Just Darling
The couple inherited the six-arm chandelier that hangs from the sittingroom’s central ceiling rose from the previous owner. They took it down to clean it and broke one arm. The pendant has now been converted into a five-arm light fixture. Beside the fireplace is a teak chest, one of three that the couple shipped home filled with souvenirs of their Indian adventure.
Over the mantelpice in the master bedroom hangs a second Klimt print, Mother and Child, bought at Ikea two days after Liz discovered she was pregnant with twins. A mahogany-framed mirror on the dressing table is another gift from Philip. A marble angel, a piece Philip bought on Portobello Road in London, guards the fireplace.
“She was a holy-water font once upon a time, before she made it to the antique shop,” says Liz. It reminds her of the couple’s first date when she saw it in Philip’s bachelor pad covered in fairy lights. By the mantelpiece is a papier mache heart, made by Philip and their two eldest children as a Valentine’s Day present to Liz when she was eight months pregnant with the twins.
A purple upholstered wingback chair is positioned on an upper landing. the sash window behind it home to row of coloured glass bottles. They are Christmas stocking fillers given by Philip to Liz. He bought them at car boot sales and in antique shops.
The master bathroom has a freestanding tub, the first thing the couple bought for the house. Around the front door is a rambling rose, given as a cutting to the couple by a close friend who died just a few weeks after their wedding. But his memory lives on in the rose, Liz says.
Outside the house sits an old caravan Liz bought for Philip for his 50th birthday. She bought it from a sheep farmer who used to sleep in it during lambing season and redecorated it using the same fabric as on the stools in their bedroom.
This Valentine’s Day the couple is getting away on their own for the first time in three years. They’re heading to Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa for some rest and relaxation, where they plan to revisit some of the sights they took in while on honeymoon in Co Cork four years ago. Who knows what Corkonian keepsakes they will bring back to add to their Darling story.
