A Modern Classic

Siobhan and Lorcan yearned to be close to the sea, and although they never thought they would embark on building their own home, they found the perfect site in the perfect location and they havent looked back.

Years ago, we lived in Holywood, County Down, and just loved the self-contained village life with all the conveniences of being close to the city. We were there for eight years before moving to Meath, but we really missed seaside living,’ explains Siobhan. ‘So we decided it was time for a change again, and Malahide seemed to have quite a few similarities to Holywood, and thats were we decided was right for us.

‘We always said we would never build our own home; Lorcan especially thought it would just bring on too much stress, but when we were looking for the ideal home in Malahide we came across the perfect site, and so the journey to a new build began!’ she says. ‘The leafy surroundings appealed to the country-loving side of me too.’

Siobhan and Lorcan enlisted the help of Niall Smith Architects, ‘We gave them a wishlist of things we wanted in our new home. We had a very clear idea of what we did and didn’t want; things we maybe had in the past that worked well for us. We were so clear on what we wanted that we even gave the architect dimensions for each room. The team at Niall Smith Architects were fantastic, they were really in tune with what we wanted and the first draft of our plans was almost perfect!’ says Siobhan. ‘The only thing we really changed was to make room in our sitting room for Lorcan’s Mother’s dining table by the bay window, as it is an heirloom.’

‘We didn’t want the home to be open-plan, instead we had the home flow through with double doors, which we had in a previous home and knew it worked well. It offered the freedom of movement without it being too cold and open, and also the option is there to have the doors open – which is great when the kids are running around!