Serial renovator brings creative flair to rambling Rathgar home for €1.525m

An upbringing in the concrete business, coupled with a degree in art and design, prompted Aidine Calvert to renovate 12 houses after she purchased her first home in Cork.

"Dad – who had a concrete company – always said to put our money into bricks and mortar, which is exactly what I did over the years. The first house I bought had no foundations and it was so hard to get builders at the time, I did most of the work myself," says Calvert, a former art and design teacher and now managing director of behavioural change company Real Nation.

Calvert, who is originally from Cavan, bought 66 Bushy Park Road in Rathgar in 2014 for €950,000 and transformed the property into what is on offer today. It’s a super four-bedroom extending to 279sq m (3,003sq ft), with a further 28sq m (302sq ft) in the fully converted attic.

Architect Paul Tyndall was engaged to oversee the renovation of the property, including "a warren of rooms" to the rear. This space is now a fine L-shaped open-plan kitchen, dining and living area.

To the front, the two reception rooms are a far cry from what was purchased in 2014, and are now elegantly laid out as a formal drawing room and music room – Calvert was the trombone and saxophone player with 1990s indie band The Would Be’s.

What is remarkable about the house is the internal space. It has four large bedrooms – a fifth was converted into a spacious en suite and dressing room for the principal bedroom – and four bathrooms.

The attic conversion gives an additional living room, currently used for overnight guests.

The rear garden features a fully plumbed and wired studio that would make an ideal home office – as would the attic room.

Calvert is moving on to a further project, one she says will be her last home. Diswellstown House in Castleknock is an imposing 780sq m (8,396sq ft) former dower house of Luttrellstown Castle dating from 1760, which Calvert bought earlier this year.

With this move on the horizon, she has placed her current home, in turn-key condition and with a BER of C3, on the market through Lisney, seeking €1.525 million.