My Favourite Room: Inside the once dilapidated West Cork schoolhouse that’s now an artist’s haven

Ian Humphreys lives in a delightful former schoolhouse in a secluded and extremely scenic part of West Cork. It’s a strange twist in the engaging English man’s path to artistic freedom

Artist Ian Humphreys in the classroom of the former schoolhouse in Rossbrin, Schull, Co Cork. His builder John O’Brien brought some of the walls back to the original stone and Ian and his partner Sarah loved the character it adds to the room. The furniture mainly came from Sarah’s last house, while the paintings are by Ian. The middle one is called Dug From the Rubble, which is a line from a Lisa Hannigan song. “I love listening to her work and a title gives the painting a flavour,” says Ian. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary O'Sullivan

As an artist, Ian Humphreys knows all about full-circle moments and no doubt he’s very conscious of one in his own life. His early ambivalence around academia saw him leave school at 14. However, over the last few years he’s made his home in an early 20th-century schoolhouse in Rossbrin near Schull in West Cork.

No doubt, though, Ian’s home is a far cry from the classrooms of his youth. Ian and his partner Sarah have turned the two-classroomed school, dating from 1909, into a beautiful, atmospheric home, full of light, colour, and interesting artefacts. Hung all around are stunning examples of Ian’s own gorgeous paintings, which are inspired by the landscape, the weather and the sea around him.