Mad about mosaic in Dalkey home

A former corporation house off Dalkey's main street with a hot tub in the back garden is for sale at €950,000. Eoin Lyonsreports

A former corporation house in Dalkey with a strikingly modern interior is for sale by private treaty through Savills HOK for €950,000. Number 15 White's Villas is just behind the Queen's Pub in the centre of Dalkey village, between Dalkey's main street and Carysfort Road.

Built in the 1930s, the houses were originally small but the majority have now been extended. Number 15 is not large, but it has two bedrooms, 84sq m (900sq ft) of living space and a wonderful outdoor area. The house, which has many creative touches, is owned by ceramic artist Laura O'Hagan and her husband, Per Ploug, the owner of Blackrock kitchen company Danish Design.

Coly O'Donoghue of Duffy Mitchell O'Donoghue Architects designed an extension that almost doubled the size of the house. At the front, he added a large porch, which Laura partly covered in ceramics, and placed the entrance to one side. That leads to an open-plan livingroom which in turn leads to the kitchen at the rear of the house, part of the extension. The chimneypiece shimmers with more of Laura's mosaics and a spiral staircase in one corner leads to the first floor.

The kitchen fit-out is from Danish Design and features duck egg blue units and an unusual plaster tile splashback. A round table in the centre of the room follows a curving wall on the garden side of the house and has a moveable island that can be detached from one side of the table. Very low windows look to a shallow pond outside and, when the sun shines, throw water reflections onto the ceiling. Little details like this set the house apart.

Doors open to a secluded patio and a timber-walled structure that houses a large outdoor hot tub. Roof panels slide away to leave the tub open to the sky. Part of the rear exterior is covered with cedarwood and copper panels frame the doorway to the kitchen.

Upstairs, the spiral staircase opens to a very bright landing off which are the main bedroom, children's bedroom and a family bathroom. The main bedroom at the rear has a pleasant view over neighbouring rooftops and the same curving wall as the kitchen below.

The bathroom walls are almost entirely covered in mosaic and a small window has artful stained glass. The laundry appliances are located here, a practical design say the owners, as it means bedlinen and clothes don't have to be hauled downstairs. There's plenty of storage here too. The children's bedroom is also a good size and one wall is painted with a mural by a Canadian artist.