Style and Substance

Carmel isn’t one for fads and fashions, she uses what she has and makes it look good. Step inside her Dublin family home and you’ll be greeted with colour and creativity.

Moving to Dublin from the country was a big thing for Carmel when she married her husband back in the nineties. ‘I wanted to make my first home the right one, so when we saw this Edwardian terraced house, with all its original features, we were smitten,’ she says. ‘The place needed love and care – in previous years it had been owned by a charitable organisation and let out, so it wasn’t in the best condition. But I knew it was a place in which we could settle down and put our own mark on.’ And settle down they did, which wasn’t difficult given that they had moved into an area with a great sense of community. This proved even more of a bonus when, three years later, the first of their three children arrived. We realised that we were no longer creating a home for just the two of us,’ says Carmel. ‘This now had to be a proper family home.’

Read more in the October issue…