When it comes to holiday accommodation, there is nothing better than a room with a view, but when the entire house is afforded a spectacular vista, then it really is something special.
This is the case of a beautifully-located holiday home in Ardmore, Co Waterford, which is not only positioned along one of the beautiful coastlines in the country, but also has its own private beach.
The house, which was built on family-owned land, was designed to make the most of the breathtaking views. To this end, the owners enlisted the help of designer Arlene McIntyre of RTÉ’s Designed for Life fame, who created a stunning interior whilst making the most of the unique exterior surroundings.
“The clients already had the land in their possession and had appointed their architect and builder before we came on board,” McIntyre says. “But we were engaged at the very early stages of construction as the clients wanted our design advice on how best the open plan spaces could function while taking in the views – and, as the open plan kitchen, dining and living spaces were so large we felt it was important to break them into three different areas by introducing zones. Everything, down to the flooring, finishes, joinery and furnishings were all wrapped around light, durability and, most importantly, taking in the views.
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“Our clients wanted to create areas in which they could entertain casually and informally but not lose the feeling of total luxury – and our brief was to produce design concepts for all spaces, including the overall look, feel and flow throughout.
“We also designed the lighting plans and bathroom designs, and together with our joinery partners we supplied all of the joinery, including bespoke bookcases and the kitchen. We supplied a complete turn-key fit-out to all of the rooms throughout, and sourced all furnishings and fittings from Ventura Design.”
The elaborate project at the six-bedroom house took around two years from the first meeting to the client moving in, and McIntyre says this involved many site visits and off-site design meetings in studio. The specialist in bespoke interior design and interior architecture says there is a lot involved in creating “timeless classic elegance with a contemporary twist”.
“The client’s experience is key and involves an ongoing open dialogue to deliver the brief in its most beautiful effortless form,” she says.
“This project took 24 months and we had to deal with the pandemic in the middle of it all. This, of course, slowed down a lot of the building works and inevitably caused delays to all of our projects, including this one, as all works were halted and, many deliveries were delayed, both coming in and going out.
“This was totally unforeseen and something which we all had to work around, but fortunately we could continue our design work on all other aspects of the project remotely and virtually as we are fortunate to have our own in-house team who create our CGIs (computer-generated imaging) for us. So we were able to create several of these with views of the various rooms to help the client (and, indeed, all of our clients) to visualise the spaces fully furnished before the work was even finished.”
The home is privately owned and used, but it is also available for rent through exceptionalvillas.com/rochtaine.com.
McIntyre co-owns Ventura Design with her husband Juergen Riedel. The Dublin-based designer has been the driving force behind the design of many high profile personalities’ homes, including Pippa O’Connor and Vogue Williams, and says she really enjoyed working on the coastal property in Co Waterford as it allowed her to use her creative skills to the fullest while making the most of the beautiful backdrop provided by mother nature.
On a recent visit McIntyre says she and the team were in awe of the location and views, “as the sunsets were spectacular, and at night time we could see every star in the sky”.
Taking your time when renovating or designing a property is important, she says.
“Throughout this project, each and every decision was carefully considered with the client so nothing was rushed, and this is a good example as to why it’s so important to give yourself oodles of time to play around with your design ideas before embarking on a project of this size.”
