued the Mughal and Indian miniatures in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. The Rajput schools of Indian miniatures are well represented in her 30-piece collection. An image of the jamas worn by the two early 19th century Jodhpur rulers seated in conversation is estimated at £3,000-4,000. ........................................................................

BRONZE SCULPTURE A 1922 Michael Collins commemorative plate , a bronze sculpture of the Death of Cuchulain from the original in the GPO by Oliver Sheppard, RHA and a 1920 $10 bond issued by Éamon de Valera for fundraising in the War of Independence are among the lots on offer at Cork Auction Rooms on Sunday, Feb 26 at noon.

Cork Auction Rooms, Southlink Business Park, Ballycurreen Road, is a new venture by Tom O’Connell of Kerry Auction Rooms, Moyderwell, Tralee and Michael Watson of Lissardagh Antiques in Cork. Viewing from 10am next Friday. ........................................................................

350 LOTS Matthews of Oldcastle, Co Meath have a sale of over 350 lots at 116 Capel St, Dublin at 2.30pm tomorrow.

IRISH ART AUCTION Monday, 20th February 2012 at 6.30pm

Left: The Antique Shop by Ivan Sutton at the Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale on Monday.

Above: Indian Company School gouache circa 1855 is in Hegarty’s in Bandon tomorrow.

Its estimate is €800/€1,200.

Tony O’Malley

Ger Duggan Tel: 021-4802192 email: interiorads@examiner.ie ��������� ���� ���������

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Over 280 lots representing a wide selection of well known tradtional and contempoary Irish artists

Catalogue with full illustration can be viewed on w w w . m o r g a n o d r i s c o l l . c o m

This small oil on board by Paul Henry (1876-1958) is estimated at €20,000-€30,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale.

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Vi ewing Ti mes The Radisson Blu & Spa, Little Island, Cork Sunday 19th February 2012: 12noon - 10pm Monday 20th February 2012: 10am - 6pm

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Harry Kernoff

Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork; Tel: 028 22338 · Mob: 086 2472425 email: info@morganodriscoll.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL

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Radisson Blu & S p a , L i t t l e I s l a n d , C o r k

Briefly as follows:

Georgian Mahogany Sideboard, Georgian Mahogany fold over card table, Victorian Mahogany mirror back sideboard, Victorian Inlaid Bedroom Suite, a set of 10 Mahogany spoon back chairs, Large Mahogany dining room table and two leaves, a set of 8 Mahogany dining room chairs, Victorian inlaid writing bureau, Victorian Inlaid Mahogany display cabinets, Pr of Victorian Mahogany Hall chairs, Georgian grandfather clock, Victorian Vienna wall clock and slate mantal clocks, Mahogany hall tables and Mahogany chivale mirror, Victorian Scotch chest, Mahogany bedroom lockers, Cast iron garden seat, Victorian dinner and tea services, Pr of Cpri-de-monti figures, Mahogany hall stand, oil paintings, water colours and household contents.

IN BRIEF

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IRISH EXAMINER Property&Interiors | 18.02.2012

23

TERAPROOF:User:noelcampionDate:16/02/2012Time:13:36:56Edition:18/02/2012PropertyXP1802Page:24

Zone:XP1

XP1 - V1

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GET YOUR PROPERTY SOLD IN 2012 by

Matt Fallon Auctioneer F M L PROPERTIES LTD.

info@fmlproperties.ie matt@fmlproperties.ie www.fmlproperties.ie

55 Grand Parade, Cork

Tel: 021 4277877 Mobile: 086 2574864

91 ASHMOUNT COURT, SILVERSPRINGS, TIVOLI 52 LARCHFIELD, COMMON’S ROAD, CORK SALE AGREED

62 ASHMOUNT, SILVERSPRINGS, CORK

BELLAVISTA, COLLEGE RD., CORK FINAL OFFERS

SOLD

Quality 4-bed semi det. residence Guide €199,000

Magnificent 4-bed semi det. residence

Excellent 3-bed semi det. Similar property wanted

3/4 bedroomed mid tce. house - Quality investment

5 GLEANN EAN, GLENVILLE, CO. CORK

WHEATFIELDS, KILMONEY, CARRIGALINE, CO. CORK

1 MANOR VILLAGE WEST, LEHENAGHBEG

EXCLUSIVE SITE WITH FPP

ONLY 15 MINS FROM CITY

LAST REMAINING SITE

New build 4-bed det. bungalow c. 1,730sq. ft. PC sum available for internal finishes. Guide Price €260,000

Last remaining site with FPP in this exclusive development. Guide Price €165,000

Good quality south west facing agricultural land, set in pasture, mainly suitable for dairy and beef production

Ground floor commercial premises c.4152 sq.ft. Guide Price: €210,000

Beechbury, Monastery Rd, Rochestown, Cork

Site with planning permission for 3 storey detached residence 266.1 sq. m. Architecturally designed

14 SPRINGVIEW TERRACE, COMMONS ROAD, CORK.

FINAL OFFERS

UNDER OFFER

UNDER OFFER

Quality 3 bed semi det. residence in excellent condition throughout. Guide Price €255,000

50 ACRE RESIDENTIAL FARM KILLYDONOGHUE, GLANMIRE, CO. CORK

50 ACRE NON RESIDENTIAL FARM COOLYMURRAGHUE, KERRY PIKE, CO. CORK

3 BLEASBYS STREET, OFF WATERCOURSE ROAD, CORK

UNDER OFFER

Good quality south facing agricultural land set out in one • Large three bedroom end of terraced house. holding, suitable for dairying, beef and tillage. Adjacent to M8 and • With integrated commercial unit (own door access). only minutes from the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

Guide Price €245,000 Contact Michael McNamara

RINGASKIDDY, CO. CORK

C.13 Acres of land.

Zoned Industrial.

Excellent Location.

Good Road Frontage.

To be sold in one or more lots.

Contact: Matt

BALLINCROKIG, WHITES CROSS, CORK

Detached 6 bedroom residencec.3000 sq.ft. with industrial store/workshop C.1350sq.ft. on C.1.2 acres.

WANTED FOR CASH CLIENTS

Commercial Premises with strong covenant.

Minimum yield 10%.

Contact Matt