A Dark & Cozy Cottage in the Northern Ireland Countryside

Inspiration for designing our spaces can come in all forms, and when Eniko Kirkwood was looking to banish neutral tones from her home, she found her North star in the pages of a magazine. She and husband Michael had just moved into their new-to-them Comber, Northern Ireland home with their beloved labradors, Alfie and Penny. The carpets in the house were the first to go, but the walls took a bit of persuasion on Eniko’s end.

“When we moved into our home all the walls were painted in Magnolia [a cream tone] and the carpets were beige,” Eniko begins. “The first thing we did was replace all the carpets with reclaimed wooden floors. Initially I wanted the house to look like a cottage and that’s the style I started creating, but then one day I was looking through interior magazines and I came across a beautiful home with dark walls and it looked so cozy and decadent — I knew immediately that was the style I wanted. When my husband arrived home from work I told him I was painting the walls black in our snug room. Initially his reaction was ‘no,’ but then I showed him photographs from the magazine and he agreed. I chose a dark blue color and we both loved the result. That’s how my love for dark and cozy rooms started and I never looked back.”

Eniko, an interpreter, is also known for her Instagram feed, @mydarkhome_, where she showcases her knack for styling their home with moody tones and layers of texture. Four years since they bought and moved into their 1891 farmers cottage — “built by the Andrews family (known for designing [the] Titanic)” — the home is both cozy and “atmospheric,” two goals Eniko had when embarking on her design journey. And for those who see the Kirkwoods’ home and wonder, “can I pull off dark walls in my home, too?” Eniko shares this advice: “Take risks and just go for it, walls can always be repainted.” —Kelli 

Photography by Eniko Kirkwood / @mydarkhome_

Image above: Eniko shares more about her cozy and charming home: “Originally it was a farmers cottage, but it was extended 10 years ago by the previous owners. The house has three bedrooms and three reception rooms. The selling point of the house was the location, a 10-minute walk from a small town yet still in the countryside and secluded; houses in the area very rarely come on the market so we got lucky. The house has a large balcony/terrace which overlooks the fields beside us. The garden is large with mature trees.”

from Design*Sponge https://www.designsponge.com/2018/10/a-dark-cozy-farmers-cottage-in-the-northern-ireland-countryside.html

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/178759045314