{"id":218521,"date":"2023-12-01T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=218521"},"modified":"2023-12-22T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T22:06:26","slug":"designled-updates-a-dublin-home","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/designled-updates-a-dublin-home\/","title":{"rendered":"DesignLed Creates a Theatrical Interior for a Dublin Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"the
Paintings by contemporary Irish artist John Redmond overlook the sitting room\u2019s maroon Terje Ekstr\u00f8m chair and a gold Astrea armchair and Bubble 2 sofa, both by Sacha Lakic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

December 1, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Monica Khemsurov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Ruth Maria Murphy\/Living Inside<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

DesignLed Creates a Theatrical Interior for a Dublin Home<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

After spending the early part of her career as a documentary film director, Dublin resident Lisa Marconi pivoted a decade ago to become a self-taught interior designer. As principal of DesignLed<\/a>, she has cultivated a practice informed by her visual-arts background but with a strong focus on client collaboration and input. Due, perhaps, to her outsider\u2019s perspective, Marconi\u2019s approach to each project is especially accommodating. As she says, \u201cI\u2019m not someone who has very strict rules about what you can and cannot, should and should not do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No surprise, then, that Marconi enthusiastically accepted the challenge when a couple came to her with a residential project full of highly specific requests\u2014dark teal walls<\/a>, among them\u2014as well as some fundamentally contradictory ones. The clients were tearing down a 1970\u2019s house to build something more modern yet modeled after the Irish capital\u2019s famed Georgian architecture. U-shape in plan, the 4,500-square-foot home would span two stories and include formal and casual living areas along with five bedrooms, all connected by broad corridors, yet it needed to feel cozy for a family with small children. DesignLed\u2019s brief was to make the interior as striking, even showstopping, as possible while still being friendly and welcoming to the guests the family frequently entertains. The spaces Marconi and her team created address those issues by embracing eclecticism and playing with color, scale, and detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How This Home Interior Reflects Dublin’s Georgian Architecture\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A key element in the designer\u2019s overall strategy is something so subtle it\u2019s hardly noticeable at first, despite the fact that it begins the moment you walk in the front door: the use of custom wall paneling to visually bridge the gap between the residence\u2019s late 18th century\u2013style facade and its contemporary interior. Vertical panels, inset with pale tonal wallpaper depicting herons, backdrop the twin staircases on either side of the double-height entry hall, where a giant bubble chandelier and oak parquet<\/a> de Versailles flooring add to the immediate wow factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"teal
Referencing the Georgian-style exterior of this newly built Dublin house, DesignLed installed custom wood-molding panels incorporating hidden doors and painted client-requested colors in the formal sitting room and elsewhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the formal sitting room, the molding is more pronounced and traditional, despite the fact that the walls are color-blocked in aqua and the requested teal, the paintings are modernist-inflected acrylics by the contemporary Irish artist John Redmond, and the furniture is, as Marconi observes, \u201ca motley crew of uber-modern and vintage\u201d that includes such up-to-the-minute pieces as a maroon Terje Ekstr\u00f8m chair and a purple Sacha Lakic sofa juxtaposed with a pair of 1960\u2019s oak armchairs the clients already owned. \u201cWe really liked that contrast,\u201d she notes. The molding also performs another traditional function, which is to camouflage a cabinet bar set into the wall and a door to the adjacent study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Design Detail: Hidden Doorways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Upstairs in the main bedroom, the paneling is more minimalist\u2014an updated take on the classical arch form\u2014yet still manages to conceal doors to the en suite bathroom and boudoirlike dressing room. There are, in fact, hidden doorways in most of the principal rooms. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of making them feel more contained and bringing the scale down, so you don\u2019t just see doors everywhere,\u201d Marconi explains. \u201cIt helps the house feel like a comfortable family home, not this giant mansion.\u201d Adding to the effect, each wing of the house, and each room within it, has its own distinct personality rather than sharing a consistent style aimed at making the spaces flow seamlessly into one another. \u201cOf course, we wanted the project to make sense as a whole,\u201d the designer continues, \u201cbut we also wanted the rooms to stand alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, the guest room adjacent to the teal sitting room and study is painted deep cranberry, while the tone of the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living area that occupies the opposite wing is bright, minimalist, and neutral, augmented with natural materials like oak and Dolomite stone. The main bedroom leans more pastel, with extensive use of softer textures like velvet upholstery<\/a> and wall-to-wall carpeting under Kitty Joseph\u2019s Optik rug. And to further underscore its unique design identity, every room has a different style of statement lighting fixture, from the opulent crystal chandelier in the dressing room to the sleek, brass linear pendant above the kitchen island. The wide hallways connecting these big-personality spaces are painted plain white to act, the designer says, \u201cas a visual palette cleanser.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"A
A vintage desk appoints the adjacent study.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

