Bringing an Edwardian home back to life ready for Modern Day Living

When an Irish couple returned to Ireland with their family after living abroad they turned to Sherrard Design whose website they came across while browsing the internet. Sherrard was tasked with renovating their newly purchased Edwardian house dating from 1902. The home needed a full renovation and aesthetic refresh. What might have been a daunting task for many was an exciting challenge as Sherrard Design is no stranger to fixing up period properties for modern family lifestyles.

The existing dwelling is two stories with a modern two storey extension to the rear.
Once entering the period part of the house you are confronted with the original wooden staircase with a light filled atrium above it. We wanted to do something striking with this hallway so we introduced a cuboid patterned floor with its design that goes right back to ancient Greece. This pattern is fitting for a period home and it is created in three different marbles. Sherrard and her client visited Tuscany and were lucky enough to climb over walls and look at the quarries where the stone originated from. A bespoke Ochre light fitting hangs down blending contemporary design with period features.

Like the hallway the other rooms in the original house retain their period features and generously proportioned high ceilings. Everything was retained
however there were subtle tweaks like new marble inserts fixed into the fireplaces. Reproduction internal doors were replaced with accurate replicas.

On the first floor there are four bedrooms . The principal bedroom opens onto an ensuite that is part of the contemporary extension and is complete with a bespoke vanity unit designed with Breccia Capria marble. Again sourced on a trip to Tuscany.

The arch in the main hallway leads to the contemporary cedar wood extension that was practically demolished and rebuilt.This structure creates a contrast and demarkation with the original Edwardian structure. Huge new steel Dutch windows were fitted at the side and rear of the modern extension The windows in the kitchen area measure over 6 metres in height and look out to the extensive landscaped garden. The existing concrete first floor was cut out of the extension and a mezzanine library was installed to create a double height in the kitchen. We wanted the home to nurture the children in terms of education. Reading nooks were created allowing the children to curl up and read books from the family’s extensive library.

The kitchen was completely reconfigured with a long bank of tall kitchen units in reeded solid French oak. Two of these doors are secret doors and open into the living area which is still part of the contemporary extension This particular kitchen door detail was spotted in Paris with the client in a furniture showroom. We were both struggling with what the finish on the door should be so we jumped at this. Sherrard took out her measuring tape took a hundred photographs and was able to replicate it back in Dublin with the help of Abbington Design. The floor of the kitchen is Thala limestone and it flows out to the patio drawing the colours of the garden into the kitchen.

Sherrard worked very closely with the landscape architect Helena Dold collaborating with every step of the way from the water feature to the sculptures, planting and external lighting. This process makes the project feel so much more totalitarian.

In the basement a cinema room and bar area were added and the colour palette was changed to create a more relaxing atmosphere. Osbourne and Little silk velvet adorns the walls with a thin upholstery foam layer behind it. A cashmere rug sits under a Meriandi sofa that was sourced in Milan on a buying trip with with Lost weekend and the client.. Once entering the room you instantly relax and it is actually quiet difficult to leave. The bar area blends into the cinema room and we had fun designing it in solid brass oak and calacatta viola marble. Back in the late 90s Sherrard would have been involved in the design of Dublin bars and nightclubs such as The Kitchen and Ri Ra so it was terrific returning to this type of design.

Normally a project like this including its Summer House and Studio at the rear would take 18 months but the client wanted it finished in 12. Towards the end of the project being under time pressure Sherrard asked everyone to stand at the site meetings. I was surrounded by 8 or 9 male sub contractors and so it wasn’t for the faint hearted. The project was completed bang on time.

The end result is a fun house for a growing family who like to entertain. It was wonderful collaborating with great clients and the end result is a design that blends historical features with contemporary individual style to produce a home for modern day living.