Welcome to my blog

We moved to Ireland with the notion of building our "dream" home in May 2007 after purchasing the site earlier on that year. Mr C is Irish and originally from Limerick but he remains in the UK during the week, his job is running www.cruise.co.uk and earning the bucks that will hopefully allow us to "live the dream."

It's taken us almost two years but ground will be broken on the site by the end of May 09!! A lot of blood, sweat & loads of tears (all mine!) have gone into this project already, we left a fabulous house behind in Newcastle...and now for my Kevin McLeod bit, "can the new build can live up to my expectations and the old house we left behind"? I'm not sure...keep watching my blog and you'll find out!!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Brick bone Mosaic Shower part 1

Relief
I like these tiles!

No tiling to the base of the shower yet...pebbles will be making an appearance as they mould really well to the curve in the floor. It will certainly be a unique walk-in shower, but I like!



Amelia says her tiles look a bit like bamboo! I'm taking it this is a good thing...

The tiles have curved really nicely where needed, this wouldn't have been possible if I'd chosen to lay them horizontally!
No grouting or sealing yet and Still a way to go with the finishing the bathrooms.  This does not stop me now however, from growing increasingly impatient to see the actual bathroom fitting going in!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Ever fallen in love

with a spiral staircase...?

Think I just have....

I'm  prepared to be heartbroken though, get the feeling that this good looking chap is out of my league :-((  I'm going to send  my drawings off anyway and see where we get to.....not going to talk myself out of it just yet!  


I have been quite sensible with sticking to my budgets and juggling the whole way through this build, however this really is a nasty case of "just gotta have" no off the peg kit spiral staircase will compare to this one now....


(need to get a life really, grown woman obsessing about a bloody spiral staircase....get a grip Jo!)


saw the staircase here by the way

On a mission

Have decided it's time to be decisive!

Both me and Mr C are in agreement(at last)over these lights from Zenza, have had them on my definitely/maybe pile for well over a year!!  So now I've started the hunt to track down three of them to hang over our island in the kitchen. (similar idea to the image below...may hang mine at different heights though)




I've just fired off an email to the manufacturer in The Netherlands and am keeping my fingers crossed as I can't find a supplier for them here in Ireland.


I'm also mad about this water dispenser too
and the dinky little table top BBQ just to the right of the shot!


Loads more lovely lights and delights here, I could buy up their whole shop!!!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Thinking of getting a dog....

I must be mad for even entertaining the idea, but coming under increasing pressure from husband and kids to agree to a dog!

How cute are these pups?! 
Their images jumped out at me whilst "blog surfing" think I'm broody?
Apologies have lost link to credit this image
if it's yours please let me know

image found here

image found here

I am very aware that a dog is for life and not just a whim (no matter how cute)and is a major commitment.  I also know that ultimately it will be me who will do the walking and general caring for of a dog - no matter how much my husband and children protest otherwise!!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tonight I'm thinking....

pic from the lovely Lotta Agaton

Oh I'm out of my "zone" at the moment for sure.  After months of looking at other peoples gorgeous homes and interior design schemes I think I have gone into meltdown...lost the plot....

  • one minute its a black kitchen, the next minute its going to be white!!
  • I think I like pebble tiles....then I'm not so sure!
  • do I go for painted doors....or should I go for wood?
  • Do I really need coving....no...or maybe I do?
  • WILL IT ALL COME TOGETHER....????
I think I've lost my own sense of Style....I'm experiencing an



information overload


has this happened to anyone else??....am I alone in my total indecisiveness and absolute fear of the "interior design"???

Solar Panels are up.....

Now if we could have some sun over Ireland instead of volcanic ash please!





The six flat panels equates to approx 15m2, I went for the in-roof option and flat plate over evacuated tube as thought they looked better and cost less!  We are going to see how we get on with these and know that we can always upgrade to evacuated tube or whatever the latest technology is further down the line!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Amelia's Loft


"disclaimer: I take full personal responsibility for allowing my child to climb up that ladder - Mrs C"

This is still a work in progress, we are still to decide how to incorporate both storage and access here!  So high up too...but we've kind of gotten ourselves over that, just need to make sure the loft access is good & safe.


Some inspiration & ideas I've found on other blogs I follow
(seriously don't know what I'd do with out them!)

borrowed image from here
 Like how the stairs above are almost vertical against the wall...this design would work well for us I'm thinking and quite practical & inexpensive too :-))

 borrowed image from here
OMG where do I start with this one...LOVE IT, but not so practical and a much more of an expensive option.  This is one to save for "next time" I think!


borrowed image from here
Another practical option, Amelia's loft is much higher up from the floor though than this one shown above.  Do like the white painted ladder though...it's an option!

Good news I suppose, is I have another few weeks before I will need to make a decision on the girls lofts. Need this breathing space to do some budget juggling tricks

Top of the list for cabinetry at the moment - bathrooms!! Bought undermounted basins for 3 of our bathrooms and totally forgot that I would need to budget for cabinetry and granite/marble tops to go with the damn things....oooops!!  Hence sitting here nervously waiting for the quote to come in.