No 1 in more ways than one: €640k artist's home is aesthetic and aspirational

Irish Examiner

3 days ago

ARTIST Tara Szuch got in early at 1 Fern Dale — a detached home which was due to be the show home for the developers here at Kilmoney Heights — and made it very much her own: it's both picture perfect and full of personality, if not two personalities.
Brimful of personality: yes, vendor Tara has lived in even larger homes in the past...
Part one is packed with collectables and personal treasures, testament to a woman with collector's eye.
Part two is a contrasting calm reserve and contemporary design with knowing elan, meaning just about every aspect of this fully delivered home feels lighter, brighter, and airier than you'd ever expect from the exterior.
Corner setting for 1 Ferndale
Former gallery owner and National College of Art and Design (NCAD) trained artist, Tara Szuch arrived at Fern Dale on Cork's Carrigaline fringes by a circuitous route, from Delgany in Wicklow via Tacumshane in Wexford, New Mexico and other US hot spots, the UK and, more recently, starting back around 14 years ago, in Monkstown in Cork where she rented for a number of years while her daughters did their school and college-going years.
Now with offspring's studies proceeding to PhD levels and the like, she's free to move on again and follow what she says has been a dream for, oh, about the last 20 years. Tara's setting up an artists' retreat and study centre with lifestyle add-ons in terms of gardens, orchard, hens — the lot, and has bought by the water at Rathanna in Wexford, with an 18-month delivery plan kicking off, based around a property purchase there (watch this space).
Cool, calm and collectables
A big step on the way to hens and studios at Rathanna now is to sell No 1 Fern Dale, Tara's fully-fledged family home, where the front room harks back to the past, full of antiques, collectables, family heirlooms, musical instruments including an elegant silver flute, oversized sofas, gild edged mirrors, 19th-century framed still life paintings, sculpture, nest tables, the works.
Oh and also squeezed in is a piano (there used to be two pianos, Tara reveals) and, almost invisible in a far corner, a grandfather clock.
There aren't too many modern Irish family homes where you could miss the sight of a grandfather clock, but No 1 is one: it may not be a surprise to learn Tara has lived in larger houses in the past, and aims to again, so her stuff stays with her....
The front room is in contrast with the calmer, more moderated spaces beyond, such as the expansive hall, gleaming bright in white, with white painted staircase and glass balusters, with glazed internal doors, all throughout the upper two floors, and into the T-shaped rear kitchen/ dining/ family room, a masterclass in spatial planning and interior design: who needs 'predictable' show unit design when individuality trumps all?
Smart kitchen design with display space
Being able to buy off plans (via Hallmark Construction) meant Tara could make her own changes from the start, such as the stairs, the bathrooms, and especially in the kitchen where she reconfigured a back wall for double doors to the rear.
Sink in the island
Instead, she replaced the kitchen sink that would have been under a window (traditional, familiar but not for her) in an extended island with breakfast bar in a kitchen which she commissioned and refined from suppliers Kube. Wall units are framed in a bulkhead which creates a 'deep wall' feel to the link between kitchen and good-sized utility (also by Kube) giving open display space for art and books and curated curios.
In some ways, it's all 'small' stuff but, allied to generous sized rooms with extra height ceilings it works so well in creating a private home that feels anything but standard (the occasional animal skull displayed on walls adds to the sense of individual expression).
It's no surprise either to find that Tara's previous career post graduating in 1992 from the NCAD include owning and running art galleries and even an art rental business for corporate, commercial, and hospitality clients, with her own work in a mix from private homes to hotels.
Smart garden too
Here, wall space is shared with Tara's own art along with graphic work by Sarah Nee and by the likes of NCAD-trained Peter Monaghan, with some of his large graphic works in relief/3-D given pride of place. One was given to Tara decades ago by her mother … who also gifted older furniture items here, clearly, adding to the eclectic mix of old and new.
Tara's next project in Rathanna will have a 'Japandi' aesthetic, a fusion of Japanese and Scandi design elements: No 1 Fern Dale also picks up on Japandi, Mark l.
Selling to facilitate the move is Fiona Waldron of DNG Creedon Finn O'Connor who has already fallen for the airy offering that feels as if it could be a calm retreat anywhere in the country, or the world, and not just in the midst of Carrigaline's Kilmoney.
1 Ferndale's exterior
Ms Waldron launched No 1 this past week at €640,000, for a 227 sq m four bed home with c 30 sq m 'up top': after a top-notch attic room was skilfully added.
How recently? 'It was finished just two weeks ago,' reveals Tara, who had it planned for quite some time and decided to go ahead and add it in any case, even though she knew she'd be moving on.
'It's there for the next owners and adds so much value and space,' she acknowledges, giving high praise to father and son team at MC Attics, a local firm (the job features on their @mcatticconversion Instagram pages).
On the up and up
THE duo recreated the same stairs as connects the two lower floors, with an open stairwell, again adding to the overall sense of space with real, additional multi-use space, whether home office, gym, media room, or other. While it can't meet strict criteria for habitable bedroom use, many who come to view might well have that intention in mind?
Main bedroom
DNG's Ms Waldron says she expects local trade-up interest as well as relocation inquiries given its appeal and immaculate, as-new interiors, in an edge of Carrigaline (it's in the Castle Heights sort of catchment at Kilmoney) setting made more accessible now for a mix of commuters thanks to the town centre bypass that has shifted an axis of development in the c 18,000 strong population community.
Light, bright and white
'Architectural intent and artistic flair harmoniously align here,' says Ms Waldron of the accommodating home with two en suite bedrooms and multi-use top floor, all above a really considered ground level floor plan.
The kitchen (with Neff appliances), tiling, flooring and sanitary are all quality but of a type and style which are not going to date too rapidly, and other tweaks delivered by a good artist's eye include the positioning of a stand-alone oval bath in the main L-shaped bathroom, set at an angle out from a corner so it's able to 'breathe': it simply works.
Main bathroom
Little or none of the interior quality is obvious from the outside/ front facade, a mix of brick (with slight bay window) and render, with brick-paved drive for two cars and simple side planting with No 1 in a corner setting.
No clues
Its landscaped back garden, screened with high boundary walls, is also of a high quality, with acers, slender and non-invasive black bamboo Nigra in raised beds for a bit of architectural oomph, with side access and sizeable brick-paved patio reached from the kitchen and family area alike, ideal for easy entertaining and outside supping, whilst a glimpse at the neighbouring home also shows a keen eye for a garden, with one enhancing the other.