Eoin Lyons visits the home of the architect turned actress and singer Camille O'Sullivan.
Camille O'Sullivan has always been willing to try something new, especially if it's creative. Until recently she was best known for her singing, making a name as an interpreter of classic cabaret songs. Then she added acting to her CV - she has just appeared in Stephen Frears's film Mrs Henderson Presents, with Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. Before all that she was an architect. "My stage presence means people assume I live in a red-velvet boudoir," she says. "They're surprised coming here." O'Sullivan practised for four years after graduating, winning an Architectural Association of Ireland award in 2000. "When I won it seemed like a good point on which to leave architecture. I was called the Singing Architect, but I didn't want to look back and have never tired of what I'm doing now."
• Camille O'Sullivan performs the songs of Jacques Brel, Nick Cave and Tom Waits in Camille: La Fille du Cirque, at the Olympia, Dublin, tomorrow. See www.camilleosullivan.com or www.ticketmaster.ie
WORK WITH WHITE A room to the front of the house has white walls and white furniture. "I always have an all-white room wherever I live," says O'Sullivan. "Life is chaotic. This is a place I can relax after a gig: calm down, have a glass of wine and sit by the fire." Despite loving contemporary architecture, she says, she has a soft spot for pretty things, such as an iron day bed (see top right), some floral cushions and a lace tablecloth that she uses as curtains. "The funny thing is that as a designer I have very minimal tastes. I think I'm slowly morphing into my mother, who loves this kind of stuff."
LOOSEN UP Rooms with fixed functions can feel static and uptight, says O'Sullivan. "I don't use a room for just one purpose. For example, the diningroom is more than a place to eat; it is also where I paint. Sometimes people think my sittingroom is a bedroom when they see the day bed [ right], which I use as a sofa."FOCUS ON DETAILS The relaxed and quirky nature of the house belies O'Sullivan's gift for display. Each corner delights the eye. Vignettes juxtapose old and new, shiny and matte, strange and sublime. They adorn tabletops, walls and mantelpieces. Her stage props often include a suspended candle or a small round table from her home. "I dress my rooms like a set, and what's here is really more about little ideas rather than a grand scheme."
CREATE MOOD WITH LIGHT Lighting creates atmosphere. O'Sullivan doesn't like lighting that comes from the ceiling; instead, she uses table lamps, floor lamps and, most of all, candles, which she puts in all sorts of holders.
GO EASY ON PICTURE FRAMES One corner is dedicated to O'Sullivan's art. Sketches are taped to the wall, and a painting rests on an easel. "I don't think I like frames. They're good for old paintings, but they can make a picture too formal." Some of the sketches, which are of styles of architecture that she saw in Japan, were shown at the Royal Hibernian Academy's annual exhibition. On top of a stack of sketchbooks is a model O'Sullivan made of a Le Corbusier building. "The notebooks represent my travels. When I'm away I use them as a visual diary. If the house was burning they're the first things I'd save."
DRESSING UP When she changed career, O'Sullivan also changed her appearance. "My style went from suit-wearing architect to corset-wearing singer. I always wanted a Bohemian lifestyle and the freedom it could bring. I've got myself into a position where I can live the way I want and dress the way I wish. When I buy something outrageous my friends ask where I'm going to wear it. Then they see me cycling down the road in it. I keep promising to teach them how to cycle in high heels." Shoes sit on each step of her staircase, and handbags hang from a rail in her bedroom.
"Much of my style developed from touring with the Spiegel Tent. It's a very sexily dressed world, and some of it rubbed off. Now I don't differentiate between how I dress on stage and off. I don't go for big-name labels but mix things from second-hand shops with bits from places like Coast or Topshop."
MAKE-UP A 1930s dressing table in O'Sullivan's bedroom holds jewellery, perfume and make-up. "It's a girly station. The performer Dita Von Teese has made 1950s make-up fashionable, but my beauty icon is Ava
Gardner. It's all about lips and eyes: very styled and very groomed. If you want a film-star lifestyle, you can make your own little world by using things like clothes and make-up."
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