How designer Geri O'Toole created her renovation and extension

Home Editor Eve Kelliher speaks with the interior designer who is on speed dial for high-profile clients across the globe

Geri O'Toole in her 'happy space' at home. Pictures: Ruth Maria Murphy

Geri O'Toole doesn’t hesitate when asked to name her “happy space”. The Cork-born Limerick woman will slip into her kitchen/dining/living area to grab a coffee and some rare “me time”.

This is an interior designer who is on speed dial for high-profile clients across the globe. “I feel calm there,” she says of the open-plan, light-filled space.

Packing for a trip the following week to California and putting the finishing touches to the Howth home of Vogue Williams are just two items on her to-do list once our conversation ends.

Exposed stone and the use of other natural materials lend themselves to the earthy colour palette.

Yet “calming” as well as “homely” are the words Geri uses to describe the interior style of her own Limerick home, renovated and extended from a smaller older cottage.

The appeal of creating serene settings is what’s steered her towards and along this career path, Geri believes. “I’ve always loved how interiors make me feel. I can be an anxious person so having an ordered calm, softly lit environment also calms my nervous system,” she says. 

“And I love bringing that feeling of ‘calm’ and ‘home’ to my clients’ homes; it’s the best feeling in the world when a client is happy and enjoying their home environment.”

The exterior of interior designer Geri O'Toole's home in Co Limerick. Pictures: Ruth Maria Murphy

Other favourite perches are chillout zones also, like the dining banquette and handmade bar stools (by Modet Furniture) at the kitchen island.

And she may have a chic little black book that’s the envy of designers across the world but Geri takes the sort of gleeful, childlike delight any of us would every time she stows goodies away in her walk-in pantry: “It is such a nice addition. I keep the toaster in here and all the food. Having this pantry allows me to store so much in one space — and to close the door if it’s untidy!”

Geri and her husband Cathal Glynn moved into their home nine years ago and from the beginning hoped to extend the early 19th-century property. “We got it up to scratch with the old cottage that was there. There were two bedrooms upstairs and no storage at all,” says Geri. “We always knew we’d need a bigger space in time to come.”

It was when Geri was expecting Edie that planning permission came through and they embarked on the project in 2021, completing it in July 2023. “Coming from a smaller cottage — which we also loved — we now have a sense of spaciousness and light in this new space,” she says. “Our architect, Des Ewing, came up with a great idea of raising the roof to let light in at all angles.”

Geri with Geri O'Toole with Edie, Cathal and Finley. Pictures: Ruth Maria Murphy O'Toole

Now the open-plan kitchen/dining living room, previously part of a former

outbuilding, is the fulcrum of their home, in which they retained the old gable wall and added an arch. “It was quite dark before with small windows in stone walls and we opened it up to let in as much light as possible,” says Geri.

Geri's interior design style has gone viral online. She describes her style as classic with an edge of contemporary.

The vaulted ceiling and exposed wooden beams enhance the space, which features natural French limestone floor tiles and furnishings built by Geri herself using earthy shades.

The designer chose Little Greene Slaked Lime Dark for the island with Calacatta Gold marble for the worktop.

Only connect

An extension features mainly glass walls — this is where the sitting room is located — and a hallway connects to the old house. Two children’s bedrooms are upstairs as well as the main suite which features two walk-in wardrobes and an en-suite bathroom.

The ceiling height and addition of beams enhance the sense of space in the kitchen area.

The newly extended house is essentially a four-bedroom residence. “We use one of the bedrooms as a playroom. It has an ensuite and if we have guests over it’s a bedroom but day to day it’s a playroom,” says Geri.

The interior designer describes the style of her home as a “hybrid”. “It’s classic with an edge of contemporary to make it feel modern. Our house has gone viral online, and in America they call the style European cottagecore, apparently!” says Geri.

The light-filled interiors.

The couple and their two children, Finley, ten, and Edie, nearly three, love to gather in the kitchen. “We cook very quick meals, like stir-fries, in the evening but at the weekend we love cooking a really nice meal and hanging out with the kids in this space,” says the interior designer. 

