Family proof

Getting on well with the neighbours can give you some interesting design options, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER

THE HOLE IN THE WALL GANG

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours, or so the song goes. Lynne Tracy, her husband Enda Twomey and their four children – Sally, 14, Oscar, 12, Charlie, 10 and Isaac, age 8 – get on so well with theirs that they have a door in their shared back garden wall to let the kids move freely from one to the other. The kids next door are of a similar age to the Twomeys. Their daughter is Sally’s best friend and at 13, 10 and 9, the neighbours’ three boys are almost the same age as Lynne’s sons. “Sometimes it looks like the Brady Bunch out in the garden,” she laughs.

Lynne and Enda bought their Edwardian house in Dublin in 1997 and lived in it for years before doing any refurbishment. The result is a well-considered renovation that has colour and personality. They made the house work for them rather than the other way round.

CLEVER KITCHEN

In the vanilla gloss kitchen, Lynne insisted on having locker-style storage and allocated one to each of the kids for their schoolbags, coats and sports gear, which significantly cut down on family-life clutter. Granite features in the countertops and in the Falcon range splashback. Lynne wanted a breakfast bar to divide the large room and to function as a place where the kids could do their homework. The counter is quite high for petite Lynne who measures 160cm (5ft 3in), so she added a step to reach it.

The brick red and cream tiles resemble the original pattern of the quarry tiles they reluctantly replaced when they refurbished. The tiles also add colour to the room.

The dining part of the kitchen has a scrubbed oak table and a bank of roof lights, making it feel bright and airy. A star, a Christmas decoration from 2010, has become part of the decor. The decision to keep it was made democratically by the family with Lynne losing that vote five to one. A disco ball in one corner tends to prompt family dance sessions. In the hall there’s even a dinner bell – essential when the bedrooms are laid out over two floors and there are four kids and their friends to deal with.

DEN OF EQUITY

During the renovations, Lynne’s architect suggested they open up the back into one big open-plan kitchen, dining and living room. With four children she felt a den, a place the kids could call their own, was more crucial to cordial family life. Using the original side passage that ran from the kitchen into the garden, she created a really cool room. It measures a mere 1.8m (6ft) wide but is 5m (17ft) high. A sloped glass roof adds natural light. Striped Designer’s Guild wallpaper adds colour and texture. A secret door offers access into the laundry room and a second way out should the kids need to escape. A fold-back door closes off the room from the kitchen but even when it is closed, Lynne can still keep an eye on what’s going on.

The original kitchen window has had its frame removed and looks into this room. Lynne eventually wants to install an aquarium into this space.

THE DRAWING ROOM

The walls are a rich Victorian teal blue. Silk swagged curtains drape their way around the bay window and Lynne’s leopard print footstool is the only feminine call to the wild. Masculine brown leather furniture dominates and is hard-wearing enough to endure everything the four kids and their dog Maude, a yorkie/daschund/ Shih Tzu cross, throw at it. She bought one of the sofas via Buy and Sell for €150.

THE STUDY

The interconnecting reception room was once a dining room and on special occasions it still is. Most of the time, though, it is Lynne’s home office. The back window looks into the kids’ den. The 1950s style desk was purchased from Décor on Camden Street. Three of the four walls are painted eau de nil while the fourth wall is a contrasting deep aubergine. A Warhol print hangs on the wall and on the mantle is a concrete teddy. The storage is Ikea shelving put together by Lynne. Her husband Enda is hopeless at DIY, she says without any sense of lament.

THE BATHROOM

Lynne annexed the back double bedroom on the first floor to create a large master en suite bathroom and it is a seriously roomy space to spend time in.

The decor steals ideas from several eras; there’s a free-standing bath, a large walk-in shower, a dramatic wall of black and gold Chinoiserie, a Chinese-style freestanding cabinet, and a Victorian-style screen that modestly hides the toilet from view. The master bedroom has a wall of wardrobes and a small dressing table.

THE GARDEN

Mother-of-four Lynne opted for Astroturf instead of real grass for the back garden. “It means the kids can play in even dirty weather,” she explains. “I have no mud in my kitchen.”

Casa Cosy is the two-storey tree house to the rear that was gifted to the children by Santa several Christmases ago. Santa’s little helpers and elves came to help set its foundations. In the middle of the lawn stands a lone apple tree planted when eldest Sally was born.