Click on gallery images to perspective incomparable picture.
Keen cooks Pauline and Michael Sheehan have remodelled a tiny kitchen into a stylish, open-plan blueprint that’s ideal for their flourishing family.
Fact file
The owners: Pauline Sheehan (right), a part-time midwife, and her father Michael, who is an accountant, live here with their children, Cecilia, 14, Elinor, 11, and Mark, 8
The property: A four-bedroom isolated residence
The location: Cellbridge, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland
What they spent: The prolongation and kitchen plan cost around £120,400
We bought a residence as a new build over 10 years ago and have always been happy here,’ says Pauline. ‘As a family grew bigger, however, we knew we’d have to transform a kitchen area.’
That wasn’t a usually reason because Pauline and her father Michael suspicion a space was impractical. As Pauline explains: There wasn’t adequate room for dual of us to ready during a same time, that was a contrition as Michael and we both adore cooking.’
Their dream was to extend a kitchen to emanate an open-plan family space, though they put their skeleton on reason until a children were a small older.
‘That gave us copiousness of time to consider things by and we eventually motionless to extend during a back of a house, withdrawal space for a yard garden,’ says Pauline.
A good understanding of mine work was indispensable to ready a site for a extension.
‘Some friends endorsed a good internal builder, indicating out that he could also supply a group of tradespeople for a prolongation work, including an electrician and plumber,’ says Pauline. ‘We suspicion that sounded a good thought as it would save a lot of con with only one indicate of contact.’
The integrate looked around for an architect, eventually settling on David Mulcahy of Concepts Architects, as Pauline explains: ‘He was packed with ideas and listened delicately to a brief.’
After an initial assembly and dual drafts later, Pauline and Michael were gay with a finished design, that enclosed a single-storey joist prolongation housing an open-plan kitchen-diner and vital space.
As a prolongation was underneath 40m², it didn’t need formulation permission. So, once a skeleton were finalised a build began, that was scheduled for 8 weeks. Luckily for a Sheehans, they could check on swell as they were staying during a home of their neighbours who were on holiday.
‘Our garden had been landscaped over several levels, so there was a lot of work concerned in excavating it,’ says Pauline. ‘As we wanted to keep my favourite tools of a garden, another territory had to be leveled to make approach for a new structure.
‘As a side alley to a residence was narrow, all had to be taken by wheelbarrow, or by a house.’
Once a prolongation was nearby completion, a integrate started formulation a kitchen, selecting internal engineer Ferghal O’Reilly.
‘I wanted limed ash cabinets, meaningful they would work ideally in a new open-plan space,’ says Pauline. ‘Ferghal was ardent about a pattern and tailored it accurately to fit a family.’
The kitchen pattern is centered around a vast island section separate into dual levels – one as a breakfast bar and a other as a food credentials area with an integrated sink.
It was critical that a kitchen was well-organised, so a dilemma diner’s seats – that have hinged lids – double adult as storage for a 3 children’s books and games. As Pauline explains: ‘I can’t mount clutter, so a secluded storage is perfect.’
Pauline common Ferghal’s adore of tongue-and- slit panelling, so they came adult with a classical demeanour for a light-filled space, with neutral walls and building tiles complementing any other.
Although it is especially embellished in elementary neutral tones, a difference is their superb dresser that is embellished in a colourful shade from Farrow Ball.
‘We’ve had that dresser for years – it was done to compare a strange kitchen, though we motionless to keep it as a underline in a new layout,’ Pauline explains. ‘It’s utterly compact, so it was ideal for a distant wall and provides additional storage space. It wasn’t always that shade. Ferghal gave us a colour label – and Michael, to my surprise, chose a red shade. It creates a good contrast.’
Pauline and Michael are anxious with a new look. ‘It’s even improved than we imagined,’ says Pauline. ‘There’s copiousness of room for me and Michael to ready together – and it’s a ideal family space.’
WORDS JOANNE ALEXANDER PHOTOGRAPHS EAMON MCAFEE
Featured in a Nov 2011 emanate of Real Homes
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