uFurnish.com Founder Deirdre McGettrick sat down with Sarah Twigg Doyle - winner of Best Home Office in the 2025 uFurnish.com Home Awards to talk all things interiors inspiration, design challenges and advice for those starting their own interiors journey.
Name: Sarah Twigg Doyle
Instagram handle: @retwiggdstylist
Tik Tok handle: @retwiggdstylist
Website: www.retwiggd.ie
Location: Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Sum up your home interior style in 3 words or less: Curated, Eclectic, Cosymalism
What's your favouite item in your home? Other than the people and the cats of course, I’d have to say our beautiful wood and cane bed. An investment purchase, which admittedly, took up most of our budget for the room. But, I love it as much as the day we bought it. I wanted a hero piece, something which added a feeling of french country romance and I think this bed definitely delivered.
If your home had a theme song what would it be? Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode. I'm an 80's girl, what can I say!
Toilet roll over or under on the holder? Over always... I am that person who in other people's bathrooms turns it over if it's under. It's the hotel housekeeping training in me and mycollege tutor Ms Bransby's words echoing in my ears!
Do you place your cups and glasses facing up or down in your cupboard? Actually, both! I find wine glasses are better stacked one up one down as it’s more space efficient in a cabinet if that makes sense. I’m a big fan of systems! Especially when you live in a modest size home and have a love of collecting tableware being an interior stylist!
What inspired your home's interior style and how did you bring that vision to life?
Our home has very much evolved over time. There was the all white walls and primary colour accents phase, the shabby chic era; to now, where a love of biophilic design, combined with an eclectic eye, has created a calm, lived-in feel. I love mixing old and new together. For me, curating treasured finds with more contemporary, well crafted pieces of furniture stops our home feeling like a museum. We are both big collectors and lovers of old things you just know have a story to tell. We tell ourselves there's no more space, but there’s always a place!!
We are also art lovers, Gavin is an artist (www.artistgmd.com) and I’m lucky I very often get to cherry pick the ones I love most, so along with our pieces we’ve collected, much of our walls are filled with his beautiful work.
What has been your biggest challenge designing your home and how have you overcome it?
Most people are surprised when they learn our home is actually a new build, not the cottage they envisaged from Instagram. It’s an eco-timber frame kit house, which throws up challenges when you are trying to alter anything structurally as it’s not a typical block build. Plus the fact everything was in good condition when we bought the house, just not to our taste. So as funds have allowed, we’ve made changes, taking out features we didn’t like and make-do and mended others.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting their own home interiors journey what would it be?
I think it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to have everything perfect from the get-go. My advice when I’m working with homeowners in my design practice is to take your time, live in a space first. Then begin to get a sense of how you want to feel in each room. When it comes to designing and filling it, do your research! Use natural surfaces and materials as much as possible. Buy once and well is my motto (having learned the hard way buying cheap). Selecting the best quality of everything you can afford and supplementing with cheaper secondhand furniture finds you can upcycle if necessary. Oh, and good quality paint is always worth the money, so check a brand’s VOC’s to minimise harmful toxins.
Is there a particular space in your home that you're most proud of and why?
In terms of being able to fully unleash my creativity, I’d have to say my home office/guest room space. What was once a room of doom, which ended up being a dumping ground because of lack of storage, is now a cohesive space. As a designer and stylist, this is my work from home space, so it was important to me, I had hidden storage for the practical things like samples, stationary etc but also shelving to display books, plants and treasured finds. Going pink was the best decision, I always feel inspired, happy and comfortable working here.
Where do you find your inspiration? Are there designers, Instagram accounts or brands that influence your style?
I’m most definitely a sponge, so it will be a mixture of all these! Colour is always my starting point when thinking of my designs. The inspiration for that comes in so many places, someone’s outfit colour combo. My office project, for example, the colours I used were influenced by book spines sitting on my shelf! Nature is always my greatest inspiration - the colour of a plant or flower, walking in woodlands observing shapes and patterns.
When it comes to designers I admire, there are so many! I love Kate-Watson-Smyth’s style, Abigail Ahern, Oliver Heath as I am a huge advocate for biophilic design. Here in Ireland Roisin Lafferty and Geri O’Toole are flying the flag for Irish design on the world stage and it’s incredibly exciting to see.
I love visiting interior design shows like Decorex, as an opportunity to get inspired. I have a bit of a thing for lighting at the moment, brands like Pooky and Beauvamp. I’m always obsessed with bedlinen and love finding new brands. Piglet in Bed is high on my wishlist for Christmas!
What did winning Best Home Office in the uFurnish.com Home Awards mean to you?
Goodness! So much! I’d never won an award for anything until now, so to win it for my design means the world. I’m still blown away even now! The standard of entries in all categories this year was so high, I was just thrilled to make the shortlist. To know this space which I poured my design heart and soul into, resonated with the judges was truly special. I feel so proud to display my glass trophy on my pretty pink shelves!
What's the next interiors project you want to work on?
Our bathrooms are looking their age and are next on the list, especially our ensuite, complete with peeling paint and broken shower door. But also, our kitchen, which we gave a facelift to a few years back, now needs reimagining. My problem is I’m always so busy designing for other people, it’s finding the time, energy, not to mention money to do our own! I have my moodboard all ready to go, so watch this space!
Each month we'll be interviewing one of our uFurnish.com Home Awards winners asking them all about their home renovation journey, their inspiration and more so be sure to come back each month to learn more. Find out more about our Home Awards here, follow us on Instagram here for more inspiration and updates and subscribe to our emails here for weekly offers and more.
