Saoirse Ronan has always channelled her own sense of style. From her red-carpet track record wearing Gucci and Carolina Herrera to fronting (with fellow actor Lupita Nyong'o) the ad campaign for Calvin Klein's "feminist perfume", Woman. Vogue, whose best-dressed list Ronan graced last year, described her as having a "red-carpet track record that's as faultless as her IMDb file".
Ronan has also championed Irish design, she has worn Helen Steele and Simone Rocha for appearances on RTÉ's Late Late Show. While off duty she's as likely to pair high-low mixes from Penneys and Zara with Prada and Miu Miu – her red-carpet decisions are in part helped by her choice of stylist, the influential London-based stylist, Elizabeth Saltzman.
The same is true of her Greystones home, Pine Lodge, on the Wicklow coastal town's New Road, which she put on the market this week asking €1.5 million through Galvin Property.
"She's got great taste," says Julie McLoughlin, one half of Dublin-based Jando Design, whose framed prints (€70-€300) hang on the walls of Ronan's reading nook on the large landing of the Edwardian-style house. Bookshelves painted a deep, restful blue add a pop of colour next to a mid-century chair, the kind that Lusk store Vintage Hub and vintage company Retrorumage can easily source. Similar lights to the 1970s-style Arc floor lamp can be found, from €175, at Lamp and Light (brightlights.ie).
The triple-Oscar nominee bought the house, inspired by the arts and crafts properties of the neighbouring Burnaby, in 2017 for €1.4 million, according to the Property Price Register.
The house, which sits in well-kept grounds behind electric gates, fits in well with its Edwardian redbrick neighbours but in fact was built in the 1970s. It has some lovely features, starting with its square-shaped hall; the internal doors leading off it came from Harland and Wolff shipyard. A similar concrete-topped table to the one making a statement here can be purchased from Bray-based Flanagan Kerins for €995.
Luxe living room
The interconnecting living and dining rooms were already beautiful spaces when Ronan moved in. She made small changes, retaining the timber floorboards and the Adams-style fireplace, which had a cameo in Neil Jordan's film Michael Collins. The Big Fellow would have approved of her choice of colour in her lush green velvet sofas. House & Garden Furnishings can supply similar seating. Its Milo velvet sofa costs from €2,460, while prices for its Kennedy deep-button ottoman start from €984 in a microfibre fabric rather than the leather pictured.
Dining room
In the dining room Ronan kept the cool shelving that bridges the gaps between the large windows in this dual-aspect room. Well-upholstered velvet chairs, with contrasting backs, sit around a 1970s-style dining table. The Oda-style light may be an original by one of the world's hottest designers, Sebastian Herkner for Pulpo where the floor model in this collection costs about €1,950. Or it could be one of the many designs it inspired. Kilmacanogue-based Elk House Interiors can supply the latter for about €400.
Kitchen
Ronan gutted the existing German-engineered kitchen, turning the room into a light, bright space with an American feel. The timber units have cup handles and have been painted a warm cornflower blue. The counters have been topped in a light-reflecting white quartz with a wood trim on the island delineating a breakfast bar. Woodale Designs from Ronan’s native Carlow can build something similar and bespoke from about €28,000. Bar stools similar to the leather-topped styles around the island are in Flanagan Kerins for €495 each.
The ribbed glass pendant lights over the island are on-trend. Mullan Lighting, based in Co Monaghan, sells a selection of similar 30cm-diameter designs including its Railway, from €100 to its swish Beck, €210. On the windows are Roman blinds. Based on a 120cm width and a 150 drop, lined and interlined, with hand-sewn borders along three sides, similar blinds will cost €900 each from Collette Ward Designs.
Small sitting room
There’s a Wham stove warming the small sitting room where you can watch TV or rushes from the latest production. Something similar, from Greystones-based Fenton Fires, is the Contura 510 (€2,318), which has a soft close cast door and cast top.
Bedroom
Colourful throws and rugs add points of interest to the bedrooms. You can get similar plain throws by Donegal-based firm McNutts from €89 at Flanagan Kerins or source online flat-weave rugs that double as throws from the UK outpost of US firm West Elm – Arnotts also stocks some of its range.
Rug Art can also supply similar rugs while Flanagan Kerins can supply the oriental style six-drawer sideboard, €1,695. Similar-sized plain textured curtains featuring Jane Churchill fabrics, hand-sewn, lined and interlined and hung on a painted wood pole cost from €1,800 per pair fitted, from Aughrim-based Collette Ward Interiors.
Bathroom
Ronan’s spacious en suite bathroom has a Crittal-style shower screen that can be sourced from Kilkenny-based Merlyn in three different sizes. The largest, 120cm wide, costs €1,367. But the big draw here is the free-standing slipper-shaped, claw-foot bath that’s just crying out for litres of scented bath oil and a glass of champagne. If you like the look, you could try the Countess, from Sonas Bathrooms, about €999, ex delivery.
BC Designs does one that you can paint the exterior to match or contrast, as Ronan has done here, with the decor. You can buy the Fordham, from Newry-based Haldane Fisher, and have it painted by BC to ensure a polished finish, for about €1,130, ex delivery, for a 170cm long size.
Verandah
Out on the sunny verandah there are vintage black and off-white quarry tiles underfoot with Lloyd Loom-style wicker armchairs lending the outdoor space a Hamptons aesthetic. Similar seats can be sourced from local Bray-based Flanagan Kerins, from about €375 each.
