A pad fit for a star.

(From Irish Independent)

PERSONAL SPACE Boutique owner Mary Daly

'It's a town apartment in an old building," came Mary Daly's voice over thephone. I had visions of a pad that was convenient but spatially challenged. When I arrivedat the address I found my supposition couldn't have been more wrong as there was adazzling foyer leading to a sumptuous drawing room about 30 feet long which looked fitfor a film star.

In fact the apartment complex where Mary and David Daly have their home from home is film star territory as Jackie Chan andThorn Birds' Rachel Ward have stayed in the same complex.

It's the kind of home that definitely hits the wow factor from the moment you step out ofthe gilded doors of the elevator into a circular atrium panelled in pale Canadian oak and floored with a mosaic of coral and cream Portuguese marble. The colours of acustom-made circular carpet from Vsoske Joyce catch the light flooding down from theglass copula above and a quartet of classical busts on marble columns give a touch of classical gravitas.

Faced with the conversion of two early Victorian terraced houses, the developer and architects - Conroy, Crowe, Kelly - for the five-year-old scheme didn't go theconventional route of dividing the property into small units. Instead, they knocked the two houses into one, allowing the luxury of a dramatic living and dining room stretching threequarters the width of the two houses.

The parapet of Mary's penthouse suite was raised, creating a private terrace with slidingplate glass doors leading from the drawing room. This parapet baffles the sound of trafficfrom the busy street below and screens out the surrounding buildings, limiting the view totrees and sky.