Cobelis Design Studio

15/10/2026

14/10/2026

“I don’t want to spend all that money and still get it wrong.”

When you are planning a renovation, that fear can sit behind every decision.

🛑What if you build the extension, but the kitchen still doesn’t flow?
🛑What if you have more space, but nowhere for the laundry, schoolbags or coats?
🛑What if it looks beautiful, but everyday family life is still difficult?

🪙You want to spend wisely and feel confident that the changes will solve the problems you are living with.

🩺That’s why I don’t start with design. I start with diagnosis.

🌟I specialise in spatial design, exploring how your existing home could work better before adding an extension where needed.

💡Through my Memory Making Method™, I consider how your family lives now and how your needs will change, so we establish what needs to change and why before you commit to construction.

My Reconfiguration Review™ is the first step towards that clarity.

Planning to renovate but worried about getting it wrong? Book a Clarity Call through the link Eleanor Clarke | Ireland's #1 Spatial Interior Designer

Why Extend When You Can Amend®

12/10/2026

Starting a business isn’t always glamorous. My version had a few more children in the picture! ❤️

I’m preparing a talk for the Interior Design, Business and Marketing students at Ballsbridge College called “Designing a Career That Didn’t Already Exist.”

Looking at the early photos of Amazon and Apple alongside my own beginnings has reminded me of the belief behind Eleanor Clarke | Ireland's #1 Spatial Interior Designer : seeing a problem and recognising an opportunity to help solve it.

I saw homeowners ready to invest significantly in renovating their homes, but worried about getting it wrong.

Their concern wasn’t simply, “What will it cost?”

It was, “What if we spend all this money and our home still doesn’t work for us?”

A beautiful renovation can still leave the everyday problems unresolved if those problems haven’t been properly understood.

That’s why I chose to specialise in spatial design and developed my Memory Making Method™.

I start by understanding how you live, what isn’t working and why. Then we establish what your home actually needs—whether that means reconfiguring, extending or thoughtfully combining both.

It gives the design a clear purpose, so your investment is directed towards changes that make a meaningful difference to your life.

Building that business happened around my own family life: evenings working on plans, a laptop beside me and children close by.

It wasn’t glamorous. But I believed in the value of helping people make the right decisions before making expensive, permanent changes.

That’s the story I’ll be sharing with the students.

And if you’re preparing to renovate and thinking, “We have the budget, but we need to know we’re doing the right thing,” that’s exactly where my work begins..

04/10/2026

Ready for day 2!design.studio extend.renovate.live

28/09/2026

Planning to spend €100k–€500k renovating or extending your home?

Before you approve plans, remove walls or decide how large an extension should be, there are seven important decisions you need to get right.

Because the most expensive renovation mistake isn’t simply spending too much.

It’s investing significantly in the wrong changes and still ending up with a home that doesn’t work for your family.

I created The 7 Decisions to Get Right Before You Start Designing to help you understand:

• What is actually not working
• Why it isn’t working
• How you need to live
• Where to invest first
• Whether to reconfigure, extend—or thoughtfully combine both

Download your free copy through the link in my bio Eleanor Clarke | Ireland's #1 Spatial Interior Designer

Make the right changes before you renovate.

26/09/2026

Planning to renovate or extend your home? Let’s make sure you’re investing in the right changes.

I’ll be at the Selfbuild Extend & Renovate Show Connacht on 3–4 October at the Connacht GAA Air Dome, Co. Mayo. Come and meet me at stand D6, near the Advice Theatre.

I’ll also be taking part in two Bootcamp discussions:

🏡 11:15 am — Design first approach: How to nail the most important part of your journey
🏡 3:45 pm — Renovation focus: A deep dive if you’re upgrading your home

And if you’re wondering where to begin, download my free guide: The 7 Decisions to Get Right Before You Start Designing. Swipe to the last slide and scan the QR code to get your copy or click the link in my bio .studio.design

I don’t start with design. I start with diagnosis, understanding what your home actually needs before you make expensive, permanent decisions.

