These days, "modern" is invariably considered best, and many older, freshly renovated houses have taken on the warmth of corporate lobbies. Which is what makes artist Siobhán MacDonald's place so surprising, writes Eoin Lyons.
Even though she did a major renovation to restore her house from "rag-order to liveable", she is quite emphatic that her impulse was "not about changing the character of the house: it was about making it easy to live in."
The house itself, a Victorian terraced redbrick in Dublin 4 that had fallen into disrepair before she bought it with a friend as a do-up and sell-on project, inspired her approach. "I wanted to keep the period bits and re-build some architectural features in the spirit of the house. It was done on a budget but we re-plastered, re-plumbed, re-wired, and put in new floors. The most important thing was reconfiguring the ground floor layout. There were two interconnecting reception rooms, each with a separate door, so we closed up one door and created a new passage from the hall straight into the room to the rear."
Now, there is a pleasant vista through the house and an easy flow from the hall into the main living space and kitchen beyond. In a small house, it's nice to have a tantalising view from one room to another and in this case, it gives the house a greater feeling of depth.
Once the structural work was complete, MacDonald liked the result so much that she decided to live in it herself. The philosophy for the decoration was to keep things simple but interesting. "Because I work in a studio all day painting and have to focus hard visually, I wanted to come home to whiteness and calm - somewhere my eyes could rest. So the decoration is more about interesting things I've gathered over the years than one big statement. Different shades of white were used as a backdrop, and the natural materials I love, things like stone, wood and sisal, give texture."
MacDonald is going through a busy phase with her work. She had a solo exhibition recently at the Vanguard Gallery in Cork. In Dublin she is represented by the Cross Gallery. Soon she will travel to New York for a few months to work on new paintings, to plan a show there and to start a large corporate commission.
Despite all this, her home life is important. "I like to live somewhere where the alignment of the rooms is correct and that's what we did here." There's a good feeling to this house, but there's still work to be done. MacDonald wants to spruce up her bedroom and has yet to find the right chimneypiece for the living room. "I've had three delivered to test what they'd look like, but each had to go back." A perfectionist to the last, it won't be long until these final jobs are complete.
HALLWAY
The hallway opens straight into the main living area, with a view of the kitchen beyond. The Fortuny-inspired standard lamp at the top of the stairs has a hand-painted silk shade. It was bought from Helen Kilmartin of Minima, as was the slim console table. The white painting is one of her works and the small painting through the doorway is by Lynda Shevlin. "I travel a lot and love finding things to bring back - the basket on the stairs is from Brazil."
LIVING
The living-room floor, that also runs into the dining area and hallway, was salvaged from a convent. It was supplied by Rare Earth (052-37860). "It's really great quality and was sanded and stained this lovely rich colour." MacDonald bought the sofa in Paris and has covered it with a variety of Missoni throws. The painting above the sofa is by Gillian Lawler, winner of this year's RHA Hennessy Craig Award. The furniture in this room is all about harmony: each piece is different but complements the other. "The Barcelona chair is nicely worn and was a gift from my friend, the designer Brian MacDonald. The original Eames chair is one of a pair, the other is in the dining area, and were bought from Peter Johnson Interiors (01-4537088). They cost a fortune and took me two years to pay for, but I'm so glad I got them." The little glass tables were another Parisian find and the square shaded light is by Santa and Cole.
KITCHEN
The white kitchen units came from Lomi (www.lomi.ie, 01-8397001) and have no handles for a more streamlined look. There are no high cabinets - just shelving. Clever storage in the pull-out drawer units makes up for this. The counter-top is stained timber and the floor is Portland stone, supplied and installed by PIF Dublin (01-4905455). At the end of the room, a well-placed rust finish mirror by John Power doubles the space. Glass doors open to the garden. In front of these is an Eames Eiffel Tower chair. MacDonald uses art throughout the house: the print beside the window is by Bernie Kinsella and on the counter rest two Felim Egan prints.
MacDonald is photographed sitting at her Eero Saarinen table, bought from Minima. More often found in white, this has a glossy black, tulip-shaped base and a black marble top. "It works for just me or a group of friends can squeeze around it for dinner." The print to the right is by Patrick Scott and was bought from the Stony Road Press. Outside the small garden has been smartened up with Zen-like stones and plenty of bamboo-style planting. Tolka Joinery (01-8576863) made the glass door to the garden. They also supplied all the new doorframes and skirting that went into the house."
Contact Siobhan MacDonald atmcdonaldsiobhan@eircom.netor phone 087-2840847