Blink and you’d miss Waterloo Lane, a discreet entrance off Leeson Street Upper, just beyond the Appian Way intersection, that conceals sizeable and very private mews houses, almost all hidden behind high gates.
Built as stone coach houses to the big houses on Waterloo and Burlington Roads, few of the original properties remain with many replaced by 1960s and 1970s builds that paid little attention to either insulation or smart contemporary design.
When Debbie Flynn, the owner of number 29, bought it in 2014, she knew exactly how to reimagine it having gotten her first break refurbishing another mews property for a friend.
An estate agent, she then turned to interior design renovating and fitting out Node, the funkily-styled shared living space on Pembroke Street Upper, where she is a partner and investor.
The house had a curved front that projected out like a sail but didn’t really give any real additional feeling of space so, under the advice of her architect, Kim Dreyer, she squared it off, in effect extending out to the front.
This gave an extra 11 sq m of floor space at entrance level, enough to successfully divide the area into four discrete zones that lead from the dining area to the front through the kitchen to the living room and on outside to the private terrace. With the entire property set out as one large open plan space it measures 144sq m /1550 sq ft.
The house faces south to the front and has off-street parking for two cars. It opens into a bright hall, backlit by a floating console cum mirrored unit made by Ray Shannon to Flynn’s design. The dining area has floor to ceiling glazing with a smart oval table and elbow dining chairs that she sourced from Eden in Blackrock.
The adjacent white gloss handleless kitchen is by the Panelling Centre and has quartz shark nose-edged countertops. The house is toasty warm thanks to underfloor heating laid beneath large format marble look porcelain tiles.
The open tread staircase hides in plain sight behind a glass wall and a utility closet and separate guest toilet are secreted off to its rear. At its most expansive the property is almost 5m wide and the living room takes full advantage of this extra girth. Above, a lantern roof light – hidden by timber beams – washes the space in natural light in a most understated fashion.
From here there is access to the north-facing private terrace where creepers climb the walls and judiciously positioned outdoor mirrors make the space seem larger than it is. A remote-controlled awning can cleverly turn this into an outdoor room at the flick of a switch.
At the top of the solid oak open tread staircase are two double bedrooms, each with its own windowed shower en suite. The master, set to the front, has a south-facing balcony that is over 9.5 sq m in size and a very sheltered place to enjoy the sunshine.
The third double is on the second floor and has roof lights front and back. Original to the house, the shower ensuite here is set into the sloping ceiling and means that headroom is somewhat compromised for taller people.
Flynn paid €775,000 for this mews property in 2014 and having been completely remodelled and insulated, it is now seeking €1.3million through agent SherryFitzGerald.
Flynn won’t be moving too far away either. Her next project is another mews located just up the street where she plans to demolish and reimagine the property entirely from the ground up.
