Magic mix of styles make house a home

Bronwen McGouran combines Oriental, Arts and Crafts and art deco, writes EMMA CULLINAN

Bronwen McGouran is currently living with her parents and son in a house she designed for them in Dalkey. A former interior designer, she now runs the Angel Park Eatery in Dublin’s Lower Mount Street with her sister

You have a very distinctive style, a mix of art deco, Arts and Crafts and Regency

I have been lucky to be able to do a signature design because I have worked for my father, Joe, who is a property developer.

I was reared in Australia and we travelled an awful lot. I remember going to Asia at eight or nine years old. I’ll never forget going to the Excelsior Hotel in Hong Kong and loving the creative Oriental opulence.

I have since been drawn by Oriental, art deco and Arts and Crafts styles and their detail, balance and lines. It was a great gift to get that influence at a young age.

The design of this house reflects all of that

Yes, this site had a cottage on it and we put in for planning permission for two houses, in 2004. The one next door has been sold.

I had a brief from my mum, Anne. She gave me an idea of what she wanted, which was art deco and Arts and Crafts mixed in with a classical style. The Oriental black lacquer was brought in in regency days so, if you throw in Oriental with Regency, it goes a bomb.

I also wanted to make it a family home that was well finished but homely and liveable in too. I like good design and opulence but not if it is untouchable – who wants that?

I have a tumbled marble floor to give a soft edge — many of my tiles came from TileStyle.

And instead of putting a Regency-style stair in the house I put a ranch-style stair in. It is not in keeping at all but it works. That’s what makes the house so homely. If I had an austere stair coming down it would feel more regal.

So you’ve brought in a ranch-style too – did you also travel to America?

Yes, I’m never out of it. I have a lot of friends over there and if I can’t find something here I bring it in directly from the States. All of the rugs in the house are from the States.

As I travel I pick up things. I brought in old phones for the house. I got them from the Brimfield antiques market in New England which is incredible. It probably has the best selection of art deco furniture in the world and is so cheap. It is in a load of fields. I spent two days there. It is really handy to bring big suitcases on wheels and fill them up.

Even when you pay for shipping it is so well worth it. Art deco in Europe is scandalous money. I got a fabulous chair for my sister’s office. It’s an industrial 1950s steel and oak chair on casters which was made in Boston. I haggled with the seller and got it for $60 and it cost about $120 to ship it back. I saw something similar in London for £870.

I got four industrial lights for this house, from a market in Brittany, which came from an old Renault factory that had closed down. I got the wenge floors from South Africa. Real wenge floors are expensive here but on a trip to Africa I met a guy who sent them across and it worked out at half the price of buying them here.

You can pick up things like rugs in sales in America which are not like sales here, they are proper sales where they keep reducing things until they sell and you can haggle, even in department stores. I’ve haggled in Macy’s and Filene’s. Or you can go to specific carpet stores such as the ABC Carpet in New York.

Anne (Bronwen’s mum): I was in New York last September on the day Lehman fell. I wanted a turquoise rug that was priced at $17,000. We knew everyone was in a tizzy over Lehman and I bargained and bargained and got it for $7,500. I would rather have less and buy quality.

Bronwen: And to have something with a meaning to it which stops something looking completely contrived or matched in. I have robbed William Morris’s motto to always, always choose what you believe to be beautiful and know to be useful. I absolutely live by that in design. If it is practical and works and is what you consider beautiful then it will create a home.

So you don’t follow a classic interior designer’s style

I like people to be brave. Some people here maybe have been reared to be not as creative minded or open; I find people overseas very open to new ideas. Maybe because design is fairly new here people are slow to take risks on things. The Irish middle class can be quite cliquey and go with what everybody else has rather than follow their own taste. Even if it is suited to their personality they are scared to take a chance on it.

With your dad being a builder and developer then you’ve grown up with this?

I was always on site on holidays and loved it. From a very young age I’ve known how things have worked. If dad had a contract in a museum or school I would be in the boiler room wanting to know how it all worked.

When I went to design college in London I found it odd that no-one knew about the practical side and how some designs just won’t work in terms of being able to build them. With all creativity you have to have common sense and practicality thrown in or it can all go to the birds. My dad was very hands on. He plastered and painted when he was younger. He is unbelievable on finish. He is meant to have retired but his gift in life is energy and if a finish is not right on a job he will finish it himself. That’s what I love about working with my dad. A lot of time as a designer your heart can be broken with a poor quality finish. In here the finish is incredible.

Where did you get the kitchen? Two carpenters from Wexford made it for me. There is a pantry so we don’t need lots of cupboards and the laundry can be kept separate. I got the chrome handles through the Internet, from America.

My mum laughs at how she had to spend two months without handles because if I can’t find something I will not put anything else there – I will wait until I find it.

When I was away in France the builders put a nasty concrete pillar right inside the kitchen door. It was poured concrete and there was no way of going back so I redesigned that area and created a separate bar area, and put an American fridge and shelving in the new niche it created. It’s one of my mum’s favourite parts of the kitchen now. If mistakes happen it is not the end of the world if you can come up with a good idea. Problem solving is so important in design – I nearly relish a problem. I get all excited about coming up with a solution.

Where did you get the furniture? Some came from the old house and a lot of the pieces were made for this house, including the couches.

The amount of time it can take to try and find a sofa is phenomenal. If you have them made it is not necessarily more expensive and you can pick the exact fabric and shape you want. I use Tommy Crosse, an upholster in Navan, who is very, very reasonable.

The dining chairs are by Robert at Watsham Bohn and the table is from Minnie Peters. Then I got bits and pieces – little fillers I call them – such as the console table and mirror, and painted them all in same colours as the woodwork. That way you add great character rather than have everything new. There is a living energy in old furniture – in the wood – and even if you paint them all to match it’s a live history. If everything is brand new a room will lack until people come in and use it.

So now you are running a restaurant with your sister?

Yes, it’s great. I have used all my creativity in its design and I like people so really enjoy serving customers. It’s an art deco style New York deli with a bistro downstairs.

So are you happy with the house?

Anne (Bronwen’s mum): I am happy with it but if I found another unusual house I might be tempted to move. When you have the likes of Bronwen and my husband ....wouldn’t I be mad not to look for another house? It would be terrible to have all that creativity and let it die.

Angel Park Eatery, 5 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2