Maria's soft touch makes an art of design

Maria Fenlon taught art before becoming an interior designer – and loves using fabrics like taffeta and velvet. EMMA CULLINANreports

Maria Fenlon is an interior designer who lives in a small estate in Calverstown, Co Kildare, with her husband Michael and three daughters

How long have you lived here?

We came here in 2003. We lived in Naas before that. I’m originally from the country and always liked the idea of being in the country when I had children. When we first came out here to visit the site there was a girl in the field next door playing on a tree trunk and it reminded me of the way I grew up. I also liked the style of house: American, open-plan and lots of natural light.

So did you buy off-plans?

There was a showhouse but we bought a house with nothing in it because I wanted to do it myself. We did a lot of the work before we moved in but we did move in at Christmas with no kitchen.

How did you go about designing the interior?

The first thing was to select materials and gather things that suit my style of classic/ contemporary. I like a bit of warmth in fabrics and tried to pick furniture in nice classic shapes which are timeless. I drew up schemes and layouts on CAD.

Did you decide on things together or alone?

Michael was not involved. He has never visited an interior or furniture shop, as far as I know, although he is interested in whether things are comfortable or not and he does love paintings.

That seems to be a common interest.

I was an art teacher at St Joseph’s secondary school in Rochfordbridge for 15 years. I studied in Limerick School of Art and the Crawford School in Cork.

I later did an Open University interior design course at home for a year and really enjoyed it, so then I went to Griffith College to do a diploma for two years. It was fantastic, I learned to use CAD there, and I did very well in my final project which gave me a lot of confidence.

How did you choose the colour scheme in this house?

The thing that I love in sculpture – which is my background – is natural colours, so I am drawn to them in materials. I hope people don’t think I do just beige, because I love colours, hence the striped Casamance wallpaper in the playroom and the pink in the girls’ bedrooms.

I also love comfort and softness. The carpet, from Ligne Roset, is really soft, like a jumper almost, and the cushions are in Andrew Martin Night and Day, my absolute favourite collection.

When I was young I loved softness and I love my home to be soft and cosy for my family so that influences my selection of fabrics.

Where is the furniture from?

I designed the TV storage unit in the sittingroom, the console table in stained ash in the window and the coffee table with chairs that slot beneath it. I saw one somewhere and was able to take its shape. It has a wenge stain on ash, to give it a rich, warm colour and you can see the quality of wood grain. I do a lot of bespoke furniture, which means I can create things that fit in unusual spaces, such as for a client who had a thatched cottage with curved walls, and I can create narrower pieces for small spaces.

I also have our own sofas made so we can cover them in the fabrics we choose, and I designed a version of high-backed chairs I’d seen somewhere. I like height. I love exaggerating vertical lines. I know that some curtain fitters stay with the ‘6 6 6’ rule: six inches above, six inches to the side and six inches below but I always push everything up higher to create slender, vertical lines: as you can see I’m small! I love elegance and height in interiors. The silver figures in the corner of the livingroom are Giacometti lookalikes.

What fabrics do you use?

Carlucci Di Chivasso velvets. I love velvet and mixing textures which brings me back to sculpture. I love to mix taffeta and crushed velvet with the roughness of linen. I love what textures do with each other: I will often use one colour and mix the textures. It’s my sculptural past: everywhere I go I touch stuff.

Where did you get the art in your house?

The big piece in the livingroom is by Siobhan McDonald. I’m drawn to its softness and the way she layers her materials, such as wax and paint. The two sheep pictures are by Maria Simonds-Gooding. I think her organisation of space is quirky and she conveys so much in very simple shapes. I have an early Mark O’Neill painting that he gave me as a Christmas present years ago when we taught art together.

I also have two prints by Louise Meade. I buy a lot from the Original Print Gallery in Temple Bar.

When I finish a job and am happy with it I go up to the gallery and look around – it’s my treat.

Why did you choose this wallpaper in the playroom?

It’s by Casamance and I love the colours. The girls have pink in their bedroom but I wanted something different in here and the lime green and blue appealed.

A white sofa in a playroom seems a brave choice.

Everybody laughs at the white leather sofa saying, why would you put white in a room for kids aged 13, 11 and eight, but it wipes so easily and I didn’t want a heavy colour that would dominate space, which is not that big. It’s from Artisan Furniture in Blanchardstown.

David Langrell, of Langrell Furniture, made the furniture in the kitchen and the study space and the very deep unit around it which houses and hides all the children’s stuff.

The simple roman blind and other fabrics are Designer’s Guild mixed with my own collection. The rug is by Jab and combines felt and wool: I love the texture. The playroom is accessible to the garden and the kids’ playhouse is grey and pink.

Often their friends go into the playroom and out the door and I don’t see them for hours.

Where do you get ideas from?

I go to shows. My absolute favourite is the Milan furniture show. It’s unbelievable. I love looking at how people display products. I do lots of research abroad and buy my fabrics that way.

You often see new colour combinations that lift you: that happened at the recent Decorex show in London. You need to see new things all the time.

What was new this time?

Silver is still very popular and it is being mixed with mustard yellows or gold, and green. The new range of Brian Yates wallpaper was there and was just amazing, with all its textures.

Travelling to the shows gives me knowledge about all sorts of styles and, when clients select a style they want, I can quickly start putting pieces together for them.

What do people do wrong with interior design?

They can do things in isolation whereas creating a seamless flow between rooms can bring a home together.

Also, the earlier people come to me the better so I can have an impact on lighting and bathroom and kitchen layouts. Often if we look at a plan of houses we can see where spaces could be made bigger, such as altering a bathroom to give more space for storage.

Where do you shop?

I do have a few preferred suppliers. Máise in Dublin is good for storage and I love Porcelonosa for bathrooms. For work we have three or four suppliers for kitchens, including David Langrell. A designer friend sings the praises of Kube in Sandyford.

For me a follow-up service is extremely important: if I recommend a company I want to be 100 per cent sure of their ability to do this.