A detached home inspired by ocean blues in Co Kildare

The colour theme in this Newbridge home is reflective of its owner’s longing for the ocean The main living room at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare Gillian Kelly, owner of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare. Photo: Barbara McCarthy The front exterior of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The kitchen at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The dining room at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare A sitting room at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare Bathroom detail at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare A bedroom at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The rear outdoor patio at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The rear exterior of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The garden of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare Asking price: €565,000 Agent: Jordan Auctioneers (045) 433 5500 Despite living in the middle of landlocked horse country, the sea has always been a big inspiration for Gillian Kelly, especially when it comes to decorating her home. “There’s a lot of blue in the house. I think it’s a subconscious yearning for the water.” Gillian Kelly, owner of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare. Photo: Barbara McCarthy Kelly, who works at an auto dealership, moved into the four-bedroom home in Athgarvan, Kildare, in 2006. “I have three children so we were looking for a family home with a bedroom for each of them with lots of space and a garden.” “My then husband and I bought it at the height of the Celtic Tiger for €500,000 – just before the global financial crash.” The 1,830 sq ft two-storey detached home near Newbridge was built in 2001 and was used as a rental up until the family moved in. “As with all rental properties, it needed a bit of love. The walls were painted magnolia, the decor and interiors were a little dated, but structurally it was in good shape,” she says. The front exterior of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare “Over the years, we made it our own. I did most of the painting and interiors myself.” At the front of the house, when you pass the camper van in the driveway – a recent addition – a blue door awaits. “The front door is blue so it’s a sign of things to come inside. The colour palette in the house ranges from teal to midnight blue and gray-ish blue, so I mix it up,” says Kelly. The kitchen at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare Once you pass the entrance hall, which is neutral, the living room at the front of the house, has more colour. “I painted the wall behind the fireplace blue. I didn’t want to go overboard, so I chose a neutral beige for the rest of the walls.” Double doors from the living room lead through to the sunroom, which has wooden floors and French doors opening directly onto the covered patio and garden. The dining room at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The kitchen and dining area opposite the sitting room features a blue kitchen island. “We had a couch in the kitchen and spend most of our time in here.” Kelly painted the lower presses in the kitchen. “I worked on the house bit by bit over the years. It’s a big detached home, so you wouldn’t be getting in the way,” she says. “I also added the kitchen lights. I cut holes into the beams above the windows and inserted three lights into each and strategically placed lights in above the cookers, so they would create an ambient vibe. I used to work as a chef and love soft lighting.” There are also directional lights on the counter. The wooden floor in the house is solid oak, which Kelly sanded and stained in a walnut colour. A sitting room at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare All roads downstairs lead to the covered patio area at the back of the house: “This is the centre point. We sit here for most of the year, even in winter.” The patio was covered during the Covid-19 lockdowns. “We spent around €5,000 on materials,” says Kelly. “My partner John did it all himself. We got the timber, the fittings, the plastic perspex and pergola from a local supplier. It was a pretty slow process putting it all together. There was the building of the structure and securing the perspex roof, then painting the timbers, getting the furniture and the lights. It took around two to three months in total.” Bathroom detail at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare Kelly covered the pergola with solar bulbs, which light up every night. “They come on at the same time every day. We also have a fire pit here and a cosy seated area – all from Homestore and More. It’s where we got most of our stuff.” The fire pit runs on gas, so the couple get to sit out in the Irish weather. “We brought out a table and chairs at Jysk furniture stores and picked up a ‘bar’ on Adverts, painted it and stocked it with drinks,” says Kelly. “We call the patio our Living Room. We have a pizza oven, fire pit and barbecue too, so it’s great for entertaining. A bedroom at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare “We get on really well with all the neighbours here, but their houses don’t face directly onto our garden, so you don’t have anyone looking in. At the bottom of the house, the land is agricultural, so there are no neighbours there either.” The couple have also worked on their garden since the Covid-19 lockdowns. “It evolved from a vegetable garden, when I first moved in with my children, to a football pitch and now we have a curved lawn surrounded by little stones and colourful pebbles from the beach. We go away a lot with the camper van and collect stones that have a nice pattern and scatter them in with the grey gravel stones.” The rear outdoor patio at 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare “I have a glorious sun trap at the back of the lawn, where there’s two sun loungers. If you look across the garden, there are seats everywhere, so you have somewhere to sit for every time of day.” She adds that the garden is low maintenance: “I have bamboo and fuchsia to keep space enclosed. The sun is in the garden all day long. It gets so warm in the patio, we even have blinds we got online to pull down. During Covid-19, we had Christmas in the patio.” Back inside the house, past the downstairs storage room and toilet, upstairs, the first floor comprises four bedrooms and two bathrooms, all of which include fitted wardrobes. The rear exterior of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare “The kids each had their own rooms, which they decorated in their own way. I didn’t grow up with my own room, so I really wanted the children to have their own individual style in the rooms,” she says. The upstairs theme is blues and yellows, cosy tones, dark wood floors. “We also upgraded the two bathrooms upstairs and installed a new boiler,” she adds. The garden of 48 Old Mill Race, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co Kildare The house also has gas-fired central heating and PVC double-glazed windows throughout. Kelly, whose three children have moved out, says the house is too big for her and her partner now: “We’re downsizing. We only really use the two rooms and the outdoor area. It feels like the right time for a new chapter, a new pace of life. “There are lots of memories here – of raising children, building spaces, creating a home from scratch. But there’s also a sense of completion. We’ve done what we set out to do, and now it’s time for something new.” Gillian and John will be looking for a new home somewhere along the west coast of Ireland. “We’re not sure yet, but this time we’ll definitely move close to the sea.” Jordan Auctioneers seeks €565,0000.