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Barbara Corsico<\/p>\n\u201cThe house looks directly onto the Irish Sea,\u201d says Dublin-based interior designer R\u00f3is\u00edn Lafferty. \u201cThe site is magnificent irrespective of the season or weather. The design scheme was about celebrating that to the maximum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her latest project, the transformation of a 19th-century villa on Ireland\u2019s east coast, shows why Lafferty is one of Ireland\u2019s most influential contemporary design voices. Since founding her Dublin studio 15 years ago, she has become known for her deft renovations of historic homes, but she is also a shape-shifter, just as comfortable designing modernist spaces. In addition to homes in locations ranging from the U.S. to the Middle East, her portfolio extends into hospitality, from luxury treehouses for a hotel in Cork to an upcoming renovation of Murray\u2019s Doonmore Hotel, on Inishbofin, Ireland\u2019s westernmost island.<\/p>\n
Barbara Corsico<\/p>\n
The parlor of Infinity House, a coastal home in Ireland\u2019s County Louth designed by R\u00f3is\u00edn Lafferty, with architecture by Dublin Design Studio.<\/p>\n
This particular villa, known as Infinity House, plays to Lafferty\u2019s diverse strengths. Built in 1830 for the owner of a local ironworks, the home was recently purchased by a young family seeking a flexible layout, as the husband works at home. Collaborating with architects at Dublin Design Studio, Lafferty looked to the region\u2019s natural drama\u2014craggy coastline, wetlands, and the Cooley Mountains\u2014for inspiration. To enlarge the house, the team replaced an earlier extension with a new L-shaped wing. The challenge was reconciling the historic structure with the modernist addition. Lafferty\u2019s solution was to embrace bold materials that unite the two and to ground the house in the landscape.<\/p>\n
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Barbara Corsico<\/p>\n
The home\u2019s stairwell has a staircase and flooring in green Vottoria Regia quartzite.<\/p>\n
The addition houses a sequence of light-filled spaces, including the kitchen and the living and dining areas. In the minimalist kitchen, wild nature and the domestic are in dialogue, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Dundalk Bay. A green marble cantilevered staircase anchors the wing. Terrazzo walls and floors pair with tactile upholstery and flowing voile curtains. \u201cThe weather can be ferocious,\u201d Lafferty says. \u201cThere is a lot of rain, and the sky is always gray. I wanted to soften the view as much as possible. The beautiful greenery is what pops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside R\u00f3is\u00edn Lafferty’s World![\"entry](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wroisin-009-68b769e17985f.jpg\" "\\"entry")
Open Gallery![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.elledecor.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/arrow-right.7440adc.svg\" "\\"Black"){kind=icon}
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In the historic section of the home, original features like wood paneling and a checkerboard marble floor were preserved. Lafferty added a sensuous palette of warm neutrals and furnishings ranging from classic leather Chesterfields to a sculptural Tom Faulkner chandelier. Downstairs Lafferty -created what she jokingly calls the \u201cBat Cave\u201d: a wellness and recreation area with discreet doors leading to a gym, sauna, home theater, and bar.<\/p>\n
If this project looks unlike her others, that\u2019s intentional. \u201cI want each project to be its own piece,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
![\"interior](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wroisin-002-68b76733055da.jpg\" "\\"interior")
Barbara Corsico<\/p>\n
Lafferty\u2019s Dublin gallery features art and design.<\/p>\n
Lafferty now has another outlet for experimentation. Last May she opened the R\u00f3is\u00edn Lafferty Gallery, which is open by appointment, in a Georgian townhouse on Dublin\u2019s Fitzwilliam Square, where she also has her studio. The gallery space showcases furniture, lighting, and textiles by Faulkner, Bryan O\u2019Sullivan, woodturner Richard West, and other designers, alongside her own Sphere collection. -Vintage pieces by Eileen Gray, Jorge Zalszupin, and the Lalannes\u2014sourced by Irish dealer Domhnall O\u2019Gairbhi\u2014round out the mix. \u201cIt\u2019s about creating a mood,\u201d Lafferty says. \u201cWe get to play, host exhibitions and dinners, and blur the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n