This Co Dublin estate home comes with its own garden sauna and a barrel plunge pool
Asking price: €420,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald (01) 624 1234
Naomi Clifford is moving lock and stock – but no barrel – to Co Galway. The Dubliner is making the move to begin a new chapter of life with partner Dave O’Shaughnessy and her son Sam. But this is only after the trio have spent many productive weekends over the years transforming their west Dublin home inside and out.
Naomi Clifford in her home at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Among the improvements are the recent addition of a decent end-of-garden sauna alongside a cold water plunge pool made from an antique wooden whiskey cask. And with the house going up for sale today, these are being left behind for the next owners to enjoy.
Number 14 is a three-bedroom semi-detached, one of 60 in the estate. Clifford grew up in Lucan and wanted to stay in the locale.
Walking into the house now, you would struggle to recognise it as the new-build she originally bought. The hall takes you into an open-plan living and kitchen area that was reconfigured about fourteen years ago when Clifford extended the property. The original layout, she explains, was fairly standard with a separate sitting room at the front and a kitchen behind it.
The exterior of 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
At the centre of the main living area is the stove, which sits on a raised cast-concrete plinth against a wall of reclaimed brick. There was no chimney in the house originally. To create this, O’Shaughnessy, who works in the building trade, built the form, poured the concrete on site, sourced the reclaimed brick from a local antique yard in the village, and took out the wall to install it.
The family stove at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Clifford wanted the stovepipe itself to be a feature rather than something to be hidden away, and the exposed pipework running up through the room does give the space an industrial edge that contrasts with the softer, older materials elsewhere.
The kitchen and main living area at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
The open plan space was later divided when her son Sam grew old enough to want his own television. Rather than putting up a solid wall, the family came up with a timber partition with sliding doors.
This was the first of more than one collaboration between Sam and O’Shaughnessy, with Clifford taking more of a “sand in” role. “I sand most things,” she says. “I do the end bit. I love the creativity of it; working out what it’s going to look like and dressing it when it’s finished.” The divider has a rustic quality, and the sliding doors allow the space to open or close, depending on need.
The living room of 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Elsewhere in the living area, the coffee table has been made from a foraged cable spool, retrieved from O’Shaughnessy’s brother’s shed and sanded down. The television unit is a solid piece of reclaimed wood, found at Landmark, the antique and architectural salvage yard in the village. It is set on a pair of bespoke cast iron legs. The wood was oiled rather than finished, and the grain shows through clearly.
The family room of 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
“I don’t hoard,” Clifford says. “If something catches my eye and I can see a place for it in the house, I get it. But I wouldn’t buy something just because I love it if I didn’t know where it was going.” The result is a house that feels considered rather than accumulated, though it has clearly been built up over the years rather than assembled in a single decorating campaign.
Herringbone flooring throughout the hall was individually laid piece by piece, done some nine or 10 years ago. The original kitchen has been converted into a fitness space, with laminate flooring and mirrored panels on one wall. The family uses it for weights and yoga.
A bedroom with hand-built bed and steps over a gaming area at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Upstairs, the three bedrooms are straightforward in layout, though Sam’s room has been modified considerably. He wanted a double bed but the room wasn’t large enough to accommodate one without sacrificing floor space.
The solution, realised by Sam and Dave over the course of several weeks, was a loft bed, built in-situ, with the ceiling cut back and re-plastered to give enough headroom above. Beneath the sleeping platform, Sam has his gaming X-Box setup with custom chair, pedals and steering wheel/controls in driving mode. The stairs up to the bed were custom-built.
One of the bedrooms with en suite bathroom at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
The back garden is where the most recent additions are to be found. The left-hand corner at the rear of the garden doesn’t get much sun, and rather than leave it as a damp, shaded patch, the handy trio installed a vertical timber wall along the back boundary. It changes colour depending on whether it’s wet or dry, and this, combined with a well-established green hedge, gives the lower end of the garden “a sense of purpose” it wouldn’t otherwise have, Clifford says.
A view of the house from the garden at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Two or three years ago, a pergola was built adjacent to the house. This is large enough to function as an outdoor room, with a small built-in barbecue. Clifford dressed it with hanging details and plants, and describes going out there on summer mornings for a coffee as one of the pleasures of the house. Last February, they built the sauna and the whiskey barrel plunger complements it nicely.
An interior view of the sauna at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
Driving into Dublin takes around 40 minutes in reasonable traffic, though peak hours will extend that. The 68 bus runs from Newcastle through to the city centre and the Luas can be accessed at Citywest.
The move to Galway has been coming for some time. Sam, now 14 and settled into secondary school, was the key factor in the timing.
One of the bathrooms at 14 Castlelyon Avenue, Newcastle, Co Dublin
“It wouldn’t have happened while he was in primary,” Clifford says. “I wouldn’t have moved him then.”
That doesn’t mean she won’t miss Castlelyon Avenue.
“I just love the feeling when I’m in it,” Clifford says. “Each area of the house has its purpose. And the garden in summertime is really lovely. You have your area to work, your area to relax, the sauna, the barrel. You have a whole lifestyle here,” she says. “And no TVs in the bedrooms!” adds Naomi.
Sherry FitzGerald seeks €420,000.
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