What Kathryn Thomas did to renovate her Dublin 8 home

Kathryn Thomas updated her kitchen by repainting the units and adding new light fittings from Hicken Lighting.

The original steel staircase was designed and installed by Thomas's father, Gwynne, more than 10 years ago as a housewarming gift. The stairs had no sides originally, to allow light into the kitchen area from a large skylight above the well, but these were not baby firendly, so Karina Haslip from Optimise Design designed a vertical slatted wall which acts as the balustrade and creates a storage space below without blocking the light. The stairs, kitchen island and main wall are painted in Dulux Steel Symphony 1, which balances beautifully with the warm timbers in the existing kitchen and the new slatted wall to the side of the stairs.

The couple’s new bedroom, although smaller than their original one, feels bigger now as they have removed all but the bare necessities. The walls are painted in Dulux Pure Pebble, while the woodwork was painted with Dulux Backdrop to set off the period features. The soft pink curtains and headboard were designed and installed by Lucan Fabrics to complement the scheme.

Thomas’s main agenda with the refurbishment was to get practical about storage, so they split the original main bedroom in two – dedicating one half to the nursery and fitting out the other half as a generous walk-in wardrobe, accessed through a new opening from the main bedroom. The wardrobe units were fitted out by Bespace and painted in Dulux Nomadic Glow 2.