Supersizing a small space

The owner of a small cottage in Sandymount, with 68sq m (732sq ft) of living space, wanted a home that felt greater than the sum of its parts.

As well as ditching the dated decor, she wanted to rethink the room configuration to create a better sense of flow to the layout, which had the sitting room to the front and wall dividing it, and the kitchen- cum-dining room to the rear.

The place felt smaller than it actually was – the dressing equivalent of wearing slimming black, a no-no in interiors, says Philippa Buckley of Studio 44, who was tasked with supersizing the size-zero space.

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By breaking down the dividing wall and replacing it with a made-to-measure “wall” of glass sliding doors, she opened up the ground floor.

Structural glazing specialists SGS Glass in Cork (sgskglass.com) did the job. The company was responsible for the impressive gable-end glazing in Dublin’s Custom House Quay in the IFSC.

The tongue-and-groove pitched ceiling in the living room was replaced by a plastered finish to give a better sense of height. The owner wanted Buckley to use a grey palette with pops of colour to add personality.

The front room is painted a pale shade (Little Greene Paint Company, number 161), deepening to a mid-grey (number 162), in the central area, a colour used on the kitchen cabinets and in the sitting room. It darkens (to number 113) in the dining room to the rear.

By using three shades of the same French grey paint (available at Tilestyle, tilestyle.ie), she added a nuanced sense of texture.

The royal-purple velour Chesterfield-style sofa, one of Buckley’s own designs, gives the sitting room a jolt of colour. Stud detailing adds a fashion element.

Above the sofa sits a pair of sculptural metal sconces that draw the eye up. With black exterior and burnished interior that resembles bronze when unlit, they burn burnished gold when lit (they are available in any RAL colour).

New kitchen cabinetry was set along the same boundary wall as the statement lights. Brendan Gallagher of Annestown, Co Waterford, built the painted-MDF kitchen. Suede-finish siltstone countertops from Foxrock-based MJ Roe and Son (mroefoxrock.ie) add luxury to the look. This unhoned stone feels very tactile and is less reflective than more traditional polished surfaces.

The dining room was repositioned in a new extension, on the end of the house. The light-filled space is illuminated by a skylight. A new set of chairs from Classic Furniture (classicfurniture.ie) helped to update the dining table. The Oriental wall hanging, from Rowell Design (rowelldesign.ie) in Donnybrook, adds punch to the greyscape.

Fold-back doors open out to a small terrace. A second set of doors leads from the sitting room where the muted grey palette is lifted by simple pops of colour painted onto the drawers of the black-frame TV unit.

The original door frame has been “closed” by inserting a glass panel where the door used to be. It allows natural light to stream into the otherwise dark stairwell. The Roche Bobois (roche-bobois.com/ dublin) leather sofa was bought to match the paint.

The entire ground floor features a limed-oak floor by Churchtown-based Oscar Ono (oscarono.fr). This also helps make the space feel bigger than it is.

The house has two bedrooms. There is a double downstairs overlooking the street and a sizeable double upstairs with a large dressing room.

Interior designer Philippa Buckley of Studio 44 Design has offices in Dublin and London, 01-2964208, studio44.ie

Photographs by Paul Sherwood except for the sitting room which is by Safi Hope-Ross