Kinsale breaks the mould with a new look for a new age

THERE’S a strong touch of TV’s Showhouse, with designer ‘showing off’ in Kinsale’s Abbey Fort, where no less than three different design teams were drafted into put life into the launch of the 260-home development by Killarney-based Dunboy Construction.

For those who want to get a feel for current interior design trends, a walk-through the five showhouses opening for the first time this week, will give an idea of what’s hot, what’s not, what might work in your own home — and what definitely doesn’t.

Although the teams of designers weren’t allowed to see what the others were up to, there’s a share of similarity: gone are light maple woods, Shaker kitchens et al, and in are browns, dark woods, carpets and wallpapers, the latter almost inevitably confined to single ‘feature’ walls.