Want confirmation of the old adage 'slowly wins the race'? Look no further than Susan and Kim Dreyer's elegant home deep in the Irish countryside. Made up of two distinct buildings - one Scandi-inspired with painted cedar cladding and reclaimed roof tiles, the other more contemporary, with a zinc roof and sculptural windows - this spacious, barn-like house, designed by architect Kim , took more than three years of careful consideration and one major back-to-the-drawing-board moment before a single brick was even laid.

It was back in 2000 that Susan realised she'd had enough of the stresses and strains of urban living. While travelling on a crowded tube train, she snapped. 'I suddenly thought, "this is crazy". I felt trapped.' So, in 2001, Kim, Susan and their children, Cian and Eva, moved to Ireland, where Susan had been brought up, and began hunting for land.

Originally, the couple disagreed over what kind of site to look for. While Kim favoured something elevated with sea views, Susan knew how brutal the east wind could be, and talked him out of looking for an exposed plot. Instead, they found a sheltered site - 'so when the sun comes out, you can feel the heat' - in a perfect location. 'It's an amazing area, in deep countryside about 20 miles south of Dublin, but the city is pretty accessible. It's divine.'

With the land purchased, the family moved to a rented farmhouse nearby and submitted plans for a house that Kim and Susan had designed while they were still living in London. But although the couple's forward planning was efficient, it did in fact hamper their efforts. 'After living here for a while and getting to know the vagaries of the Irish climate, we realised the design was all wrong,' says Susan. 'We had been looking at it with London eyes, but you live quite differently in the countryside.'

So, they ditched their original plans for an upstairs living space, as 'trudging up there with shopping, children, muddy wellies just wouldn't work'. The newly redesigned space featured a more conventional layout of ground-floor living, based around a south-facing courtyard to make the most of any decent weather that came their way. 'The courtyard is itimate and sheltered, and it gets the sun all day,' says Kim. 'So it makes the most of the limited number of days where the weather is warm enough to eat and relax outside.'

When the build eventually got underway, the couple's slowly-slowly approach paid dividends once again. Kim had built up a network of local trade and craftspeople who he enlisted to work on the house. 'They were all really nice people with lots of respect and love for what they do,' says Susan. 'It was a very happy build.' Thanks to the careful design and stress-free build, the family were inally able to move into the house a year after work started.

The finished product - which is generously proportioned, airy, unfussy and relaxed - marks a style shift for Susan and Kim, who had previously lived surrounded by concrete, steel and glass. 'That was wonderful, but I didn't want to live like that again,' says Susan. Instead, there's an abundance of limestone and oak surfaces - quite literally from floor to ceiling due to the oak rafters that soar overhead, giving the living space its barn-like feel.

While Kim designed the space, Susan's job was to soften the look with colour. To break up white walls she chose Farrow & Ball's French Gray and Old White for the woodwork. Rugs and wall hangings with splashes of spicy red add warmth, while plentiful windows and French doors, untroubled by blinds or curtains, maximise the flow of light.

A wealth of eco-conscious features - one of Kim's passions - have been woven in, too, to create a carbon neutral home. The underfloor heating is geothermal (heat from the ground is drawn up into the house), while the walls are insulated with sheep's wool and painted with eco emulsion. 'The most important thing about the house is that it is extremely low energy, built using sustainable materials, but without compromising the design,' says Kim.

It's a far cry from their London life, but the family love it. 'The children are having an idyllic childhood,' says Susan, while she is enjoying the shift to a slower-paced rural existence. 'Living here means I don't have to work,' she whispers excitedly. Kim, meanwhile, works from his studio in the garden, having given up a strenuous Dublin-to-London commute several years ago. 'I wouldn't live anywhere else now,' he says. 'We are lucky to be in a part of Ireland where a lot of interesting people live. No amount of summer sunshine or winter snow would make me move away from that.' The lifestyle and the house suit everyone, so much so that when asked what single thing would improve her life, Susan is completely flummoxed. 'Nothing,' she says, eventually. 'I've never been happier.'

THE PROPERTY
TYPE Cedar-clad new-build family home with an office/studio in the grounds.
SPACE The house is arranged on seven levels with a central staircase linking most rooms. There is a large open-plan living/dining space and kitchen, a family room, hall, cloakroom, utility room, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, sun room and a mezzanine library over the kitchen area.
LOCATION County Wicklow, Ireland.

WHAT THEY DID
Bought a 3/4 acre plot of land.
Designed a family home full of eco features.
Project managed the 18-month build, using local tradesmen.
Used random-width French oak floorboards and limestone flooring throughout.
Designed much of the furniture and had it made locally.
Installed geothermal underfloor heating.