Mayo woman Sarah Battle always wanted a large family. She got her wish — five kids, currently all under seven — and she and her husband Barry have created a stylish yet practical home for them all
Sarah Battle at the elegantly arched front door of her beautiful home on the edge of Ballina in Co Mayo. The house is a bungalow so the only steps in the house are the two on the way in. It’s set on two acres so there’s plenty of room for her five young kids to play around
The kids’ colourful wellies just outside the back door. “They love anything that involves mud,” says Sarah. The wellie stand is from @featherandpooch
Even though there is underfloor heating, Sarah wanted a stove in the den and she finds it very cosy in winter. The mantlepiece was made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens
Sarah and her husband Barry with their twins. Theo, who is on Barry’s lap, weighed 7lbs 9oz at birth, while Blaise was 6lbs 14 oz. The kitchen table is by Neptune from Trevor Morrow in Ballina and the curved chair is from CA Design
Inside the front door, there’s a tiled porch and doors which lead to a large hallway. The floor here is hardwearing laminate, which is essential with so much daily traffic. The chandelier is from Hicken Lighting, the mirror from Vogue Interiors and the sofa is from Mindy Brownes Interiors
Sarah in her kitchen. The units were made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens. The floor is tumbled limestone which, she says, doesn’t show the dirt as much as the polished version. The chandelier is from Panfili Interiors in Galway
The freestanding bath is from Kilkenny Architectural Salvage and was sprayed by them in blue. Other bathroom ware is by Burlington Bathrooms and sourced locally
The den with its leather chair from CA Design and sofa from Neptune. The glass doors lead to an internal courtyard which also has glass doors to the hall. This means both areas get great light from the courtyard
Sarah Battle at the elegantly arched front door of her beautiful home on the edge of Ballina in Co Mayo. The house is a bungalow so the only steps in the house are the two on the way in. It’s set on two acres so there’s plenty of room for her five young kids to play around
Sarah Battle has achieved a huge amount in the last seven years — she has given birth to five children under the age of seven, she has planned — with her husband Barry, and the help of an engineer — a beautiful new house in Ballina, Co Mayo and decorated it to an extremely high standard all while documenting the process on Instagram. She’s built up a huge following as a result.
The obvious conclusion is that she is a highly organised person and mention of her job would reinforce that conclusion; Sarah is a trained home economics teacher, a profession that’s usually good on order and structure but Sarah is adamant that’s not the case with her.
Sarah and her husband Barry with their twins. Theo, who is on Barry’s lap, weighed 7lbs 9oz at birth, while Blaise was 6lbs 14 oz. The kitchen table is by Neptune from Trevor Morrow in Ballina and the curved chair is from CA Design
Sarah and her husband Barry with their twins. Theo, who is on Barry’s lap, weighed 7lbs 9oz at birth, while Blaise was 6lbs 14 oz. The kitchen table is by Neptune from Trevor Morrow in Ballina and the curved chair is from CA Design
“I live in organised chaos,” she insists with a laugh. “If I’m baking something, everything will be a mess, I work better that way.”
She does concede that she is both creative and practical, and that’s also obvious from her home. They are two attributes that are vital for her profession, which she decided on when growing up on the family farm in Ballina.
“My Dad’s side are very creative, and my mum loved her style. Also my grandmother always lived with us or nearby and I spent a lot of time with her. She was always cooking, baking and sewing. My aunt was a home economics teacher.”
The kids’ colourful wellies just outside the back door. “They love anything that involves mud,” says Sarah. The wellie stand is from @featherandpooch
So home economics was in the air around her and Sarah absorbed it. “I went and trained in St Angela’s college in Sligo. After qualifying I got a job in Presentation College in Tuam, Co Galway which I loved. I was there for 10 years,” she says, adding that her permanent position is with St Joseph’s in Castlebar though she is currently on leave. It was while she was in Galway that she got together with Barry 11 years ago. They knew of each other as teenagers — his family had a hotel in Enniscrone which was not far from her home in Ballina — but they didn’t become an item until they met up at the Galway Races.
“I can’t even remember if I went to the races themselves. I know we met properly the night of Ladies’ Day at a party,” Sarah says. “And I suppose we just knew then — it was the right time for both of us.”
Even though there is underfloor heating, Sarah wanted a stove in the den and she finds it very cosy in winter. The mantlepiece was made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens
Even though there is underfloor heating, Sarah wanted a stove in the den and she finds it very cosy in winter. The mantlepiece was made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens
Barry was also based in Galway and his business is still located there. He has a company called Event Bars, setting up bars at parties, events and marquee weddings. “I started a company called Home Kegs in 2004 that became Event Bars, hiring out furniture and all the equipment for bars. Obviously there have been no events since Covid-19 but we also have the Bar Company and that’s thrived in the last 18 months,” Barry explains “People want a pint so they have put outdoor bars in their gardens. They buy a keg which lasts three to four weeks so while the events side closed down, the bar company which we operate in Cork, Galway and Dublin, has kept us going. It’s not sheebeen stuff, one man wanted six kegs, I said ‘no way’, it didn’t seem right.”
Barry started a third business Elf Town four years ago — a Christmas experience for kids with elves and santas and other Christmassy characters which grew in no time from a small venue in Galway city to the Galway Racecourse.
