A family home in Sandymount, the fruit of a creative union

What happens when an architect and a designer get together to design their own home? In the case of John McCarthy and Geraldine O’Brien, of McCarthy O’Brien (mcob.ie), the answer is some healthy creative tension and a very fine house.

“I battled for the inside,” says O’Brien, “and him for the outside. But it was a fantastic opportunity, and such a beautiful site.”

Completed about five years ago, and reached via a gravelled lane off Sandymount Avenue, 67a is just moments from the RDS and Sandymount Village, but the site is so secluded you feel a world away. The house also cleverly manages its 296sq m (3,180sq ft) of accommodation, so there's an easy airiness to the rooms. It's laid out over three floors, and a nice balance of textures gives a good sense of space, mixing oak, tiling, glass and slate throughout.

A-rated

Even though the huge sliding glass doors open right back to the patio and gardens, the house is also A-rated. “It had to be economical and it had to be green,” says O’Brien. “It also had to be adaptable, because with growing families everything changes.”

She describes how, when working with clients, the couple will often have ideas that “maybe come from a holiday or a memory of an idea, but might not be what they actually really want”.

What they really wanted for their own home was a big house that didn’t feel big: a sense of light and space, but also privacy and seclusion; a certain amount of luxury (check out the huge round bathtub in the en-suite off the master bedroom); and somewhere that family members could have privacy but also stay connected.

They have achieved this well, and are now selling through Sherry FitzGerald for €1.75 million so as to get going on another project.

“We’re looking for that house we can add value to, something that we can bring out that you can’t see yet. That’s what keeps us young, that’s what keeps us out of mischief.”