The Irish second home, run from six time zones away
How an American family buys, restores and furnishes a house in Ireland without being on site — surveys, approvals, snagging and handover managed entirely remotely.
Press & media
A media kit for editors, producers and journalists
RK Designs is an Irish interior design and project management studio in its 22nd year. Most of our clients are Americans who own a second home in Ireland and cannot be here for the build. Photography, owner interviews, sourcing lists and on-record comment are available to publications on request.
Fact sheet
- Founded
- 2000, Ireland
- Founder
- Ruth Kennelly, Principal Designer
- Discipline
- Interior design & full project management
- Specialism
- Irish holiday homes owned from the United States
- Scale
- Hundreds of houses renovated in 22 years
- Regions
- Kerry, West Cork, Galway, Dublin — nationwide
Boilerplate
Founded in 2000 and based in Ireland, RK Designs provides interior design and full project management for residential and commercial properties, with a specialism in Irish holiday homes owned from abroad. Founder Ruth Kennelly has been a leading Irish designer for over twenty years and the studio has renovated hundreds of houses nationwide, from Kerry cottages to Dublin penthouses.
Please credit interiors as Design: RK Designs, Ireland and link to rkdesigns.ie where possible.
Story angles we can support
Ruth Kennelly is available for interview, on-record comment and expert contribution, with project data and photography to match.
What Americans get wrong buying in Ireland
Offer to keys on an Irish timeline, protected structures and planning permission, and the questions worth asking before bidding on a cottage.
Restoring a Kerry cottage without erasing it
Reopened hearths, reclaimed slate, re-milled joinery — conservation decisions made in favour of the original building.
Sourcing Irish: linen, wool, stone, joinery
The makers behind our interiors and how a house furnished in Ireland reads differently from one shipped in.
A house that is both a family home and a rental
Specifying finishes that survive a letting season while still feeling like somebody's home in August.
Imagery
A selection of recent interiors. High-resolution files, before-and-afters and full project credits are supplied on request.
More work in the portfolio and client letters.
Selected coverage
- Newstalk, Down to Business — industry review on whether interior design can earn you money, with Hugh Wallace (Douglas Wallace Consultants), Ruth Kennelly (RK Designs) and Suzie McAdam (Suzie McAdam Interior Design). Read & listen
- Newstalk Radio — interview with Ruth Kennelly. Listen here
- Also featured in The Irish Times, RTÉ Television, Irish Independent, Sunday Business Post, The Sunday Times and Image Interiors.
Press contact
Ruth Kennelly, Founder & Principal Designer. Deadlines accommodated; interviews available on Eastern Time.