Castlepollard designer on home of the year

We all like the chance to see inside other people’s homes – especially if they are a bit unique, or imaginative or luxurious.
And that’s what RTÉ 1’s new programme, 'Home of the Year’ allows us do, as three judges visit a total of 21 Irish homes over eight weeks to determine which owners should win this year’s Home of the Year title.
Among the three judges is a designer who lives in Castlepollard – Helen James, who is also the creative director and creator of the 'Considered by Helen James’ range, sold exclusively at Dunnes Stores.
Helen, who studied Textile Design at the National College of Art, Dublin, worked in New York as a fashion designer with top brands such as Donna Karan, before creating her own line of clothing and accessories.
However, Helen wanted to move into the world of interiors, and was appointed the Design Director of Donna Karen Home in New York.
Helen who first moved to Castlepollard 13 years ago, from there ran Helen James Design, before returning to the US where she spent 19 months as Design Director with Donna Karan Home.
She returned to Ireland three years ago where she took a position with Avoca working on their homewares offering. After a year she was approached by Dunnes Stores to head up and re-imagine their homeware section and establish her own range of Homewares and artisan food within the store, Considered by Helen James.
There is now a stand alone store and café, Considered by Helen James at Dunnes Stores on Drury Street Dublin, which sells homewares and artisan food. Her range is in 15 Dunnes Stores around Ireland.
The two other judges on the programme are interior designer, Hugh Wallace and architect, Declan O’Donnell.

Thursday
The House of the Year show, sponsored by Permanent TSB, champions individuality, flair and commitment to design, and features homeowners around Ireland who have done something extraordinary to the place they call home.
From self built dream homes, to eco friendly country retreats, Home of the Year features people who have built their dream home, just the way they like it. The series showcases homes all over the country and included; a surprising Semi D, a small terraced homes with a clever interior, a converted church, an architecturally distinct flood proof home, and a family home with clever storage solutions, to name just a few.
Looking for individuality, functionality and clever design, the judges individually score the homes out of 10, the home with the highest combined score, goes through to the final where the ultimate winner will be crowned.
On this Thursday night’s show (8.30pm), the judges travel to the south west coast to visit three very different homes. From a renovated bungalow bursting with colour, to an energy efficient split level home that has been cut into the landscape and finally, a fantastic family home in the form of a renovated farm house.