To create her paintings, artist Trióna Sweeney starts with a monochromatic palette on a roll of canvas and introduces considered moments of colour as the image expands. Her work reimagines transient spaces – those that are mundane but familiar, where human life meets the natural world – such as the expansive depiction of a roadway displayed over her kitchen table.
“People paint as they are,” she says of her students, with some meticulous and careful and others wild and free. It’s no doubt the same with one’s home, with each design choice revealing something of who the owners are. Sweeney, it turns out, approached the design of her and her husband David O’Brien’s home at 195 South Circular Road in the same way she approaches a painting: starting with a monochromatic scheme and adding pops of colour through the decor over time.
The couple bought their terraced Victorian home in 2015 – for €484,000, according to the Property Price Register – when it was separated into bedsits. They then set about reconfiguring the property into a beautiful three-bedroom home, restoring period features as they went. They also had the home reroofed, rewired and replumbed and added a rear extension to create a dining and living space off the kitchen.
In 2019 the owners added a garden room studio where they both paint. Having met at the National College of Art and Design, Sweeney and O’Brien, who works in medtech, share a passion for the medium. Paintings by both of them are dotted throughout their home and are easily distinguishable as “anything with a face is David’s,” Sweeney says.
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Sweeney ran the Sandymount School of Art since 2007 and having moved her classes online during the pandemic, she decided to continue to do so, establishing her online art school in 2023. With the couple looking to move on to a new project nearby with space for a larger studio, they have placed 195 South Circular Road, Dublin 8, on the market with Owen Reilly, seeking €1.15 million.
Extending to 172sq m (1,851sq ft), highlights of the home include its generous proportions, period details, the south-facing garden and the internal courtyard. Its Ber is C2.
Hidden from the road behind shrubbery, the front door is beyond a railed yard, adorned by a lion’s-head knocker. The first thing you notice when you step into the hallway is the generous proportion of the space and the high ceilings, reaching above 3m.
The livingroom sits to the front of the house with a deep bay window, with the lower sash windowpanes fogged to obscure the world beyond. Against the backdrop of white walls, the restored period cornicing and ceiling rose shine, as do the dark, polished wood floors, which flow into the diningroom. These rooms are connected by glazed doors, creating a dual aspect, which can be left open to create a cohesive space for entertaining.
The livingroom has a white marble fireplace with a wood-burning stove and there is a dark Kilkenny marble fireplace in the dining area, both sourced by the owners. There is a wall of built-in box shelving for books and ornaments in the dining area, as well as glazed doors to the central courtyard that is also accessed from the kitchen and rear living space.
Exposed brick walls painted white lead down the hall to a guest loo, past which is the kitchen. The kitchen features bespoke joinery and a free-standing island, with solid oak countertops complemented by a marble-tiled splashback edged in gold. There is also a walk-in pantry for storage of food and utensils.
A breakfast bar delineates the space from the dining and living areas, both of which enjoy views of the beautiful south-facing garden, replete with plants and flowers still in bloom in November and bordered by old stone walls. The living area is dual aspect with French doors to the central courtyard and the back garden; it is made all the more cosy by a wood-burning stove.
The couple’s garden room studio is at the bottom of the garden, providing a versatile space of 4m by 5m that could also be used as a home office or a gym. Beyond that is a parking area accessed from a rear lane, although it would be possible to live here without a car as it’s so near the city centre.
Back inside and upstairs, a double bedroom with built-in wardrobes lies off the return to the rear, beside which is a bathroom painted a lovely subtle shade of pink (Pink Ground by Farrow and Ball); it has a free-standing bath. The spacious landing is home to a utility area with a washing machine, storage and countertop space.
On the first floor a second double lies to the rear with built-in wardrobes and an en suite shower room. The main bedroom spans the entire width of the front of the house with a spacious shower room where the loo and shower areas are separate.
The couple’s two black poodles, Freddie and Zsa Zsa, are taken for walks along the banks of the Grand Canal, and they know exactly which businesses to stop into for a treat along the way. The couple hope to stay in the area, Sweeney says, as they love the warmth of the community and the proximity to the city centre.
If you’re interested in seeing Sweeney’s work, she will have an exhibition running from December to January at the Gallery of Modern Art (Goma), Waterford
