This Georgian manor is the perfect escape for the romantic at heart, a townhouse located just outside of Dublin, Ireland, it keeps most of the era's original features and colour palette intact.
“For me, the best homes are layered and emotive. I never want my work to look shiny and new, like it’s from a single showroom,” says Dublin interior designer Róisín Lafferty. Her eponymous, recently opened gallery in the city’s Fitzwilliam Square – which dates back to the Georgian era – is an embodiment of that philosophy: an elegant townhouse where furniture and artworks come together as in a real home, old beside new.
The designer’s latest residential project is also in harmony with this vision. Another Georgian property, Colt Manor fuses traditional and modern influences in captivating style. One point of difference is the location, which swaps the city for the rolling countryside outside Dublin. The grandly proportioned manor is a generational home which Lafferty has reimagined with a fresh, youthful perspective. “It echoes a way of living from times gone by,” she says. “There’s something truly special about such properties, brimming with stories from the past, and in bringing them into the present.”
With multiple generations of one family in residence, striking a balance between old and new was challenging. “There was so much nostalgia and emotion here – as an outsider, I had to tread lightly and listen, both to the clients and to the building itself,” says Lafferty, who spent three years working on the project. “Empathy played a huge part, and there’s a subtlety to the design because of that.”
Because the project evolved slowly, beginning with a kitchen makeover before expanding across the whole house, Lafferty was able to take a “slow and sensitive” approach. “Aesthetically and sensorially, the owners wanted it to feel the same,” she says. “It was important to them that their children and grandchildren felt the same draw to the house as they had, and wanted to spend more time here.”
Original features of the Georgian manor were “simplified and refined”, and the strong colours for which Georgian interiors are celebrated were brought into play. The principal bedroom, for example, is “wrapped in maroon and faded ruby tones”, while a powder room with swathes of plum and purple marble echoes the masses of stone in the original architecture. “The rich shades have a faded, historical quality,” says Lafferty, who also introduced paler hues in some of the downstairs rooms. “Fresh, happy colours” appear in the sage-green kitchen, a powder-blue living room that took inspiration from the serene landscape paintings on the walls, and the sunlit orangery. The latter is a new structure with a welcoming, modern slant, inspired by Belgian interiors and featuring a sculpted ivory plaster fireplace. “The colour contrasts add to the sense of exploration as you meander through the house, discovering alternate worlds.”
Hidden behind the dining room is a music and TV snug. Its custom timber bookcases are a contemporary version of the cosy wood-panelled study, where the painting above the bespoke Verde Alpi marble fireplace forms part of the owners’ collection of British and Irish art. “The marble was chosen to pull out the painting’s blue tones,” says Lafferty, who also created the rosewood-stained oak panelling. “I wanted this room to feel old-world,” she adds. The antique tapestry armchairs are the owners’ oldest possessions, while the coffee table, made from a vintage Swedish base and a custom marquetry top, depicts wildlife on the estate.
Colt Manor’s animals and gardens are dear to the owners, and the home’s pièce de résistance – a custom mural that enlivens the immersive green dining room – was conceived as a tribute to them. “We worked with a photographer who has documented the estate’s flora and fauna over the past 30 years to collate the family’s favourite scenes and creatures,” explains Lafferty. “Artist Elena Carozzi then created a large-scale painting, which was applied to wallpaper. It took a long time and was one of the last elements to be installed, but the result is magical. Walking into this room feels like stepping into another world.”
Bringing the outdoors in, the mural has immense emotional resonance, honouring the horses, deer, pheasants and alpacas that live here amid thriving mature parkland. “There’s a poetic sensibility to this house – a nostalgic haze that envelops you as you experience the areas of shadow and light,” Lafferty reflects. “Now it has more depth and detail, and a meaningful tactility that can be felt throughout, like a thread weaving the spaces together.” @roisinlafferty
