French Flair

When EZ Living Interiors creativity meets French-inspiration it’s a lesson in styling an open-plan space

Quiet luxury and family friendly are not two terms we would typically put together. One conjures the idea of a grown-up sophisticated space, comfortable but immaculate; the other suggests happy chaos, wear and tear, and maybe a dose of clutter.

Someone who has successfully combined the two is French woman Anna Bougharbel, a native of Nantes who has made Cork her home.

With an eye for design, she was initially drawn to Cork’s historic Victorian and Georgian housing stock but ended up in a contemporary self-build near Blarney where she lives with her partner and young son and daughter.

It’s proved not only a happy ending to finding her perfect home, but to have a spin-off effect of taking her career in a whole new direction.

In the course of researching eco-friendly products and finishes during planning, she explored micro-cement and lime paint which she has used to beautiful effect in her bathrooms and main bedroom, so in 2024 once she and her family were fully settled into their lightsome, spacious home, she gave up her career in tech to provide micro-cement and lime paint to other home owners through her business, Anna Maison B.

It’s a long way from her 2018 start when she had her first meeting with an architect to plan the design of her home now situated on an elevated site which takes in panoramic views of lush woodland, with the ramparts of 15^th century Blarney Castle visible in the distance.

Anna’s house, however, is quite the opposite as a 21^st century build for a modern family, phase two of which was tending to the exterior with planting and stonework so the house has begun to settle into the surrounding landscape.

Designing a family-friendly space - furniture, light and finishes

Inside, a priority was to maximise the amount of natural light, achieved with floor to ceiling windows and super-high ceilings in her open-plan kitchen, dining and living room, with adjacent utility room and boot room. Above the kitchen area is a snug space on a mezzanine floor.

Bedrooms and bathrooms are in a separate wing, making these more personal spaces private and away from visitors’ path of travel.

Concrete floors, micro-cement and white walls create a streamlined finish, but Anna has managed to escape the curse of many barn-like open plan spaces - that cavernous, cold feeling and intrusive echo.

Her home is a welcoming space where the design emphasis is a blend of Scandinavian and Mediterranean. Textiles are in warm neutrals in a large comfortable sofa and accent chair, with the addition of wooden occasional furniture and an outsize sisal rug making the space warm and finished.

It was this design and the proportions of the home which caught the eye of the discerning EZ Living Interiors creative team who frequently organise photoshoots, the result of which feature on our website and in brochures and social media.

One of these shoots which took place at Anna’s home offers a styling lesson where the contemporary design was a match for a curation of dining and living room furniture and accessories which fitted seamlessly into the space and showed it off at its best.

Cloud Granite Fabric 4 Piece Modular Corner Group

Tips for styling open plan spaces

Big spaces need larger furniture as a scattering of smaller pieces can look twee, almost as if they are ‘floating’ in the space. Corner sofas make themselves perfectly at home.

Our stylists chose the Morgan corner sofa in cream (€1599) which sits on the floor with a low foot, minimising dust accumulation underneath. In addition to its chaise seat, it has a recliner component for inducing maximum relaxation.

A second look featured the Hyde cream corner sofa (€999) sitting on elegant black legs making it vacuum cleaner-friendly, and where even a robot vacuum will glide beneath it effortlessly to keep it dust and fluff-free.

Round occasional furniture was added to create warmth, interest and practicality. The Lyra wooden coffee table (€379) and handy side table (€179) are a perfect foil to the relentless rectangular shape of sofas.

As with all open-plan spaces, a thread of continuity is essential for a cohesive look that is easy on the eye whether it brings with it a subtle colour reference, a texture or a finish.

In the kitchen area the Lyra rectangular dining table (€699) met the brief. It’s a chameleon of the table world with its ability to work with assorted chair designs, so something as cosy as the copper Cody (€129) adds a touch of colour while being what we term a warm neutral.

One of the questions Anna is frequently asked is how she maintains cream upholstery with two young children. She’s made a point of buying washable pieces, but if you have a sofa that doesn’t have removable covers and you dread dealing with mishaps which aren’t always the kiddies’ fault (red wine being a culprit), there’s the EZ Living Interiors Guardsman plan for stains and cosmetic damage to put your mind at ease.