City Living: Designer Lisa McNulty tells Edel Morgan how she used Danish ideas to create a showcase family flat suited to families.

Apartment living Danish-style bears only a passing resemblance to the Irish experience. While many of us are in denial that it will one day become our way of life - despite the evidence of blocks being thrown up all around us - most Danes accept it as the norm and have honed the lifestyle to a fine art.

"There's no doubt about it, it's the way we're going," says Lisa McNulty, the designer behind The Danish Way of Life, a showcase of Danish design in a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin's Smithfield which gives a snapshot of how the Danes do it.

The Danish Embassy approached McNulty - who co-presented RTE's Beyond the Hall Door programme and now runs a company by the same name - with a brief to create an apartment for a young family .

The two-bedroom triplex apartment at the Smithfield Market development provides a peek at the Danes' low fuss, few frills yet comfortable lifestyle .

The initiative is quite timely. Dublin City Council's policy to facilitate inner city family life has so far proven a dismal failure. The council requires that developers provide a quota of large two and three-bedroom apartments to attract families and create a more vibrant, less transient community.

So far investors and childless professionals are the main buyers with people with children still gravitating towards the suburbs. The Danish Way of Life also comes in a week when Tom Dunne, head of the school of real estate and construction economics at the Dublin Institute of Technology told a national housing conference that if apartment buildings were not properly maintained, it could make apartment living unattractive.

The Smithfield apartment was considered ideal for the experiment because of its vast outdoor space. The top floor is pure terrace with a louvred glass awning and spectacular views of the city.

"The Danes love their outdoors," says McNulty. "In Copenhagen, people socialise outdoors all year around. I was amazed to see them sitting outside cafés even in freezing February, wrapped up in blankets and scarves to protect them from the elements."

More than four-fifths of Danes live in urban areas, with a quarter of the population living in Copenhagen or its suburbs, mostly in flats. Smithfield seemed the perfect setting for the apartment, says McNulty, it being a new urban quarter undergoing regeneration which will have a cultural centre, cinemas, offices and the buzz of street life, which is a huge part of the Danish reality.

Danes like to spend quality time at home. Known for their family-friendly working environment, they are not fans of late nights at the office. A mix of comfort and good design "without screaming about it" is key to to the Danish look.

"The materials are allowed speak for themselves. The furniture and accessories tend to be understated often with detailing that is subtle to the point that you'd almost miss it. It might be in the bend in a fork or the way the wood is turned."

The look is smooth, clean, simple but not stark. "Hygge" is the Danish for cosy comfort, often created by mood lighting and candles, which are even lit at breakfast.

The occasional dramatic statement saves it from terminal sobriety, like the futuristic red sofa in the hall with an in-built music system and the funky Verner Panton lighting with mother of pearl droplets. She steered clear of using any stock Arne Jacobsen pieces.

"He's a bit over exposed with Big Brother and a bit price prohibitive. I tried to keep everything affordable."

The livingroom has a Merbu parquet floor by Danish company Skagerak. A Lind chaise in luxurious leather gives a slick urban feel and the red lacquer cabinets add a splash of colour .

The children's room has modular furniture and a very grown- up ribbed oak sliding door wardrobe. It has few of the usual garish nods to childhood except in the cushions and textiles.

"In time they are not going to want anything in your face, so it can be easily removed," she says. If people visit the apartment expecting to be blown away they might be disappointed.

"Most of the individual pieces are not rocket science," says McNulty, "and perhaps there's nothing you haven't seen before, but it's the sheer quality and the way they're put together that makes the difference."

The Danish showcase is open to trade only. Details from the Danish Embassy, 01 4756404