"You don't buy a house like this and expect it will ever be perfect," says Helle Moyna of her pink Georgian pile in south Co Dublin.
Founder of design company and online retail site, Nordic Elements, Helle and her husband David, who works in finance, bought the distinctive Booterstown house in 2013.
Helle, originally from Jutland in Denmark, moved to London 20 years ago and established herself as an exclusive event planner.
0 of 5
With a client roll call including the Prince of Wales, Cartier International Polo and Louis Vuitton, Helle often found herself on extravagant global sourcing missions trying to hunt down a certain style of furniture, fixtures or gift for a given bash or important guest – an element of her job which sparked her interest in design and interiors, and meeting new up-and-coming talent.
After marrying Cavan-born David in 2000, the pair settled in a Victorian house in London’s Clapham but, by the time son number two Markus arrived, in 2008, Helle knew it was time to hang up her party planning shoes.
Calmer upbringing
Harnessing her impressive black book of contacts, she set up a design agency representing all the furniture designers and niche interiors brands she’d encountered on her sourcing missions and introduced many up-and-coming interior labels from her homeland to her remit too.
Although business boomed, the Moynas found London a tough place in which to rear a young family.
“It’s just waiting list after waiting list over there, and the school grading system is ridiculous for young children, not to mention the fees.
“We were forever shipping the boys from one side of London to the other, and there are so few family amenities that don’t require an epic commute – it was all just very stressful.
“David and I both grew up in the countryside and wanted the boys to have a calmer upbringing and felt Dublin offered the perfect balance.”
When they happened upon the Booterstown house, St Mary’s, it prompted them to come back to Dublin with schools, shops and the sea at their doorstep.
However, they were under no illusions as to how big an undertaking renovating the house would be, so Helle packed up the agency side of her business to allow her time to manage the build.
Huge retrofit
The five-bedroom, two-storey, over-basement house comprises 351sq m (3,785sq ft) of accommodation, every square inch of which needed a lot of attention.
The house was originally built in two phases – with 16th-century origins and 18th-century additions – making matters even more tricky, especially with the Conservation Officer.
“Don’t get me started on the windows: They wouldn’t allow us install double glazing – even in replica wooden window frames, which drove me nuts, especially with this so-called drive for energy-efficient housing,” says Helle.
Clear vision
One of the best decisions Helle felt she made during the two-year refurbishment project was to keep the original room layout intact.
“Most of the architects we met advised knocking the kitchen through to the back room and installing partition walls in the bedrooms.
“But we did the whole open-plan living thing in London and, after a while, you realise it’s overrated.”
So, she kept the small kitchen to the front of the house separate from the large family room to the rear, and loves how she can now close the door on dirty dishes and not have the boys tearing around the kitchen while she’s trying to cook or work.
The house was finally ready for the family to move into last April and that’s when Helle really got to put her styling and design skills into action.
“I’ve been collecting mid-century furniture and Scandinavian soft furnishings and accessories for years now, and had a very clear vision of how I’d imprint my Danish aesthetic onto our Dublin domain.
“But as I was dealing with a Georgian house with vast rooms, finding a balance between two opposite design genres was a delicate one,” says Helle.
She produced detailed mood boards for every room, with every element from paint colours, radiator styles, floorboard samples to fabric finishes clearly detailed.
So, anyone involved with the interiors – be they carpenters or curtain makers – knew exactly what she was trying to achieve.
Ceiling lighting
Helle is not typically a fan of ceiling lighting but, given the 15ft room heights and grand stairwell, she had to concede that side lamps alone were not going to cut it.
Together with Swedish firm, Ruben, she designed light fittings for all the rooms and the hallways, from simple glass pendant shades to a dramatic black steel pole and gold dipped chandelier for the hallway.
The other significant addition to the house was a subway-tiled wet room replacing a small upstairs bedroom, and an en suite added to the master bedroom.
“I didn’t want a partitioned-off loo in a box, and there was such stunning cornice work on the ceiling, I had to find a more sympathetic solution.
“So, we built a wall up to the top of the toilet and added a panelled glass wall from that base up to the ceiling.”
The effect is very “seven-star hotel” and light spills in through the three bay windows and bounces all around the master bedroom and bathroom.
However, Helle maintains there’s still lot more work to do on St Mary’s.
“We’ve to sort out Tobias and Markus’ bedroom as it’s the size of a ballroom, which sounds amazing but the two boys are lost in there.
“I’m planning to build a plywood sub-house in the middle of the room, to give them both their space but without breaking up the ceilings or the grand sense of space.
“And I haven’t had a wardrobe or a drawer since we moved in, so that’s on the list also. In fact, the list will probably never end, but I’d take it all any day over commuting, tubes and the commotion of London.”
St Mary’s has now become an informal showroom for the sourcing and design consultancy side of Nordic Elements and a if friend or client spots something they like, Helle can source a similar or corresponding version and have it shipped out within weeks.
It’s a dangerous way to shop as, given her knack for styling antiques with classics and matching the quirky with contemporary, it makes every item in the house highly covetable.
By the time I'd finished the interview, I had a wish list of cushions, rugs, and tiles I'd love Moyna to source for me as long as Booterstown Avenue.
