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I am full of gratitude for my life - and for this house.

When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it's welcome.

I want to say a very sincere thank you for this welcome home - it is a wonderful welcome home. It is the place to where I return and where I will always return because it is of Galway that I am.

I say to myself that I shall try to make my life like an open fireplace, so that people may be warmed and cheered by it and so go out themselves to warm and cheer.

If I welcomed people into my lovely home every week in the pages of a magazine, they'd soon see how incredibly dull it is. It's important to maintain a bit of mystique.

I moved out to New Zealand to live as I thought the warmth and peace and quiet would help me. I went away and changed my whole life routine.

Greet every morning with open arms and say thanks every night with a full heart. Each day is a precious gift to be savored and used, not left unopened and hoarded for a future that may never come.

My house is my refuge, an emotional piece of architecture, not a cold piece of convenience.

I tend to be so lost in the work that I don't notice the weather. My partner will come home and say, 'Beautiful day, wasn't it?' and I'll say, 'Was it?' as I won't have noticed the real world at all.