EACH WEEK, WE ask someone based in Ireland with a passion for interiors to share one photo of their favourite spot in their home.

Niamh Desmond lives in a 300-year-old property in Co Laois with her husband Scott and two kids, Kai and Zoë.

“We’ve had to be creative and resourceful and do a lot of the work on the house ourselves, which means that nearly nine years later we still have a lot more to do,” says Niamh. “It is definitely a labour of love.”

This week, Niamh (@oldhouse_creativehome) chatted us through her favourite spot: her daughter’s bedroom. 

Niamh Desmond Niamh Desmond

What do you love about this part of your home?

I love this room because it’s so bright and fun, and it’s a quirky shape. It was completely unused and unloved when we moved in. It would have been a servant’s room and has a really narrow corridor leading to it and it’s over the archway, so it’s a bit different from a traditional bedroom, which also made it very hard to get a photo of. I love that it’s my daughter’s space. She loves watching the world go by and waving at the cars stuck in traffic.

What’s your favourite object in here and why?

It has to be the giraffe. We bought it at a hotel gift shop. It was our first weekend away after having Zoë and my parents took the kids for us. We brought it back for Zoë and I think it makes the room. I’m pretty sure I love it more than she does, though.

What was your inspiration when you were putting this room together?

I have to admit that I was a bit of a Pinterest fanatic while planning this room. I found the wallpaper online and then everything worked around that. My husband put up the panelling, which we painted together with Kai’s help and we painted the wardrobe which was given to us by Scott’s aunt.

There’s nothing really here that we bought except the materials and carpet, as the chest of drawers was from my husband’s childhood bedroom. The curtains were from our sitting room and we put the pom poms and green fabric on to make them match the décor.

Be honest: how much tidying did you do before taking this photo?

Honestly, not that much because she’s four and a half years and really doesn’t play here that much. I did have to de-clutter the hundreds of teddies that usually reside here. 

Is there anything in here you’d like to change?

The only thing I’d change is that this room is colder than others, so we have extra radiators. We find Bluetooth adapter plugs great as we can switch on the extra radiators from our phones or set them to timers.

More: ‘I’ve always wanted an island’: Niamh O’Connor shows us around her new kitchen fit-out