The Interiors Podcast

In this episode of the Interiors Podcast I am chatting with Luke Wymer, a planning consultant with a large planning and development consultancy here in Dublin. Luke shares his wisdom and expertise when it comes to the planning process both on a professional level and also in his own life since he purchased a protected home in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

The episode delves into the realities of historical property projects, emphasizing the importance of being aware of their timelines and costs.

In this episode Luke talks us through the planning application process, everything from the standard application for an extension right up to more complicated processes for period / protected homes.

We speak about how restoring a historic property often involves strict guidelines and regulations, such as using identical materials for repairs and following specific repair methods, which can add significant costs to the project.

This episode is full of so many helpful guidelines for anybody that has recently purchased and is thinking about making changes or for those who are currently looking for a property.

Resources

You can find Luke via his company website - http://jsaplanning.ie/

Irish Planning Institute - https://ipi.ie/

If you are considering works that will need planning - check out your local county councils' List of Exemptions / Limitations

In this episode of The Interiors Podcast, I am speaking with designer Sophie Lundstrom Halbert, who along with her husband, Architect Ronan Kenny, moved back from the US to Ireland to their unique red brick Victorian terrace townhouse in Portobello, Dublin.

Sophie and Ronan's home recently featured in House and Home Magazine, and looking at this illustration I can see why, its so beautiful with so much personality.

Sophie stresses the importance of embracing the ongoing process of decorating and evolving your space, rather than striving for a finished, perfect home. She explains that your taste in decor can change over time, and it's okay to switch things up or rearrange furniture. By relieving the pressure of having a "done" home, you can make better decisions and enjoy the process of creating a space that reflects your personality and style.

Sophie speaks about being inspired by her and Ronan's travels and experiences and bringing elements of those experiences into their home.

We discuss the importance of taking your time when making decisions and finding pieces that truly fit your space and style.

The episode also emphasizes the importance of considering the context of your home and the overall style of your space when making decorating choices.

This was such a wonderful episode as I got to chat with Sophie about how creating a home that tells a story of your journey and personalities is essential and can be achieved by balancing smart decisions and splurges when decorating.

This episode is perfect for anybody who is not ready for a full makeover, instead would like a refresh.

Resources:

Follow Sophie on Instagram @__thesoph__

Sophie's brand @thermakota

This episode of The Interiors Podcast features Kieran McCarthy from KMC Homes and the hit tv show Cheap Irish Homes. Kieran talks about his background in civil engineering and how he eventually ended up in the house building business.

This episode is jam packed with so much essential information for anybody who is looking to purchase a home, renovate their existing home or considering extending. Kieran has information that will allow you gauge where your budget can be spent and how far it could stretch. 

For so many facing into these types of projects, this world can be daunting and hard to navigate, Kieran gives us some guidance on where we should start, what we should be looking for and how to make the most of what you have. 

Resources:

KMC Homes - https://kmchomes.ie/

Check out Kieran's podcast on all platforms: Built Around You Podcast

Follow Kieran on Instagram: @kierankmc

In this episode of The Interiors Podcast, I am chatting with Kate O’Driscoll.  Kate and her husband took on huge renovation works on their Victorian home in Rathmines, Kate documented this journey on her Instagram page @victorianrathmines.  Their home also was a finalist on RTE’s Home of the Year in 2021. 

In this episode, Kate talks about her experience renovating a derelict Victorian house in Dublin for eight months with her husband.   We delve into this mammoth job, from preserving original elements like stairs and architraves, to electric’s and plumbing.  Kate details the process of flipping a house and the complexities that come with it.

Kate imparts so much knowledge and experience in this episode, so if you are considering any kind of renovation project, even if it’s a smaller one than their Victorian home, this is a great episode for you. 

She tells us how renovating a house yourself can be a daunting task, but it can also be immensely rewarding. Doing your own renovations can save you money, give you a sense of accomplishment, and let you add your own personal touch to your home. For people who are up for the challenge, taking on a renovation project can be a very rewarding experience.

Because of her experience and her background in design, Kate has now established a career as a renovation consulting expert, offering services to help others renovate their own home projects, check out Kate’s website via the resources below.

Resources:

Follow Kate on Instagram: @victorianrathmines

Kitchen: Savy Kitchens - @savvy.kitchens

In Episode 21 of the Interiors Podcast, we are joined by Danny and Anna from Dogwood Designs, a specialist joinery business based in Westport, County Mayo. 

Dogwood Designs specialize in custom made kitchens and bathroom vanities, primarily using birch ply and hardwoods. They have a contemporary and sleek style, with no hardware, influenced by their backgrounds in both Ireland and Australia. This episode explains the role of a specialist joiner, such as themselves, and how they can help customers with design and fitting.

