Click through the gallery at the top of the page to see the results of last night's Designed for Life. Scroll down to the shop the look.
Arlene McIntyre has built a career out of creating swoon-worthy homes for celebrities like Vogue Williams and Millie Macintosh, and now she's sharing those style tips with RTÉ views in her new show, Designed for Life.
In it, the renowned interior designer takes on six design projects from a range of backgrounds and budgets, from a Victorian apartment to an urban city centre flat, a riverside property to a classic redbrick home and more.
Each episode follows along with the transformation of one property, as McIntyre meets the clients, hears their aspirations and their budget. The series follow the interior design process of creating bespoke solutions for each of the homeowners.
In tonight's series finale, Arlene meets Aidan Sliney and Emer Dalton, who have lived in New York and Stockholm before coming home and buying a unique property in south county Dublin.
Arlene faces a true design challenge as the ground floor of the property was designed to be a retail unit. Arlene's task is to transform the space into a dream kitchen, living dining area, which will take ingenuity and vision.
"I was tasked with creating a modern, stylish kitchen, living and dining room for this young family. It was a complete clean slate when I arrived", Arlene says.
"This was a particularly challenging project as this property was originally a commercial space which needed to look, feel and function as a home.
"With this in mind, I completely redesigned this space to have a seamless flow and to accommodate a better functioning kitchen/living and dining space. I wanted to keep this entire space cool and stylish with urban, youthful vibes, so I used deep navy blue (Railings Farrow & Ball), Purbeck Stone on the walls (Farrow & Ball) with burnt orange accents throughout the upholstery to keep this original and functional for this young growing family.
"The main challenge was to create a larger and better functioning kitchen layout to what the couple had previously planned for. This required boarding up some windows to allow for more storage and better symmetry. I wanted to create a symmetrical black line to this kitchen space with a large island painted in Railings by Farrow and Ball.
"As the couple had spent some time in New York I wanted to create a cooler vibe to the dining space and designed a built-in storage area that also doubled up as hidden storage for their buggy.
"When it came to the bespoke kitchen banqueting area I used a tongue and groove panelling in the back area of the built in bench seat in a hand painted finish, therefore giving this area its own vibe. Here I added a bespoke dining table and dining chairs.
"It was important for me to create two different zones with this open plan living space to accommodate somewhere to relax and watch TV, a dining zone and their kitchen zone.
"A wish list item for the couple was to have a hanging chair so I ensured that I found the perfect spot for this within the living area.
"The introduction of a porch area to the home was key, as I felt they needed somewhere to stop and hang their coats before entering their home."
Shop the look
Joinery - Piu Alto - www.piualto.com
Kitchen - Alex Jane Kitchens - www.alexjane.ie
Building works - VR Construction - www.instagram.com/vr_construction
Floors throughout - The flooring mill - www.flooringmill.ie
Lighting throughout - Ventura Design - www.ventura.ie
Carina dining table - V2 Living - www.v2living.ie
Mia dining chairs - Ventura Design - www.ventura.ie
Hanging Egg chair - Suave Home - www.suavehome.ie
Painting and Decorating - John Hayes decorating
Large Irish Seascape painting, 'cusp' - Isobel Henihan - www.isobelhenihan.com
Giles Norman framed, 'City Scape' - Giles Norman photography - www.gilesnorman.com
Rug - Deco design - www.decodesigns.ie
Conrad Sofa -Ventura design - www.ventura.ie
All additional art work and accessories - Ventura Design - www.ventura.ie
Porch storage hooks - Homebase - www.homebase.ie
