A new book, Beyond the Back Garden, leads you through home extensions for all kinds of modern Irish family living.
There are lots of design books that show off beautiful spaces. But finding examples of work done to family homes in Ireland can be more difficult.
Dundrum-based Joe Fallon Design has spent 30 years resolving space, light, and flow issues for families in the Dublin suburbs and in the sunny south-east, where he also has a practice.
Those lucky enough to live in his spaces enjoy large, open, or broken-plan rooms for coming together.
In addition, he factors in the need for smaller spaces that you can escape to.
One of three brothers, the loss of his brother to cancer four years ago inspired him to do something for Our Lady’s Hospice and Care, an organisation that cared for his brother Michael, before he died in 2021.
His way of giving back was to ask some of his clients if he could show off the work he’d done for them in a book that also illustrates floor plans and raise some money for the hospice, which has centres in Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, and Magheramore, Co. Wicklow.
The book contains ideas for many of the typical 20th-century housing stock styles that we see in the capital.
It also helpfully includes floor plans and costs €29.99. It can be ordered from Buy The Book.
Proceeds to Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Service, Harold’s Cross & Blackrock
Raspberry Ripple
First popularised by Vogue Williams in her Howth kitchen, the combination of vanilla white and raspberry pink in this Rathfarnham kitchen makes it look contemporary and cool.
The ceiling and support column are all a soft white, with the crisp white stone countertops creating a seamless look.
All cupboard doors wear the soft serve pink with timber flooring underfoot.
Return on investment
Much of our city and town housing stock is built with a return on the back of the house, a space that is narrower than the width of the property.
Across town in Drumcondra, Fallon used the empty space to the side of the return in this brick-built house to expand our space from the back room and kitchenette in the return to enclose this space.
The sloped extension gives height and light via its large feature window and bank of rooflights overhead.
The result is a large eat-in kitchen that leads through to a lounge.
The rise of the outdoor room
More and more clients want to integrate their outdoor space with their interiors and Fallon’s solutions suit the Irish climate.
This one in Glaslacken includes a colonnaded covered space where you can continue the party undeterred by the idea of ever being rained off.
Recycle original features
Fallon’s services include design, planning, and energy efficiency. He believes in recycling features the original home may have had.
In this Blackrock property, an original fireplace has been repurposed as an outdoor feature.
In this instance, it is no longer operational, but for those looking to install a working outdoor fire, reusing one of the fireplaces taken out during renovations is one way to retain a connection between the old layout and its new look.
The mantle also doubles as a plant holder.
