The latest venture of Dublin-based agency Lyons Kelly, the restoration of an 1840s villa in County Kildare, Eire, was a very long time coming. Their consumer had grown up close to the home and had lengthy been enchanted by its regal stone facade and idyllic location at a tree-lined bend of the River Liffey. Regardless of residing overseas for a few years, he had at all times stored a watch on it. However when the home got here again available on the market a number of years in the past, he was shocked by its transformation. Earlier house owners had carried out a intestine renovation that hid its authentic options, together with its stained glass home windows and elaborate crown molding. They even lined the granite masonry facade and sanded down the ebonized wood flooring. “The state of it depressed him,” says John Kelly, who cofounded Lyons Kelly with Eoin Lyons, of his consumer.
As a ardour venture, the proprietor determined to revive the home to its regal former state. He had labored with Lyons and Kelly beforehand and knew their many skills. “I’m an architect, however I do largely conservation initiatives, and Eoin is an inside designer,” Kelly explains. The pair, who’ve been a pair for 15 years, weren’t at all times professionally linked, however the distinctive mixture of their ability units, and Eire’s inventory of stately historic properties, meant that collaboration got here naturally. They started working collectively a decade in the past, “with nary a cross phrase since,” Lyons quips.
Their first order of enterprise for the home was determining what was misplaced. Thankfully, clues have been in all places—a bit of cornice behind a false ceiling within the toilet; the define of a doorway beneath a stripped again wall; the precise carved wood doorways, discovered discarded in an outbuilding. The remainder of their piecing collectively got here from their intensive information of interval homes, “however in the end it’s not about making a museum,” Kelly says. They took inventive liberties the place they may.
As soon as the bones have been restored, the duo started increase the brand new design. Within the formal drawing room, as an illustration, they took cues from the bucolic views. “From that room, you’re searching over the river,” explains Lyons, who integrated the pastoral panorama by introducing refined autumnal shades: flowing, rosy linen curtains; moss-colored armchairs by Bruno Moinard; and plush, rust-toned and turmeric throw pillows. Botanical motifs seem too, within the vintage Italian chandeliers, shaped of twisting metallic branches and sprouting crystal leaves, and gilded Artwork Nouveau mirrors—one embellished with climbing vines, the opposite, wading herons. They stored the remainder of the furnishings comparatively subdued in muted impartial hues—a camelback couch by Michael Reeves, prim wood Michael Mortel chairs from the Nineteen Forties, a home made Donegal rug, and scalloped-edge wood stools of their very own design. In addition they added an occasional metallic component, just like the wavy-brass Tom Faulkner espresso desk that, in keeping with Kelly, “catches the morning mild.”
The eating room and examine, nonetheless, have been labeled as “nighttime rooms,” Kelly says. “So we went for richer colours.” Within the former, they began with the floral motif depicted within the burgundy, gold, and sage inexperienced rug by Irish designer Luke Irwin, which they matched with an olive-toned silk wallcovering, yellow Murano glass chandelier, oxblood leather-based chairs, and a Nineteenth-century Georgian eating desk that extends to seat as much as 20 individuals. “That is his weekend home,” he provides. “So when he and his household are right here, they’re typically joined by many visitors.”
In actual fact, to accommodate crowds of buddies that descend on the house on the weekends, Lyons and Kelly carved out area for bedrooms wherever they may, together with three on the bottom degree and 4 on the second story. They designed them to really feel mild and informal as a distinction to the comparatively formal shared areas. The first bed room, which features a dressing room and beneficiant ensuite, is outlined by hints of sample, textured materials, and shiny, chestnut-hued antiques. “We wished richness with out being too fussy,” Lyons notes.
When the home is full, the proprietor and his family and friends benefit from the Irish countryside, strolling alongside the River Liffey and exploring its environment. “It’s beautiful and quiet at evening; you’ll be able to hear the water dashing previous,” says Kelly, who provides that, within the daytime, you’ll be able to spot foxes and herons alongside the grassy riverbanks. Greater than something, the venture has allowed their consumer to reconnect with the small-town life he left way back. “The home is only a 10-minute stroll from the village,” Kelly continues, “and extra importantly, the native pub.”