While Marconi takes plenty of stylistic risks, she acknowledges she was spurred on by her adventurous clients. \u201cThey weren\u2019t looking to play it safe,\u201d she reports, noting that the couple found DesignLed through Instagram and specifically approached the firm because of its fearlessness. \u201cOur designs are dramatic,\u201d Marconi admits, \u201cthough I wouldn\u2019t describe what we do as \u2018out there\u2019 or \u2018wacky\u2019\u2014it\u2019s just about making an impact. Playing with shapes and colors or putting something into a room that\u2019s theoretically too big for it but somehow works, that\u2019s our brand.\u201d Showstopping indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patterns and Bold Colors Make This Home Design Pop\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"an
Dolomite stone clads the backsplash and countertops of the custom oak kitchen, its island lined with Hay\u2019s Neu 12 stools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"the
Paintings by contemporary Irish artist John Redmond overlook the sitting room\u2019s maroon Terje Ekstr\u00f8m chair and a gold Astrea armchair and Bubble 2 sofa, both by Sacha Lakic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Lievore Altherr Molina\u2019s Piktor table rests on the sitting room\u2019s Path rug by Catherine MacGruer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"the
A custom boucl\u00e9-covered chaise lounge and Luca Nichetto\u2019s Lato side table form a vignette under a staircase in the entry hall, capped by a Rome chandelier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"a
A vintage rosewood sideboard stands on the entry hall\u2019s oak parquet de Versailles flooring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"a
In the main bedroom, a Carmen pendant fixture by PaulinePlusLuis hangs above the custom velvet-upholstered bed. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"a
The main bedroom\u2019s dressing table is also vintage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"floral
Wallpaper fronts closet doors in the main bedroom\u2019s dressing room, where all storage is custom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"two
Evoking a classic dado, two types of ceramic tile appear on the powder room wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"a
Patricia Urquiola\u2019s Triple Slinkie rug softens the oak floor planks in the adjoining bedroom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"a
Astro Tacoma sconces light a guest room bath. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Art
Art deco\u2013inspired stripes of marble tile cover its wall and floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
project team<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

designled: sarah drumm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

project sources<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
from front<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

varier<\/strong>: maroon chair (sitting room).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e15<\/strong>: side table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sovet<\/strong>: coffee table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rockett st george<\/strong>: sconces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

roche bobois<\/strong>: gold chair, sofa (sitting room), throw (main bedroom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

floor story<\/strong>: rugs (sitting room, study, main bedroom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through april and the bear<\/strong>: vases (sitting room), lamp (entry hall), pendant fixture (bedroom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ca design<\/strong>: chair (study).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through acquired<\/strong>: desk (study), nightstands (main bedroom), sideboard (entry hall). hay: stools (kitchen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rothfels<\/strong>: pendant fixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

jonathan williams kitchens<\/strong>: custom cabinetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tecnografica<\/strong>: wallpaper (entry hall).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

doherty flooring<\/strong>: parquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

zoffany<\/strong>: chaise lounge fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

&tradition<\/strong>: side table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mullan lighting<\/strong>: chandelier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hart\u00f4<\/strong>: pendant fixture (main bedroom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through vinterior<\/strong>: vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

oliver bonas<\/strong>: mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

marks & spencer<\/strong>: stool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through etsy<\/strong>: shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

linwood fabric company<\/strong>: bed fabric (bedrooms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fossil stone specialist<\/strong>: wall tile (powder room).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dusk lighting<\/strong>: sconces (bathrooms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lusso stone<\/strong>: vanities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

drench<\/strong>: sink fittings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

italian tile & stone<\/strong>: floor tile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

feathr<\/strong>: wallpaper (dressing room).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

love your home<\/strong>: bed (bedroom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

west elm<\/strong>: nightstand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cc-tapis<\/strong>: rug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

throughout<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

farrow & ball; fired earth<\/strong>: paint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n