My Favourite Room: ‘I told the interior designer, “Make everything the colour of Armand, my dog”’
Paul and Siobhan Byrne’s business means daily interaction with Ireland’s movers and shakers as well as visiting stars but their home is all about their darling daughters and their much-loved pet
Paul and Siobhan Byrne, owners of BodyByrne, in the open-plan kitchen of their unusual home, which is a combination of a century-old cottage and a five-bedroom new build. The kitchen units are from Kitchen Elegance and there’s an extra-large limed-oak island as they wanted to sit at it with their two girls for meals. The worktops are Calacatta marble and the splashback over the hob — glimpsed behind the couple — has an antiqued mirror effect. Photo: Tony Gavin
A detail of Siobhan’s dressing room, which Paul built with the help of YouTube videos. A picture of Marilyn Monroe with a barbell is above the mirror. Photo: Tony Gavin
Paul and Siobhan with Hunter, their Weimaraner, in their spacious hall which, with its two skylights and extra height, was one of the immediate selling points of the house. The floor tiles are porcelain and the hall table, mirrors and lanterns add interest. Photo: Tony Gavin
The girls in the TV room with its big sofa. The house’s grey decor is because of their last dog, Armand, a Weimaraner. “I was pregnant and feeling sick when the interior designer came. I said, ‘Armand makes me happy, do everything the colour of Armand’,” Siobhan says. Photo: Tony Gavin
The glass balustrade and open treads on the stairs and landing were another eyecatching feature of the house. The background decor is a neutral grey and the couple use colourful pictures for contrast. Photo: Tony Gavin
Paul and Siobhan Byrne, owners of BodyByrne, in the open-plan kitchen of their unusual home, which is a combination of a century-old cottage and a five-bedroom new build. The kitchen units are from Kitchen Elegance and there’s an extra-large limed-oak island as they wanted to sit at it with their two girls for meals. The worktops are Calacatta marble and the splashback over the hob — glimpsed behind the couple — has an antiqued mirror effect. Photo: Tony Gavin
Irish people have always loved their pets but in recent years they’ve become even more integral to families and now lead a more indulgent existence with dog flaps, special shower areas and comfier beds.
However, few are as devoted to their canine as Siobhan Byrne, who, when it came to decorating her lovely home in Malahide, Co Dublin, suggested to the interior designer that she do everything the colour of her beloved Weimaraner, Armand.
In mitigation it has to be said that at the time of the interior designer’s visit Siobhan was in the early stages of her first pregnancy, which can play havoc with the senses. “I remember lying on a sofa with Armand beside me and I was so sick. I didn’t want to tell anyone at that stage that I was pregnant and when the interior designer rang the door I thought would it be rude not to answer. Anyway I did answer, I made coffee and then I felt a bit better. I thought to myself, ‘Armand makes me happy’, so I said, ‘Get rid of the red carpets’ — which were making me sick — ‘and make everything the colour of Armand’.” Siobhan recalls, laughing. Her husband Paul says, “Weimaraners are called the grey ghosts.”
Siobhan bounced back quite quickly, which is just as well as health and fitness are the cornerstones of the business she and Paul run together. They own BodyByrne Training, a state-of-the-art gym in Dublin’s Powerscourt Centre where the couple and their five employees provide personal training to many of Ireland’s movers and shakers as well as a host of celebrities. Local stars who’ve trained with them include Saoirse Ronan, Liam Cunningham, Keith Duffy, Boyzone and Michael Fassbender, while on the list of visiting celebrities they’ve trained are the Kings of Leon, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar.
The couple, who are both from Artane, Dublin, are passionate about fitness and both have been involved in different areas of sport since they were young kids.
A detail of Siobhan’s dressing room, which Paul built with the help of YouTube videos. A picture of Marilyn Monroe with a barbell is above the mirror. Photo: Tony Gavin
A detail of Siobhan’s dressing room, which Paul built with the help of YouTube videos. A picture of Marilyn Monroe with a barbell is above the mirror. Photo: Tony Gavin
Paul, the only boy in a family of four, started at the age of 10 with karate and got so good he won a scholarship to Japan. “I was back and forth for about a year in my 20s. I loved it and learned quite a bit of Japanese,” he says, adding with a laugh, “There was no Google Translate in those days.”
As well as winning more than 20 national and international competitions in karate, he became a third dan black belt. He also got into bodybuilding and won Mr Ireland, Mr Northern Ireland and Mr Titan UK competitions. A career in the field of fitness was a no-brainer and he qualified as a fitness trainer with The National Training Centre.
Siobhan, who has one brother, was always into sports, and it was while training in a gym that their paths crossed. “I actually studied journalism and public relations when I finished school but I always loved kickboxing and competed a lot. Then I got nervous about breaking my nose so I started strength training and met Paul. We became friends first, then started the business together. Paul likes to say he taught me everything I know but not everything he knows,” she says with a laugh. The more overtly romantic Paul recalls the moment he saw Siobhan. “The minute I saw her I thought she was stunning. I was ‘Wow.’ I fell head over heels. It wasn’t a question of how, it was when.”
Siobhan couldn’t fail to have noticed him: he was Mr Ireland at the time. “He was enormous but really lean. My father used to say, ‘Does that fellow at the gym ever feel the cold? He’s around in T-shirts in every weather.’ He had so much muscle he didn’t feel the cold.”
Paul and Siobhan with Hunter, their Weimaraner, in their spacious hall which, with its two skylights and extra height, was one of the immediate selling points of the house. The floor tiles are porcelain and the hall table, mirrors and lanterns add interest. Photo: Tony Gavin
Paul and Siobhan with Hunter, their Weimaraner, in their spacious hall which, with its two skylights and extra height, was one of the immediate selling points of the house. The floor tiles are porcelain and the hall table, mirrors and lanterns add interest. Photo: Tony Gavin
Once they met they started building their brand together.
