Kathrin Houlihan’s expertise in buying and selling houses has given her kitchen-diner a stylish, spacious and contemporary edge
Interviews: Ciara Elliott | Photography: Philip Lauterbach
Mother of three grown up children, Kathrin Houlihan is originally from Sweden and married to builder, Kevin. The couple has renovated many houses together and are currently also working on a holiday cottage in Kerry.
The spacious kitchen has room for two dishwashers as well as two sinks, and a generous prep area with room for seating at the central island.
Decorator’s moodboard:
The key objective with our kitchen was to create a spacious area which would be the ‘heart of the home’ and feature a large, open plan kitchen-dining and living area. We wanted the result to have an outside-in feel with a layout that connected with our pretty garden.
The beautiful kitchen worktops are Calacatta Gold quartz, which Kathrin sourced from Tile Merchant in Ballymount.
My experience:
We designed the kitchen, which my husband made (his company is called Houlihan Construction), to full height to take advantage of the high ceiling. We really took our time so that we could consider the details and get what we imagined. We wanted this room to command attention so picked a punchy blue custom shade which was colour matched for us in a Benjamin Moore paint and resulted in a colour called ‘Oceana Blue’. The finishing touches make all the difference. We sourced the warm copper handles, copper tap and industrial style lighting all from Amazon.
The floors throughout are large format Crema Marfil porcelain floor tiles, also from Tile Merchant.
Favourite part:
I love our bar stools which were a lucky find at a local charity shop. I also love the boiling water tap, and the endless storage due to the stacked cupboard and super-high ceiling.
The dining room area is painted in Hardwick White by Farrow & Ball, which forms a perfect backdrop to Kathrin's artwork.
Kitchen design advice:
Write a list of ‘musts’. I wanted to have a proper overhang on the island for seating and a sizeable worktop for prep so they were among my ‘musts’.
See more of Kathrin's beautiful home by following her on Instagram @scandiandirish
If you enjoyed this inside look at a real reader's kitchen, don't miss our peep into media personality Lucy Kennedy's classic kitchen.
