MAKING HOUSE A HOME

LET’S START FROM THE VERY BEGINNING

…it is a gooood place toooo staaaart (I can’t help myself, but to sing this in my daughter’s cutest little 2 year old voice. Just recently, she was cycling on a borrowed tricycle, singing hear heart out for at least half an hour, and I bet she imagined she was in the movie as she did so; you know, the part where Maria and all the Von Trapp kids cycle around Austria, dressed in curtains, singing the do-re-mi song). But, this isn’t a story about my daughter, as awesome as she is, this is a story about our home, so let me tell you how we started.

I’m an event planner and stylist in real life, and I have an interior design background prior to my event designer’s career. I would have never considered myself a blogger but, during 2020, while all the events were cancelled and I hadn’t much else to do, I started documenting the journey of making our house a home. 

We moved to Dungarvan, a lovely seaside town in South-East of Ireland, in October 2019. And by we I mean myself, my husband and our daughter. During the pandemic lock-down months we got a Maine Coon kitten who slotted right into our family life.

Being here during the pandemic has been such a blessing, especially with a 2 year old little girl (she’s nearly 3 now) - the town itself is somewhat understated, but there are so many hidden gems and after almost a year of moving here, I see why all the locals are so proud of this place. There are beautiful beach walks right on our doorstep, there are mountains with breathtaking views and hikes we have yet to discover, and there’s a beautiful forest only short drive away where we’ve been foraging for berries and other treasures. 

About moving into a Semi-D. As much as I love the romantic idea of buying a beautiful run-down little cottage and doing it up ourselves bit by bit, I had to forget about it when I married my husband - he is the most unpractical man you would ever meet. Seriously. Don’t worry, I love him dearly and don’t mind one bit, handyman he is not, but he has many other qualities and, most importantly, he has the quirkiest sense of humor and makes me laugh A LOT. I am pretty handy and can do most DIY stuff myself, though I am yet to learn to operate a drill.  

Ours is a south-facing 3 bedroom house with a lovely open-plan ground floor. The living room's window is facing the street and even though the green is just there, it by no means can be considered a view, so I just ignore that window unless I’m being nosy about neighbors business (don’t judge, my life is boring right now!!).

The kitchen is right in the middle of the house and is the heart of this home. I love that I can cook or do whatever, and still see and hear everything that’s happening. The only downside is that it’s slightly dark so I’ve got the spotlights turned on all day long.

It’s really well designed and is super functional. I will talk more about the function in another post.

On the other side of the kitchen is a sun room that’s currently used as a play-room but will be turned into a reading and piano nook someday in the future, when our daughter is a little older.

We have three bedrooms on the first floor, and we are planning to convert the attic some day in the (not so near) future to gain an extra bedroom and an office room so that we can host more than one set of family or friends at a time without having our child give up her bedroom. 

I love our house and we are really lucky to have the loveliest neighbours, and the only thing I miss is having a view. But, we’re planning on being resourceful and creating that view ourselves, so we are planning to put proper care into our garden next summer. It will partially be a DIY project - I love getting my hands dirty and having spent the first summer here, it already looks pretty nice, and my daughter loves watering and knows all the plant and flower names. My work cabin is at the rear of the garden and this gives us a bit of privacy and is also really nice to look at from the house.

Initially, I was convinced that I am a fan of minimalist all-white-grey-rattan-scandi interiors and that’s how I want my house to be designed. So we started with all-white walls, white floors and a grey sofa. The only colour splash was the sandy pink tiles in the kitchen, and when they came in, it seemed like such a crazy colour and took us a while to get used to them. Ha! Well, I am still a fan of minimalistic all-white-grey-rattan-scandi interiors, but having spent all the extra time at home during the quarantine, I realised that I crave colour and textures, and patterns. I guess I was so afraid to get something wrong initially, and mess up my very own new house, that I didn’t do anything at all for the first 6 months. But during the lock-down I was so bored that I started painting. One wall at a time. And with every (husbands) paycheck I would buy something small to make this place cosier and nicer, week by week.

Ours is only a regular house, in an estate where every house looks the same, it’s not an architectural masterpiece with amazing views. But we love it so and we’re delighted to have our very own home. So here we are, slowly turning a Semi-D into the cosiest little paradise. It’s pretty amazing how a house that lacks personality from the outside can be so unique and full of personality from the inside. By sharing our journey, I hope to inspire you on yours. Without being cocky, I can say that matching colours and arranging things in a pretty way is kind of second nature to me. So in this blog I am going to share my plans and ideas, my favourite furniture and decor finds and my shopping lists, my professional design tips and styling and decor tricks. I hope you like it and that this inspires you to express your in your own home, too!