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ORIGINALLY FROM GOTHENBURG in Sweden, Kathrin Houlihan met her husband in London and has been living in Ireland since 1997. The couple split their time between an apartment in Dublin and a renovated cottage on the Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry. They purchased the property, which is over 110 years old, during the pandemic for its phenomenal views and potential despite it having been vacant for twenty years.
Kathrin describes her style as a mix of Scandinavian and Irish, though whether it embraces a distinctly ‘Scandi style’ she is unconvinced.
“When people say that they want a ‘Scandi look’ I have had to learn what that is. I don’t think that’s how people actually live in Sweden – it’s a bit contrived. The stereotypical ‘Scandi’ look is probably more pared-back than my own personal aesthetic which involves me just doing what I like the look of,” she laughs. “In fact my mum and dad in Sweden often remark on some of my design decisions such as the layering of rugs – that’s not a typical Scandi thing. Also, Scandinavians love white in their homes, however white looks very different here than it does in Sweden because of the light.”
When the couple purchased the house is featured missing window panes, abandoned birds’ nests, was stuffed with old furniture and had no electricity or running water.
“It was a very big project but that was good because it meant that we could do everything right from the beginning,” says Kathrin. “The biggest challenge was time. Because we were trying to do the renovation during the pandemic everything was delayed due to supply chain issues – at one point there were actually no windows being made so issues like these slowed everything down.”
At one stage a family of nine lived in the original building with two rooms downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs. Now a two-storey extension provides a lot more breathing space in the house. The sitting room is still in one of the original rooms in the cottage while the kitchen is now located in the extension: “There was an original extension which we took down rebuilding a new extension which houses the new kitchen, a downstairs loo, hallway and utility room as well as two bathrooms upstairs.”
“Our builder did the bulk of the work on the extension but the house is still an ongoing project. We were lucky to avail of some grant assistance to retrofit the property although the vacant property grant had not yet come in when we bought the house,” says Kathrin. “We wrapped the house externally, changed all the windows, dug up the floors and put in underfloor heating installing polished concrete on top.”
Having been retrofitted Kathrin says that she now feels that the house “embraces” her when she walks through the door: “The weather can be unpredictable here but the walls of the cottage are 60cm deep. In bad weather the gutters might fly off or we might lose a roof tile but the original house has been here for a very long time and we feel very safe within it.”
Kathrin’s Instagram followers will be familiar with her cosy sitting room which is characterised by pattern and texture. “I love it for its character, the wood burning stove and the exposed stone. It is such a lovely cosy room to sit in. We had to choose whether we wanted to insulate the house on the outside or the inside and we chose to do that on the outside so that we could retain the exposed stone internally.”
A flexible space and roomy space it allows for a variety of activities to take place. “There is the seating area and also another area which I can use for exercising, which comes in handy when I am doing crafts such as crochet or that can fit a table if we want to drag one in to eat at.”
“I like that there is a lot of pattern and texture in the room as well as several light sources including wall sconces, table lamps and pendants. This room can be quite dark so we have plenty of lamps dotted around – all of which are controlled with my Alexa which is so convenient.”
There is a lovely sense of nostalgia in the sitting room – a feeling that is coherant throughout Kathrin’s home. “We love buying old things – the only new things in the house are the beds, the kitchen units and the bathroom fittings but even the vanity units are made from repurposed cabinets,” says Kathrin. “This is a based on both aesthetics and sustainablity – we hate seeing things being thrown into skips and love to reuse things that still have life in them. I hate waste and love to repurpose things. It’s not something that I think of, it’s just the way I am.”
I ask her how she manages to maintain a cohesive look and how to prevent a house filled with pre-loved items from becoming chaotic. “It can be difficult when you have a house already set up to create a cohesive look I think,” she says. “It can be hard to change one thing or to add in lots of old things without the look becoming confused. We were lucky here in that we were decorating from scratch so it is more coherent. That said, there isn’t really a plan, I just buy things I like, move other pieces around and if something doesn’t work I just pass it on.”
Kathrin says that she always opts to purchase old over new. “I think older things have more character and I don’t like having things that other people have,” she says. “I have never really followed trends in either fashion or interiors – I just like doing my own thing.”
She credits her parents for her sense of taste and her love of vintage and antique pieces. “My parents have definitely influenced my style in terms of my love of antiques and vintage items. Some of my beautiful rugs came from their home when they downsized. Some of my favourite auctions include Mullens Laurel Park in Bray and Herman’s in Rathmines and I used to love Buckley Gallery in Sandycove sadly closed down. I also love the charity shops in Dun Laoghaire.”
When she goes back to Sweden on holidays Kathrin will pick up beautiful pieces including copper pots and candlesticks, textiles and paintings to take back to Ireland. “The charity shops are amazing there and the standard of products is phenomenal. I suppose there is better availability because Sweden has a larger population so if something was manufactured 100 years ago it would have been made in greater volume.”
She says that it’s easier to pick up well priced items back at home whereas she finds pricing erratic in Irish secondhand shops. “I admire the charity shops here and what they are trying to do but sometimes I am amazed by the prices – surely it makes more sense to charge a reasonable price for something and to sell it easily. In Sweden if something has a tiny crack in it is will be deemed ‘imperfect’ and sold at a very low price. Sometimes I see things over there that are jaw-dropping – what might cost €200 in Ireland might cost €20 over there.”
See more of Kathrin’s beautiful home on Instagram at @scandiandirish.
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