65November 2011 » HOUSE AND home

MAKEOVER

The projectThe project To bring naturallight to a poorly-lit sittingroom and reclaim some of thegenerous garden space in aformer corporation property.The key challenges: Buildingnew foundations, injectinglight from above into thedining area, successfullyincorporating existing wallsand making the old and newlayouts flow smoothly.

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Singer/songwriter Maggie Keanealways had a hard time when it cameto introducing natural light into thesitting room of her Dublin 8 house.Although the back garden was basked

in sunlight and home to an orchard, Maggieand her daughter Annie barely spent any timethere. Seeing it was a shame for such a largespace to go to waste, Maggie decided to dosomething about it. “I needed an extensionwith loads of light, overlooking the backgarden,” she says.

Works began in April 2010, with Maggieanticipating enjoying her new space withinthree months. But Murphy’s Law kicked inwith a major setback: a much deeperfoundation, due to the slope on the site, wasclearly needed before one brick of anextension could be laid. The knock-on effectwas hard on the wallet, pushing the budgetfar higher than expected. Maggie, althoughdisappointed, knew her extension wasn’t aproject to be rushed. To this day, she hasn’tlooked back.

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Maggie’s lounge (above) is now a music room.The ‘Join the ATS’ poster was bought at an

exhibition in NCAD and fits perfectly against thefireplace, a nice change from hanging on the wall.The wall colour is Calm, 70YY46/160, by Dulux.

The bright, airy extension (right) has providedplenty of storage for books.

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67November 2011 » HOUSE AND home

The classic oak floorwas purchased fromThe HardwoodFlooring Company inStillorgan. It needs tobe oiled once ortwice a year but iseasy to clean andslow to stain. Themain wall colour isPure White, Ral 9010,by Dulux.

The plan as envisaged byarchitect Adrian Lambe of Lambeand Tyndall Architecture andDesign was to open the existingrear wall of the house and create alarge integrated kitchen, dining andliving area with direct access to thegarden, plus living space upstairs.

The kitchen was positionedbehind the built-in chimneybreast,screening it from the main lounge.A utility room was built adjacent tothis, with access to the garden. Thedining room was treated to a largeroof light overhead, allowing much-needed natural light to flood theentire space.

The upper floor of the extensioncontains an extra double bedroom,a small study area and a largebathroom. “Slight adjustments inlevels meant we did not have toremove the existing staircase in theextension works. The new doublebedroom offers lovely views intothe garden below,” says Adrian.

Maggie describes her interiorstyle as a mix of old and new. Aself-confessed lover of IKEA butequally as enthusiastic aboutvintage, it’s evident this offbeatjuxtaposition of taste is a completesuccess. The large orange rug tomatch the bright wall is from IKEA;

MAKEOVER

The sideboardcame from

Retrorumage in Dublin

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The kitchen,designed by

Adrian’s friendCaroline, was

chosen by Maggieand is from IKEA,

along with theutility room, which

is also from theSwedish store and

leads from thekitchen out to the

garden.

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MAKEOVER

November 2011 » HOUSE AND home

online extraFor makeover before shots see www.houseandhome.ie�

ADDRESS BOOKLambe and Tyndall Architectureand Design, 087 687 1488, email: adrian.lambe@itad.ie,web: www.itad.ie, Dulux, www.dulux.ie Sofa Factory,www.thesofafactory.ie IKEA, www.ikea.ie RetroRumage,www.retrorumage.blogspot.com Murphy Sheehy & Co,www.murphysheehy.com

in contrast, the chairs are secondhand, although they werenever used. “They came from my mother’s house and I savedthem,” says Maggie. Upholstered with material from MurphySheehy in Dublin, these old Victorian style chairs were givena well-needed revamp and now sit in the main dining area.Maggie has a number of other vintage pieces, including atable from RetroRumage that contrasts brilliantly with themodern kitchen.

Maggie now uses the original sitting room as a creativespace, where she can write and play her music. Time andbudget losses – often par for the course in such a dramaticmakeover – have been forgotten, since the result speaks foritself: a well-designed space that truly shines.

It was Adrian’s idea to incorporatea bright wall that would pop andcomplement the sun-filled room.“The orange looks fantastic and wehave it on the walls in upstairsbedrooms too,” says Maggie. Theorange is African Adventure,55YR24666, by Dulux. The restyledVictorian chairs were upholsteredwith fabric from Murphy Sheehy &Co. Much of the art work in thehouse is by Pat McAllister

If you would like to listen to Maggie’smusic or see her live, go towww.maggiekeane.com orwww.myspace.com/maggiekeane

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