Case Study - County Arms Hotel Room Refurbishment

• Customer: County Arms Hotel Birr
• Fitters: SolarGard Ireland and PF Carpentry
• Date: 21/04/2022 and 17/05/2022

Michael and Margaret Loughnane, in 1962, founded the County Arms Hotel in Birr.

Famously known as Offaly’s first four-star hotel, it has been at the heart of the community for over 50 years. The Garry family carry on the tradition of first-class hospitality, leading a wonderful team of passionate and friendly staff that creates a warm atmosphere that puts guests at ease.

To meet customers’ standards and revamp their premises for the high occupancy season, Gwen Kenny from Divine Design, Award Winning Interior Architecture and Design Studio, invited Interie and our commercial partners to renovate an entire room and bathroom of the hotel.

Products used

From Interie’s product range, the following products were selected:

• Organoid Natural Surfaces - Rose Petals
• Squid® Window Textile - Chal
• FOAMALITE® x‑press
• Komastyle White Stone Ceramico
• LX Hausys Wood Ash CW575
• LX Hausys Stone ML23
• LX Hausys Marbling BM002
• Decal Alldecor Makalu Concrete Copper

The Challenge

The County Arms Hotel is expanding its premises and wants the existing rooms to match its modern and aesthetically pleasing vision for the hotel. However, while the work was being carried out to construct new hotel rooms, they wanted to refurbish the existing ones with minimum disruption.

Therefore, Interie’s main challenge was to renovate the room in the operating hotel to ensure minimal room displacement and achieve phase completion before the high occupancy and high revenue summer season.

At Glance

• No construction noises
• Minimum disruption in corridors and common guest areas
• Provide energy savings with improved thermal retention from efficient passive barriers.
• Restore furniture without the need for replacement

The Solution

By using modern solutions to refurbish rooms and other areas we could work with minimum noise levels and without disrupting hotel operations. To provide a better understanding of the refurbishment, we separated it into product categories and areas of application...

• Interior Films
• Komastyle Wall Cladding
• Squid® Window Textile
• Organoid Natural Surfaces
• FOAMALITE® x‑press

Interior films

LX Hausys and Alldecor interior films were used to cover furniture, walls,doors and frames, skirtings, and the bathroom sink.

• Our LX Hausys Wood Ash (CW575) was chosen for doors and frames, skirtings, and furniture due to its durability, 3D conformability, easy replacement for any damaged areas and easiness of cleaning and maintenance
• Our Decal Alldecor Makalu Concrete Copper was used in conjunction with our FOAMALITE® Xpress White sheets to fit the walls quickly and redecorate them in panelling and textured wall finish.

• Our LX Hausys Stone (ML23) was chosen for walls, tabletops and parts of the closet due to 3D conformability, easy replacement for any damaged areas and easiness of cleaning and maintenance.
• Our LX Hausys Marbling (BM002) was used on the bathroom sink to create an entirely new marble look without a stone replacement. This film was chosen due to its durability, 3D conformability, waterproofness and easiness of cleaning and maintenance.

There is no need to replace doors and furniture with our interior films. This decreases costs and avoids corridor disruption, noise, and environmental impacts. In addition to this, when using our interior films, any damaged areas can be easily replaced without substituting the whole painting, furniture or area.

Komastyle Wall Cladding

Our Komastyle Stone White Ceramico was chosen for its mould proof outstanding finish and modern design. It is quick and easy to install and easy to clean. Moreover, when installing our wall cladding panels, there is no need to remove older tiles, minimising cost, time and noise during the refurbishment projects. On average, it is at least 50% faster and cheaper to install wall cladding panels than traditional tiles, and there is no need for grouting.

Squid® Window Textile (Chalk)

Squid® Window Textile is the only window covering that can be used with any type and shape of a window. The fabric is moisture and heat resistant and effortless to tailor to your specifications. Squid® Window

Textile offers privacy while enabling guests to enjoy the view. It was chosen due to the product's ability to reduce the heat gain in rooms and its antimicrobial properties.

Organoid Natural Surfaces (Rose petals)

Organoid Natural Surfaces brings tremendous design flexibility for interior applications. This product offers a natural experience with raw materials by appealing to all the senses, with untreated surfaces to preserve even their fragrance. This product is manufactured climate neutrally in Central Europe and handmade from natural raw materials. As a result, they retain most of their natural properties and allow for a multi-sensory experience, such as the scent, feel and appearance. With Organoid Natural Surfaces, guests can touch, smell and see the design, interact with the room and experience nature during their stay.

FOAMALITE® x‑press

FOAMALITE® x‑press expanded rigid PVC sheets are ideally suitable for applications in the field of visual communications and interior design.

Thanks to its lightweight, smooth, flat surface, FOAMALITE® x‑press is the ideal choice for architectural film installation. With this sheet, any wall panel can be fitted and installed in minutes with easy maintenance and replacement.

About the fitter 

SolarGard is a family run business, established over 35 years ago. We specialise in the supply & installation of glass & Architectural film. We have a vast array of products to solve/improve any glass related issue, whether for an industrial, commercial, domestic, or vehicle application.

Our product range includes: Solar, Privacy, Anti Heat, Anti-Glare, UV, Reflective, Safety and Frosted films - to name but a few!! Whatever your glass related issue we have the product to suit your individual needs. No job is too big or too small.

The Results

- Completed in days

- 54% costs save

- Reduced environmental impact

Testimonials

"Interie has been the perfect company to collaborate with as they have a broad product portfolio, with multiple options for several different surfaces. They have innovative products making them an exciting company to specify from! In this case, we have revamped a hotel room and ensuite using these products. Instead of replacing whole units of built-in furniture, we resurfaced them, modernising them; the products used were cost-efficient and quick to install, with the entire room being transformed in a matter of days.

The customer service from beginning to end was excellent."

Gwen Kenny, Vice President of The Interior Association and Awarded Interior Designer, Divine Design

"Overall, I am very impressed with the finish. Speed is very important for a hotel, by using Interie products we could achieve a lot within minimum disruption. Their products allow you to do a lot with a variety of options”

 Eoin, County Arms Hotel