Antonia Sandurescu grew up in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where she studied fashion design at university.
She moved to Dublin in 2008, at the age of 21, following her boyfriend and now husband Ruslan. He studied law in his hometown, but here he worked in real estate management.
That was a big move. “I thought everything was over because I moved to a different country, I had no friends, no family, and I had to start all over again. Where am I going to go? What am I going to do this weekend? Where is the nicest movie theater? I remember looking online to find out things like that. I was comparing everything to Chisinau,” she says. “Ireland is now our home.”
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Always creative, she hoped to pursue a career in fashion design, but ended up working in an office job at a real estate company, then in human resources at an engineering company.
“The job gave me good training. It gave me great insight into what’s involved in running a business,” she says. But at the same time, as a creative person, she knew she was on the wrong path and was “completely bored.”
At the time, Ruslan was in charge of renovation projects as part of his job. She had already developed an interest in interior design and was helping friends and family with design ideas and color schemes. “I was good at that and had a great eye for establishing proportion and balance in a room.”
She decided to pursue it professionally, studying for a qualification at the Interior Design Academy in Ireland and incorporating her early ideas into the couple’s newly purchased home.
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At this stage, the couple decided to take advantage of each other’s skills and start a business together, initially named SAR Premier Property Management, which included Ruslan’s initials.
“It was a really bad (name) choice, but my husband said, ‘Let’s go with this because it highlights the service that I provide.’” A year later, I said, “This is what I want to do. “That name is so long that it doesn’t really work. I need to come up with a shorter name. ”
Thus, Della Interiors was born, combining the names of their children, Daniel and Gabriella. It’s not just short, she says, but it better reflects the fact that the company is a full-service renovation and interior design company, not “just painting and fixing pipes.”
Given that Sandurescu worked so hard to earn her design qualification, it’s no wonder she was determined to make the most of it. “At the time, I had just had a little baby, I was working as an accountant at SAR Premier Property Management, I was studying interior design until 4 a.m., and I was in the middle of renovating my house. It was very difficult. But it led us in the right direction.”
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She converted her dining room into a design studio and her business began to grow by word of mouth, thanks to her reputation for quality work and solid advice. “Ruslan always advises the best solution. For example, if someone is paying attention to the interior of the house, he will say that it would be more effective to increase the insulation and update the windows.”
The biggest mistake they made early on was undercharging. It was a rookie mistake and completely unsustainable. “Make sure to include all the overheads and expenses involved in running your business,” she says. This includes your time.
The business grew rapidly as the architects and engineers he worked with began recommending it to their customers.
We currently employ eight people on the renovation side and a design team of two. Last year, Della Interiors opened a design showroom on the Ballymount Industrial Estate.
Today’s lives are as fulfilling as ever, but working together, living together, and talking about shopping 24/7 is not a hardship, at least for couples. “We’re both workaholics and take pride in our work, so we discuss all our projects at home every day,” she says. “It’s the kids who are annoyed.”
