The oversized balcony at the front of La Cala on Sutton Strand was the perfect vantage point from which to witness the solar eclipse this summer. Few outdoor terraces could accommodate a crowd, but on that evening the owner invited friends and family to experience the event together.
The balcony is not just for special occasions. The owner loves that every morning brings a different view, while the sunsets in the evenings never get old.
“The seal sanctuary is just across the way at Bull Island and in the morning, when the tide comes in, you can see all these triangular black, shiny noses, with the seals swimming in convoy to go over and rest on the sandbank opposite the house. Once the sun sets, the sea gets black and all you can see is the necklace of lights that mirror the bay.”
The house was built in 2022 on a site beside the owner’s late father’s house at 1 La Vista Avenue. It is A-rated, has a total floor area of 138sq m (1,485sq ft), and is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald with a guide price of €1.295 million.
The owner credits her “dream team”, builder Mark O’Sullivan of Clanforce, architect Brendan O’Connor of Abode, quantity surveyor Brendan Kelly and interior designer Nicola Pollard, with bringing the project together.
Electric gates open on to a gravelled and paved front driveway. Behind the front door, a long entrance hall leads into the open-plan ground floor and continues through to the back garden.
Inside, the interiors are clean and crisp, with a white fitted kitchen running along one side and the dining area positioned beside the floor-to-ceiling front window. Behind doors designed to blend in with the kitchen is a hidden utility room, providing additional storage. Around the corner is the living area, with an electric fire and glass doors leading out to the garden.
Upstairs are three bedrooms, one of which is en suite, along with a family bathroom. In a practical design touch, the balcony is accessed from the landing rather than solely from the front bedroom, making it a space the whole family can use.
The coastal location is something special. Sutton Strand is a lovely road made up of houses of different shapes and sizes and from different eras. The owner sees it as a particularly good location for families, with the house directly on the water, the dinghy club across the way and schools including Sutton Park, Santa Sabina, St Fintan’s and Burrow National School close by.
“In summertime, the sailing school down the road is busy and I often said to them that they should put up a video or audio of the kids laughing while they’re sailing because it’s just so therapeutic,” she says. “My granddaughter was part of it during the summer, and I was able to wave out to her from the balcony.”
The back garden has a paved patio with a little putting green outside the house, and stones placed in a well-kept lawn that lead down to the timber garden room at the end of the garden.
As a recent build, La Cala comes with high levels of insulation, triple-glazed windows and an air-to-water heat pump.
