Character Building

Rebecca and Barry have injected character and life into their home which is filled with a combination of bargain finds and up-cycled second hand pieces.

Buying their first home, back in the 2005 boom, meant Rebecca and Barry were on a very tight budget when it came to decorating and furnishing. ‘We had been renting for some time and were keen to get onto the property ladder. I had grown up in Arklow and this development of houses was in a pretty location on the edge of the town with a lovely forest to one side of it, so this is what really drew me to the house,’ explains Rebecca.

As the house was newly built it was in good decorative order, it had a fitted kitchen and bathroom so the couple knew they wouldn’t have to do any work initially. Having been stretched financially with the purchase of the property they knew they would have to live with the existing décor and the few pieces of furniture they had until they had saved enough to be able to furnish the house and put their own mark on the place. ‘We loved the fact that the house was a new build so it would be low maintenance. It had four bedrooms so was the perfect size for the family, however it lacked character so we knew we needed to do something creative to inject our style into the house and give it a more colourful and decorative interior.’

‘We lived in the house for two years before we embarked on any work at all. This actually worked well as it meant we could really settle in and could be sure about our style and what we wanted and needed,’ says Rebecca. Even though the couple were keen to start on the interiors, the first job the couple tackled was the garden, which they landscaped introducing more shrubs and colour. ‘The garden is on a slope so we planned it to have pretty terraces and to be much more user friendly and practical for the children,’ explains Rebecca.