And 'woman' is what speaks from every room, from the living area's daybed sofa with its rosy print throw and embroidered cushions, to the boudoir bedroom where beaded dresses and the biggest collection of shoes this side of Imelda Marcos invite green-eyed glances.

"I'm the most un-domesticated person you could meet, but admit that I'm expressing a very 'girly' style here, " she says with a smile. "I can't be bothered with doing any of the boring housework stuff, yet I will happily spend hours moving pictures around or arranging fairy lights over mirrors."

Born in London to a French mother, Irish father, and then moving to Cork where she grew up, Camille originally studied fine art, then did a degree in architecture. While working in Berlin, she became entranced by the history of the dark and decadent Berlin cabaret of the 1930s, and the music of Kurt Weill and Ute Lemper. Now best known as a highly individual chanteuse, interpreting the songs of Jacques Brel and Nick Cave among others, Camille is also an actress as well as a painter . . . she exhibited recently at the RHA.

Whether it's in song or personal style, she has been greatly influenced by her French mum, and also admits to a passion for anything that glitters, be it dresses, chandeliers, lanterns, fairy lights or evening bags. Camille doesn't take the whole vintage thing too seriously though, adding that she'll buy modern items from Avoca or Oasis . . . "just so long as they sparkle". As we prepare to take a shot of just one such gorgeous beaded bag, the hook on the shelf holding it up falls off.

Camille quickly hammers it back up with the heel of a red platform shoe. Now that is real star quality

CHIC UNIQUE
A small bistro table and two folding chairs create an immediate feeling of welcome in the period hallway. Camille bought this table and the pink one with matching chairs in the small courtyard garden from Habitat. The pink chairs are also used indoors as extra seating at the big dining table
Walls everywhere are painted soft, matt white, and floorboards are simply sanded and varnished. The simple backdrop allows Camille's passion for beaded lanterns, drawings, and even dresses hung on walls to become centrestage
In the living area, the white wrought-iron daybed sofa is covered with a white woven cotton throw and rose-patterned cushions. A large mohair shawl in raspberry pink check from Avoca is draped over one end of the sofa, enhancing cosiness of the space
On the mantlepiece, a huge mirror with distressed white frame bounces natural light around the room, and sits behind pink lanterns, a jewel-coloured crystal chandelier and two Oriental-style pink lanterns. In one corner, an oldstyle hat stand adorned with Camille's collection of black fedoras; while back on the mantlepiece is her favourite hat . . . a regularly worn '40s' cocktail number. Victorian china tea cups and saucers sit on one small occasional table; on another is a 1930s' chrome tea service
>> A modern version of the Victorian slipper bath dominates the tiny bathroom, while a silver dressing table set and Camille's collection of antique and modern perfume bottles make what is often a clinical room into a very feminine, indulgent space
>> A white cotton bedspread and green ticking throw (from IKEA and Avoca respectively ) dominate the wrought iron bed in Camille's bedroom. The antique dressing table is well and truly 'dressed'. with strings of glass beads, Camille's ballet shoes, sequinned scarves, and rosebud fairy lights. Underneath the chest of drawers are more shoes . . . all red. The tiled Victorian washstand is put to 21st-century use . . . it doubles as a desk for Camille's laptop

STYLE STEAL
>> Emphasise the elegance of old sash windows with several curtain treatments: drape white embroidered panels (IKEA) over simple muslin (Murphy Sheehy), hang a beaded curtain in between, and string fairy lights (Habitat) over the frame
>> Chandeliers are not solely for hanging from a central pendant . . . Camille uses them as ornaments on her mantlepiece. Similarly, tea-light holders can be as simple as glass jars suspended from the wall by florists' wire
>> What does a girl do with too many shoes (Can you ever have too many)? Make use of the stairs and place a pair on each step . . . storage problem solved and it looks pretty

GET THE LOOK
>>Avoca, (throws, bedspreads, candleabra) Suffolk Street, Kilmacanogue and branches
>>IKEA (curtains and bedlinen) www. ikea. com; opening shortly in Belfast)
>> Habitat (lanterns, outdoor furniture) Suffolk Street, Dublin 2
>>Murphy Sheehy (inexpensive muslin, cotton, mattress ticking) Castle Market, Dublin 2
>>Pia Bang Home (bedspreads, vintage-style teddies) South Anne Street, Dublin 2