Architect who aims to open your eyes

Want to realise the full potential of your home? Emma Cullinan meets an architect with a consultancy service to stretch your imagination

Light, space, good storage and carefully chosen furniture combine to make a beautiful home. We know that: we've read about it. But what happens if you can't actually pull the look together?

Your own kitchen is dark and has poorly planned work surfaces, the house is coming down with clutter, you don't know what paint colours to choose, or the livingroom feels cramped.

Your fairy godmother may come in the form of architect Eva Byrne. "I can walk into a home and immediately see all the possibilities of a space," she says. And she has good reason to be this confident.

As a child she would often move her bedroom furniture around, and every Thursday she would look through The Irish Times Property supplement with its, then, pages of smallish black and white photographs of houses, and choose her favourite.

She later studied architecture at UCD and then worked for both Murray O'Laoire and McCullough Mulvin, as well as working as an architect in Spain, before branching out on her own.

Now she's decided to hone her skills and offer a consultancy service in which she visits a home, for a two-hour assessment, to help people realise the full potential of their space.

Clients so far have included a family who were interested in buying a two-storey house with a garden.

After having spoken to them about how they liked to live, Eva looked at the house and advised them against it. "The garden level had a low ceiling and I felt the house lacked potential. It was never really going to suit them."

Another client wants to sell her London house and move home to Ireland. Eva has advised on how to get an optimal look to help sell the house and is finding her a suitable home here.

Another family had a modest semi-detached house and a smallish garden and wanted to maximise the space. Eva discussed their lifestyle, how they used the spaces, how they interacted with each other and came up with three options: all involving various levels of structural change.

The one involving least change, for instance, included replacing solid doors with glazed doors, widening openings, and selecting certain paints and finishes.

"This very low key intervention would really improve a house," says Eva, who always provides around three options and can work with all sorts of budgets.

"There are so many possibilities nowadays that people can be confused about how to achieve a particular look. I can open people's eyes to the fact that there are many different ways of doing things, from putting in a roof light, building an extension or just moving the furniture. One thing a lot of people do to make a room look bigger is to push the furniture back against the walls but that doesn't work."

Eva had the idea for this business when people started asking for her advice on how to improve their homes, and insisted on paying for it. She then read a feature about a wardrobe consultant, who rifles through clothes and decides what clients should wear.

"I thought, 'I could do that for houses'," says Eva. She sees herself as being an "accessible architect" realising that many people are intimidated by the idea of employing architects.

She also admits that, as an architect, she would withhold certain information when speaking with a potential client.

"Architects have an initial consultation with a client where you talk about the project and what's envisaged. As an architect you're selling yourself but you're not giving any ideas away.

"You're not going to do that unless you get the commission. You'll show examples of previous work and enthuse in general about what they have.

"People are thrilled with the potential project, but when you mention the fee many say that they can't afford it. There's so much you could say at that consultation but you hold back.

"I don't mean that as a negative reflection on architects but you do want to be paid for your work. That's why I felt there is this thirst for professional input about what can be done with a space."

Unlike certain wardrobe consultants, Eva says she's not tyrannical and doesn't intend to criticise what people have or dictate to them. She wants to work with what they have.

"I don't think that people necessarily go wrong with their homes, they just don't realise the potential. What interests me is how to maximise space and light."

While she will be advising on the potential of a space, Eva won't be seeing a project through with builders.

But she will open her contacts book: she'll suggest architects, electricians, plumbers and so on, who will be well suited to particular jobs (something that's probably worth the €250 fee alone). She will also advise on the best way to procure a builder and planning permission.

While the home consultation lasts for two hours and costs €250, Eva can also take clients on furniture shopping forays and does pre-purchase home evaluations (not a survey) for an extra charge.

While she's tapped into the makeover zeitgeist, this is something that Eva is personally enthusiastic about.

"It just seems the right thing for me to do at this point. I feel that this is a new way of using my skills in a way that suits my personality, my interests, my professional training and my background."

Eva Byrne can be contacted on 087-2940805 and e-mail info@evabyrne.com