Escape to the Country

Martin and Laura's newly built home delivers a winning combination of space, light and clean lines.

-  PENNY CRAWFORD-COLLINS

When Martin and Laura Clowry were given the opportunity to build on land in Co. Carlow, owned by Martin’s parents they couldn’t resist the chance to escape Dublin and build their dream home. ‘We were renting in Dublin and Martin had always dreamt of building his own home, so this was a dream come true, we moved from the city and lived with Martin’s parents just before the build started, which allowed us to be close to the site and saved us a lot of money not having to pay rent,’ explains Laura.

The house was designed by Laura’s brother-in-law to be a modern barn style open-plan home with five bedrooms. ‘We knew we wanted an open-plan modern style, his house is quite similar in style so he had some great ideas for our build,’ says Laura.

The couple had a pre-planning meeting which was key for them at the design stage so they knew what would and wouldn’t work in their area. Martin is a product designer so he was really hands on at the planning stage. He was able to 3D print a scaled model of the house which really helped the couple get an idea of the layout and the flow of the rooms. ‘This was a fabulous idea. We were able to make some small changes at this stage, to improve on the design and layout which would have cost us money if we had to figure them out during the build,’ explains Laura.