Again that was affected by Covid-19 but he hopes it will be up and running again by next Christmas. “I really hope we will be able to run it again next year, we’ve got reindeers lined up, and in terms of families, it’s a great day out.”
Sarah in her kitchen. The units were made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens. The floor is tumbled limestone which, she says, doesn’t show the dirt as much as the polished version. The chandelier is from Panfili Interiors in Galway
Sarah in her kitchen. The units were made by Noel Brannelly Kitchens. The floor is tumbled limestone which, she says, doesn’t show the dirt as much as the polished version. The chandelier is from Panfili Interiors in Galway
And Barry should know having five kids; Sarah and Barry have Isabella aged just six, Alexander, five, Matilda, three, and one-year-old twins Blaise and Theo.
“I always said I’d like three or five children. Then on my fourth pregnancy, I said ‘this is the last, there are not going to be five’. Then it was twins. We found out when I was 11 weeks pregnant, it was very exciting. And it was my easiest pregnancy, maybe because I wasn’t doing anything, or going anywhere because of Covid-19,” she says.
“I’m lucky, I’ve had amazing help from my mother, my parents live up the road and she’s here morning, noon and night, it’s been flat to the mat. I couldn’t have managed without her.
“She’s a twin herself, and I think for that reason she has a special bond with the twins. My father is great too. He bought a pony for the grandkids. Isabella and my niece Ellen have really taken to it.”
Ellen is the daughter of Sarah’s much missed younger sister Kate who died in 2015. “I’m the eldest of four, there was also Kate, Shane and Barbara.
“Kate was a nurse, aged 31, she had just gone back to work after having Ellen when she got a diagnosis of brain cancer. It was 2014. She was sick for 18 months before she died.
The freestanding bath is from Kilkenny Architectural Salvage and was sprayed by them in blue. Other bathroom ware is by Burlington Bathrooms and sourced locally
The freestanding bath is from Kilkenny Architectural Salvage and was sprayed by them in blue. Other bathroom ware is by Burlington Bathrooms and sourced locally
“It was horrendous. It was short in one way but a very long road for her from diagnosis,” Sarah says.
“She was an amazing person, she was very sporty, into showjumping growing up, we all were, we spent every weekend driving around to gymkanas. She had travelled an awful lot but she was also a very put together person, into mindfulness and meditation and I think that got her through. She’s a huge part of our lives and always will be. We’re lucky that we have her partner and Ellen living near us in Ballina.”
After her death Sarah and Barry started to build their new house in Ballina and moved in in 2018.
The loss of Kate wasn’t the catalyst; they had always intended to move back knowing that family support is so crucial with small kids but, she says that after Kate’s death, she realised even more deeply just how important family. is. She says Barry’s family are as supportive as her own.
When it came to planning the house, they had an engineer on board but many of the ideas are their own. “We poured over Pinterest so we had a lot of ideas, there were probably about 17 drafts of the plans before we got to this point. We were only allowed to build a single-storey house as all the houses around here are bungalows. We could probably have gone to one-and-a-half storeys but instead we opted for higher ceilings, and higher windows.” The result is an airy light-filled space. Another clever idea is the internal courtyard which is open to the sky; there are double glass doors from the cosy den and the hallway to this courtyard, thus more light is added to these spaces.
“The hall is long with no natural light so the courtyard brings light into the centre of the house.”
Inside the front door, there’s a tiled porch and doors which lead to a large hallway. The floor here is hardwearing laminate, which is essential with so much daily traffic. The chandelier is from Hicken Lighting, the mirror from Vogue Interiors and the sofa is from Mindy Brownes Interiors
Inside the front door, there’s a tiled porch and doors which lead to a large hallway. The floor here is hardwearing laminate, which is essential with so much daily traffic. The chandelier is from Hicken Lighting, the mirror from Vogue Interiors and the sofa is from Mindy Brownes Interiors
The house is 4,000 sq ft, there’s a very large kitchen/dining room with a playroom off it on one side while on the other is the den — Sarah and Barry’s sanctuary. There are five bedrooms, two of which are ensuite. There’s also a main bathroom with a freestanding bath.
The whole house is beautifully decorated and she made a point of sourcing as much as possible in local stores, whether in Mayo or Galway. It was while doing up the house that Sarah decided to document her progress on Instagram @housebythewhitethorns. In the last few years she has built up a huge following and has done collaborations with many local companies including Foxford Woollen Mills, Molloys Pharmacies and Connaught Gold diary products.
The den with its leather chair from CA Design and sofa from Neptune. The glass doors lead to an internal courtyard which also has glass doors to the hall. This means both areas get great light from the courtyard
The den with its leather chair from CA Design and sofa from Neptune. The glass doors lead to an internal courtyard which also has glass doors to the hall. This means both areas get great light from the courtyard
“I love styling content particularly with local brands,” Sarah says. “I started with the interiors but due to Covid-19, it’s ended up being very lifestyle, baking, fashion. A lot of people are following for the twins. I think mothers and grandmothers not seeing their own children loved checking on them, it’s a connection.”
While the décor of the house is very stylish, sophisticated and classical it’s also very practical. She makes a point of referring to the fact that the floor in the hall is laminate — much easier to keep than solid wood — and the floor in the kitchen/diningroom is tumbled limestone, also very practical underfoot particularly compared to polished limestone.
And these are the things that are make life that bit easier when you have five little ones.
Chaos definitely — organised chaos like Sarah’s and you’re really winning.
