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

Paula Asple lives in Gorey, Co Wexford with her husband and her daughter, and owns The Wilds, a cafe, lifestyle and home store in Enniscorthy.

“We moved back to my hometown of Gorey after living in London, and Dublin prior to that,” says Paula. “We had completed renovations on our previous homes and we were looking for another renovation project, so we bought a 1930s cottage on a lovely site in town.”

The house needed so much work that it was practically like a new-build by the time we completed the demolition phase.

“The build took 12 months and we moved in back in September 2017. It is still very much a work in progress with more rooms still to complete, but sure, we’ll get there!”

This week, Paula (@paulaasple) chatted us through her favourite spot: her open-plan kitchen and dining room.

Paula Asple Paula Asple

What do you love about this part of your home?

I love the natural light in this room, thanks to the double height windows and overhead roof lights. It’s such a cliche, but it really is the heart of our home! I also love the sense of space and volume we achieved with the high ceilings, while the living room has a cosier, more intimate feel for snuggling on the sofa in front of the fire.

What’s your favourite object in here and why?

My favourite object, if I can call it an object, is our kitchen. I designed it and Stewart from Noctor Furniture brought it to life. It has a floor-to-ceiling bank of units with a secret door to the playroom so that I don’t have to look at the mess!

I love the texture of the rough sawn beech, which we sprayed black and by happy accident, it really resembles Shou Sugi Ban timber [a Japanese charred wood technique]. That contrasts with the smooth surface of the black drawer units and polished concrete worktop on the island, above which we added huge brass industrial lights to add warmth and a bit of a statement feature.

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

I love using Pinterest boards, so I pinned plenty of inspirational images for our house there. I love monochrome interiors with muted tones and natural materials, so I just tend to choose the materials that I want to use and build the room from there.

We wanted to create a rustic, modern feel with an industrial touch, so we left the steel beams exposed. We also love to mix vintage furniture with modern pieces, which lends a bit more interest and by toning down the colour scheme, it doesn’t look too crazy!

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

I like my living space to be fairly tidy, although there is way more stuff on my kitchen counters than usual in this photo. I didn’t really tidy anything before taking the photo but the unused end of our dining table is the dumping ground for everything in our house, so the mess that you can’t see is just out of shot.

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

We do plan to change the paint colour in here but it’s a big job because of the ceiling height, so we have been putting it off. We undercoated the whole house in white before moving in and have been taking our time choosing paint colours for each room. It’s taking a lot longer than anticipated though. We also need to finish our office, which is upstairs on the mezzanine overlooking this room.

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