RTE’s ‘Home Of The Year’ Judge Hugh Wallace Shares His Top Tips

Electric Ireland met with Home of The Year judge and architect Hugh Wallace, who shared his top tips and insights on how you can make your house a real home this year. Hugh is one of Ireland's most respected architects, with over 30 years’ experience in interior design and the architectural industry.

Hugh's Top Tips:

Create A Real Home: Lifetime collections of sentimental paintings, furniture and memorabilia are what makes a house a true home. Decluttering is a must, but make sure you don’t remove what makes your home really yours.

Dare To Contrast: Complementing the shell of the house with beautiful internal textures and designs, from wallpapers and fabrics to the layout of furniture, should always be the desired outcome, creating a feeling of free flowing spaces, Contrasting old and new works really well when you take a historic building and introduce a really crisp, modern interior design.

Be Bright: Sunshine is such an important element to a happy house. Having the ability to evaluate your home and how it should be laid out in relation to natural sunlight is a talent that will really benefit everyone living in the home. Do you spend most of your time in the living room area of home but it’s dark, dull and hidden from any sunlight? Why not move the living room upstairs, your house is for you - so make it comfortable!

Get Smart: Innovative products put the control of your heating, energy use and most importantly, your bills into your hands! It’s a very exciting time for smarter living with more and more smart homes popping up around Ireland. These products and housing models are constantly evolving, to become more simple for consumers and better for the environment.. The smart home industry is really taking off.