Elizabeth O’Connor, Interior Designer from O’Connor Design Partners shares some inspiration, tips and advice with House and Home readers. To find out more about O'Connor Design Partners visit www.oconnordesignpartners.com.
The bigger picture:
I take every single element in a house - walls, floors, lighting, furniture - and look at the bigger picture. The first thing you’ve got to look at is the lighting and the colour that you use in your home. I usually use non-directional artificial lighting to give it a warm glow. It’s important not to use window dressings that will cover half the window, make sure curtains can stack back onto the walls completely. When it comes to colour, decorate with warm colours - I mostly go for lighter warmer colours, like ochre and golden yellows. If a room is small, I run the one colour theme throughout using natural lighter taupey colours, to maximise the sense of space.
Top tips:
Keep away from using too much cold tiling and go more for carpets to warm the space up. Rugs on wooden floors make a big difference by warming up the space, and can easily be rolled away for summer. Plants add life and greenery. In kitchens, if there’s room, I like to place potted herbs along the window. I tend to use natural fibres and fabrics, it creates a better and calmer feeling in a house rather than using lots of polyester and viscose.
My style:
My house has a very friendly and welcoming feel. It is mostly painted in Farrow and Ball White Tie. All of the fabrics are natural and very textural. I use glass occasional tables to open up the space, and roman blinds on the windows in a soft green, lilac and cream stripe. I love the living room, especially the colours. Using Farrow and Ball’s White Tie on the walls provided me with the perfect backdrop for the furniture and roman blinds in shades of charcoal, sage green and lilac.
Decorating on a budget:
If you don’t want to spend a fortune on your home but want to freshen it up, change the accessories. Get new throws, cushions and rugs and put new sets of towels in the bathrooms. Hang some pictures - this is one of the biggest things that people fall down on. They must be hung at the correct level and grouped together properly. Hang mirrors in dark areas to bounce any natural light available. If your budget runs to it, think about giving your home a fresh coat of paint.
What we do:
For a once-off consultation we charge €250. This service includes calling to a client’s house, talking through the various design and furnishing options and then following up our meeting with a detailed written schedule lisiting recommendations and suggestions. More often than not clients want us to provide a full service from start to finish. We put together the colour schemes, provide a quotation showing costings for each item per room and then have everything made, including curtains, sofas and armchairs. We also source unique accessories, furniture and buy lighting, bed dressings and even artwork.
