Save your space at this home show packed with interiors ideas

The same time period has seen the recognition of climate change, along with spiralling energy costs. Faced with escalating bills, many households are looking to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. These two issues – modular homes and energy saving technologies – are likely to dominate the PTSB Ideal Home Show, which runs at the RDS Simmonscourt from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 October.

When the Ideal Home Show first opened its doors in 1995, its selling point was size. “It was a chance to see everything under one roof,” says Sean Lemass, founder of SDL Exhibitions. Over the years, the show evolved. “The biggest change was the crash in 2009. After that, people started building extensions because they couldn’t afford to move. We ran an advice centre with 30 architects who had no work elsewhere. That was where the opportunity lay in those difficult times.”

Now, times are difficult in a different way. Among the highlights of the show, Grania Murray, interior designer and principal of Studio Grania Murray, will speak at the DFS Interiors Theatre about choosing enduring pieces for your home. “I want to help people align their home with their personal style,” she says. “It’s my superpower!”

She’ll also introduce her new service, The Design Align, intended for people who need support in building, redecorating, or rebuilding their home.

The Design Align comes in two packages. One is for those who seek to refine, not redo, their homes. “People are bombarded with choices and inspirational images,” Murray says. “They add things to their homes that don’t really represent them. I want to help to buy less, but to buy things that matter.”

The second package is for “anyone building new – whether by choice or circumstance – who wants clarity and calm while moving forward.” The service is priced individually, but the initial 15-minute call is free.

Murray has recently moved back to Ireland after 12 years in Pasadena, California. Earlier this year, her home was threatened by wildfires.

“We grabbed our pets and ran,” she says. “I’ve lived around the world and refined my possessions down to the things that matter. But you realise how little matters when you’re running for your life.” The things that matter, as she defines it, are the ones you’d grab to take with you along with the dog and the cat. “When you unpack them, you realise who you are.”

Happily, Murray’s home survived the fire. When she unpacked, she noticed that everything she’d brought with her was Irish: a pair of Al Frank candlesticks, an Avoca throw her sister had given her, a couple of pictures, a tiny mug by Nicolas Mosse, and a bowl by Stephen Pearse. “Life works in mysterious ways in terms of understanding the things that matter,” she says. “I realised that the core of who I am is Irish and I want to come home.”

In the months that followed, Murray set up The Design Align to assist those who had to rebuild. Many homes had been burned to the ground. “There are people building homes who never intended to. Not everyone can afford an interior designer, but they still need their hand held. They still need to know where to put the door.”

This service translates surprisingly well to the Irish context. Here too, many people are building by necessity rather than choice. If you’re erecting a modular home or building on the vegetable patch at the back of the garden, getting the design right the first time could save you money and heartache.

Another thing that’s changed over the past 30 years is the dominance of screen time. Television has been with us for a while, but the multitude of internet-enabled devices is new and many are consciously reducing screen time for the sake of their mental health.

Also at the DFS Interiors Theatre, interior designer James McNamara of JMC Studio will speak about quiet hobbies and how to make a space for them in your home.

“It’s not about plugging out,” McNamara says. “It’s about plugging back in. Quiet hobbies are about disconnecting and reconnecting at the same time. Carving out a space in the home is key. If you give your hobby a physical place, it removes the excuse that you don’t have the space to do it. You’re not going to be in the way and nobody’s going to be in your way.”

The nature of the hobby dictates the type of space required. Jigsaw puzzles require a table top, preferably one that folds out so that the puzzle doesn’t take over the home. Embroidery needs task lighting. A sewing machine needs a shelf. McNamara likes knitting and journaling, which he does in his bedroom.

“I like to close the door,” he admits. “But other people like their quiet hobbies to be around other people.” Open plan living areas, for example, often have empty spaces within them. Often, all that’s needed is an armchair, a lamp, and a side table in the corner of a room. “Make sure you’re comfortable,” McNamara says. “Time does slip away.”

Also at the Ideal Home Show, the Dulux Heritage Interior Design Hub offers colour consultancy along with the opportunity to see the paint colours in the context of room sets by interior designers: Sarah Louise Dunne of Sarah Louise Interiors and Carla Benedetti.

Based in Co Wicklow, Benedetti is an Irish designer with Italian heritage. Her father, a mosaic artist, came to live in Ireland at the age of 16. “My father’s mosaic would be very traditional,” she says. “He taught me a lot, but it takes years to build up that skill. It taught me to value longevity and craftsmanship.”

Her design for the Ideal Homes is intended to create a balance between new and repurposed pieces. It radiates from a central piece of furniture, a former haberdashery table from France which normally lives in her own kitchen.

“The kitchen is the heart of the home,” Benedetti says. “But this is very much a non-kitchen look. The table’s legs are literally tree trunks!” The wall paint, a deep earthy taupe, is Dulux Heritage Terra Ombra. “It suits the look and works well with natural materials and textures.”

​See idealhome.ie, graniamurray.com, jmcstudios.ie, duluxheritage.ie