Five Christmas trees, three TVs, and a high-low mix of vintage and new on the festive table, just some of the classic contemporary décor on display at designer Natasha Rocca Devine’s house.
Pics: Emily Quinn Photography
Interior designer Natasha Rocca Devine is a self-professed 1980s baby; she’s about big hair and skyscraper heels. She's also a Christmas superfan. And her decorating approach is similarly glamorous.
She opens the door wearing a Love Laura dress featuring an on-trend red velvet bow.
She almost looks gift-wrapped for the season that’s in it.
She loves Christmas, and almost every corner of her recently renovated, semi-detached residence in Dublin 4 has been decorated accordingly.
There are five Christmas trees positioned throughout the house.
The first is a snowy white model set in the hall. An elegant and ebonised staircase made by Dunnes Joinery climbs from here all the way to the second floor.
She and her partner, David, added a floor to the property.
There’s a Hollywood Regency-style buffet with brass hardware that she brought back from LA.
Atop it is a gilded overmantle mirror with a wreath hanging in front of it.
At this time of the year keeps cards and wrapping paper in the sideboard so she can fully dress any gifts before she leaves the house.
There is a his and hers office to the back, and on the left is a music room, strictly David’s domain.
A music lover, he had always wanted to have such a space to play.
When they moved in, and he proposed taking over one of the rooms, she agreed immediately, prompting him to ask her what she was going to get in return.
“The whole house,” was her response.
And she has commandeered the rest of the footprint, sprinkling it with her mix of glamour and a sense of mischief.
While she doesn’t take herself too seriously, she is a serious designer.
Natasha received a master’s in interior architecture from KLC School of Design in London 15 years ago.
She wrote her first book, Awareness: Creating Your Own Balance in Life, the following year and studied lighting design the year after that.
She then moved to Los Angeles in 2014, where she worked for Bono’s One Campaign and then Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project.
She followed this with a stint in real estate.
She set up NRD Interior Design when she came back. In her own house, the NRD treatment starts underfoot where large-format Dekton slabs, in the Helena colourway, are warmed by underfloor heating.
It feels especially luxurious to pad about in your stockinged feet.
Christmas tree number two is in the open-plan kitchen cum dining room.
Designed by Natasha and her husband, David, it was fabricated by Cucina Lube, who also did the media stand.
The island and worktops feature Dekton Awake X-Gloss, which is interspersed with warm gold seams.
She loves tinsel – you can see some framing the media unit and searching out finds in Home Sense and TK Maxx. The stores in Blanchardstown are her favourite.
Her table is dressed for dinner. The custom-made piece features a top of Azul Bahia natural stone by Cosentino. It provides great contrast to the soft green and white colours atop it.
Silver-rimmed bowls and side plates from Penneys, are set atop vintage dinner plates found at The Mart Collective, a Venice Beach institution that has almost 1,500 square metres of antique, vintage and modern furniture, lighting, and artwork. It’s one of her favourite places to browse.
A garland from Paul Costelloe’s Living range for Dunnes Stores runs down the table’s spine. Crisp white napkins, wrapped in blue velvet bow napkin rings by Tara O’Connor’s The Designed Table and crackers complete the look.
There’s a deep cushioned window seat to the front. Big enough for a gang to hang out, it has loads of drawered storage beneath where you can keep the serveware you only use on special occasions, such as December 25th.
There’s a fully stocked bar that includes spirits, every manner of bubbles and diamante-encrusted cocktail shakers that she couldn’t leave behind when she spotted them in LA.
There are souvenirs too from recent trips, including Moroccan tea glasses, that she bought while there at her sister Claudia’s wedding two years ago. A gilded Gala vase is one of several Jonathan Adler pieces she has around the place.
You step down to the lounge. This is where the main tree in the house is. It is a faux fir, perfectly formed and tones with the deeply upholstered sofas from Harvey Norman.
The coffee table here has a Silestone top, in its Versailles Ivory colourway.
Handing from it are baubles that chart the couple’s life together and their family life with daughter Freya. It includes miniature chandeliers from Avoca, the name of their daughter.
Embroidered on another and pieces from Kilkenny Design. Some she found in Lorraine Keane’s Fashion Relief boutique in the Frascati Centre in Blackrock.
A Klipsch soundbar and speakers with further speakers set flush with the Cole & Son wallpaper on the opposite wall create a cinematic experience when they watch films together.
There is another tree in Freya’s playroom, where there is also a third TV.
The TVs range in size from what appears to be a 65-inch model wall-hung in the lounge. There’s a second mummy-sized model on the media wall unit in the dining room, and in Freya’s room, there is a monitor-sized screen.
The fourth Christmas tree is in the office, and the fifth and final model is upstairs.
To book a consultation with Natasha, visit NRD Design Studio
Her second book, The Step-by-Step Guide to Designing and Styling Your Home by Natasha Rocca Devine, costs €19.95 on Buythebook.ie