If Geri got to invite anyone on the planet to dinner, who would make the cut? “Bryan O’Sullivan or Katie Harbison, two fellow Irish designers I admire,” she says.

Geri loves the 'calming' feel of her interiors.

Baxter their pooch brings to five the family number. At 14, the pugalier (pug and cavalier King Charles spaniel) looks much more youthful — even snapped by renowned interior photographer Ruth Maria Murphy as he nabs forty winks in the hallway by the library (on a gold Rug Company rug, naturally). “He looks great for his age — I don’t know how!” says Geri.

Cathal owns a construction company, CGC, so the duo also make a good partnership when it comes to producing super spaces, including renovating their own outbuildings to release their potential in their old-meets-new dream family home. “I love bouncing ideas off him,” says Geri. “Cathal’s practical and does the actual figuring out. I come up with all the brainwaves and he leaves the finishes to me. We’ve worked on a couple of projects [together] now.”

The interior designer started her own company, Geri Designs, six years ago focusing mainly on residential interiors for clients in Ireland and abroad.

Geri O'Toole with her daughter Edie.

WHAT was it like making her vision of her own family home a reality? “It was way more difficult for myself, as it was so personal,” admits Geri. “It’s much easier to pick items for clients and intuitively know what they want and guide them along.”

Of the renovation and extension, she adds: “Planning is key, planning earlier in the project always allows you to get the best results possible. It’s also something that develops as it progresses. 

The house was extended so it now features four bedrooms.

"I’m very decisive — this is really important in my work as I have to make so many design decisions daily so in a way not giving it too much headspace is a good thing because you run with your decisions which progresses things onsite more quickly.”

Decisiveness is a quality that sits well with Geri and it brings us to one of her most well-known clients, Vogue Williams. “I love working with Vogue, she is a breath of fresh air, she knows what she likes, is decisive and she is so appreciative. We have almost finished her new home in Howth,” says Geri.

The ottoman in the hallway, covered in Pierre Frey fabric.

“We’re waiting for these really special stools for the kitchen area. They’re the final piece of the puzzle.”

The final-puzzle pieces that have made Geri’s house a home are artworks. “I love art. I just love the way pieces of art bring a little bit of interest,” she says. “I have a Louis le Brocquy framed piece in my hallway, for instance. I got that from Stoney Road Press in Dublin — they have fantastic stuff.”

Geri’s passion for design and interiors stems from childhood when she was a frequent auction attendee with her dad, Noel O’Toole, who established the business Browsers Furniture & Interior Design. “My parents were always into aesthetics,” she says. “My father has always loved fine art, antiques and beautiful furniture.”

Geri used Farrow & Ball's Sulking Room Pink to colour-drench her laundry room.

What is the best bargain she ever sourced for her home? “It has to be the pair of black lamps in my living room. They are gorgeous quality, weigh an absolute tonne, but I got them for a steal in an auction,” she says. A mid-century coffee table and a John Shinnors artwork from Acquired.ie are prized possessions in the same room.

Geri designed the black and white hallway tiles herself and the ottoman in the same space, with pink and cream Pierre Frey fabric, is functional as well as fabulous. “That’s where my kids always sit and put on their shoes,” says Geri. “It’s bespoke— we make bespoke furniture for all our projects.”

Baxter taking a nap.

Her pink laundry room is another practical and pretty combo. “I colour-drenched the whole space — cabinets, walls, ceiling — in Sulking Room Pink by Farrow & Ball,” says the designer. “It’s quite a dark little room so that warmed it up. I got the lovely stone — which is real marble — from Stone Surfaces in Longford.”

What does Geri think of the surge in popularity in interiors? “Social media has a huge part to play — a lot of our clients come in with saved pictures and they can be beautiful designs from all over the world,” she says.

The residence is a mixture of old and new.

A passion project is an online course she started earlier this year to teach interior design. Does Geri have key advice when planning design and colour schemes? “Gather samples and play with them, add new contrasts and extra materials and keep playing until you find the perfect combination,” she says.

Instagram: geri_designs

Website:  geridesigns.ie