We walk through the difference between a carpenter and a joiner and the importance of contacting a kitchen designer early on in a project. This episode also sets out where homeowners can potentially save money, such as having their builder fit the joinery, and provides insights into joinery aesthetics, functionality, durability, and sustainability

This episode will provide you with an abundance of helpful tips and education on joinery if you are looking to invest in your home right now or in the future. 

Custom joinery specialists like Dogwood Designs are essential for creating unique, functional, and beautiful spaces. With their attention to detail and expertise, they are able to craft custom joinery products that meet the needs and desires of their customers, and designs that will last for so many years. 

This episode really is a 101 of all things joinery, which I know you will love!

Resources:

Website: Dog Wood Joinery https://www.dogwooddesigns.ie/

Instagram: @westport.dogwood

Episode 20 of the Interiors Podcast is a very special episode.

Today I am sharing the story of my own home which we are delighted to say was featured on RTE's Home of the Year 2023 competition.

Before finding this home myself and my husband had been living in rentals, and we were always keeping our eyes open for potential homes to buy. We knew the areas we wanted to live around and after a looking at a few houses we found our current home which was for sale, we decided to have a look inside and we knew right away that this was for us.

I am sharing my experiences of how we got the absolutely best from our spaces, how we incorporated our love for our surroundings, and how we brought our family history into our home.

Our home was my first project in my journey into interiors, and I have thoroughly loved every moment. We really do hope that you enjoy the episode of Home of the Year.

Watch the episode

Resources

Home of the Year Episode - WATCH NOW

Follow me on Instragram @tanyaneufeldflanagan

Follow the Interiors Podcast on Instagram @theinteriorspodcast

In this episode of the Interiors Podcast, Rob Hennessey joins us on the show to discuss his renovation project on a Victorian terraced house overlooking the River Lee. Rob was the subject of season three episode one of The Great House Revival.

Rob took on this project with a limited budget and no prior experience of construction work. He did have the support of his father, who's been in the construction industry for years. 

Rob talks about how himself and his partner Katie moved into a freezing cold construction site, how the house originally had no heating, just fireplaces, and how he was drawn to the house for its character and breath-taking views of the harbour.

Yet again, as with so many other renovation episodes of the Interiors Podcast, Rob tells us about the importance of enlisting the support and services of experts, understanding what you can easily do yourself to save money and what expertise must be brought onto a project.

In this episode we speak about all the DIY aspects of the renovation and how Rob managed to keep on top of his budget, and he shares some valuable tips to managing a tight budget.

Rob's story is truly inspirational, a journey of one man who found a spectacular house that needed so much love and attention, but didn't let that stop him going after his dream home.

You can follow Rob on Instagram @victorian_renovation_glenbrook. On this page Rob shares so many of his learnings, and this will help anybody who is thinking about taking on a renovation project.

I hope this episode will inspire you to not allow the scale of a project put you off the home of your dreams.

RESOURCES:

Follow Rob on Instagram - @victorian_renovation_glenbrook

Sola Energy Solutions - https://sola.ie/

Kingspan - https://www.kingspan.com/ie

Savvy Kitchens - http://www.savvykitchens.ie/

Serpentine Interiors - https://www.serpentineinteriors.ie/

Paint colours mentioned are from Farrow & Ball -https://www.farrow-ball.com/

A lesson in DIY design and renovation in today’s episode of The Interiors Podcast. We are speaking with Vivian McKendry of @the.project.home.

Vivian moved to Ireland with her husband from Hong Kong. Before leaving Hong Kong, she worked in the construction sector as a project manager, where she was exposed to the creative side of interiors and managing projects for hotels, clubs and offices. This role really leads nicely into the DIY renovation journey Vivian found herself taking here in Ireland.

Vivian also runs her own business, One More Thing, that specialises in unique interior pieces along with some stunning dried and preserved flowers bouquets and decorations. So, she really does have a creative flair and an eye for beautiful design.

Vivian and her husband's first home after moving back to Ireland was an 1980's constructed small home in Dublin. But the size did not restrict Vivian’s design flair and eye for detail, as she made use of every space to ensure her home was not only beautiful but also liveable.

After a few years in this home and Vivian's e-commerce business taking off, they soon outgrew this small space, so began the hunt for their next place to call their own. The size home they knew they needed was just not affordable in Dublin for them at that time, but because COVID was changing people's ideas of working locations, they realised that they didn't need to be held to living in Dublin, and that they could cast their net even further, so began to look around Dublin's border counties. A trip to The Curragh, in Co Kildare, showed them exactly where they wanted their next home to be.  

