It’s not every day that a child gets to return as an adult to their family home and restore it, but for the owners of this home in Wicklow, that’s what happened. Creative director of Oriana B, Alannah Monks tells us how she did it
Words: Nikki Walsh | Photography: Shauna Lally
To return the client’s childhood home, which his father had divided into apartments, into a large, comfortable five-bedroom family house. The project had two phases: in the first, Alannah Monks got rid of all the apartments and made it liveable for a family of six; in phase two, she built a kitchen extension and landscaped the garden. The clients had a clear vision: they wanted a cosy family space with an indoor-outdoor feel to the extension with flower beds at all the windows.
In phase one, Alannah and her building team removed all the apartments, removing gallery kitchens, fire exits and fire doors while keeping all the bedrooms en suite. In phase two, her team got to work on the kitchen extension. You can find out what happened next...in the January/February issue of House and Home. But as a taster, here's Alannah's tips for getting the best out of your builder.
1. Give yourself a realistic time frame (but keep the real-time frame to yourself!) – delays happen, and people make mistakes, so make sure that you give yourself time to rectify these; always have a front-facing deadline that is at least two weeks to a month sooner than you need.
2. You want them to keep surprises to a minimum, so offer them the same courtesy. Nothing will cause bad blood and missed deadlines than flip-flopping on decisions and having people redo work to suit a new fancy or hair-brained idea. Planning ahead and being on the same page with your builder is the only way to manage a renovation effectively.
3. When all else fails, hire a designer! Having someone who is completely unfazed by problematic tradespeople and has a little black book of potential replacements is, without a doubt, the easiest way to manage a build.
To read the rest of this renovation feature – and for all the other brilliant buys, ideas and interiors inspiration – don't miss the January/February 2025 issue of House and Home. Buy a digital copy here.
