Next-of-kin: Sallyanne and Sarah May Clark

Restaurateur SALLYANNE CLARKE and her daughter SARAH MAY
Sallyanne Clarke jokes that she has three children: daughter Sarah May, 20, son Andrew, 14, and L’Ecrivain, the famous Dublin restaurant she owns with chef husband Derry.

Sarah May nods in agreement. “The restaurant is 21 years old this year,” she laughs, “It’s like the eldest child in the family.” And a particularly demanding child at that. Sallyanne originally intended to help Derry out for just the first six months after l’Ecrivain launched. Two decades later, she is still welcoming diners at the front of house while Derry keeps things sizzling in the kitchen.

“There was us and there was the restaurant,” says Sarah May. “It’s not like we were abandoned or anything but it came first. When you’re younger, you don’t understand that the restaurant is what is clothing you and putting food on the table, literally.”

These days, Sarah May has a clearer insight into the pressures her parents were under as she works several shifts a week in l’Ecrivain while studying marketing and event management in college.

“When she was a child, we’d come home at night and she’d be sitting up waiting to talk to us and play,” remembers Sallyanne. “She was very with it, very outspoken, very precocious, very bright. She always asked questions and still does.”

Sallyanne would bring the children to school in the morning and collect them afterwards. Squeezing in a rest between lunch service, the school run and evening service wasn’t so easily guaranteed. “We would try to persuade Sarah May to have a little nap with us, and she’d say, ‘But I’ve already had mine!’

“I always remember she would be in the bed beside you in those afternoons when we didn’t have someone in to help out, she’d be sticking her fingers in your eye and pulling at your nose, trying to get you to wake up so she could talk to you. You might have had a late night and an early morning and you knew you’d have a late night again ahead of you so it was always go, go, go.”

Mum and daughter agree that combining family and work was a delicate balancing act. “It’s always a trade-off,” says Sallyanne. “But being a working mom meant I could structure my time and when we were with them, we gave them our undivided attention. It was their time, nobody else’s.”

Sunday is sacred for the Clarkes. “The restaurant is closed on Sunday so it was always a family day, and still is,” says Sarah May.
The dynamics of their relationship have changed somewhat as the kids have grown. As Andrew, who is currently in boarding school, told Sallyanne recently: “You know Mum, I think you’re missing me more than I’m missing you!”

Moving into her own place has made Sarah May realise that her childhood equipped her with a sense of independence.
“I was talking to one of my friends the other day and he said ‘I don’t know how you live on your own, I don’t even know how to work a washing machine’,” she says. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t believe how some parents baby their children. They are 20, 21 and they don’t know how to do anything for themselves.”

Now that Sarah May is moving on in life, Sallyanne notes that it’s more important than ever to make sure the family bond survives that transition to adulthood. “Outside of seeing her at work, we do a dance class on Monday night together. We usually meet up an hour beforehand, go for a coffee. It’s just one day a week but it’s a conscious effort we make to do something together. It’s brilliant fun.”

Studio Red lay down the blueprint for architects

My latest foray... into the property pages. Better to write about a place than buy one, I suppose.
These girls are aaa-mazing. Check it out...

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/property-plus/take-advantage--its-a--clients-market-2096909.html

Take advantage ... it's a client's market
Architects have been among the hardest hit by the property crash, with almost half of graduates unemployed. Now is the time to take advantage of their experience and make the most of your home. Susan Daly reports

Friday March 12 2010

ARCHITECTURE has been one of the most unfortunate victims of the property bust. Long-standing firms that have weathered the storm so far are struggling to keep busy and many have been forced to let go highly trained staff.

Setting up a new design practice in such an inhospitable climate might seem brave at best. Nicola Ryan and Grainne Dunne did just that, however, establishing their Studio Red practice in 2008.

"The first few years of a company are always going to be hard," says Dunne, "but as it turns out, if we had stayed with a larger company, we would definitely be unemployed now, or in another country."

The 30-year-olds had spent several years working in larger practices before they decided to set up their partnership.

The saving grace for their new company has been the pair's willingness to adapt their skills to a range of projects, large and modest.

"It really is a good time for clients," says Dunne. "We have to have a happy client because our next project depends on that.

"That can be said for every architect out there and that might not always have been the case."

People sometimes dismiss the thought of using an architect unless they're looking at a large-scale new-build, but an architect can be invaluable in reimagining the use of an existing space.

"Houses have to last now," says Ryan. "If people are going to stay there for 20, 30 years, the house needs to grow with them. We have to see all the different roles that house will play in that family's life."

It is what Dunne calls "future-proofing" -- literally, a design for life.

"You don't know if your mom is going to be in a wheelchair in 10 years' time and living with you; you don't know if your kids are going to be rugby monsters and need somewhere to dump all their mucky stuff," says Dunne.

When the pair enter a prospective client's house, they ask that the place not be tidied up beforehand.

They want to see how the household operates and identify what changes they can make to the light, space and flow of the rooms to improve the quality of living.

While redesigning and adding a two-storey extension to a 1930s redbrick house on York Road in Dun Laoghaire, for example, storage was a clear problem for the family who live there.

"In their new open-living plan, we used a lot of fitted furniture, lots of shelving, we used any kind of recesses or nooks in the rooms. It was bespoke and, despite what people think, bespoke doesn't cost the world."

As labour and material costs have dropped across the board, Dunne and Ryan are able to secure quality craftspeople and the finest building materials for about half of what it would have cost in boom times.

It's a similar story on a kitchen renovation the pair designed for a house on Whitebeam Road in Milltown. All is air and light thanks to new double doors, rooflights and a shadow gap around the bottom of the walls which replaces the skirting board and makes the wall appear to float.

The ingenuity in the design also proved hugely economical. "The brief was that they wanted an extension for a living, utility and kitchen area," says Dunne.

"We did a survey and drew what we thought would work and we said: 'You've got buckets of space, you actually don't need an extension'."

Friends and former classmates at DIT Bolton, where they earned first-class honours degrees, it's clear Ryan and Dunne share a passion for making good design available on all budgets. They see the role of the architect expanding rather than contracting with the tough times.

"People think you're going to do them a drawing and then they're on their own and terrified," says Dunne.

"No. We'll liaise with the builders to make sure the contract is completed as agreed. We'll advise you what heating system to put in, and so on.

"For example, we would have researched maybe 30 window companies, looking at price, how the window performs, how it looks. People are so vulnerable out there trying to do this stuff on their own. We take away that worry."

For more info visit www.studiored.ie or tel 01 4451772

How to make the most of your architect...

1 Ask for recommendations from homeowners who have used your architect.

2 Don't clean up for the architect's first visit to your home. They want to identify your needs: Underpants on all the radiators = need for a laundry room!

3 Be clear to the architect about what you want more of, eg, light/storage/ floorspace.

4 Talk to your architect about your budget.

Your architect can administer the building contract fairly, ensuring that the contractor builds what they are being paid to.

5 The architect can also specify materials, supervise the building and certify that they are in accordance with building regulations.

6 Our movements in our home tend to be hardwired but be open to the fact that just because the kitchen has been on a particular wall for 10 years, it doesn't have to stay there.

7 The simplest of tweaks can be effective -- an increase in lighting levels and the reconfiguration of space can revolutionise your home life.

8 If you are uneasy about an element of the design tell your architect. It may just need clarification but the worst thing would be to stand in a built project with regrets.

9 Consider maintenance. If you're not into polishing, then a high-gloss kitchen with black granite worktops is not for you.

10 Bespoke fitted furniture can give a sense of spaciousness and despite popular perception, it need not cost the earth.