Beautician's €750,000 Kerry Pike home showcases the art of a makeover 

EVEN the most lacklustre customer can glow in the hands of a good beautician who has a slew of magic tricks to turn clients into the very best version of themselves. Essentially miracle workers, their talent is to bring out vitality and enhance attractiveness. Such creativity often spills over into other areas of decoration, interiors being one of them.

A good eye is a good eye, regardless of whether it’s used to apply makeup or give a home a makeover.

Aoife Ryan could have gone either way when making her career choice. A beautician by trade - she runs a mobile beauty salon called Blush - Aoife studied interior design for four years after finishing school.

“I never practised it, but I have always been interested in interiors and in architecture,” Aoife says.

She got the opportunity to indulge her passion when doing up their new home in Kerry Pike four years ago.

“It was a blank canvas. There was no flooring, no tiles. We bought it brand new off the plans,” she says.

Her starting point at No 125 Clonlara was the furniture she brought with her from her home place.

A suite of Casey’s furniture, bought in the 1960s, inspired the retro look of one reception room.

“It came from my grandmother’s house. I inherited it. The quality of it is unbelievable. I decorated the room around the furniture, that was where I started from,” she says.

Having painted the walls navy and the ceiling orange, she approached Urban Design in Ballincollig to see if they could come up with something to knit the look together. They came up with a bold wall sticker that looks like a painted-on design.

“I wanted something cool and retro for the kids because that’s where they hung out with their friends,” Aoife says.

The second reception room is quite different but equally distinctive. It was built around pieces of furniture from her parents’ home.

“I wanted to do something dramatic with it. It’s a big room and it gets a lot of light so I decided to put wallpaper on the ceiling. It wasn’t going to box off the room or close it in because that’s where the sun comes in for most of the day.

“I looked and looked for the wallpaper and finally found what I wanted in the UK.” The aesthetic is a bold and dramatic vintage-inspired dark floral design. It’s a room to relax in, with a wood-burning stove.

Aoife went to great lengths too when sourcing her stairs carpet.

“It’s from Crucial Trading and I had one of their carpets in my previous house. I really loved it and couldn’t see anything I liked as much anywhere. So I changed the colour of the stripes and ordered the same carpet.” The stripes include a soft pink which Aoife continued onto the walls and skirting boards in the hall and on the landing.

 A cousin did the wood panelling and added beading. The feel is in keeping with the hints of vintage in the reception rooms.

While some wallpapers at No 125 are contenders for the Wallpaper Design Awards (it’s a thing), the most worthy is surely the choice in the main bedrooom, with its old-house patina and earthy colours.

“I love it, the texture is so lovely. Urban Design did that for me too. I wanted a room that I could retreat to and switch off from everyone. I wanted it to feel warm and cosy. I came up with that design myself and I asked if they could do it and they said they could, ”Aoife says.

Much thought went into the kids’ rooms too. Her son’s bedroom has an edgy look, thanks to what looks like a wall of graffiti. The girls’ rooms are softer.

“I wanted something I didn’t have to change too dramatically when they got older, that I could get away with using as a guest room. So the look is soft and subtle in the girls’ rooms.” The guest loo is neither soft nor subtle: It’s a jungle. Monkeys climbing tropical trees run halfway down the wall, before giving way to cream tiles. 

Tap ware is golden, as is the beading. There’s a touch of White Lotus to it.

The most traditional room in the house is the kitchen/dining room where design flourishes are more muted. 

The island is plumbed for a sink if new owners wanted to change the location.

Unusually, the room has two sets of double doors: One to a rear patio and a second set on the opposite wall that lead to an enclosed front courtyard.

 “The double doors on either side of the kitchen make it a great party house, people can spill outside to the courtyard and to the patios, of which there are two,” Aoife says.

Outfront has lawn and off-street parking and some nice peripheral planting.

Selling No 125 is Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald and she points out its terrific A3 energy efficiency rating.

“Not only is it energy efficient, it’s in turnkey condition,” she says.

In a cul-de-sac, in a 144-home O’Flynn Construction scheme, Ms Healy believes interest will arise among householders living locally in three-bed semis who would like to stay in Clonlara, but trade up to a four-bedroom detached property. Two of the four bedrooms at No 125 comes with an en suite.

Ms Healy points out that Kerry Pike is convenient to both Ballincollig and to Tower (c 5km), while Cork city is 8km away. It’s a popular location among workers in tech giant Apple because of ease of access to Hollyhill, on the city’s northside (about a six minute drive).

Ms Healy’s guide price for this 215 sq m house is €750,000.

Neighbouring No 126, a slightly bigger, A2-rated home, currently holds the price record for the scheme at €715,000. It sold at the end of 2023. The most recent Clonlara sale was of No 128. A good bit smaller than the house featured here (162 sq m v 215 sq m), it sold for €670,000 at the end of last year.

VERDICT: Great internal visuals at this arresting family home. Highly efficient energy-wise.