When Gráinne Gillett purchased her Victorian cottage in Dublin two years ago, she discovered she had a much bigger project on her hands than she initially thought.
After peeling back ancient carpets and patterned wallpaper, she found damp and other dilemmas, but has been able to put them right and create a gorgeous home. While it's still a work in progress - she estimates she's about 50% complete - she has melded the modern with the historically charming to cultivate a unique, bright and tranquil space.
Originally built in 1895 to house local railway workers, the Victorian property appealed to the mid-wife turned interior designer thanks to its character and charm. Few original features survived, if any, but she has restored some areas while updating others to make a truly special space. When house hunting, she wanted something near to her family home, but ended up casting a much wider net to find the property that suited her.
“I knew I wanted a little house and a garden, rather than an apartment that I would have been able to get closer to home so I broadened my search area. For months I was going around looking at houses, going to viewings in the weekday evenings and weekends, and once I found this house I bid on it and I got it. I knew I loved this house as soon as I saw it. When I walked into the hallway and saw the really high ceilings in the hall, I knew it was the house for me. I bid and was lucky enough to get it,” she said, after saving hard during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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After getting the keys in November 2022, she enjoyed the euphoria of becoming a homeowner just for a moment, before getting to work “Getting the phone call to say I had gotten the house was surreal. I got the keys at like ten to five in the middle of winter and went straight over to the house. It was pitch black and I didn’t even know if I had electricity, but I just went and looked around and got so excited to get started with it, it was the best feeling ever," she said, starting to investigate what was under the carpets and wallpaper on her first night in the home.
Gráinne, who has completed much of the work on the home herself through DIY projects that she documents on her Instagram at @grainnegillett, then realised the extent of the work that needed doing. "I uncovered a whole host of problems like damp and wood rot. I was finding problem after problem, so it was becoming a much bigger project than I initially thought and that was a bit scary. And that’s where I am now, basically rebuilding the entire house” she joked. "I just thought why couldn’t I do it? I wanted to learn as many new skills as possible so I did it."
Describing her aesthetic as feminine and laid back, Gráinne says her interior design choices are reflective of her personality without being driven by trends. “I think it’s quite layered. It represents me as a person, with things I have collected over the years and mixing vintage with more contemporary things as well. I do what I like in my own house and I wanted it to be more eclectic.”
For those who are also on the renovation journey, Gráinne offers the reminder that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
"I have been at it for two years, and there are ups and downs, and some weeks I am so motivated and other weeks if someone asks me about the house I don’t want to talk about it! But remain positive. Take every day as it comes."
Check out her gorgeous home below:
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