Sister act
When Eoin Murray and Kate O’Donnell bought a tiny fixer-upper, it wasn’t an obvious potential dream home. However, they did have three elements in their favour — a large garden, its orientation, and an architect in the family
“We met in the local pub,” Kate offers, while Eoin deadpans, “It was Christmas Eve 2011, that’s when Kate’s dreams came true”
When people buy their first home, they usually come to it full of ideas picked up in relation to houses they’ve seen elsewhere, and they then try to incorporate these ideas into their own homes.
That was the case with Eoin Murray and his wife, Kate O’Donnell. The only issue was, their respective notions were quite different. Kate’s was inspired by life in New Zealand, and centred around the idea of bringing the outdoors into the house as she had seen there, particularly in summer — that inside/ outside vibe. Eoin was all about the kind of New York loft you see in the movies and on Airbnb, where, as it happens, he now works.
Amazingly, the two inspirations, seemingly contradictory, come together beautifully in their lovely home in south Co Dublin; indeed, it’s such a successful melding of ideas that their house was picked to appear on RTE One’s Home of
the Year, one of only 21 houses selected. To be fair, neither Eoin nor Kate take credit for the design — that all goes to Eoin’s sister, architect Ciara Murray.
The youngest of four, Eoin has two sisters who are architects. Ciara’s practice, Newmark Architects, which she co-runs with Sinead Bourke, is devoted to domestic projects, while his other sister, Aideen, specialises in commercial architecture.
Eoin’s only brother, Brian, studied fine art at NCAD — all three siblings obviously got their visual flair from their dad, Brian Murray, the well-known curtain specialist who operates out of
Dun Laoghaire, while the family lives in nearby Dalkey.
Eoin is the odd one out. He studied geography and sociology, and then did a master’s in Queen’s in town planning. “I graduated in 2008, just as the recession was hitting. I went to the UK and did two years in local authorities there, then I came home,” he says. “Airbnb happened, and I’ve been there six years.”
Like Eoin, Kate grew up in Dalkey, and, like Eoin, she also went to Trinity. “My family is two roads up from Eoin’s, and I went to Trinity as well. We were living parallel lives for a long time,” she jokes.
The daughter of two accountants, and one of three kids, Kate studied medicine — “I was always interested in practical things, science, helping people,” she says. After she qualified, she went to New Zealand with two friends, where she spent three years working in emergency medicine. Then she came home and met Eoin.
“We met in the local pub,” Kate offers, while Eoin deadpans, “It was Christmas Eve 2011; that’s when Kate’s dreams came true.”
“I went back for a month or two, but I was coming home anyway as my mum was sick, and it was nice to have Eoin to come home to,” says Kate, who is currently training to be an anaesthetist.
The couple got married in 2018, and have a daughter, Evie, who is aged two. They rented for several years before buying their current home three years ago.
They wanted to be as close to Dalkey as possible and concentrated their search
around the Glasthule area, which is full of terraces of compact, two-bedroomed houses built by the Corporation in 1932.
“The majority of council houses in Dublin at the time were designed by the same architect, so there are similar houses all over the place — Crumlin, Drimnagh — a small version of two-up, two-down. There were 101 houses here originally; there are a couple of the original families still here, and they are called the 101-ers,” says Kate.
The house wasn’t very promising when they first saw it — for a start, it was a mere 600 square feet. “Our sitting room is the entire original downstairs. It included a very narrow galley kitchen that the owners before us had opened up, and there were two small bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs,” says Kate.
However, they had architect Ciara on board from the beginning, and she could see its potential immediately. “The potential this house had was the large garden and the orientation. I think it’s a good idea to get the architect out if you’re buying a house, particularly if you’re buying one that needs work, because light is always key. You can make big spaces, but if you can’t always get light into them... you don’t want a house in darkness,” Ciara says. She adds that she recently assessed a house for a couple who were interested in buying it. This particular house had a massive extension with an east-facing garden, and as a result, a lot of the ground floor was gloomy, emphasising the need for an architect to assess orientation, light and space.
“There were 101 houses here originally. There are a couple of the original families still here, and they are called the 101-ers”
“I don’t think people understand the value an architect can bring to a project,” Ciara says, while Kate adds: “I had no idea what Ciara actually did until we got involved in the project. Oh my god, her involvement the whole way through was key.”
