Dublin Houzz Tour: An Architect's Home Designed for Flexibility
What do you get when an architect full of ideas designs her home from scratch? A place that adapts to suit its owners
Kate Burt
26 January 2020
Houzz UK. I'm a journalist and editor, previously for the Independent, Guardian and various magazines. I'm now excited to part of the editorial team at Houzz UK & Ireland, bringing the best of British and Irish design, interiors and architecture to Houzz.com.
Houzz UK. I'm a journalist and editor, previously for the Independent, Guardian and... More
“One word for our house is ‘flexible’,” Irish architect Eva Byrne says of the Dublin house she designed and had built in 2002 and extended seven years ago. “We enjoy changing it around.”
They really do: lots of the furniture in the large, open-plan downstairs is on wheels, huge panels slide shut to close off sections of the space, and the entire top storey was completely reconfigured 10 years after the build to accommodate changing family needs.
They really do: lots of the furniture in the large, open-plan downstairs is on wheels, huge panels slide shut to close off sections of the space, and the entire top storey was completely reconfigured 10 years after the build to accommodate changing family needs.
House at a Glance
Who lives here? Architect Eva Byrne, her husband, Gerard Carty, also an architect, their two children, aged 19 and 21, and Bisto the dog
Location Central Dublin, just outside the city centre
Property A three-storey mews house built in 2002 on the site of a former stable
Size Three bedrooms and two bathrooms
Designer Eva Byrne of Houseology
Photos by Philip Lauterbach Interior Photographer and Eva Byrne
Eva Byrne and two friends bought a plot of land together close to the canal in Dublin with a view to building their own houses.
“It’s just at the beginning of the Victorian suburbs,” Eva says of the area. “You tend to get Victorian houses on the main streets and then a network of mews streets on the lanes. These contain two-storey buildings that would have been for horses and animals.” Eva’s house is built on the site of one such structure.
Pictured here is the living zone – the first part of the house you see after coming in through the front door (see next photo).
Who lives here? Architect Eva Byrne, her husband, Gerard Carty, also an architect, their two children, aged 19 and 21, and Bisto the dog
Location Central Dublin, just outside the city centre
Property A three-storey mews house built in 2002 on the site of a former stable
Size Three bedrooms and two bathrooms
Designer Eva Byrne of Houseology
Photos by Philip Lauterbach Interior Photographer and Eva Byrne
Eva Byrne and two friends bought a plot of land together close to the canal in Dublin with a view to building their own houses.
“It’s just at the beginning of the Victorian suburbs,” Eva says of the area. “You tend to get Victorian houses on the main streets and then a network of mews streets on the lanes. These contain two-storey buildings that would have been for horses and animals.” Eva’s house is built on the site of one such structure.
Pictured here is the living zone – the first part of the house you see after coming in through the front door (see next photo).
Bisto the dog loves the south-facing courtyard at the front of the house. The glass straight ahead looks into the living room; the front door is to the right, and the opal glass behind Bisto is a cloakroom and boot room.
Dublin mews houses typically have a walled courtyard at the front, Eva explains. She designed three outside spaces: this one, a north-facing garden at the rear, and a south-facing terrace on the first floor.
Dublin mews houses typically have a walled courtyard at the front, Eva explains. She designed three outside spaces: this one, a north-facing garden at the rear, and a south-facing terrace on the first floor.
Eva’s was one of two houses on the site. “The building that was there had been a stables once, then a workshop,” Eva says. “By the time we got hold of it, it was completely derelict, in a terrible state. There was no question of doing anything with the original building – it was pretty basic and had no heritage value, or we probably would have tried.”
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The entrance is accessed from the front courtyard. “As you come in through the door, turn left and you’re in the open-plan living room; turn right and you walk into the downstairs loo.”
The exterior wood is iroko and the drawer unit, wall cladding and ceiling are birch ply. The drawers here keep keys, dog leads, bicycle lamps and other hallway paraphernalia in order.
The exterior wood is iroko and the drawer unit, wall cladding and ceiling are birch ply. The drawers here keep keys, dog leads, bicycle lamps and other hallway paraphernalia in order.
Eva explains that the generously proportioned cloakroom was designed this way to meet accessibility laws for new-builds; the whole downstairs is totally wheelchair-friendly.
To make best use of the space for Eva and her family’s needs, she designed an area for coats and shoes, as well as incorporating mirrored storage above the loo and basin.
To make best use of the space for Eva and her family’s needs, she designed an area for coats and shoes, as well as incorporating mirrored storage above the loo and basin.
