'Light pours in during the summer': Deirdre shares a favourite space in her cosy Galway cottage

‘We built a window seat into one of the original cottage walls.’

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

Deirdre Noone lives in a former labourer’s cottage in Galway with her husband and two sons.

“We moved into our house in 2012 and did the renovation work four years later, adding a modern extension to the back,” says Deirdre, who runs her own interior design business.

This week, Deirdre (@behind.theyellowgate) chatted us through her favourite spot: her entryway, which opens into the living space.

IMG_3680 (1) Deirdre Noone Deirdre Noone

What do you love about this part of your home?

I love how this space is great in every season. During the cold winter months we can cosy up here in front of the stove with a blanket, and in the warmer summer months we can relax in the window seat, which gets flooded with light, and open up the double windows to let the light and heat pour in. The same room can create two very different environments, which is what we set out to achieve.

What’s your favourite object in here and why?

The window seat is my favourite thing in here. It’s deep, which makes it such a lovely spot to relax in. We used a wall from the original cottage which had a small window in it and pulled away the rubble to make the opening bigger and it is now a very usable design feature that suits both modern living and the room.

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

The cottage itself was the inspiration – I really wanted to keep that traditional, cosy feel. Using deep, traditional green paint and adding lots of texture with rugs and cushions was a good way to achieve this. We inherited the couch as a hand-me-down, which we got upholstered. That worked with the style, so it all came together fairly easy as it’s a fairly minimal space.

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

Very little, actually. I just tidied the cushions as my two dogs also love this space and they like to adjust the cushions to suit themselves.

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

Not really. I do wonder every now and again if I was to change the space, what it is I would do, but I haven’t yet come up with a solution. So for now I’m just going to enjoy it as it is until I get notions to change it again.