Hot and cool

Don't be afraid of colour. Pigment pops add personality and depth to any home, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Mary Doherty, who runs creative agency Red Dog, doesn’t believe in bland. She shares her colour-rich Ranelagh redbrick with her husband Sean Connolly, also a graphic designer, and their two sons; Sam (9) and Oisín (2). Their home fizzes with personality and runs the whole spectrum of Pantone shades from cool and fashionable Christian Dior grey in the hall and diningroom to the rich and intense teal green of their sittingroom and the just plain wrong juxtaposition of mustard and sky blue in Oisín’s bedroom: it’s a combination that is so wrong, it’s right.

The house is suffused with bold blocks of strong colour. What’s the risk with colour, asks Mary. “If you don’t like it you can always paint over it. It is not a big investment.” The entrance hall is pure child’s play. Roy Lichtenstein-style canvases hang on the walls. A candy pink telephone sits atop a black lacquered sideboard. A Sindy doll scooter adds a sense of fun. Mary bought it and the Sindy clothes that are in the table lamp in a charity shop in Athlone. As a girl growing up, she preferred Sindy to Barbie.

The Victorian house has interconnecting reception rooms with fold-back doors and original floors. The diningroom walls are painted lamp room grey by Farrow Ball. On the period marble mantle sits a deconstructed carriage clock by Cédric Ragort. It has a hand-blown glass dome and futuristic zinc die cast base. Eames Eiffel base chairs in teal blue sit around a Victorian style table. Spot the dog, a lamp designed by Jens Kosak ( reddogthestore.com/index.php/meet-the-makers/jens-kosak) has his own corner. The limited edition piece is sold on Mary's pet project, Red Dog The Store, which sells Irish-made accessories. The lamp costs €260.

The sitting room is naturally dark. “Instead of painting it white, we decided to embrace its dark side. We went with a rich teal blue that we had mixed from the colour in the photo on the same wall,” she explains. Sean is much better at choosing colours, she graciously admits. The couple are college sweethearts. They met at NCAD and have been discussing the merits of Helvetica versus Helvetica Neue ever since.

“But between us we are able to make considered choices. From the type of work we do we know that certain colour combinations will work together.” The sky blue and mustard paintwork in Oisin’s room is one such example. It’s a combination that has to be seen to be believed.

The couple extended the house in 2006 downgrading the number of bedrooms from four to three to upgrade the family bathroom.

From the sitting room, double doors lead into a large open plan kitchen living room. The couple added doors to soften sound attenuation.

A limited edition print by Jackie Nickerson, from her Faith series, hangs above a built-in unit that houses the home computer. It’s in the kitchen so the parents can keep an eye on what the boys are looking at online.

Red eyelet curtains from Crumlin Blinds add a wall of colour, especially on cool spring nights. The industrial-looking kitchen in office grey is by Lomi Design. It has quartz countertops, a C-shaped work area and a picture window to the rear is what Mary uses to ripen fruit – on the day this writer visited she had peaches warming in the April sun.

The living area has a fire engine red wood pellet burning stove. The surround is painted the same teal blue as is in the sitting room. An Antica limestone floor covers the entire space.

In their south-facing garden they took out the grass and replaced it with limestone paving. An iroko wood-clad wall runs the length of the garden on one side. Opposite is a box hedge. Bamboo to the rear gives them complete privacy.

They have an outside table with a canopy top that they open in summer. And for parties they hang bunting around the garden.

In Oisin’s room, more hanging bunting gives the space a carnival feel. Hand-made in Co Donegal, it can be also be purchased at Red Dog the store. The boy’s room is painted mustard yellow with contrasting sky blue.

The fourth bedroom was colonised to create a decent-sized family bathroom. Its original cast-iron fireplace remains for those “rare occasions that you want to light a fire in the bathroom”, Mary explains. They tiled the sides of the bath to match the floor creating an interesting and fluid effect. Mary believes that “your home should make you smile. It’s the one place you can be yourself. You should love it and you also be able to relax in it.” She’s pragmatic about how polished she can make their home while the kids are still young. “We have certain aspirations,” she admits, “but there’s no point in having a beautiful white sofa if the children can’t sit on it.”

Red Dog The Store ( reddogthestore.com) is holding a pop-up shop in Redress at 6, Castle Market, Dublin 2 until tomorrow, and in late July at Designist on South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2.

PHOTOGRAPHS: SEAN BREITHAUPT/ SEAN AND YVETTE PHOTOGRAPHY