The first Christmas in your new home is always going to be special. But when you have a toddler who has just discovered Christmas, it promises to be even more fun. When Ola and Mark Jordan moved into their new home in Castlebar, Co Mayo in August, she was already looking forward to decorating the house for Christmas.
“We’re so excited to be spending our first Christmas in this house,” she says. “Oscar, our toddler, will turn two this Christmas. His first Christmas was in his grandparents’ house, so it’s very special to be in our forever home this year.”
Not for her the last-minute rush to put up the decorations. “Oh, I love Christmas. My tree is up as soon as Halloween is over,” she says. “I’ve been trying to incorporate some of the decorations we have gathered over the years with the more traditional look that this house needs. When I grew up, Christmas was very colourful with the reds, greens and golds but throughout the years the trends changed. I’d love our son to remember Christmas the way we remembered it, colourful and fun.”
The couple lived in a semidetached house in Castlebar for eight years before buying this site outside the town in 2022. Those eight years in the semi-d gave them time to think about what their dream home would look like. “In that house, everything was grey, everything was sleek, no handles, high gloss, very modern and from that we learned that things like that come into fashion and they date. What we wanted in our forever home was a timeless look, a warm space for our family. We won’t be changing it anytime soon, so whatever we picked had to be something that wouldn’t date,” she says.
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Unusually, their house-building experience largely went according to plan. They received planning permission for their four-bedroom home on their first attempt. They had no unwelcome surprises when the building work started, and they stayed within budget.
“It was pretty smooth sailing from the very beginning for us. You hear of people who are on their fifth attempt, so we were very lucky to get planning on our first go.”
The house was built within a year. She believes the project went so smoothly because they used a local building contractor, Tony Gaughan, rather than organising the work themselves. Most of the tradespeople and the suppliers were also local. “When one tradesman was finished, the other was lined up to come in, so there were no delays,” she says. “It’s the one piece of advice I would give to people. Not only is it quicker to get the house built but there’s security in it as well. If something gets damaged in the process, you’re covered because you are paying for the finished product. Our front door had to be replaced because it got damaged in the process but that was covered by the contract.”
They put a lot of thought into insulating the house and achieved an A rating when it came to the Ber. “We have that air-to-water heating system, great insulation and triple-glazed windows and we opted for the solar panels to help us with the electricity costs of the air-to-water system.” They put 20 solar panels on the house and went for the battery option and an AI component that maximises efficiency. “Our last couple of bills have been in credit, so the solar panels have been a great investment so far,” she says.
She did an interior design course a while ago and works with EZ Living Furniture, so when it came to the interiors, she was delighted to get stuck in. “It’s definitely something I love, putting colours and fabrics together. It’s very satisfying when you have a vision in your head and it comes to life and is even better than you imagined.”
Everything was chosen with the aim of creating a cosy and warm home.
“We always gravitate towards the likes of Adare Manor, Ashford Castle, that interior design vibe. Our first house was all white and grey, but now I’ve leaned into the creams, browns and greens, which are that bit warmer and more homely.” High skirting boards and generous architraves add to that classic aesthetic. “I also wanted to create cohesion so that there’s a nice flow throughout the house. The woodwork is painted the same throughout the house and all our sockets, fixtures and fittings are brass.”
They love to entertain, so a big, open-plan living space was one of their must-haves. “Mark is very big into barbecuing, so we’re looking forward to having people over for summer barbecues and being able to communicate with everyone while we’re cooking or preparing food.”
Their old house had a small kitchen with poor storage, so adequate storage was foremost in their minds when they planned this kitchen. “It was important that every cupboard made sense and nothing was wasted,” she says. A sleek modern kitchen no longer held appeal for them and they reverted to tradition, choosing a solid wood kitchen that they could refresh with paint in years to come.
The back door entrance area also received careful consideration. “Everyone in Ireland seems to love coming in the back door instead of the front,” she says. “So I always wanted a wardrobe space and a place for shoes in the utility room to reduce clutter.”
As she planned the interiors, she found lots of inspiration from social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram. “If you have something in your head but are worried if it’s actually going to work, then these platforms are brilliant for that. We have panelling in our hallway and landing and when I was thinking about the best way of doing that, I put it into the search bar on Instagram and got so many different ideas.”
While some people opt to finish a home over a period of years, she was adamant that no rooms would be left unfinished. “You see people moving into a house and leaving a room unfinished, saying they will get to it, but you never get to it because it goes on the long finger and it becomes a storage room. I really wanted to avoid that.”
Finishing the outside of their house is the next task and she’s looking forward to gathering art for the walls in the coming years, but for now, the only decorative features on her mind are festive ones.
“Oscar is obsessed with Christmas so we’ve been watching Santa Claus on repeat since the middle of October,” she says. “It was lovely to be able to decorate the tree with him helping. Hectic, and messy but very special.”
Biggest win
“I love the colours, and the space, and the light that comes into the house. I love the sash windows. So many things,” Ola Jordan says.
Biggest mistake
“If I was doing it again, I would put in more sockets beside the bed. We have the phone charger plugged in, the baby monitor, the lamp. It’s a small thing, but you should put a lot of thought into things like socket placements.”
