How a Design Clinic can help you make an old house the home you want to live in

We loved the process. It was so interesting and useful. Patti really respected the human and structural story of the house.  The Design Clinic gave us the time to express our feelings about the project and to air our concerns too.  We loved her ideas/solutions for the house and were delighted to have had her expertise to hand. We hope to use the natural materials so the house can breathe again.  We'll see how we get on ... Patti is making a such a contribution; it was a pleasure to work with her.

Thanks to Patti’s time and patience I now have a design for an old stone barn which I will restore and turn into my home.
We discussed at length what I wanted and what I needed. This process was not easy for me but with Patti’s patience and encouragement and at the end of a very long day I had a plan I really liked.
Thank you sincerely Patti.

We had our Design Clinic conducted over Skype due to Covid 19. Patti really captured what we were looking to achieve and how best we could integrate this into our home. We didn’t lose any of the value of Patti’s brilliant Design Clinic concept, we just didn’t get to meet her in person! Our end product design is exactly what we need. Many thanks Patti.

Patti has a very calm approach to design and really guided us through the process of the design clinic which was very appreciated. The design outcome looks amazing, I am actually a bit emotional that this could be our house and it will be so unique to us and our site.

If you are thinking of doing any kind of renovation work to your home or adding an extension you need to contact Patti O’Neill now. She will conduct a full review of your house and advise on what best suits your home having regard to your lifestyle. Patti will bring heat and light, sunshine and space to your home and in doing so she will ultimately save you money. She did all of this for our house for which we are immensely grateful. Patti O’Neill is a blessing to Irish Architecture especially for rural Ireland.

Patti had the ability to transform our family needs into a house extension design that surpassed our expectations. She skilfully integrated it to our existing home, maximising the use of light and space. It was a positive and creative experience working with Patti and would highly recommend her for residential renovation projects.

Patti brought us on a grand tour of our house and showed us things about it that we never considered. We are delighted with the outcome drawing. It gives us a really good basis for moving forward as we have a drawing to take to builders for costings. We can now take time to consider the design and fine tune the specifics of our new space. Patti has taken the fear out of the process and we really looking forward to taking our next steps.

I highly recommend Patti and her in-depth design clinic. For us, what we were originally looking for was a revised layout and extension of our old 1950s home. With Patti's skill set and creativity, what we got was a detailed plan creating optimised flow of space, increased light and maximised views. Her creativity against focus, clarity and sustainability ensured we obtained maximum effectiveness and a cohesiveness between the old and new. Patti is extremely thorough, detailed in her approach, process, design, drawings and outcome. If you are looking for an expert safe pair of hands to ensure you get the most out of your existing structure versus what you want as well as what you need, Patti is the professional you have been looking for.

The one day design clinic is a beneficial start, assisting  with jump-starting the process of renovating through in depth brainstorming and identifying the potential of a property. After lengthy discussions  with Patti, clarity in terms of needs, wants and necessities regarding  living and the function of a space are uncovered, explored and mapped out on a floor plan. Regardless of whether you are ready to renovate, or are only in the possibilities stage, the clinic provides inspiration and motivation to move forward.

Our home had a couple of problems, light and a small kitchen and the Design Clinic helped us to focus on what was needed in order to solve these problems. After a couple of years of imagining different permutations / re-jigging rooms the consultation clarified what needed to be done and what works in our house. Thank you to Patti who showed patience and imagination.

I used the Design Clinic service and it was excellent. I wanted a new layout for my kitchen and my husband wanted an extension to maximise the view. Patti came up with an excellent alternative which we are both extremely happy with, without having to add on an extension. She also stayed with us longer than she was supposed to and it was no issue at all. Excellent service, highly recommend Patti!

Patti agreed to travel all the way to the north coast of Donegal to meet with us and we are so glad she did. Her expertise, advice and support were invaluable. She listened to our needs, advised us and made the whole experience feel very collaborative and enjoyable. She was able to merge our ideas with her knowledge and creativity to create a plan which we are absolutely delighted with. Most importantly for us, her expertise in restoring our old house in keeping with the existing building and all its wonderful features has been exceptional. We would highly recommend Patti for any renovation projects.

I needed to downsize the existing plans for the renovation to my cottage. I found Patti's webpage and liked the idea of a Design Clinic. Patti came onsite and looked at my existing plans; Patti got me to focus on what I wanted from the cottage and how I would live in the space. I was downsizing and family were moving on to start their own journey in life. The meeting with Patti was well worth it, I used some of her suggestions in redesigning my extension, and now 4 years later I am living in the house and love it. Thanks Patti

We are thrilled to see our potential new home for the first time. Patti managed to fulfill all of our demands within the narrow scope we gave her and it was very enjoyable to watch her work.

I'm glad I found Patti on the internet and I'm glad it was her going through the process with me online.

Thank you for the visit, the design and the drawings. We were thrilled with the outcome of our meeting and you've given us some excellent ideas. You've completely changed our view of the house for the better and we really appreciate it. Barbara & Bryan, Co. Clare

Patti provided a design clinic service for our modest 3 bed end of terrace home. She focused very much on the positives of our space as well as addressing how to improve the negatives. She worked with enhancing what we already have to bring about more space, light and storage. It was a lovely positive experience with an impressive drawing provided that gave us motivation and inspiration. Would highly recommend Patti and her service.

