ideal home show...

whats you ideal home..???

well your were bound to find plenty of ideas and inspirations at the weekend if you visited the RDS in Dublin and the Ideal Home Show.

every year over the October bank holiday the Ideal Home Show takes to the RDS. Ever since the first exhibition in 1908, the Ideal Home Show has continued to amaze and delight visitors from all over the world, and today it is officially Ireland’s biggest, best attended and most successful exhibition for homeowners.

the 2008 Ideal Home Eco Show House lead the way in green and eco-friendly interiors. Natural wall coverings in sisal and bamboo, bamboo flooring, minimalist furnishings and carpets made from recycled grass and organic cottons were prominent show features. What i found really exciting about the Eco House was that every room had a display highlighting each product / finish and their supplier so if you saw something you liked it was so easy to go find out more about it.

the Eco House was designed by Sinead Kelly, one of Irelands leading interior designers who is well known for her classic yet contemporary style. (www.sineadkellyinteriors.com). Sinead focused on a sustainable design that seeks a balance between practical needs and harmony with the environment. The interior style was natural and tranquil and will married with the eco-friendly features cleverly incorporated into the design of the house.

another exciting feature of this years show was the Interior design Awards. This year’s Interior Design went to Chao Chen, an interior architect who created a design for a 100sq.m. apartment using the concept of a hermit crab – making the apartment a mobile structure that could be moved and where the internal space can be easily transformed.

He cleverly incorporated the use of the 'Living Shell' formula which introduces a ‘second skin’ concept to solve the problem of the formulaic internal layout which is limited in terms of an individual’s demands. The 'Living Shell' functions to repackage the existing space.

Chao Chen's design was there to be viewed at the Design Gallery feature in the main hall. This area also featured a number of other interior designers showcasing their own work and answering any design-related queries for visitors.