I’d love to see you at stand D6.



&renovateshow

02/09/2026

Open plan and good flow are not the same thing.

We talk a lot about wanting our homes to “flow”.

But somewhere along the way, good flow became confused with open-plan living.

Flow isn't about how many walls you remove.
It's about how your home allows you to live.

🛑You can knock down walls, open up rooms and create beautiful sightlines and still end up with a home that doesn't work particularly well.

Because good flow is about more than openness.

💡It's about how you move through your home.
💡Where your family naturally gathers.
Whether the spaces you have actually get used.
💡How noise travels from one area to another.
💡And whether you can be together and separate when you need to be.

🌟Sometimes better flow means opening something up.

Sometimes it actually means closing something off.

So before you knock down another wall to create “better flow”, ask yourself:

What am I actually trying to make work better?

Because the goal isn't simply to create an open-plan home.

It's to create a home that works for the way you live.

Why Extend When You Can Amend®️

29/08/2026

They extended their home…
just not where they thought they would. 

When I first looked at this home, the assumption was that the obvious solution was to extend in one particular direction.

🛑But before deciding where to add more space, we looked at how the whole ground floor was working, the kitchen, circulation, living areas, light and connection to the garden.

And that changed the plan.

The home was extended, but in a different position to where the homeowners had originally imagined.

💡By reconfiguring the existing space first, we could identify where the additional space would actually make the biggest difference.

🌟The result is the home you see in the AFTER image, a generous kitchen and island, better connection between the spaces, improved flow and a much more cohesive family living area.

The lesson?

An extension can absolutely be the right answer.

But where you extend should be the result of the design process. It is not the starting point.

That’s why I always look at what your existing home can do first.

Why Extend When You Can Amend®️

👌And when you do need to extend, extend in the right place.

28/08/2026

Before you extend, ask whether you actually need more space.

This family already had plenty of rooms.

🛑The problem wasn’t the size of their home.
It was how the existing space was working for them.

💡Through my diagnosis, I could see an opportunity to rethink the existing footprint before adding more square metres.

By reconfiguring what was already there, we could:

• Move the kitchen into the heart of the home
• Create a proper utility room
• Retain a separate living room and office
• create a cosy snug
• Give each space a much clearer purpose

🌟No Bigger Footprint. Just A Home That Works Better.

This is why I diagnose before I design.

Because sometimes the answer isn’t an extension.

It’s a better understanding of the space you already have.

Why Extend When You Can Amend®

If you are wondering whether your home really needs an extension, or whether it could be reconfigured instead, book a free Clarity Call through the link in my bio .design.studio

14/07/2026

Have you reached the point where you feel completely stuck?

You know your home isn't working anymore.

Every day you notice the same frustrations. The kitchen feels too small. The layout doesn't flow. There's never enough storage. Family life feels harder than it should.

You know something has to change.

But instead of moving forward, you feel... paralysed.

Not because you don't want to renovate.

Because you're terrified of making the wrong decision.

🛑 What if we spend all this money and it still doesn't work?
🛑 What if we extend when we didn't need to?
🛑 What if we regret the layout?
🛑 What if there's a better solution that we just can't see?

✋️ So you wait.

You save more Pinterest images.
You ask family and friends for advice.
You get another opinion.

😟 But instead of gaining confidence, you become even more overwhelmed.

Here's what I've learned after working with hundreds of homeowners:

People rarely feel stuck because they don't have enough ideas.

🤯 They feel stuck because they don't have enough clarity.

That's why I don't start with design.

I start by diagnosing how your home works for the way you live.

Once you understand the problem, the fear starts to disappear, the overwhelm begins to lift and you can finally move forward with confidence.

✨ If this sounds like you, book a free Clarity Call through the link in my bio Eleanor Clarke | Ireland's #1 Spatial Interior Designer. Let's uncover what's really holding your home back.

Why Extend When You Can Amend®️