Interior designer-owner of a Dublin 8 family home makes refurbishing and creating a flow look easy, but behind the scenes, there’s 20 years of professional experience at work. Our Home of the Year judges spot it the minute they cross the threshold.
Photography: Kelan Molloy
Really good designers make it look easy, from the UX experience of a PlayStation console and iPhone to the ease of use of a Dyson handheld vacuum cleaner.
The same goes for the decoration of an upscale hotel.
A lot of thought goes into how guests experience its various spaces.
All of this consideration culminates in the home of Grace Kelly, an interior designer, and her husband Robert McColgan in Dublin 8, which featured in episode 5 of this season’s Home of the Year.
Kelly, whose Instagram handle is Rose and Reason, has spent the last two decades finetuning floor plans and composing colour palettes and textures for the hotel sector, and has put that knowledge to work in the Dublin home they share with their two sons, Tommy, age 9 and Jack, age 6.
With the help of architect Suzy Freeney of SFDArchitects the entire ground floor was extended and reconfigured.
Originally, the front door was at the side of the property.
This was moved 90 degrees to the front with an extension added to what is now the side of the house, but was originally the front.
This turned the layout into a double-fronted space where pocket sliding doors open and close the flow of the house as the family wants.
The kitchen is to the left and runs the depth of the property, while a corridor, lit by a trio of Crittal-style double doors, links it to the living room, which leads through to the dining room.
Elements of the original house remain.
Built in 1922, one of the 1920s panelled doors now opens into the kitchen.
It has timber architraving reminiscent of the era, in a bid to knit this new space with the original house.
Architect Hugh Wallace immediately picks up on this and draws attention to the fact that the door pull is also of the same vintage.
Kelly’s talent was evident on the small screen last night, as episode 5 of Home of the Year closed and her work got her home through to the final.
When renovations began, Kelly uncovered an old amber and terracotta tiled floor in the skullery kitchen.
Laid out in a checkerboard pattern, it echoed the quarry tiled kitchens of the Victorian era.
She has contemporarised this idea with a gorgeous ochre and terracotta-patterned floor that brings that same colour combination bang up to date in the kitchen diner.
Having been based in the UK for the last few years, she had access to the best of the UK suppliers and sourced this marble off-cut floor from Domus Tiles.
This pattern floors the room throughout and continues to the exterior, where there is now an outdoor space that is larger than the one they had originally, for they demolished a large shed occupying much of the footprint, Robert explains.
Judges Amanda and Siobhan both love it.
Hugh finds it too busy. He says it’s giving him a headache, a comment Amanda pulls him up on, given the fact that his flowery shirt is far louder than the floor could ever be.
She chose a Howdens kitchen, customising it with tall splashbacks and countertops in the same material, one that runs around the back of the dining nook and is carried upstairs to the family bathroom.
The Taj Mahal quartzite was sourced from Granite X.
The dining nook features a chlorophyll green concrete pedestal table.
Made for outdoor use, it is durable and brings a dramatic pop of colour to this, their favourite corner of the house.
She found the 120 cm diameter dining table at Kave Home, where it costs about €1,080.
The room “shows a real understanding of how to extend an existing home well,” architect Amanda adds.
There’s a laundry press under the stairs where the washing machine and heap pump dryer are located, taking any noise they make out of the living spaces.
The living room is at the back of the house, where you can soak up the sun.
Doors lead through to their formal dining room, a space that can be closed off from the living room on demand.
Here, there is a round dining table surrounded by a set of rosewood chairs by LJ Moller, found on Adverts.ie.
Devitt Construction & Carpentry did the building and custom cabinetry, while Carlson supplied the Alclad windows.
In the boys’ bedroom upstairs, there’s almost a wall of built-in wardrobes that sit flush with the chimney breast.
The original cast-iron fireplace remains in situ.
The family bathroom features two different tonal tiles to create a point of interest, Kelly explains. “They look like the exact same green, but it gives a more hand-made finish.”
It creates an optical illusion.
Home of the Year series 12 airs Tuesdays, 7 pm on RTÉ One. You can also watch it on the RTÉ Player. You can follow interior designer-owner Grace Kelly’s Instagram, Rose and Reason, here.
