Jill De Búrca’s home was once a buy-to-let. Now that she’s finally moved in, she has begun to furnish it with a quirky combination of antiques, vintage pieces and high street finds
FEATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHS RUTH MARIA/LIVING INSIDE
Few 19-year-olds are thinking about the property that will eventually become their own home later in life. But, luckily for Irish embroidery designer Jill De Búrca, her dad had the foresight to invest in a house for his daughter back in the early 2000s. ‘It was at a time when you could do that,’ says Jill, of her Dublin home. ‘But I never thought that I’d actually live in it!’ After a degree in textiles, Jill went to the UK to work on production for major fashion houses Erdem, Stella McCartney and Mary Katrantzou. ‘While it was amazing for learning skills, I wasn’t designing – which is what I wanted to do,’ she says. A move from Brighton back to Dublin came in 2014 and her eponymous label, known for its beautiful embellishments and organic motifs such as butterflies and moths, took off.
When she moved back, she fell in love with the 1940s house that her dad had bought all those years ago. ‘I’m so lucky – it would be so hard to buy a house now,’ she says. She and her partner Steve decided to move in but, because it had been rented out for many years, it needed a thorough renovation. Over the course of seven weeks, the bathroom was ripped out and the galley kitchen was opened up to the dining room. New flooring was fitted throughout, and the couple also added an en suite to the attic.
Jill’s decorating style – eclectic boho mixed with art deco – is in line with her beautiful embroidered clothing. ‘I always start by decorating my home with tactile things. I collect pieces and arrange them together – a bit like a mood board,’ she says. ‘I pick out colours, textiles and textures and then start on the artworks.’ Heritage matters to Jill, and she has several treasures from her great-aunt around the house – as well as many second-hand pieces such as the coffee table, found at Auction Xchange auction house in Dublin, and the vintage dining table and chairs found at a Brighton charity shop. ‘I’ve had the table and chairs for years, but I’ve previously never had a place big enough to add the two leaves either side,’ she says.
Although Jill admires dark décor, she wanted to keep things light and airy. Brighter hues – such as the teal paint on the cabinets in the dining room and a blush-p