After a false start, they finally found their home.  It was quite a big step up from their 80sqm home in Dublin, this new property was a 5 bedroom 300sqm house, but this didn’t phase them at all. 

In this episode, Vivian tells her all about how her project management skills allowed her to design and plan her new beautiful home, what services and trades they employed, and what jobs they took on themselves.

This episode is such an interesting story about what is possible and what is available for the work of a DIYER. We talk about the importance of understanding what you want for your home and then finding suppliers and experts that can execute that dream, and how key it is to have good relationships with those suppliers and experts.

Even if you are not about to take on a huge renovation journey like Vivian and her husband did, this episode will inspire you to dream about what is possible in your own space. 

Resources:

Follow Vivian and her renovation journey on Instagram:  The Project Home by Vivian @the.project.home

Vivian's interiors business:  One More Thing - https://onemorething.ie/

Floor planning: https://floorplanner.com/

Kitchen design: Peter Bourke, The Kitchen Shop - @tksdesigns_thekitchenshop

Builder: Peter Doyle from Bridgefield Construction Ltd

Wood experts: http://www.woodworkers.ie/

Windows: Vindr VS Windows - https://vindrvs.com/

Tiles: Tile Merchant - https://www.tilemerchant.ie/ / Floor tiles @tilestyle / Zellige tiles @tile.expert

Marble dining table: @westelmuk

We are changing up our episode style slightly for season two. Each month I will bring you a guest expert episode but also, we will have a shorter focus burst episode, where I will bring you topics and insights on how you design your space with ease.

When I speak with friends and family or clients, I find that so many are unsure about what their style is, people get confused if what they like and don't like doesn't fit into one style box.

I want to guide you to find your own interior style, with a story. Understanding your story will allow you to have design your space more simply. It will also enable you to bring together pieces that you already own with new purchases to ensure there is cohesiveness and harmony within your space. 

Understanding and really delving deep into what you like and what you don’t like, what fits with your lifestyle, and what marries well with the style of home that you will be living in and the surroundings, will really help stop you being sucked into different trends. For most people, when they are thinking about renovation or making some changes in their home they jump head first into Pinterest and start pinning everything that they love the look of. And whilst this can be helpful, it can also mean that we start trying to recreate somebody else's look or style. And more often than not this look that you are trying to recreate has been created by an interior designer with large budgets and possibly years of experience. So it can be unrealistic.

In this episode, I am going to guide you through what you need to understand to create that story, your narrative. Following these steps will make sure that you don't fall down that Pinterest rabbit hole, it will mean that you will be able to design your full home or even a space within your home with complete ease and confidence, armed with the knowledge and understanding of what works for you, your family and your lifestyle.

I hope you really enjoy this episode, it is my goal to make design a little less daunting or challenging.

Reach out to me on Instagram @theinteriorspodcast and let me know what you thought.

Also, please leave us a testimonial / review on whatever platform you are listening so that we can reach more home owners to give them our support too. And make sure you follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode.

This is our first guest episode of season two of The Interiors Podcast.

I am excited to bring you this episode with Jenny Butler of Jennifer Anne Interiors.

Jennifer has many years of experience within the interiors industry, most notably seven years spent at architecture firm Henry J Lyons where she worked in hospitality and other commercial spaces before going out on her own recently.

This episode is perfect for anybody who is looking at taking on a renovation project, or updating their home to make it more functional whilst keeping their style and comfort.

I speak with Jenny about how her parents’ decision to embark on an Edwardian house project when she was a child sparked a love for interiors.  How her journey through this industry has taken her from working on huge  commercial projects in hotels and office spaces to where she is today, running her own residential design firm Jennifer Anne Interiors.

Jenny has also embarked on a project to renovate a small cottage for herself and her husband to live in. This was not a project for the faint hearted as the walls were literally crumbling away in theirs hands. 

Jenny shares with us so many amazing hints and tips on how to create a space that you can use. The importance of understanding your lifestyle and how you move around a space before you make those design decisions. And how you can keep your budget in check and still not compromise those style elements of your design.

We also talk about the mistakes people fall into when making decisions about the layout of their home and the items that they are choosing to purchase to furnish their home, like sofas and kitchens etc. 

This episode is jam packed with so many valuable tips for anybody who is planning, already started or just toying with the idea of a new renovation project or updating their current home.

Enjoy the episode

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Resources

Follow Jenny on Instagram @jenniferanneinteriors

https://www.jenniferanneinteriors.com/