Cherington House emerges from behind the bushes and trees of a winding country road just outside Kilkenny. The manicured lawns, curved driveway and cast-iron gates hint at something special inside. This is the home of Triona McKee and her family, a labour of love and a slice of heaven for the busy nurse and mother of three.
“It never ends,” Triona laughs, “There are always things I will want to tweak with the decor, but I’m at a place now where I really love our home.”
The journey to where Triona is now has not been a linear one. She and her husband, Paul, happily spent their 20s in the UK before deciding the time was right to move home.
“We began to look for a house around Kilkenny. Paul’s family lives here, so this was always going to be our location. After searching for 18 months with no luck, we had given up and relegated ourselves to buying an old house, knocking it and starting from scratch, which certainly wasn’t the ideal scenario. Then, this site came up out of the blue, and we went for it.”
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The couple purchased the site at the end of 2016, began building in May 2017, and had moved in by April 2018 - quite a feat for the young family. “That’s thanks to Paul,” Triona acknowledges. “He project managed the entire build, and we were really focused on not going over the time frame we had given ourselves.
“My main tip when undertaking a building project is to spend time in the pre-planning stages making sure you know exactly what you can and cannot do on the site. Have all your decisions made and then once you break ground, keep the momentum going.”
Today, Triona, Paul and their children are right at home in the elegant, open space they have created. Though the house is new, it feels old world; the high ceilings, cast-iron radiators and ceilings decorated with coving and grand sliding sash windows echo the grandeur of the Georgian period.
“We were inspired by our time together in London and Edinburgh and wanted to incorporate as many classic features as possible without feeling twee,” she says. “We love these details, but at the end of the day it’s still a modern home.”
Modern indeed; through a generous hallway punctuated with a sweeping staircase, the large open-plan kitchen, living and dining space reveal itself. The bright, split-level room is as warm and inviting as it is sophisticated; oversized vases and wooden chopping boards decorate the kitchen. Beyond a marble-topped island, stairs descend into a cosy sitting area overlooking the garden. The space seamlessly offers both comfort and functionality. It’s a compromise she’s proud of - and one she wanted to bring to a particular room in the house.
“I’ve had this dream since we moved in to create this TV-free room where we can all decamp to after a long day and unplug.”
The core of the room’s decor began with inspiration from more than a decade ago. “I was in an office in London going through magazines when I came across the most beautiful fireplace. I knew I wanted to have that piece in my home one day, so I took the picture with me and kept it all these years. When it finally came time to design the house, I went to a local masonry who created a replica in Portuguese lime. It’s the heart of the living room.”
Despite some initial progress, including commissioning a suite of furniture in a lush Belfast Accrue fabric, the room was vacant during the pandemic. “I knew I needed a specific colour palette for the room to offer warmth and match the pieces I had already invested in.”
Determined to find her colour match, Triona enlisted the expertise of a Dulux Colour Consultant, a free service offered by Dulux that can be booked via their Instagram page. “It was an amazing experience, start to finish,” Triona exhales. “I had initially considered going for three colours in the room, but after the colour consultation, we brought it back to two colours. The consultant explained how to use complementary tones from the same family. I was sure of myself after speaking with her.”
On the advice of her consultant, Triona chose two colours from the Dulux Heritage Range: Pale Walnut, a warm, mid-toned neutral, for the woodwork, paneling skirting boards and doors; and classic Roman White for the walls coving and ceilings.
“I’m a perfectionist and I always worry that the sample won’t be the same once it’s on the walls,” Triona shares, “But the Dulux Heritage shades were true to the sample. Once we stepped into the room and saw it painted for the first time we were so excited, and then, watching the room change with the light at different times of the day, we loved it even more. That’s the best part for us; these tones are warm and work from day to evening.”
Just as she had wished, the features already in place were also complemented by the paint colours. “The woodwork now brings up the herringbone fleck in the sofa fabric. I also added new cushions from interior store Mokum. They’re velvet, and they almost mimic the texture of the paint on the wall, which is so soft to the touch. Working with the Dulux Heritage collection proved something I always believed strongly - neutrals can be fun.” But the range does not just include neutral shades: there are deep, rich dark tones and striking colours available within it, too.
As for the completed room, Triona says the experience has been so refreshing that she’s ready to repaint much of the house. “I cannot recommend the Dulux Lets Chat Colour Service enough. I’ll hold my hands up and say I didn’t always get the colours right in the house the first time around, and this experience has shown me that an expert eye can elevate a space beyond expectation.”
Taking in her newly finished space, Triona says she can finally envision the future she always dreamed of in the room, “It’s going to be a place to sit down, close the curtains, turn on the gas fire, a room that we will love forever.”
For more, see dulux.ie/en/heritage
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