Couple mix comfort with designer good looks

Ad executive Doug Baxter and his wife, actor Victoria Smurfit, both like contemporary but comfortable design. As they prepare to sell their D4 home, Doug Baxter talks to Eoin Lyons

Advertising executive Doug Baxter has the handsome looks, winning personality and visual good sense that make him one of a rare breed: a man with style who favours dash rather than flash in matters of taste.

He lives with his wife, actor Victoria Smurfit and their 10-month-old daughter Evie in one of a number of mews-style houses built on the grounds of Ardoyne House, the 1960s apartment building that rises high into the sky above Herbert Park in Ballsbridge.

The two-bedroom house, cleverly designed five years ago by architect James Horan, has reception rooms on the upper floor with bedrooms beneath.

Doug, who was born in Waterford, has lived here with Victoria since they returned to Dublin from London in 2001. "We had been in London for a long time and missed living in Ireland. And when you start to think about having children, Dublin is a good place to be." When it came to decorating the house, it was fortunate that the couple's ideas were compatible: both like contemporary design but choose pieces that offer comfort. Doug's company, Ocean, has clients in the interiors and property world, but one of the most resonant influences on his taste was his uncle Sean Henry, a celebrated architect and set designer who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright during the 1950s.

It is this distinctive style that Doug and Victoria hope to re-create after they sell this house over the coming weeks and start looking for a site near the city centre.

"It will be sad to leave," says Doug. "It's so handy for everything, but we need more space now. What we'd like to build is a long low house inspired by the Arizona and Palm Beach architecture of the 1950s."

In the livingroom, a leather sofa from Ralph Lauren Home sits beneath a large photographic print. The leather has a worn, purposefully faded look that provides a pleasant contrast to the modern architecture. "It was a wedding gift and has seen us through a lot, from when we were first married to life with Evie," says Doug. "It's very comfortable and often hard to move from."

Doug sits with the family dog, Hercules, an experienced model who has appeared in many advertising campaigns, thanks to his agent/owner. Doug took the photograph of the man with cigar and chicken while on holiday in Cuba with Victoria and Evie:

"The humour of the picture reminds me of the spirit of the Cuban people. This guy had just bought the chicken for his supper - the smile on his face says it all, as does the demonic glint in the eye of the chicken who must know the end is nigh.".

Other photography-focused trips have included Sri Lanka and India: "We now travel with photography in mind. Although it's really a hobby, I've got work going into two exhibitions in London later this year - something like that gives me a focus to produce pictures."

The deep red, heavily textured rug is from Diamond Living, the furniture shop with premises on the Longmile Road (01 4508443) and in Swords (01 8907444). "We were a long time looking for a rug but this was perfect because it's just the right size.". Shots of red punctuate other parts of the room: the window blinds, a painted Asian box beside the fire and cushions in a darker shade. The metallic arched lamp hovering above the sofa was found at In Store in Limerick (061 416088). "It's a copy of an Arco lamp - the real thing costs about £1,395 in London but this is almost the exactly the same and cost €300." To the right, not visible in this photograph, is a very large wide screen television. "We had a couple of years with no TV but now I'm addicted to watching sport - rugby mostly - and my wife loves 24, the American show."

One corner of the house is given over to a home office - the desk was another Diamond Living buy. "This is Vic's control centre - she organises her life from here, reading scripts, talking to agents." The white sofa to the right is from Habitat and the painting of Tibetan monks above Victoria's desk is from a gallery on the King's Road in London that is owned by Doug's sister Tanya (www.kingsroadgallery.com). "She specialises in Eastern art and this watercolour was painted by an artist called Min Wae who almost always paints monks, often with gilt . . . those are very expensive but this is a watercolour that was much more affordable. I like the simplicity of the way it's painted and the serenity of the monks."

Off the kitchen, reached through sliding glass panels, is a terrace that looks onto a laneway and the rear of houses along Clyde Road. "It's quiet here and so we have a huge amount of barbeques during the summer," says Doug. At these events, a large iron barbeque is used with natural turf; a built-in shelf, now holding plants, is used as a serving station.

In the kitchen, white 1960-ish chairs bought at Aero, a design shop in London, sit around a glass table once used in Doug's office.

In the livingroom is a grey wool swivel chair with wide arm rests and footstool by the Italian design house Minotti, available in this country through Minima (01 6627894). "It's a great piece, with the classic principle of form dictated by function and is another very comfortable place to sit." Hercules seems to agree.

The open gas fire is operated by remote control and sits in a recess that runs along one wall: "It's quite a James Bond-style feature," Doug admits, "but it's great to come in during the winter and just switch it on." The shelf space created by the recess lends itself to displaying black and white photographs collected by the couple - including some of the Battersea and Chelsea areas where they lived in London.

A 1950s starburst clock above the fire was bought at 20th Century Furniture, the shop specialising in Scandinavian and mid-20th century furniture that recently moved from Cow's Lane in Temple Bar to a location in Habitat's new Suffolk Street shop (01 6771433).

3 Ardoyne Mews, Dublin 4, will be auctioned through Lisney on September 27th with a guide of €1.05 million.