Return of the extension

DesignSolutions: Problem - Liz Nilsson, a Swedish textile artist who lives in Dublin with her Irish husband and their young children in a two-storey over basement house in Rathmines, needed more space.

Their home, built in 1864, had been a convent for most of the time since then; the family undertook an overhaul of the place when they bought it and finally moved in a year ago.

The result is a fine example of how a period house can remain true to its character while being adapted for modern day living.

But some issues, like storage, required some clever thinking by Liz and her architects Duffy Mitchell O'Donohue.

"When the house was built people didn't seem to need as much storage as we do today," says Liz. "Because I work from home, we decided to put my studio in the basement.

"This is where most people would have the kitchen in these type of houses but because we would be doing most of our living on the upper floor, I wanted to have a small toilet and somewhere to hang coats that would be handy to the kitchen off main hall."

It couldn't be downstairs - too far from the front door - and she didn't want to break up any of the main spaces. An extra room was needed.

Solution: Off the return to the basement, a small extension was built that is reached through an opening from the hall. Along one side there is a cloakroom and toilet, each hidden behind sliding opaque glass doors. Because it's near the kitchen, the cloakroom is also used as a place to leave shopping bags before they are unpacked.

"Sliding doors were chosen because of the small space - you couldn't have swinging doors here - and they also give a more streamlined look." A storage unit sits against the opposite wall. "It is MDF sprayed white and was made up by a joiner to match our needs."

These include pull-out drawers for shoes (there's a house rule to take off shoes when entering) and for winter hats, scarves and gloves. A corner window looks out to the rear garden.

"It was very important to me that we kept a view of the garden from the hall and the front door. The house is south facing and we get wonderful light from the fanlight above the door and this new window, now at the other end of the hall."

The rug that sits on the floor is Swedish as is the red sledge in the picture. The grey and red printed linen cushions on the storage unit are Liz's own designs.

"We didn't need a huge extension, the house is big enough, but I thought if I could just get all those small bits out of the living areas, it would actually free up a lot of space."

It has worked and Liz now has only to do the odd de-cluttering spree to keep the place in order. Another plus is the small room directly below that opens out to the deck and garden.

www.liznilsson.com

Duffy Mitchell O'Donohue

Tel 01 4911700