Haddington House

Selected work focused on the experience of creating a hotel as a whole—across interiors, brand, and every design detail.

Haddington House is an ongoing project—an evolution of a historic seaside hotel shaped through a series of considered changes rather than a single redesign.

Leonie leads the creative direction across the hotel, working on interiors, brand, uniforms, and how they affect guests’ experience.

Over twenty years experience working in graphic design has enabled Leonie’s work to expand into the full experience of a place—how it looks, functions, and feels. A hotel experienced as a sequence of moments, not individual parts.

Photography Helen Cathcart, Ailbhe O’Donnell, Kate Swift, Catherine Moran

Atmosphere

Close-up of a metallic plaque engraved with the words "Haddington House" and an establishment year of 1850, reflecting warm light.

Lighting, music, and material choices are often treated as background—but they define how a space is experienced.

First impression

Arrival sets the tone, but it can be rushed or unclear. Small details—pace, welcome, first impressions—shape how a guest feels immediately.

Wall of black lockers with gold nameplates and red leather keychains hanging from each locker's handle.
Medal with red ribbon and inscription reading 'Perfect Attendance' awarded by Haddington House College in 1897, displayed in black case.

Living spaces

How a guest moves through a hotel should feel natural, not instructed. Transitions between spaces are as important as the spaces themselves.

Room experience

A room should feel easy to inhabit. Everything from the position of the bed to the quality of light contributes to how comfortable and intuitive the space feels.

Brand in use

Brand becomes part of the experience through use. From menus to printed matter to uniforms, these elements sit within the space—quietly reinforcing the identity and narrative of the hotel.

A bouquet of pink, yellow, and white flowers resting on top of a stack of vintage books on a wooden surface.
A bouquet of dried flowers in a pink glass vase on a wooden table, with a travel magazine in the foreground and a wooden paneled wall in the background.
Two housekeepers in navy uniforms with white collars and trim, standing in a hotel corridor, smiling and holding white towels and linens.
Close-up of a green leather-bound menu with embossed text reading 'HADDINGTON HOUSE' on the cover, placed on a wooden table.
A soothing hot water bottle with a message tag that says "Stay Warm" placed on a bed with two green velvet pillows in the background.
Three brown bottles of personal care products with green labels, placed on a white tiled shelf in a bathroom, next to a shower hose.
A man dressed in a formal navy blue uniform with a matching gold-button coat and a black top hat standing inside a warmly lit hotel lobby, holding a door handle.
A woman in a dark blazer and skirt standing in a room with a bookcase and mirror behind her.
A beige notebook titled 'Take Notes' on a dark wooden table, with a pink pencil labeled 'Haddington House' beside it. In the background, a pink and purple glass vase holds a bouquet of white, red, and purple flowers.
A light blue bicycle with a wicker front basket and a blue towel hanging from it, parked on sandy ground near a body of water with trees in the background.

Detail layer

The smallest details carry the most weight. When considered carefully, they create a sense of consistency that isn’t always obvious, but always felt.

Close-up of fabric swatches and design samples on a table, with textured fabrics, printed textiles, and decorative items, for interior design planning.

In the end, it’s not any single element that stays with you—but how everything came together.

Take a look at the renovation video below, for a better understanding of the bedroom restoration task undertaken in 2025, for which Leonie was creative director.