Following a transformative resizing of her home, Elizabeth McEvoy gets to do all the things that others take for granted

Designer Denise O’Connor’s shares her top tips to help you make decisions with greater confidence

Reir Studio reduced the footprint of this 1970s home to create a better quality of life

The most comfortable homes are shaped around the people who live there

Rather than downsize, Dr Sabina Brennan and her husband took on a sprawling 19th-century lakeside retreat, where they intend to keep living life to the full

The brief for this small but charming period property in the hip Dublin neighbourhood was to maximise storage and functionality, while added touches allowed the owner to put their own stamp on the home

Here are some of the key ways furniture can help shape better design decisions

Photographer Jessica Glynn gave up life in Florida to move to Co Mayo with her husband and daughter. She’s enjoying the slower pace and the chance to put her stamp on their new-build home

The sympathetic restoration of Annamount, off the city’s Summerhill North, into three new homes could be seen as a model to bring people back to live in the city’s inner suburbs

Designer Denise O’Connor: With a bit of creative thinking, it’s possible to get more from the space you have

Dromdiah House, a Georgian country house in Cork, lay in ruins for eight decades before a couple bravely took on its restoration

People frequently underestimate the impact and the cost of smaller, less obvious decisions

A mix of Japanese culture and Irish crafts, the ambassador’s residence offers a home away from home for newly appointed Manabu Miyagawa and his wife Noriko

Home to Poetry Ireland, the public will soon be able to visit the restored Georgian building for events, while the Seamus Heaney library will open in the autumn

It’s important to understand what’s viable – and that means being clear about your budget

Late Hollywood star and Monégasque princess visited her ancestral home in 1961, later buying the plot, with a view to transforming it into a holiday home

Róisín Lafferty’s gallery is a step into the designer’s world. With prices starting around €2,400, buyers will be looking for something that endures

Spatial configuration is a key area of renovation where compromise rarely pays off

A wandering minstrel and high-flying lawyer have joined forces to launch a business doing camper van conversions and building flat-pack kits for van owners

Me & My Money: Hazel Burton, professional home organiser