If you could design the ultimate pad for a young techie with an eye for style, you probably wouldn’t do much better than this superb two-bedroom apartment in the Elm Park complex off Merrion Road in Dublin 2.
Number 150, The Links, has been completely refurbished by its owners, Lucas and Luiz, both professionals working in the tech industry, and they’ve transformed what was a standard but perfectly serviceable apartment into an interior design dream.
The couple, both from Brazil, bought the apartment in 2019, and recruited an architect friend from Brazil, Leandra Susin, and Luiz’s sister, designer Ana Zago, to reimagine the space to suit their style. The result is a superb living space in turn-key condition where any hip young professional would be delighted to hang their trilby.
The original carpeting has been replaced by engineered wood floors with underfloor heating, and the walls are imaginatively decorated in shiny, grey wallpaper to give a stone effect, punctuated in places with bespoke decorative black wooden batons.
A spacious entrance hallway leads into a stunning kitchen/dining/living space, with a floor-to-ceiling west-facing bay window overlooking Elm Park Golf Course and looking out to the Dublin Mountains. Don’t worry – there’s enough tree cover so you don’t have to see the golfers in their check chinos. You can host an intimate dinner party in this space, or close the sliding doors to create a sunroom on a balmy summer’s evening.
The livingroom has a Gazco electric fireplace that keeps the place cosy, with bespoke storage units from Kube to keep the place nicely Kondo’d. The original kitchen was a separate room – a concrete pod built into the apartment. The owners decided to make it open-plan, and had to get the engineers in to dismantle the pod, and were delighted to find they’d gained extra ceiling and wall space by removing the interior brickwork. The new kitchen is by Nobilia, again in stylish grey, with a Calacatta Gold quartz countertop, and new Siemens’ appliances.
The master bedroom has a bespoke walk-in closet by Kube and an ensuite with shower unit. The second bedroom has been adapted for working at home during the pandemic, with a sofa-bed and a built-in workstation that can be closed away at the end of the day, drawing a line between work and home life. The main bathroom, with bath and shower unit, opens into this bedroom and into the hallway; both this and the ensuite are luxuriously tiled with quartz countertops and Sonas units.
Having created a professionals’ paradise, the couple are now ready to move to a larger space for themselves and their dog, a King Charles spaniel named Oisín –“the real owner” .
Elm Park was built by high-profile property developer Bernard McNamara at the height of the property boom in 2006; it is now occupied by a mix of renters and owners. Number 150 comes with an underground parking space, and there’s access to a gym, plus a 1km running track that circumnavigates the complex. There’s a fine coffee shop, The Art of Coffee, on Elmpark Green, and a newly opened speciality food and wine shop, Elm Epicurean. Elm Park is just off the Merrion Road near the Merrion Gates. Buses will take you straight into town, while the Booterstown Dart station is just 10-minute walk.
Number 150 The Links, at 75sq m (807sq ft) with a Ber rating of C2, is on sale through Owen Reilly for €500,000.
