MY SPACE:This house has been designed to look out and in at different levels. EMMA CULLINAN reports

Jane Kenny is communications co-ordinator for a network of anti-drugs organisations and Allister Coyne runs Ailtireacht Architects. The couple built a house in a back garden in Phibsborough, Dublin, and live there with their baby daughter Anouk.

When did you move here?

Allister: We bought the site in 2004 after searching for a long time. Jane: We hadn’t been looking in a particular area – and didn’t care which side of city we were on – but we are both really big into city living and here you are close to town but it also has a suburban feel. Allister is always on a bike and I like to walk places. It took longer to build than we would have liked to. We were renting in Stoneybatter which meant it was handy for Allister to make site visits.

Allister: It took three years to build. We had no main contractor, I was managing the site, doing a bit of work here and there, and if I was busy at work our house tended to get left at the bottom of the pile.

In the design I wanted to do something different from the neighbouring houses but we did copy the brick in the area.

Downstairs, the house has no windows at eye level onto the street, how does that feel?

Jane: What is nice about the design is that while it faces right onto the street you don’t feel that, you could be anywhere. I think the house reflects my personality: it is an outgoing house but private – I consider myself outgoing but like to come home and be private. The windows are so high that no one can see in.

They are one of my favourite features. Looking up through them is like seeing little works of art: you can sometimes see a full moon, a scarlet sky or blossoms on the trees. It is a changing picture all the time.

In the summer the doors can fold back and the house opens out onto the courtyard. Because of the underfloor heating it is never cold in here and only the tree in the courtyard tells you what time of year it is, otherwise I can walk out without a clue of what the weather is like.

The space is modern and can be quite bright, it is not really a house that you can have a hangover in because there are no dark corners.

Allister: The kitchen and courtyard orientation is south-west but, because the house is fully detached, there is every orientation somewhere in the house.

And while the downstairs looks inwards, over the courtyard, upstairs looks out.

Jane: I used to love going upstairs to Anouk’s room – which overlooks the courtyard – while I was pregnant and, in a way, waiting for her. Now she is here she loves her room and practices turning in there.

Where did you get the furniture?

Allister: Lots of it was bespoke. The kitchen units were made by a retired kitchen maker who did it for a bit of fun and was pretty brilliant. His son is an architect and the two of them took a real interest in the kitchen because it is a bit different to the usual design.

Jane: All of the units are on casters and so can be moved around. I’ve already moved a unit of drawers. Because of Allister’s work he was able to get guys whose work he knew.

We also went to Ikea and Habitat (when it was still open), where we got our coffee table. It was part of the limited edition range, designed by Daft Punk. We are wild about them. Habitat told me I was going in for a raffle for it with six other people. You had to pay for it up front – with no guarantees that you would get it (if not they would give you your money back) – and then they would tell you whether you had ‘won’ it. I hounded them, constantly going in and saying I loved it. It reminds me of Space Invaders, the way the red square lights in it respond to clapping and when you put on loud music with good beat it will respond and dance. We also got mad teddies designed by Christian Lacroix, which Habitat said were never going to be made again. They were Anouk’s first toys.

Allister: We also got the Habitat couches from my parents. I had recommended that they buy them and later they said “Jesus, they are so uncomfortable” and gave them to us when we moved.

Jane: But they are really comfortable and we are delighted with them.

Allister: We got the Konstantin Grcic-designed dining chairs in Inreda (on Camden Street, Dublin). We also priced them on the internet and there was little difference, so the shop is good on price.

Jane: We had seen them before but when we were on holiday in Prague we saw them outside this gorgeous art deco café and we were sold.

You have lots of colourful kitchen equipment

Jane: I love rooting through kitchen stores and had been planning the kitchen for ages; over nine years. On holiday in Italy 10 years ago I discovered Alessi and every time we went on holiday in Europe since then I would buy another piece. So I had the Alessi stuff under the bed for nearly nine years and it felt like a dowry chest.

Because they are design classics, they didn’t date in all that time. On the night we moved in my friend, Andrew, was helping and he said, “come on, let’s open up the box and get them all out”. I’ll never forget that, I had gathered them, saying one day I shall have a kitchen, and now here they all were.

We bought the Voodoo Knife block in Italy (which comprises a man with kitchen knifes running through him), after seeing a picture of Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway with one. We checked all the knives into our suitcases but took the holder in our hand luggage and were stopped at customs: because they wanted to know what he looked liked when he was put together.

I got the cookie jar when Foko on George’s Street was closing down. I bargained them down on price because I was a student at the time. Foko was great. I miss it.

The house was designed like a blank canvas and the colour really works with it. There is something about this white resin floor that just works.

Allister: Because of the brick walls, another colour on the floor would be too much.

Jane: The floor makes it feel like you are floating sometimes. In our bedroom it is so peaceful.

We made a decision in the bedroom to keep colours to a minimum – we don’t want a circus upstairs. It’s fun in the kitchen but we want to start the day peacefully.

What do your neighbours make of the house?

Jane: For such a different house, it doesn’t stand out. The neighbours love it, especially older women who were dying to come in. When Bertie Ahern was doing his rounds, Cyprian Brady knocked on the door and asked if Bertie could come in and the older ladies said “can we come in too?” It’s a very settled area. The women in the area are fantastic. A lot of people are at home during the day and we had women dropping in with presents for the baby: they didn’t even know my name. It’s been a wonderful first year here in that way.

** Ailtireacht Architects is offering Simon Open Door consultations for €75, which goes to the Simon Community. Tel: 01-677 3090 or www.simonopendoor.ie