See inside the home of Cork broadcaster Laura O'Mahony 

Clever design, precise space planning and a balance of light and shade have created a chic home full of fun for a young family

Laura O'Mahony jumps on the bed at home in Tivoli, Cork. Pictures & Video: Larry Cummins 

I've just been to Narnia via a kitchen cupboard — transported to the magical world of utility room perfection in a chapter from the tale of the client, the designer and the renovation.

It all began in the home of comedian and presenter on Cork’s Red FM Laura O’Mahony, and her floor-to-ceiling kitchen cabinetry.

Chic in its Farrow & Ball Pitch Black-finished doors with matt gold handles, you’d expect to find a typical Irish scene of Christmas cake and chocolate Kimberley remnants lurking behind all six of them, but opening the middle two doors reveals the route to the home’s orderly utility room, free of muddy football kit and washing loitering between machine and clothesline.

Laura O'Mahony with interior designer David O'Brien in the dining area.

It’s just one of the clever ideas implemented by interior designer David O’Brien of RJ O’Brien Building Contractors Ltd, who Laura recruited to renovate her home in Cork’s Tivoli locale late last year for herself, husband Shane and children Polly (6) and Alfie (4).

 Laura O'Mahony in her recently renovated home at Tivoli, Cork. 

Taking advantage of the south-facing aspect overlooking the River Lee and Parc Uí Chaoimh, David has created a coherent design that sees the same chic cabinetry installed in the outer entrance hall and a floor laid with concrete-effect tiles which also carry through to the kitchen and dining room punctuated only by the retention of original wooden flooring in the inner hallway, citing the property’s 1940s origins. The effect is lightsome, airy and sophisticated while also being relaxed.

“It’s so easy to maintain now that everything has its own place,” says Laura. “Even the children are tidier as they know where everything goes.”

But something important to designer David was the inclusion of materials to help soften the monochrome scheme.

“I chose the wooden dining table and plants to soften the space but also to absorb sound,” he explains.

This prompts Laura to add, “David went around B&Q filling up the trolley with plants and I’ve never been a plant person, but so far I’ve managed not to kill any of them.”

Laura in the living space. 

It’s just as well, as plant life is a recurring theme in his design, softening the prevailing hard lines of the kitchen also.

Another theme is nostalgia and we see Laura’s late grandmother’s china taking pride of place on the single kitchen shelf, mixed with greenery and wooden chopping boards for interest and personality. It’s a charming vignette set against quartz shelving, counters and splashback.

But there’s also a new nostalgia emerging in the way Laura and David share anecdotes about the project’s progress.

Laura tells of bringing a navy sofa from her old home for the living room and how David found its pre-loved twin online.

“There’s no fireplace in this room,” says David, “so having the two sofas opposite each other creates a conversational space which is cosy and intimate.”

But there’s also a sense of fun as the calm navy upholstery and grey walls are disrupted by a winged chair and matching footstool upholstered in shocking pink, also picked up in scatter cushions and light shades.

Back to the lightly monochrome hallway painted in Dressage by Colourtrend, we see the sophisticated end of drama, compliments of the downstairs loo beckoning the passer-by whether nature calls or not.

Yellow and pink walls in the children's bedroom. 

It’s a tiny space that might have been given the all-white approach by a different designer trying to create the illusion of space, but a combination of Laura’s enthusiasm and David’s measured eye presents a totally black interior with warming matt gold taps and a sink in a shade of pink reminiscent of plaster not yet set.

It’s telling how seriously Laura is taking this interior design business when she says, “I got online to find black toilet rolls.”

Frankly, any other colour would have ruined the look.

But it’s the main bedroom where, thanks to walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s deeply inky Hague Blue with curtains to match, we get another wow moment. A bright yellow button-upholstered bed pops out of the depth of wall colour, with just two discreet bedside lockers and a single chair otherwise occupying the space.

It’s boudoir style for the 21st century, both feminine and masculine, nostalgic and modern, chic and comfortable. “We’re cosied-in here,” says Laura. “It’s the first time we’ve had a proper bedroom to be in and it’s in keeping with our personalities; a little bit of drama but ultimately calm, cool and collected.”

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