Somehow in a few hours, Patti understood how I live and what is important to me. While being sensitive to my limited budget and wanting to retain the old-fashioned feel of the cottage, she designed a new layout that brings in light, includes storage, and makes for an overall more comfortable, relaxing place to live. Passionate and knowledgeable about the conservation of older buildings, Patti was supportive and encouraging but also realistic about the work I could do myself. Patti completely changed my outlook on what can be achieved in the space I have and I can't recommend her enough.

Thank you for your time and for the drawings and your creativity. We genuinely think your service is quite unique and truly good value. We really needed something like this for us to start making decisions. It's a great foundation to understand how the space can be re-modelled to create a comfortable and flowing home.

How can we make the house work for us? Should we downsize? We all have blind spots yet we had a notion of what we wanted. When you embark on a building project it evolves, you allow time for it to digest and then change. Our two Design Clinics with Patti illuminated the blind spots and in the new layout we use all the spaces.

We have great satisfaction of how Patti maximises the use of the sun from early in the morning till late in the evening, which saves on our fuel bills and is good for the environment. Mostly, however, there is a sense of well being from living in a house where the sun is going through all day. We would never had envisioned the home that we have without Patti's professional advice. Overall we found the service superb.

I have been showing the outcome plan drawing of the Design Clinic to everyone and my enthusiasm is carrying it. They're very excited in the heel of the hunt to see me moving forward. Our Design Clinic session was fantastic – I didn't know I could love the house as much as I do. I looked at it as an expense and something I must do whereas I feel now that I have a golden opportunity to get to do this work. I'm dreaming of my Galtee Mountains view.

Thank you so much for all your advice, expertise and knowledge regarding the design and conservation of my 100 year old cottage. You have given me great insight into the conservation work that needs to be done. The design and lay out is fantastic- can’t wait to get started!

The Design Clinic was the prefect way for us to create a plan for the layout of our home.  We got to see our home through an experts eye, and got insights we had not considered. It was amazing to see the plan come together over a few hours...throughout the day Patti assured us that the answers were there, and that we would get to a completed plan... and her confidence in her process is deserved. We were able to take the time to discuss every idea and concern and had plans we were really satisfied with by the end of the day. In fact it was a really enjoyable day.

Patti came to us highly recommended and we can see why!

We had discussed altering our home and had come up with lots of ideas, but we needed some clarity in the form of expert advice. Patti listened to our requirements, assessed the house and came up with lots of ideas, that were both practical and creative. At the end of the day Patti left us with a plan that was exactly what we were hoping for!  We are thrilled with the outcome and would highly recommend Patti to anyone seeking to improve their home.

We found Patti very insightful, knowledgeable and helpful. She helped us choose a design for our 1900's farm house revamp bringing together modern twist while still maintaining the character and personality of the house. Thanks again for your design really appreciate it.

Even though we had an idea of what we wanted to achieve in the renovation of an old cottage and the building of an extension, we couldn’t make it work ourselves. With Patti’s skill, as well as her insights, experience and knowledge, we worked together to come up with a design which maximises the site and creates a lovely flow within the design. In just a few hours, we created a house plan that we are very happy with – thanks to Patti.

The online design clinic experience worked as well for me and I would recommend it as an alternative to a home visit. I shared photos and measurements beforehand as well as the general scope of my extension needs and ideas.
The first part of our discussion was based on my wishlist for my extension and how I intended to use the space, and talking online about this was very straightforward. When it came to putting ideas down on paper, I did feel that this would be more challenging to do online, but by doing a screenshare Patti was easily able to sketch and talk me through different options.
At the end of our session (which we split into two segments to accommodate a break from the laptop), I came away with a clear idea of how my new space should look and the next day Patti shared drawings based on our clinic discussion that I can now take to builders for cost estimates.

While we loved the cottage we had bought, we were completely daunted by the scale of the project until we met Patti who gave us the courage to retain the cottage and barn and convert the spaces into a modern, family focused home.
The Design Clinic with Patti was invaluable in helping us to see the potential of the buildings, and to use the existing footprint in the best possible way to maximise light and space.
Reinventing these old buildings into our home has been a challenge but one that was made easier by the creativity, positivity and respect for the history of the place that Patti brought to the project.

We really feel we got a lot out of the day and we are also very happy with a new sense of flow and connection. We would be very happy to recommend Patti's work.

The consultation work was really enjoyable! Very happy with how we managed to fit in a functional, contemporary layout into a not-so-willing older cottage and delighted with how the drawings have come out; love how they've maximised the space, particularly getting full use of the end room with the mountain views! Patti is very knowledgeable, thorough, and has great respect for detail when working with older properties, which can be a difficult find in today's world. Thank you Patti.

Initially we thought a design clinic consultation seemed like a lot of time but we were so surprised the time flew by as Patti turned what we thought was a very straightforward extension plan in to a much more interesting design. She had loads of different ideas and really made the extension flow from the existing house. We had two design clinic sessions with Patti and the builder worked from her drawings. We are delighted with the outcome and would certainly not have the beautiful bright and spacious family room/kitchen we enjoy today were it not for Patti’s ideas, design and attention to detail. We have already recommended Patti to family members and friends.