Many of Ciara’s ideas are subtle, but if they hadn’t been implemented, they would be sorely missed. For example, the extension was originally supposed to be straight across, with large glass doors. But by angling part of the design, Ciara managed to give Kate her New Zealand idea — that feeling that part of the garden was in the kitchen. “In the summer, it’s full of colour, with lots of lovely planting,” Kate says. They also have the same poured-concrete flooring inside and outside the house, which enhances the inside/outside feel.
The couple lived in the house for a year, during which time they applied for planning permission. Then, just before Evie was born, work started.
They wanted a big, open-plan, light-filled kitchen/dining room at the
“I remember a guy coming up to me and saying, ‘What have you done to your house? It’s like a World War II bunker’”
back, and a separate sitting room to the front that would be smaller and cosier. They also wanted an extra bedroom, and a proper bathroom, so they extended upstairs as well. In effect, they doubled the size of the house.
Other ideas of Ciara’s include the roof light among the beams in the kitchen to get the east light in the mornings; turning the stairs around to give extra space in the living room; and the built-in benches in the kitchen/dining room, where everyone wants to sit.
“It’s a very sociable house,” Ciara says. The open-plan space has a hint of
New York loft — initially, Eoin would have loved orange brick, lots of copper,
“By the time I got back here after Evie was born, there were just the four walls and the roof — everything else, including the middle floor, was gone. I thought, ‘My whole life is gone’”
and exposed filament lights, but his key ask was poured concrete flooring. “The only thing I really wanted was the concrete floor,” he says. “I wanted concrete on the walls as well, or the original pebble dash. Brutalism, but brutalism doesn’t really work in a corporation house. But Ciara brought us through the process, and what we’ve got is a great home.”
And all the great neon lighting by Club Neon does add a New York vibe.
In contrast to the large, bright and airy, open-plan, light-filled kitchen/dining room, they kept the small sitting room dark.
“When rooms are dark, people often want to paint them white, but we decided to go dark, and it has made it cosy,” says Ciara.
Even with the fabulous Ciara on board throughout, the build, like every building project, had its stresses. “Every part of the house was going to be touched, so after we signed the contract with the builder, we moved up to my dad’s house,” says Kate, adding, “It was four days before my due date. By the time I got back here after Evie was born, there were just the four walls and the roof — everything else, including the middle floor, was gone. I thought, ‘My whole life is gone’.”
Eoin adds: “I remember a guy coming up to me, saying, ‘What have you done to your house? It’s like a World War II bunker’.”
Ciara acknowledges the strain of renovating. “It’s a very stressful process,” she says. “The length of time it takes, usually a year; and the cost. People often fail to add in the refurbishment costs, and when they realise the rest of the house has to be refurbished, that can add a whole other level of stress.”
Ciara hates people to be stressed, and does a lot of cardboard models and mood boards. “One of the things people stress most about is colour, but the great thing is you can always repaint if you don’t like it,” she says.
As Ciara predicted, it took about a year from beginning to end, and it’s a job brilliantly done. “We had a great builder, Novus Construction. His work ethic was incredible, and the site was always spotless,” Eoin says.
They say working with family can add stress, but fortunately not in Kate and Eoin’s case. “Everyone was a little bit worried going into the job,” Kate says.
“But it was actually brilliant, and I think that’s because we already had the trust, so we could get straight into things.”
Ciara echoes her sentiments: “It worked out great. Some people find it hard to trust their architect, but they trusted me to do my job. Also, Kate and I liked the same things. If you’re choosing an architect, get one whose ideas you like.”
Ciara liked the fact that Kate and Eoin were daring in their colour choices, and their use of materials like brick on the internal walls.
Eoin says, “I always thought there was one kind of brick, but we spent so many days looking at bricks.” In the end, they got a mix of two different bricks.
Kate adds, “I still want to make a mosaic of all the tile samples we have. I was lucky I was on maternity leave. I spent so much time in industrial parks, it was pretty much a full-time job.”
The happy couple acknowledge it was all worth it. Maybe it’s not exactly New York loft or New Zealand outside/inside, but it’s certainly new and fabulous. Eoin and Kate’s home will feature on the next episode of ‘Home of the Year’, at 8pm on RTE One, next Tuesday, March 10
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