Stylish Minimalism

In 2010, Maija (who is originally from Finland) and her Irish husband Tadgh had decided to make the move from Brussels where they had lived for many years, back to Tadgh’s native Dublin.

We found that homes were very expensive in Dublin and we had to spend quite some time looking before we found our house,’ says Maija. ‘My one real stipulation was that it had to be by the sea, and this house was both coastal and affordable! I loved the location and there was a large back garden, so it had potential for extending; it was also very basic, which was a plus for me; we could create our own style here.’

The downstairs of the house was very small, a tiny hall and what had originally been two small rooms with the wall now removed to create a larger open space. ‘Even so, it was a small space for two people!’ says Maija. ‘My initial idea was to have an extension to the rear to add extra room, with a downstairs bathroom, but as we lived in the house for two years first, I changed my mind. Carving the bathroom out of the extension would have created an uncomfortably-shaped space for the living room, and it really wasn’t necessary to have two bathrooms, I discovered.’

Read more in the May issue…