There are a few hints from the double-fronted exterior of number 72 Shanid Road in Harold’s Cross that the interior is a quirky delight. The furry monkey puzzle tree interrupting the path, the brick circle enclosing the grass, the 1930s stained-glass octagon lighting the blue door: all signal something special, and the burst of Granny-Smith green on the hall walls does not disappoint.
White floor tiles with geometric shapes entice the visitor three ways, but the most obvious draw is towards the kitchen, straight ahead.
When they bought the house five years ago, the owners – he a designer, she an artist – were pleased not to have to do any big jobs as the previous owners had converted the garage and extended the kitchen to make the house a spacious 149sq m (1,604 sq ft). However, they enhanced and brightened the area by reconfiguring it from two spaces into one, at the same time inserting a clever divider made of slender vertical oak beams. This allows light to flow between the relaxed sitting area with bay window at the front, with a cosy stove in the chimney breast, through to the kitchen/diningroom at the back. The BER is D2.
The kitchen is lit by two rooflights, a window over the sink and glass doors to the garden, and while its lines are spare it is full of warmth and character.
To the white handleless Wabi Sabi kitchen units, the owners added elegant ribbed oak cupboards to match the slatted divider. The blue island and white silestone worktops amplify the touches of colour that glow in this space, linking old and new features: the green metal lights over the island; the decorative cooker splashback; the botanical tiles in the fireplace with its sweetly curved profile and, as throughout the house, the coloured glass in the doors.
The sheltered back garden faces east, with seating, planting and play areas designed to catch the sun all day. The walls are clad in wooden panels painted a silvery grey and the circular projection of the patio mirrors the shapes out the front.
The owners keep their bikes here – it’s a 3km cycle to town – and part of the garage was retained in the conversion, which includes a utility room, so there’s space for the unlovely essentials.
At the front of this, the bay in the play room matches that of the livingroom and a guest bathroom tucks neatly into the void beside the stairs.
Carpeted in a jewelly blue that, like the hall green, picks up the colours of the glass in the doors, the stairs end in the middle of the landing beside a full-height hot press. If new owners decide to convert the attic, as neighbours have done, it might mean rethinking this spot.
To the front are three bedrooms; the main one runs from bay window at the front to en suite at the back, past a walk-in wardrobe lit by a Velux. The smallest has graduated from nursery to office; with altered work practices, the owners are relocating to be near their families. Their two little children share the other big bedroom and, their dad says, follow the setting sun upstairs.
At the back, beside the main bathroom, the fourth bedroom overlooks the Harold’s Cross Youths’ football pitch at Rosary Park, a reminder of the many amenities in this lovely area. Shanid Road is a C-shape off Clareville Road, between Sundrive and the five-roads junction at Harold’s Cross, not more than 10 minutes’ walk from lots of shops, bakeries, cafes, parks and schools, and on several bus routes. Number 72 is on the market through Quillsen, seeking €900,000.
