Just back from Ireland, we saw some amazing things (which we'll be blogging over the next two weeks), one of which was the amazing interior design at Number 31. If you are going to Dublin, want a place to stay and want to pamper yourself, we recommend it.
Walking in, jet lagged and bleary at 8am in the morning, we were greeted with the super cool retro 70's styling of the modernist mews by noted architect Sam Stephenson. Check out the sunken living room and the mirrored bar...
The place is a very appealing combination of the modernist side, complete with dining room for awesome breakfasts, a garden and then a classical Georgian townhouse on the other side. The style and the rooms of the two halves are completely different.
Of particular note was our bedroom, which featured a Hastens bed - you know, the kind that start at around $20k. Bed aside, we particularly liked the styling of the space which consisted of the following:
- dark sisal floor
- smooth, white, but very, very textured stone walls
- raw cedar strips on the ceiling
The combination of all these natural and semi organic surfaces and ingredients gave the room a really fresh and clean - but stylish - feeling. We couldn't help but note that the price tag for this effect would not have been high. Someone with a good eye and a canny interior design sense was as work here as he or she was everywhere else in the place.
We had no idea that we'd find such a love for the modern (particularly the vintage modern) in Ireland, but the longer we stayed, we realized that the Irish Tiger economy of the last 10 years coupled with the Irish peacefulness, curiosity and openness towards the world in general make it a very natural place for an eclectic mix of old and new, modern and classical.
Copyright © 2007 Apartment Therapy
This place is somewhat schizophrenic. Very spare, clean, museumish in the bedroom and living room. Very colorful, playful and ornate in the entryways. What I do love is the many textures featured in the flooring and walls. Nice to visit for a while but dont think I could live there. I think it might be better if the styles were a bit more mixed.
view Trumystique's profile
My husband and I just returned from Ireland as well. I wore 3 sweaters on the Cliffs of Moher! It was chilly!
view Lori's profile
beautiful and cozy-clean, if a bit subterranean
view videonerdann's profile
Wow!!! Only 160 euros for a family!!! Very reasonably priced! Thanks for the tip -- we just started plannin a trip to Ireland/UK yesterday
view monika1's profile
i would say eclectic, rather than schizophrenic ...
view godsfool's profile
It's really neat to see the low ceilings of your room (made even lower-seeming by the lines of the wood planks), go so well with the low window, low built-in drawers... Very interesting. And there's even a sunken living room, so everything on that floor has got the same inverted sense of direction. I bet it was a cool feeling to be in that sort of space. (Oh, and the rest, with soaring ceilings, is beautiful.)
view Sea's profile
my mistake -- not as reasonable -- I didn't notice the big "PPS" - Per Person Sharing. Well, it could still be okay if little children don't count (if they share the bed, where is the extra cost?). And hopefully, October is low season...
view monika1's profile
Hi,
My visits to Apartment Therapy are always rewarded: brilliant site.
On the Dublin house, I love that low natural light in the bedroom - and also the white bed. That's my kind of bed. But it looks like a plain uncovered duvet on top. Does the duvet get washed (or replaced) to keep it clean? Is it covered by a thin white cover that lets the shape of the pockets show through?
Does anyone on AT know how to get that look?
:))
view Ludwiga's profile
Could you tell the difference between a 20k bed and a regular bed? Was it really worth it?
view gingerlemon's profile