A contemporary take on the Connemara cottage, this home is inspired by the breathtaking landscape that surrounds it
Interior designer Róisín Lafferty infuses a tired Connemara cottage with some of her signature sophisticated flair, taking the landscape as a mood board.
Entering Róisín Lafferty’s world, one quickly realises you are being taken on a journey, one that walks the line between playful and daring, dreamy and subdued and one which always surprises and delights. She is a designer to whom the tiniest detail means everything, where importance is placed on the layering of materials and on spaces that bring calm and beauty but with plenty of pep.
The tale of this Connemara cottage is no different to her pedigree of projects that have run the gamut of restaurants and hotels to grand country piles and tiny apartments. All of them have their own narrative, driven by the client and the context of the location. In this instance, the landscape of Connemara has informed its country coastal familiarity, but is interrupted by sleek modern flourishes.
“It was initially a small project that really consisted of reconfiguring the two bathrooms,” notes Róisín, “but it soon became clear that the entire fabric of the building needed upgrading and the interior space replanning.” The cottage had been in the family for many years and while in a beautiful setting, lacked any clear design direction with elements feeling outdated and out of sync. The interior was dark and felt like “endless corridors”, and so she set about streamlining the spaces, reducing the prominence of the hallway and rethinking the kitchen, dining and lounge area, while repurposing a wasted snug only accessible from the corridor.
“I knew straight away I wanted to close in the dominant open-tread staircase and make it more subtle within the entrance.” Save for the façade, an entire reconfiguration took place, installing new windows, insulation, rewiring and plumbing, adding new partition walls on the ground floor and building the new bones of the family home. I can’t imagine there’s much that rattles Lafferty when it comes to design decisions, but she does admit that her bravest decision was to knock the original chimney breast that ate into the lounge and divided it from the now snug, replacing it with a double-sided fire accessed from both sides, framing the snug with a stone portal.
For Róisín, designing over spaces that aren’t working is not part of her philosophy. “Getting a space to perform at its best is always the most exciting aspect,” she admits. “You can elevate good spatial design with finishes but the space has to work first.”
Aesthetically, the goal was to soften and unite the spaces and for them to reflect the Connemara landscape. The project is named “Tonal Haven” – a nod to its nuanced mix of subtle tones that riff on warm woods and fresh marbles, polished plaster and rough stone. Everything has a “muddy overlay” to it – the seafoam marble in the kitchen resembles the sea outside with splashes of green and blue. This is contrasted with the Irish green bathroom marble – a clash of lime and mucky green that shouldn’t work, but does.
“I didn’t want to pick loads of paint colours and fabrics,” explains Róisín. “I felt like the interior should be more natural and honest than that, even the decorative items are muted and minimalist.” Customisation is integral to Lafferty’s designs, from the modular sofa to polished concrete walls made by master craftsman PD Marlow, who mixed a unique plaster recipe for each space with his own pigments.
Compact spaces are far more interesting than vast properties with vast budgets
The finished home is a testament to Róisín’s design preferences, which lean into sensual sophistication and her love of Connemara, but her sense of minimalism too, influenced by a trip to Japan several years ago. And yet, she prefers to dismiss the notion of a signature style in favour of projects dictating the direction themselves. “I do love a grid line, however,” she laughs. And framed views, which require getting the technical details right. “The simpler things look in the end, the more complex they tend to be to get there. Like everything, it is about balance. And I seek to always balance this logic with emotion and atmosphere. It is both of these elements combined that form the best result.”
In the case of this project, boundaries were pushed with the interior architecture and detailing, taking time to strip out wasted spaces such as over-scaled storage and under-scaled bathrooms. Regular doors were removed and headers were opened to allow for full-height concealed doors throughout. The builder thought she was crazy but it made a huge difference in how you experience the space. Mirrored Crittall doors into the master bedroom allow for the illusion of space, and polished plaster conceals the entrance door with travertine skirting that continues onto the door face. There’s a rawness in materials but it’s slickly executed with crisp mitred edges and perfect finishes that feels fresh but not delicate, and where no two finishes are the same.
The original 140-square-metre four-bed home hasn’t increased in size, but now it has two extra bathrooms and considerable extra swagger. Despite a storied portfolio, it is the more compact spaces Lafferty relishes. “If I simply came in and redecorated it, I would have felt like I’d failed. Compact spaces are far more interesting than vast properties with vast budgets.” Instead, she has brought well-considered design to the most beautiful place and created a family home that will endure for years to come, one that is undeniably serene and in tune with its surround.
Photography: Ruth Maria Murphy
This feature originally appeared in the autumn/winter 2024 issue of IMAGE Interiors. Have you thought about becoming a subscriber? Find out more, and sign up here.
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