Modern Heritage: Inside fabric designer Juliet O’Carroll’s wonderfully patterned home

“I have always loved how home, collectors and interiors can reflect the passions and latest discoveries of each generation,” she says. “So in the early 18th century, for instance, tea from China was rare and valuable, so people made panelled rooms to drink tea in. In the Regency era, designers were suddenly excited about having steel so balconies, glass rooms and conservatories became fashionable. The social and technological history of interiors is so fascinating.”

It’s part of what has always inspired Juliet’s interior aesthetic. “I know that there will always be a cooler, minimalist crowd in design, but I think your interiors taste is essentially whatever makes you happy and comfortable.”

The house was in good shape when the couple decided to renovate. “It was a decorative overhaul mainly, which is largely what attracted us, as we didn’t want a huge project that would take months,” says Juliet. “So after painting and wallpapering as well as overhauling the kitchen, we could move in quickly. We did put in new bathrooms, which was a bigger – and more expensive – job, but so worth it, and we also had new flooring throughout. Essentially, we bought the house in July 2023, and we were living in it by that October.”

Much of the house is adorned in Parker and Jules fabrics, a veritable playground for combining pattern and colour that the company is known for. However, peppered throughout are parts picked up during Jules and Dero’s life together. “The paintings are all vintage with some bought at auction in Dublin and others in France,” says Juliet.

Much of the original kitchen cabinets were resprayed in Pea Green by Little Greene. “We took out the over-counter cupboards and added shelving,” says Juliet. “We then had a long banquette and butcher’s block made to anchor the room on the dining room side and to give a distinct area to sit in. We had the floor stained in a diamond pattern to add another layer of pattern, which pulls the two sides together and disguises that, actually, it is a pretty basic engineered wooden kitchen floor.”

Glimpses of the larder area reveal the wallpaper Strawberry Fields (another from Parker and Jules) with a worktop that was reclaimed from an old science lab via a local yard.

“I wanted the front room to feel lighter and airier and more grown-up than the rest of the house,” says Juliet. “The back sitting room is where the TV is and this is definitely the area to hunker down and get snug. It was actually the last area we designed, and I am so happy with it, as I wasn’t sure what my plan was – we lived on bean bags for months – but it just clicked. Now I think it’s my favourite room
in the house.

“There is a real colour story in this house,” she continues. “I had the idea that I would take people on a colour journey using both the prettiest colours – lilacs and pistachios and pinks – alongside earthy muddy browns and purples. These colours are echoed and repeated throughout, from the architraves to the woodwork to the prints on different fabrics and wallpapers.”

In the main bedroom, the unusual chest of drawers has a cool octagonal pattern that works well with the block-print-style wallpaper. “There was actually no fireplace or cupboards. We put them in, in order to really take on that period house aesthetic, as this room would have been more originally like that,” says Juliet. “The prints on the fabrics and curtains all add to that.”

And is there anything she would like to change in the house? Or feel they should have done during the revamp? “Yes! I actually wish I had painted some of our ceilings. I love a colour drench and think maybe the yellow in the kitchen could have gone up and overhead. I also know that I thought about it at the time but then I felt too mean asking the builders. There’s always the next project!” parkerandjules.com