The ground floor is split into three zones: living, dining and cooking. The glazed doors at the far end lead into the north-facing back garden.
The flooring throughout downstairs is white terrazzo. “There are subtle shades of grey in it – it’s not a flat white, so it’s a bit forgiving of dirt,” Eva says. It’s warmed up with underfloor heating.
The dining and seating areas at the front can be closed off from the kitchen at the back by full-height, sliding birch ply panels, visible back left in this photo.
“It’s important in an open-plan house that you can do that, so you can make it cosier,” Eva says. “It’s also good for privacy – for instance, if there’s a kitchen disaster while guests are over. It means you can use the house in different ways.”
Vintage coffee table, The Vintage Hub. 1970s white sofa, inherited.
The flooring throughout downstairs is white terrazzo. “There are subtle shades of grey in it – it’s not a flat white, so it’s a bit forgiving of dirt,” Eva says. It’s warmed up with underfloor heating.
The dining and seating areas at the front can be closed off from the kitchen at the back by full-height, sliding birch ply panels, visible back left in this photo.
“It’s important in an open-plan house that you can do that, so you can make it cosier,” Eva says. “It’s also good for privacy – for instance, if there’s a kitchen disaster while guests are over. It means you can use the house in different ways.”
Vintage coffee table, The Vintage Hub. 1970s white sofa, inherited.
There’s a thermally lined utility cupboard in the birch ply-clad understairs area to house the washer, dryer, a hanging rail, and the hot-water cylinder. The latter creates residual heat sufficient to air clothes and the space is vented to the exterior.
A clerestory window brings even more light into this part of the room.
“To keep the flow of space, the chimney breast doesn’t touch the floor,” Eva explains. “It means you don’t have this big piece of masonry wall coming down to the ground. It’s an open fire, but it’s as if it’s suspended above the floor.”
There’s also no TV in the room, which Eva says makes it a very calm place to be. “It takes a huge amount of pressure off the room – we didn’t need a big wall space to mount it on.” There’s a television in the den upstairs.
“To keep the flow of space, the chimney breast doesn’t touch the floor,” Eva explains. “It means you don’t have this big piece of masonry wall coming down to the ground. It’s an open fire, but it’s as if it’s suspended above the floor.”
There’s also no TV in the room, which Eva says makes it a very calm place to be. “It takes a huge amount of pressure off the room – we didn’t need a big wall space to mount it on.” There’s a television in the den upstairs.
“The furniture is arranged to define and separate the living and dining areas,” Eva says. Behind the sofa is a bespoke plywood bookcase on castors – the same width and height as the sofa – to emphasise this separation and give diners something nicer to look at than the back of the sofa.
“Lots of the furniture is on castors – we change things around a lot,” Eva says. “That’s the beauty of open-plan living – when it works, you can enjoy adapting the house as you need to.”
The hanging typographical artwork, ‘Reorganising The Signage Again’, is by British contemporary artist Liam Gillick. “It also acts as a divider between the front and back of the house,” Eva says. “We put fairy lights on it at Christmas.”
The iroko dining table is 3m long and there’s a rooflight over this section of the ground floor, so it’s not dark.
A wall-mounted sideboard with drawers doubles as a buffet area and desk, with shelving overhead for books, photos and decorative objects.
Zettel’z pedant light, Ingo Maurer. Series 7 dining chairs by Arne Jacobsen, Fritz Hansen. Dining table, designed and made by Irish architect Christopher Boyle to match the one in the kitchen.
“Lots of the furniture is on castors – we change things around a lot,” Eva says. “That’s the beauty of open-plan living – when it works, you can enjoy adapting the house as you need to.”
The hanging typographical artwork, ‘Reorganising The Signage Again’, is by British contemporary artist Liam Gillick. “It also acts as a divider between the front and back of the house,” Eva says. “We put fairy lights on it at Christmas.”
The iroko dining table is 3m long and there’s a rooflight over this section of the ground floor, so it’s not dark.
A wall-mounted sideboard with drawers doubles as a buffet area and desk, with shelving overhead for books, photos and decorative objects.
Zettel’z pedant light, Ingo Maurer. Series 7 dining chairs by Arne Jacobsen, Fritz Hansen. Dining table, designed and made by Irish architect Christopher Boyle to match the one in the kitchen.
A stainless-steel linear kitchen is positioned at the garden end of the house. It comprises two freestanding units (one with a sink), an American-style fridge-freezer, a 100cm-wide range cooker with a ducted-out extractor above it, and a freestanding dishwasher. The backsplash is also stainless-steel.
