Despite Ireland's rich 18thcentury heritage, a surprising amount of so-called "Georgian" architecture dates from the first half of the 19th century.

A building boom after 1800, particularly in Dublin, produced buildings that externally resembled their 18th-century predecessors, but inside had suites of rooms as up to date as anything in mainland Europe.

We now recognise that the early 19th century marked the beginning of the modern world and its decoration reflected the advantages and disadvantages that accompanied it. It was a period of great upheaval - political and social change and in particular the advance of the Industrial Revolution.

Among the many outcomes to such change was that the middle classes were now in a position to commission decoration schemes. Previously in the 18th century, it had been the province of aristocratic taste. However, after 1800 when Dublin lost its parliament, the depleted numbers of peers were largely replaced by a growing population of professionals - lawyers, doctors, bankers and clergy, who not only filled the empty houses but initiated a building boom that lasted until the Famine.

While the exteriors of these Regency houses retained many of the features of their 18th-century precursors, the interiors were increasingly less formal with no particular hierarchy of rooms. Reception rooms were connected by folding doors, and the introduction of cast-iron and plate glass indulged the passion for bringing nature into the house with the creation of elaborate conservatories.

The library, formerly a male preserve, rapidly gained the role of a family sitting room and the normal muddle of civilised life - books, magazines and musical instruments - increasingly gave rise to the informal living room.

In the 18th century people decorated to educate and titillate. In the more competitive world of the early 19th century, people decorated as a form of escapism, rather as we might do today.

The looms of industrial England produced fabrics that transported people to Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt, to the Orient and to ancient Greece. Everything was thematic, and once a style was chosen a room was transformed accordingly. Ingenious new recipes were produced to imitate marble, lacquer and woodgrain: what an object looked like bore little relation to its composition.

In the 18th century, plasterwork and chimneypieces had set the tone for a room's decoration; these now gave way to new forms of furniture and in particular voluminous fabrics.

The invention of the power loom, and the improvement in dyeing and printing, meant that fabrics became much more affordable in the early 19th century. Coincidentally Napoleon's architects Percier and Fontaine who spearheaded fashion in Europe found justification in Roman wall painting, which showed the abundant use of wall hangings. The combination perfectly suited the Regency desire for historical decoration that was instantly achievable.

Curtains, decorated with beasts, military and architectural ornaments, hung long from continuous poles and were tied back with pins; valances covered a quarter of the window and were cut to hang loosely in a casual manner. There was no interlining and different parts of the ensemble were generally in sharply contrasting colours. Cotton roller and painted wood Venetian blinds became common, and Swiss muslin sun curtains acted as a additional filter. Trimmings were important: the leading edges of valances and drops were edged with trellis and bullion fringes and bound with elaborate gimps.