Renovating a home comes with hundreds of decisions, but not all decisions are created equal. A paint colour that doesn’t quite work can be changed over a weekend; a marble worktop, bathroom suite or bespoke windows are a little harder to reconsider. So when you’re investing in things designed to stay put for years, choosing what you genuinely love matters.
For interior designer Geri O’Toole of Geri Designs, one of the biggest shifts is away from the uniform, pared-back interiors that have dominated in recent years and towards homes with more character across permanent fixtures.
“There is much more interest now in character, texture and materials that feel as though they have been there for some time,” she says. “We are seeing a return to natural stone, interesting marbles, aged and antique finishes, handmade tiles and more characterful sanitary ware.”
It is a move that is particularly noticeable in kitchens and bathrooms, where homeowners are increasingly willing to make choices that might once have felt too bold for something so permanent. But bold doesn’t necessarily mean fashionable or a fad that will quickly fall out of favour. “I don’t think timeless necessarily means neutral any more,” says O’Toole. “A timeless interior can absolutely have colour, pattern and personality.”
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Interior designer Aoife Maria Tobin of Aoife Maria Interiors has noticed a similar change, but says perhaps the most interesting trend is homeowners becoming less interested in recreating somebody else’s room.
“I’m getting a lot more clients asking what might originally have been in older homes,” she says. That can mean matching original coving or choosing flooring and finishes appropriate to the architecture. “It is really positive to see homeowners becoming more confident in creating spaces that feel personal to them and, importantly, right for the home itself.”
That idea of looking at the house in front of you rather than the one saved to your Pinterest board becomes even more important with windows and doors.
Flooring, natural stone, quality joinery, sanitary ware and brassware are worth prioritising precisely because replacing them later can be disruptive and expensive
Stephen Bonner, director of Vindr VS, says homeowners are increasingly considering glazing as part of the architecture rather than something chosen at the end of a renovation. Full-height windows and doors, large fixed panes and generous sliding doors remain popular, but how they work within the room matters just as much as how they look.
“Glazing determines how daylight enters a room, which views become focal points and how the house connects with its surroundings,” he says. “The aim is not necessarily to notice the window itself, but to notice the light, the view and the space it creates.”
Bonner regularly meets clients armed with images of ultra-slim, steel-style doors and threshold-free systems that may look beautiful online but aren’t always practical in the Irish climate. His advice is to invest instead in quality systems, proper thresholds and multi-point locks – the things you will appreciate long after a particular finish has fallen out of favour.
And while larger openings and striking entrances can make an impact, Bonner says they don’t have to come at the expense of longevity. “Homeowners can be ambitious with a large opening or a striking entrance while keeping the overall design simple and timeless,” he says. “The key is proportion: a beautifully positioned window with minimal visual interruption often makes more impact than a complicated design.”
For Catherine Carton, content creator and author, getting the permanent choices right meant first thinking about how she actually wanted to live in her home. Her small kitchen sat alongside a room that was rarely used, while the layout limited natural light and separated the house from a garden she loves. After years of thinking and saving, she knocked through the wall and added French doors rather than extending and sacrificing precious outdoor space.
“Sometimes we have our homes the way we think they ‘should’ be, rather than making them work for how we actually live,” she says.
The result has made the existing house feel larger, created room for family to gather and brought considerably more daylight into the space. Carton visited numerous showrooms before settling on Crittall-style French doors, one of the elements she refused to compromise on. “Now, when I look out from the kitchen, the doors almost turn the garden into a picture.”
Her approach to trends is similarly personal. Carton describes herself as “a bit rebellious” and prefers to keep the bones of her home warm, neutral and classic, bringing her love of florals, wallpaper and cottage-style interiors through elements that can be changed more easily.
It is an approach O’Toole also advocates when deciding where a renovation budget should go. Flooring, natural stone, quality joinery, sanitary ware and brassware are worth prioritising precisely because replacing them later can be disruptive and expensive. Elsewhere, there is room to compromise.
“You might invest in a beautiful marble worktop or bespoke joinery, but choose a more accessible tile or off-the-shelf basin,” she says. “A successful interior isn’t necessarily about how much you spend; it is about where you spend it.”