The dining table occupies the space where an island might otherwise have gone. “We felt an island would be intrusive and interrupt the flow of space from the front courtyard to the rear garden,” Eva says.
Overhead units are used for food as well as plates and glasses, and there’s lighting that came with the kitchen over the sink unit. “This kitchen is so well-designed,” Eva says. “And if you walked out of the house, you could take it all with you!”
System 20 kitchen, Bulthaup. Oven, Siemens.
The dining table occupies the space where an island might otherwise have gone. “We felt an island would be intrusive and interrupt the flow of space from the front courtyard to the rear garden,” Eva says.
Overhead units are used for food as well as plates and glasses, and there’s lighting that came with the kitchen over the sink unit. “This kitchen is so well-designed,” Eva says. “And if you walked out of the house, you could take it all with you!”
System 20 kitchen, Bulthaup. Oven, Siemens.
The TV room or teen den is upstairs on the first floor at the front of the house and came into existence as part of the reconfiguration of the original top floor (there is now another floor above this one). It has its own terrace.
TV unit, Stock Design. Sofa, The Sofa Factory. Pixellated artwork ‘Eva’, Stephen Hall. Conservatory chair, Newlands Home & Garden Centre.
TV unit, Stock Design. Sofa, The Sofa Factory. Pixellated artwork ‘Eva’, Stephen Hall. Conservatory chair, Newlands Home & Garden Centre.
Eva’s daughter’s bedroom is small, but there’s lots of storage cleverly packed in. Besides the bed, there’s a desk – wall-hung to save space – clothes storage, a dressing table with a mirror – and good lighting. “That was essential!” Eva says.
Bed with storage; chair, both Ikea. Wall-hung desk, made bespoke.
Bed with storage; chair, both Ikea. Wall-hung desk, made bespoke.
Fitted wardrobes (left) on the other side of the room have a blank space at the end, which Eva used to create this dressing table for her daughter.
Alex drawer (inside bespoke frame), Ikea. Dressing table stool, The Vintage Hub.
Alex drawer (inside bespoke frame), Ikea. Dressing table stool, The Vintage Hub.
The south-facing master bedroom on the top floor has a corner window with breathtaking views across to the Dublin mountains.
The décor is pale and simple, with cushion-backed vinyl on the floor. At the windows, there are Venetian microblinds the colour of aluminium, meaning you barely see them, especially from outside.
The mirror is a family heirloom; it was presented to Eva’s grandfather during the war. The bedside table on the right slots into the side of the bed and slides up and down. It also folds over the bed when it’s needed as a table.
Stripy cushions, Ikea. E1027 side table by Eileen Gray, available at Aram Store.
The décor is pale and simple, with cushion-backed vinyl on the floor. At the windows, there are Venetian microblinds the colour of aluminium, meaning you barely see them, especially from outside.
The mirror is a family heirloom; it was presented to Eva’s grandfather during the war. The bedside table on the right slots into the side of the bed and slides up and down. It also folds over the bed when it’s needed as a table.
Stripy cushions, Ikea. E1027 side table by Eileen Gray, available at Aram Store.
The dressing area off the bedroom leads to an en suite on the left and a study area on the right. The bedroom is separated from the walk-through dressing area by a sliding MDF panel.
Bookshelves at the end of the wardrobes add colour. “Instead of looking at the end of the wardrobe, you’re looking at something interesting,” Eva says. “It’s a very simple thing to do.”
Bookshelves at the end of the wardrobes add colour. “Instead of looking at the end of the wardrobe, you’re looking at something interesting,” Eva says. “It’s a very simple thing to do.”
Eva created a small study area, “sneaked in at the back of the wardrobes”.
The curve of the roof can clearly be seen here. “It’s a barrel vaulted roof, which means the shape doesn’t impact on the neighbours too much,” Eva says.
Chair, Ikea.
The curve of the roof can clearly be seen here. “It’s a barrel vaulted roof, which means the shape doesn’t impact on the neighbours too much,” Eva says.
Chair, Ikea.
The en suite on the top floor has a compact basin, a pre-formed shower cubicle and a wall-mounted loo. “I love the self-cleaning rooflight over the shower,” Eva says. “You can see seagulls waddling around when you look up.”
Basin, Duravit.
Basin, Duravit.
The double-ended bath includes a raised space (seen on the left) which conceals laundry baskets.
Bath, Duravit.
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Bath, Duravit.
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beautiful house - very clever space saving designs & love the plywood & clever little spaces
Another house that I can picture myself living in, a real family home. I love the idea that flexibility is built in, and the attention to detail in the storage. Who is the manufacturer of the Venetian micro blinds please?