Interior designer Helene Broderick says she likes a good challenge. So much so that in 1998 she scoured the countryside for a house that would test her designing mettle to the limit.
"I wanted a house I could put my mark on and bring back to its former glory but at the same time make it a modern house."
After six months of motoring the highways and byways and scanning property portals on the Internet, she came across the monumental undertaking she was looking for - Larah in Ballon, Co Carlow.
Suitably distressed, the Georgian house standing on 1.5 acres had been uninhabited for over 30 years and was virtually a shell - but, as Broderick could see, a shell with potential .
"It had no windows or doors," says Broderick. "Everything had been taken out including the fireplaces, which was a great pity, but it has spectacular views of the Blackstairs Mountains and Mount Leinster to the front and the Wicklow mountains to the back and I liked the proportions of the house and the fact that it's bright. It was big but not too big."
Three years of Trojan structural work and redecoration later, Larah House is a finished work and Broderick is getting bored .
She is now looking for a house that will stretch her talents in a new direction. The next one, she envisages, will be completely different, something quite contemporary. Larah House is on the market for £650,000 (€825,500) through HOK Country.
It spans several eras. The original part is thought to date from the 18th century and is more rustic in appearance than the 19th century additions to the front which are more elegantly-proportioned with high ceilings.
The look she went for is understated splendour - clean lines, muted colours, preserving and restoring period detail where possible but with the occasional modern touch.
"The decor is not heavy, not too antiqued or too modern. I suppose you could call it eclectic. I tried to keep it light and airy and used a lot of Farrow & Ball paints."
In keeping with its Georgian origins, Broderick and her husband had the house rendered and plastered internally in lime.
"We debated over whether to put sash windows in with four panes over four panes or six over six but went with four because they were less disruptive of the views to the eye."
Also faithful to the era are the salvaged Douglas Fir floors, the cornice work and the shouldered architrave on the windows and doors.
She is unapologetic about the unashamed modernity of the beech Shaker-style kitchen with solid granite and beech worktops. It has a curved brick arch dividing the preparation and dining areas.
Once the old coach-house to the rear, it is now part of the main house and has a bedroom on its upper floor. "It was almost the 21st century when we built it and there was no point in making it look like a Georgian kitchen; we took the view - well let's be practical."
Other contemporary touches are the recessed low voltage lighting throughout the house, the underfloor heating in the limestone-floored main bathroom and the marble fireplaces that were bought more because their proportions "worked well" than for their antiquity.
They knocked the schoolroom and milking parlour on either side of the house and rebuilt them as two en suite studies.
The entrance porch and reception hall are floored with the original granite flags and the drawingroom has a marble chimneypiece with slate inset and two expansive sash windows overlooking the southern portion of the garden.
An interconnecting door leads to the study, which like many of the rooms in the house has both spotlighting and Douglas Fir timber floors.
The diningroom also overlooks the south garden and has doors to the walled garden and the library.
There is also a family room and a utility room which has a half door to the courtyard.
A magnificent mahogany staircase leads to the upper floor where there are five bedrooms and a family bathroom.
The main bedroom has a walk-in dressingroom and an en suite bathroom with a limestone floor
Heated by digitally controlled oil fired central heating, it also has security lighting and low voltage garden slighting.
Broderick attributes the taming of a 10ft high nettle-choked wilderness to her husband, who created an organic vegetable garden and a wildflower garden.
Whether the next house she buys will be the one she will settle in forever , she isn't quite sure.
"It could be the house I'll stay in but once a house is done I get restless. It's nice to be your own client."
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