Designer's Dalkey apartment by the sea

DALKEY: €525,000:An interior designer's home is distinctive, but its clean lines mean its new owners can make it their own, writes EMMA CULLINAN

THE successful mix of classical and contemporary in this two-bed apartment near the sea in Dalkey was achieved by its owner, TV presenter and interior designer Neville Knott.

“It gets easier as you get older,” says Knott who has had years of experience, both from a childhood spent observing his parents, who were keen antique collectors, and then in his own work.

He bought the 81sq m (872sq ft) apartment, 7 Inisbofin in the Bailey View scheme, 12 years ago because, having been built decades ago, the development has an established community, and because he wanted to live by the sea, which can be seen from the balcony at the back of the apartment.

The apartment, which is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €525,000, has an open-plan, L-shaped living/dining/kitchen, two double bedrooms (one en suite) and a bathroom.

Knott stripped out textured wallpaper and an old pink carpet and replaced them with limestone, ceramic and marble floors, and cream and duck-egg blue walls. “I love duck egg colours because you can put darker furniture with them,” says Knott.

He also took out a wall between the kitchen/diningroom and livingroom to create a better flow and space. The open-plan living area, with its nooks and crannies, such as a seat in a box window, makes the space good for gatherings.

“When people come, a group will pull a chair or two over by the window seat which has a radiator under it, making it cosy; and other groups gather at the other window seat in the diningroom. They all zone off,” says Knott.

The drama of the whole apartment also helps to give a sense of occasion, and the lighting dims or blazes and changes colour to set certain moods.

While the apartment has a distinctive style, and includes columns in the livingroom salvaged from Switzers, where Knott began his career designing the window displays, its clean backdrop and smart fittings (including De Dietrich and Bosch in the kitchen, waterfall tap and Duravit basin in the bathroom) will allow new owners to do their own thing.

No 7, Inisbofin, Bailey View, Dalkey, Co Dublin

Two-bedroom apartment of 81sq m (872sq ft) in an established development near the sea in South Co Dublin

Agent: Sherry Fitzgerald