The Interior DIYer
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Ideal Home Show – autumn 2015

Let’s not focus on how haggard my hands are. #DIYproblems

For the second time this year I was asked by Colortrend to conduct video interviews for their Interior Design Forum room sets as part of the Ideal Home Show. I did the same interviews earlier this year during the spring exhibit and found it great experience to see the goings on behind the camera. I was more than happy to help this autumn by interviewing some exceptionally talented designers and of course, oogle at their room sets. 
I couldn’t resist sneaking in a photo [or twelve] between takes of the fantastic room sets this years’ show had to offer … 

The Dust girls did not disappoint with their dark design, pops of colour and jungle of faux flowers. Ladies after my own heart.

My college wife Catherine Murphy and her beautifuly whimsical nursery. Check out the laser-cut wood flooring and  the bespoke giraffe night light. Srsly.

Nina Kati‘s feng shui living room had shades that did not disappoint. 
There were also room sets by Ciara Drennan Interiors, Noelle Interiors, State of Grace and Thelma Henry Interiors, but I didn’t have the opportunity to take some sneaky photos before the doors opened to the public. 

I also had the opportunity to interview Roisin Lafferty of Kingston Lafferty Design about the DFS show house her and her team designed. Roisin took me on a tour and I proceeded to tell her how much I hated her and her mad wizard design skills. This is a show house, people. The entire set was built from the ground up in just 2 weeks …

Kitchen, study, bathroom and bedroom. That bathroom in particular needs to happen in our future when we grow up and have a real life home #Goals. I’d strongly suggest you check out the whole process from start to finish on Roisin’s blog here. 
The autumn Ideal Home Show was a real treat. I find it so inspiring for getting the creative brain juices going. When you’re among such incredible designers, it’s really hard not to. 

p.s. I was armed with only my phone for taking pictures, so please excuse the shoddy quality. My pictures don’t do nearly enough justice to all the room sets. Trust me, they were all amazing.
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Decorating for fall

Autumn has well and truly landed here in Dublin and I for one am not complaining. This past week I’ve been trying to figure out why I love autumn and winter so much, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’ve concluded it’s a mash of the following …

– It being cold is a great reason to hide under a duvet on the couch and watch 100 movies.
– Candles. All of the candles.
– Hot beverages such as mulled wine and hot chocolate. 
– I’m 1,000 times more comfortable under a pile of sweaters, scarves and coats vs. being in a summer dress with my bingo wings flapping about.
– Further to the above point, I prefer to be cold than hot. 
– It might snow. Even just for 5 minutes.
– It gets dark early [which mostly sucks], but there’s something about it being dark out and lights being on in shops and in people’s homes. 
– Autumn and winter call for decorating our home in two very different styles, both of which I love.

I decorated our apartment a little this week in preparation for autumn and Halloween. I feel this year that my decor is just a bit … meh. Probably because I didn’t make anything new, but simply raided my accessory hoard for autumnally appropriate pieces [aka, every skull ever] and decorated a bit lazily by adding some leaves that I hope have been spared from dog pee. 

I’d like to do something a little more special with our bar cart and do something unusual in the hallway too, but the cogs are still turning so it might be the Eve of Halloween before I have a decent idea. 

So what about you? Do you decorate for autumn or Halloween? Do you find it a bit too North American? [I’ve heard people here referring to decorating for autumn and spring in that manner, but it’s all I’ve ever known. I love decorating for any season, especially when it comes to the winter months by mixing things up a bit – something to break up the monotony of the darker months].

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#OpenHouseDublin

This past weekend Dublin played host to its 10th annual Open House Dublin where, as you can probably guess by its name, buildings across the city that are usually closed to the general public are open with guided tours over 3 days. Most of the tours happened in the city centre, but for the most part we decided stayed local. 

On Saturday we started with the Memorial Court / Islandbridge Court / Sarah Place tour which consisted of three local housing schemes [above is Memorial Court which is home to 66 apartments for senior citizens]. Robert and I pass all three buildings on a daily basis so it was interesting to walk around the grounds and be able to be a tourist so close to home.

From there, we hopped on a bus and headed into the city centre [where the majority of the Open House Dublin tours were] to check out the College Green Apartments. Unfortunately, after standing in line for almost an hour we were told the queue ended with the woman standing directly ahead of us. I was dying to see the recently refurbished apartments [you can see here] so I could daydream about owning one and feel horrible about my own life in general. I suppose in the long run, they were saving me from myself. Silver lining? 

On Sunday there was a tour of Inchicore School which underwent an upgrade last year. I spent most of said year craning my neck to see what was being built behind that behemoth of a wall, so I was looking forward to going in. The old schoolhouse against the new building was really amazing and they worked so well together when it was broken down and explained by the architect. My photos do it zero justice … 

The original schoolhouse [which I failed miserably to get a decent picture of. It’s a beautiful building] was built in 1853. Due to population demand it became necessary for additional space to be added to the school, so in the back corner of the grounds a 3 storey building was constructed to house 6 extra class rooms and a hall [aka, gym] on the ground floor. 

With huge chestnut trees on the property and a public park across the road, the area doesn’t feel as stark as my pictures may portray. One of the architects gave us a thorough tour of the premises and it was a real treat to learn more about a place I’ve been eyeing for so long. I mean, look at that view from the classrooms … Robert and I literally died. 

It was a bit of a shame that out of the 5 buildings we visited [3 in Islandbridge, one on College Green and Inchicore School], we only got into one building. Inchicore School was a real treat and such an inspiring restoration job coupled with an environmental and well-being-conscious new build. It was a lovely weekend exploring in our own backyard. Next year we’ll sure to get out and see more. MOAR!