Sarah FinnanIreland’s coastline is scattered with tumbledown and unloved stone cottages, but a pair of windswept ruins in Galway has been superbly restored and, in the process, brought stylishly up to date. Pass through the doorway of their chunky brick walls and you enter a sleek world of polished concrete floors, bespoke furniture and cool tones that reflect Connemara’s wild and beautiful landscape.
The glass structure that provides the link between the two cottages was constructed with few visible components to ensure it is as inconspicuous as possible. “It’s a combination of 21st-century glass technology and 18th-century stonework,” he adds. This concrete connects via sliding doors to the exterior concrete terrace, where shells have been inlaid.
To soften the feel of the home, the team commissioned Irish weaver Muriel Beckett to make a selection of rugs with simple geometric patterns, once again using the organic colours of the landscape. In the bedroom, rugs have been placed on the wooden floors beside each of the beds.