Using quality materials and keeping the finish simple allowed a Dún Laoghaire house to be successfully adapted for family and business use, writes Emma Cullinan

Isabelle Moore lives above the Regan Tile Design showroom in Corrib Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, which she runs with her husband Robin.

How long have you lived here?

We moved here in 1987. We were already living in Dún Laoghaire and wanted to find a larger house. This house was just a little sad, it had never been in apartments or bedsits, but had been empty for about three years.

And you could see past the sadness?

Absolutely, it looked like a lovely home that just needed a bit of looking after. The back garden was completely overgrown; only the dog could get to the bottom of the garden. Plants were actually growing into the wall of the house. We took 14 trees down: someone came in and marked which ones were to go.

The two brothers who used to own this house must have been quite good in the garden because you could see the remains of plants that would be far too adventurous for me.

What did you do to the house?

We spent half the cost of the house again, to do it up.

The builders did the upstairs first so that we could move in there and then they worked downwards.

What was it like living with the builders?

We were just so pleased to be able to move in. The builders just got on with it.

And then later you did an extension

We went away for a fortnight while that was being done in 2000.

When the builders started the extension they dug down and found a very large well: all the brick work was absolutely fantastic. It was a little scary to think that there was only soil and a thin layer of concrete above it: when you dropped something down you couldn’t hear it land.

Our kitchen was in the small back return, and in the basement before that, which would have been crazy to get to: “Would you like a cup of tea darling?” Now it’s on the first floor to the rear.

We carefully took the window and the shutters off the diningroom at the former back of the house and put it on the new kitchen when that was added – keeping it at the same level – which is why we have the window seat below it, which the cat loves.

When you come into the diningroom next door you can’t really see that there is a kitchen beyond it because the units are hidden behind a small wall and curve back.

Who made the kitchen?

It was done by Design House, in cat’s paw oak which is great because you can see things in it: in one part there is a face. Design House also made the matching table.

When we bought the house, some of the timber work was painted burgundy on top and underneath in that old, old green which was in all these houses. The first project I did was to strip the paint. I love, just love, bare timbers. I love natural materials, like stones too – the tactile feel – which is why I always go and look before I buy. I can’t buy from a computer.

The travertine stone floor in the kitchen is lovely to pad around on in bare feet. I wanted something practical because we have two dogs and when our children lived here they liked to cook. I would be away a lot so I didn’t want to come home and think, “oh my goodness I have to scrub the floor tonight”. This is very easy, you just mop it and that’s it. Every three years I give the tiles a good scrub and reseal them.

Can you have big, heavy tiles on an upper floor? Will it be sturdy enough?

To test a floor, get a tumbler and fill it with water to the brim, put it on the floor and just walk around it. If the water is moving too much then there is too much movement in the floor.

Very scientific

Oh isn’t it? It’s a simple one, that people can do and understand.

Your backsplash uses the same tiles as the floor

I think Robin thought I’d lost the plot but I wanted something really easy – simple, simple, simple – which is why I decided to put the same thing on the wall.

I adore lava stone so I put in a lava stone work surface – which you can have in any colour you want – we made a chocolate one for the Chapter One restaurant chef’s table.

It is real lava, which is then glazed. Mine is crackle-glazed in ivory.

I like to cook and got the range from Geraldine at Discount Electrical: she is lovely and gives very good advice on appliances. The range has four rings and a long thing for fish. My son had a party here with 30 people recently – a couple of his friends are chefs and they had a great time, my goodness did they cook.

I often sit in the kitchen to relax and read books and the paper, with the animals all in here with me. It is just such a nice space.

Did you know when you bought the house that you would have a business on the lower floor?

Not at all. The tile business was started by my sister and her husband who were both teachers in Northern Ireland who decided to do something else. They lived in Magherafelt which didn’t have a DIY store so they set one up. My sister put in a section with tiles and the tiles took off and so it went from there. They started that in the year Robin and I moved to Ireland; in 1979.

I am from Scotland and Robin and I met in a choir there (we were in the Edinburgh Festival chorus).

When we bought this house my sister said, “ooh, the basement would make a great showroom”. I said, “No it wouldn’t” and she said, “Yes it would”, a real pantomime scene. We opened the showroom 20 years ago.

How has it worked out having a business under the house?

On the whole it’s very good, it’s a lovely space for the sort of product that we sell: more boutiquey and comfortable.

We give lots of advice, take plans, do up drawings and quote for the project in hand rather than so much a square metre as it makes more sense.

We also give advice on what’s not suitable.

Such as?

Glass tiles on the floor or if there is an area where someone, who has three children and two dogs, wants to use white limestone because in six months it will be wrecked.

We actually won’t sell certain tiles if we know they won’t work. Our aim is to provide people with something they will still be happy with in 10 years time – the only reason they would change them is because they are completely fed up with the style. Tiles are not like anything else: with carpets, if you get it wrong you can maybe take it up and move it to a smaller room, and things are easy enough to repaint but when you take tiles off, half the plaster usually comes with it. I don’t mind how many times people come to the showroom to look and check and make sure because it is so, so permanent.

Are you happy with the house now?

I love to do things up but when my sister first saw the house she said, “I know you like to do things but this is a lot of work”, yet now the house is finished everyone says we are so lucky to live here. We were very lucky to find this house, it has such a lovely atmosphere and that is what we realised when we first walked in.

Regan Tile Design  01 2800921