Siobhan’s combination of journalism and fitness helped as she has been able to increase their profile by writing fitness articles for the health pages of the Irish Independent for many years. When it comes to the business itself, both train clients. Paul also looks after the PR while Siobhan does all the financials.
They had been based for many years in Clarendon Street, in Dublin city centre. They were the only tenant in the building and, as the landlord wanted vacant possession, they knew their days there were numbered, so they were thrilled when, after lockdown last year, the nearby Powerscourt Centre approached them to open a gym at the top. “It’s an amazing space; it’s huge with great light and all the latest equipment. As Keith Duffy says, it’s the only penthouse gym in the world,” Paul enthuses. “We have a lot of computer-based stuff, We have an in-body system which scans all the biometrics in your body, and tells you about levels of water, protein, minerals and body-fat-to-muscle ratio in detail. So many people are coming in looking for that; they want to know exactly where they are and what they can improve on.”
The girls in the TV room with its big sofa. The house’s grey decor is because of their last dog, Armand, a Weimaraner. “I was pregnant and feeling sick when the interior designer came. I said, ‘Armand makes me happy, do everything the colour of Armand’,” Siobhan says. Photo: Tony Gavin
The girls in the TV room with its big sofa. The house’s grey decor is because of their last dog, Armand, a Weimaraner. “I was pregnant and feeling sick when the interior designer came. I said, ‘Armand makes me happy, do everything the colour of Armand’,” Siobhan says. Photo: Tony Gavin
Paul also says: “There is a lot more science data but, no matter what way you look at it, dumbbells and barbells are always going to be there.”
As well as giving clients their one-to-one training sessions, the couple are talking to big corporates about putting health clubs in their offices. Paul sees that as part of companies attracting employees back to the workplace. They also take their clients abroad. Siobhan does fitness/yoga weeks in Cyprus while Paul has brought clients to Ironman contests and on climbs including one to Mount Kenya.
However, given that they are up most days at 5.30am with a view to facilitating early morning clients it’s no wonder they like to spend any spare time they have at home with their two girls, Regan and Ryanne, and Armand’s successor, Hunter, also a Weimaraner.
They bought their home in 2012; at that stage they knew what they liked and wanted in a house as both had bought houses before. “The best lesson my dad, who worked in RTÉ, taught me was never find yourself with too many bills.” Siobhan says. “He said, ‘Buy your car and everything else with your own money, the only loan should be your mortgage.’ So I bought a house when I was very young then sold that and bought a house with a site and built another house to the side of it. Paul and I moved into that. When we decided to get married, we felt that was too small if we were going to have kids so we looked for another house together.”
It was a good time to buy as prices were on the floor and, according to Siobhan, there were some interesting houses for sale at very good prices, including the singer Morrissey’s house. However they are both Dublin northsiders so they decided that’s where they wanted to base themselves. It was Paul who found their current home, which is a combination of a 100-year-old cottage and five-bedroom modern build. “I came into the hall and fell in love. It was so high and so imposing yet it still had the quirky feel of the small cottage,” Paul recalls.
Coming from a compact build to a five-bedroom house was challenging. According to Siobhan, they didn’t know what to do with all the space, 3,600 square feet, so they took the advice of friends and family who said to live in the house and get a feel for it before decorating it. “It was the best advice because the kitchen and living room were two separate rooms — now, it’s nice to have a big open-plan space and the kids can be near me. When you buy a house and it has such charm, you don’t realise how much you’d need to do it to suit your family.”
The glass balustrade and open treads on the stairs and landing were another eyecatching feature of the house. The background decor is a neutral grey and the couple use colourful pictures for contrast. Photo: Tony Gavin
The glass balustrade and open treads on the stairs and landing were another eyecatching feature of the house. The background decor is a neutral grey and the couple use colourful pictures for contrast. Photo: Tony Gavin
The house also had four bathrooms; they felt they didn’t need them all so they turned one into a walk-in wardrobe, which means Paul and Siobhan have a walk-in wardrobe each. Paul’s wardrobe was already there as part of the master bedroom while he built Siobhan’s with the help of YouTube videos and pull-out units from Ikea.
Siobhan certainly needs a walk-in wardrobe: the number of her runners alone amounts to 45 pairs, most of these are Puma as she’s a Puma brand ambassador. The units are open-plan so she can see her clothes at a glance. There’s an ottoman, which provides extra storage, and a built-in vanity unit with a Hollywood mirror that has lightbulbs around its edge. Adding to the starry theme is the picture of Marilyn Monroe working out with a barbell.
As well as the open-plan kitchen/living space, there is also a separate dining room and a drawing room. “It’s a great Christmas house with the big kitchen, the dining room and the sitting room, but it’s also great in summer with doors opening from the kitchen and the dining room to the outside and the kids can have friends over to play on the trampoline,” Siobhan says.
They’ve done a lot of work on the exterior of the house, adding electronic high gates. In the garden, there’s a treehouse for the girls, again courtesy of Paul and YouTube videos.
Some of Paul’s trophies can be found in the house and the rest are in the garden shed. It turns out that Paul still has the je ne sais quoi required for competing. “I came out of retirement and competed in the Mr Universe competition in 2019 and came fourth in the men’s physique class at the tender age of 49. I love a challenge.”
And judging from the clientele, his — and Siobhan’s — latest challenge in building up the fitness studio at Powerscourt is already proving a success.
For details of the trip to Cyprus on April 21 to 28 and information on personal training, see bodybyrne.ie
