How do you transform a dumping ground into a super-space?
That was the challenge interior design guru Arlene McIntyre faced as the first of her six-part series Designed For Life aired this Tuesday evening.
This week the Smyth family in Clontarf called on Arlene to make over their unused “dump room” into a functional and stylish home office and work her magic on their living room with its acorn-patterned wallpaper which they wanted to use as a grown-up relaxation zone.
The result? Thanks to Arlene’s creative solutions, the rooms morphed into luxurious and user-friendly spaces.
Throughout the series the leading international interior designer will be working with different sized homes, budgets, and personalities to show that design is not only accessible — but can enhance how we live in our homes.
Arlene is hugely passionate about design and the transformative effects it can have. She is confident that regardless of scale or budget, universal design principles can transform problematic pads into “heavenly homes”.
“We demand more from our spaces now than ever before,” says Arlene.
“Light, furnishing, colour, texture can all have huge impact. When a room is both functional and beautiful, it enriches our lives.”
Each episode deals with the transformation of one property. Arlene meets the clients, hears their aspirations and their budget. The series follows the interior design process of creating bespoke solutions for each of the homeowners.
Every week features a section presented by Arlene’s charismatic project manager Zara Leon who provides tips on colour choices, fabric selection, upcycling and furniture layout.
The series covers a diverse range of properties from a small urban apartment to a detached riverside house, a period home, to a redbrick terrace house and finally an unusual property with a retail unit on the ground floor that is being transformed into a family home.
Arlene McIntyre is the creative director of Ventura Design, which she founded in 2005. Ventura Design is among the country’s most prestigious interiors and bespoke furniture company.
Arlene has two showrooms in Dublin, one in London and one opening soon in Portugal. She’s a much sought after interior designer and has collaborated with Trinny Woodall and also Paul Costello on his first bespoke furniture range. She has a growing list of celebrity clients, designing Vogue William’s new house in Ireland and Milly Mackintosh’s in London. Arlene is also the talent behind the revamp of the wonderful Luttrellstown Castle.
Her Californian heritage and the luxurious West Coast aesthetic is mirrored frequently in Arlene’s work.
Zara, a native of Zafra, a town north of Seville, in Spain, came to work with Arlene in Dublin two years after graduating with a Masters from Seville University.
- The series is broadcast on Tuesday nights at 8.30pm
