December 03, 2023
After spending her early career as a documentary film director, Dublin resident Lisa Marconi made the switch a decade ago to become a self-taught interior designer. As principal of DesignLed, he has developed a practice based on his visual arts background but with a strong focus on collaboration and client input. Perhaps because of an outsider's perspective, Marconi's approach to each project was very accommodating. As he says, “I'm not someone who has very strict rules about what you can and can't, should and shouldn't do.”
So it's no surprise that Marconi enthusiastically accepted the challenge when a husband and wife came to him with a housing project full of very specific requests—among them turquoise walls—as well as some fundamentally contradictory requests. The client tore down the 1970s house to build something more modern but modeled after the Irish capital's famous Georgian architecture. In a U-shaped floor plan, the 4,500-square-foot home will have two floors and include formal and casual living areas as well as five bedrooms, all connected by a spacious corridor, but still need to feel comfortable for a family with young children. DesignLed's goal was to make the interior as attractive as possible, even eye-catching, but still friendly and welcoming to guests who are often hosted by the family. The spaces that Marconi and his team created overcome these problems by embracing eclecticism and playing with color, scale, and detail.
HOW DOES THE INTERIOR OF THIS HOME REFLECT THE ARCHITECTURE OF GEORGIA DUBLIN
A key element in the designer's overall strategy is something so subtle that it's almost imperceptible at first, even though it begins the moment you walk in the front door: the use of custom wall panels to visually bridge the gap between the late 18th-century residences. –its contemporary facade and interior style. Vertical panels, inset with pale wallpaper depicting storks, provide the backdrop to twin staircases on either side of the double-height entrance hall, where giant bubble chandeliers and de Versailles oak parquet floors add the immediate wow factor.
In the formal sitting room, the prints are more bold and traditional, although the walls are painted in the required aqua and teal colors, the paintings are modernist-influenced acrylics by contemporary Irish artist John Redmond, and the furnishings are, as Marconi observes, “a collection of uber-modern pieces.” and vintage” assortment that includes current pieces like a maroon Terje Ekstrøm chair and a purple Sacha Lakic sofa juxtaposed with a pair of 1960s oak armchairs that already belonged to the client. owned. “We really like that contrast,” he notes. This molding also serves another traditional function, namely to disguise the bars of the wall-mounted cabinets and the door to the adjacent study.
Upstairs in the master bedroom, the paneling is more minimalist—with an updated classic arch shape—but still manages to hide the door to the ensuite bathroom and study-like dressing room. In fact, there are hidden doors in most of the main rooms. “It's a way to make them feel more in control and scale them down, so you don't just see doors everywhere,” explains Marconi. “This helps the house feel like a comfortable family home, rather than a mansion.” Adding to the effect, each wing of the house, and each room within it, has a distinct personality rather than sharing a consistent style that aims to make the spaces flow seamlessly into one another. “Of course, we wanted the project to make sense as a whole,” the designer continues, “but we also wanted the space to stand on its own.”
To that end, the living room adjacent to the teal sitting room and study is painted a deep cranberry color, while the open kitchen, dining, and living room occupying the opposite wing are bright, minimalist, and neutral, enhanced with natural materials such as oak and Dolomite rock. The master bedroom leans more towards pastel colors, with lots of use of softer textures like velvet upholstery and wall-to-wall carpeting under an Optik Kitty Joseph rug. To further emphasize its unique design identity, each room has a different style of lighting fixture, from a luxurious crystal chandelier in the dressing room to a sleek brass linear pendant above the kitchen island. The wide hallway that connects these spaces with big personalities is painted plain white to act, the designer says, “as a visual palette cleanser.”
PROJECT TEAM
DESIGNED: SARAH DRUMM.
PROJECT SOURCES
FROM THE FRONT
VARIER: MAROON SEATS (SITTING ROOM).
E15: SIDE TABLE.
SOVET: COFFEE TABLE.
ROCKET ST GEORGE: SCONCE.
ROCHE BOBOIS: GOLDEN CHAIR, SOFA (SITTING ROOM), THROW (MASTER BEDROOM).
FLOORING: TARGET (SITTING ROOM, STUDY ROOM, MAIN BEDROOM).
UNTIL THE MONTH OF APRIL AND BEAR: VASES (SITING ROOM), LAMP (ENTRY HALL), PENDANT FIXTURES (BEDROOM).
CA DESIGN: SEAT (STUDY).
THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF A WORK DESK (STUDY ROOM), BEDSIDE TABLE (MASTER BEDROOM), AND BUFET (ENTRY ROOM). STRAW: STOCK (KITCHEN).
ROTHFELS: PENDANT EQUIPMENT.
JONATHAN WILLIAMS KITCHEN: CUSTOMIZED CLOSET.
TECNOGRAFICA: WALLPAPER (ENTRY ROOM).
DOHERTY FLOOR: PARQUETTE.
ZOFFANY: LAZY CHAIR FABRIC.
&TRADITION: SIDE TABLE.
MULAN LIGHTING: CHANGE LAMP.
HARTÔ: PENDANT FIXTURES (MASTER BEDROOM).
VIA VINYLLER: ARROGANCE.
OLIVER BONAS : MIRROR.
SIGN & SPENCER: BENCH.
VIA ETSY: SHELF.
LINWOOD FABRIC COMPANY: BEDROOM FABRIC.
FOSSIL STONE SPECIALIST: WALL TILES (POWDER ROOM).
Twilight Lighting: SCONCE (BATHROOM).
LUSSO STONE: ARROGANCE.
DROPPING WET: WINNER EQUIPMENT.
ITALIAN TILES & STONE: FLOOR TILES.
FEATHERS: WALLPAPER (DRESSING ROOM).
LOVE YOUR HOUSE: BEDROOM (BEDROOM).
WEST ELM: BEDSIDE TABLE.
CC-TAPIS: TARGET.
DURING
FARROW & BALL; BURNING SOIL: PAINT.
