No rules or restrictions hindered this gutsy and gorgeous renovation which radiates w ith colour and charisma – and just wait to you see the scene-stealing staircase
FEATURE Serena Fokschaner
LIVING ROOM
The creative use of colour and shapes is both bold and welcoming and it creates a space perfect for unwinding in.
home front
With a background in television, Lisa Marconi (below) founded DesignLed studio, based in London and Dublin, in 2020.
A neoclassical-style new build family home. Ranged over two storeys, there are four en-suite bedrooms upstairs with a guest room and en suite downstairs, as well as an office, an open-plan kitchen and living room, a utility room, a playroom, a walk-in pantry, a second sitting room, an office and a guest bathroom.
Natural materials – like the contrasting textures of this bespoke cook space – are found throughout the house, adding tactility and a lived-in feel to the new build’s architecture.
I KNEW HOW I WANTED THE INTERIOR TO FEEL: WELCOMING, PLAYFUL – A HOUSE THAT LIFTS YOUR SPIRITS. IT HAD TO BE BOLD AND COLOURFUL
STUDY
Painting the period-style mouldings gave them a contemporary edge.
It takes vision and verve to raze a house to the ground and build something very different in its place. But Susan Byrne has both. The minutiae of planning applications or the stressbearing capabilities of concrete don’t faze her. So when she came across a derelict, damp-ridden house, enticingly framed by fields, just 10 minutes south of Dublin, she spotted an opportunity.
Susan, who works in the arts, joined forces with a local architect to plan this property, which replaced a single-storey 1970s home. For the interior, she turned to Lisa Marconi of interiors practice DesignLed. White is the default colour for new builds. Client and designer envisaged the opposite. ‘I knew how I wanted the interior to feel: welcoming, playful – ahouse that lifts your spirits,’ says Susan.
This was a collaboration, a shared exchange of influences, with Lisa and the designers on board to refine the precise details: the width of a moulding; the precise shade of teal; the ratio of marble to tile. Like the paintings – mainly by rising Irish artists – that pepper the house: ‘It had to be bold and colourful,’ says Susan, with not a whisper of ‘nude’ in sight.
Compared with the sombre granite of the neoclassi
