Not a great day.....

• Really wanted to tell you that my windows are on their way.....but I can't

• Received final quote for my Aquatherm Eco F34 stove....comes it at nearly £1000 more than I'd budgeted for (I need a special type apparently, which costs more...and I didn't factor in the previously unmentioned but supposedly necessary extras).  Am going to have to have a little re-think about this one...heart is saying  "I love it still" - head is saying "look at the alternatives"  

• Kitchen quotation came back......not quite as bad as I maybe expected....but still over budget.

Hoping tomorrow is a better day for all and trying to be thankful that whatever happens, it is really only small stuff as long as my family are happy and healthy!!

IMAGE VIA DESIGN IS MINE

Roofers have arrived

We are starting a new phase on site...the roofers have arrived

Most of the work carried out so far has been over the "east" wing of the house....(sounds very grand I know, but this is the easiest way to describe!) There are two bedrooms and lounge/play room at that end of the first floor and they all have vaulted ceilings.

I'm intending to use the space over the each of girls shower rooms to make a small loft area for sleeping.  Something along the lines of this.....(of course no lovely oak beams in our concrete castle!)

Source - 25 Beautiful Homes - October 2009

I really like how they've used glass balustrading (another idea I'm stealing), it really lets the light in as well as making the area quite secure...it's along way to fall if you roll out of bed!  

I'm hoping to squeeze in double mattress up there.  It's going to be quite high up but that only seems to add to the excitement and anticipation for my older girls, access will be via a ladder very similar to this.......

source - 25 Beautiful Homes October 2009

Although a "pole" (think fire station rather than strip club!)was on the wish list after seeing this pic....

Great idea girls but Mum said a firm "NO!" to that one!!

source - Teen Zone by Judith Wilson

Family Room Progress

View from behind!

click on the picture to enlarge

87 days into the project and this is where we are at.....

with the Family Room

Click on picture to enlarge

Am going to put a boiler stove into the fireplace in the family room. We do like to light a fire in the evening, so it will be great to know that every time we "light up" in the new house it will be powering up the hot water for showers and underfloor heating!! The family room is semi open plan through to the kitchen and dining area, so lighting up the stove should keep all of those areas toasty in the winter....oooh am almost looking forward to the depths of winter (next year that is!)

I was going to put in one of these

a Hunter Herald Multifuel Stove with boiler

However, I'm now considering this one!

An Aquatherm Eco F34

" The Aquatherm Eco F34 stove has the sort of heat output usually associated with a utilitarian boiler designed to be hidden away in a utility room, but in a stunning contemporary wood stove. The F34 has a huge airwashed window that is 900mm wide and 540mm high. The Aquatherm Eco F34 is also well suited for use with an accumulator tank. With such a large heat output to water (24kW / 82,000 BTU) you might decide to burn the stove relatively hard and store the heat in a large accumulator tank for use when needed later on. An accumulator tank can also easily form the connection point for other heat sources in your system, solar panels for example"....

This is a bit of a beast and I love it, it is just crying out to go here.....

next up the kitchen............

Week 3 Pics

Just a few snaps to record the progress made in week 3!

sky looking beautiful, even though heavens just about to open

really do need to get a pair of wellies

Guest beds & games room & bit of lounge

Entrance, kitchen & family room to right

more rainbows

stream looking very muddy

Week Two......Guess what's under our foundations

We have been so lucky with the weather here in Ireland over the past week, it has certainly helped with the foundations going in smoothly.

I got a call from Mark the builder early on Wednesday morning asking if I had a blessed Holy Medal at the ready to set into the foundations, as they had already started to pour. A mild panic set in, as this was a tradition I was completely unprepared for and needless to say NO, I didn't have one to hand . However, one quick phone call to my mother-in-law and all was sorted! We now have safely encased in our foundations the following:-

1. A medal of Our Lady. This was blessed at the children's service that our girls had attended, at the Murroe Mission earlier this year.
2. A blessed medal of St Anthony, apparently he will help us find the things we are always loosing!
3. Finally a very special medal of Our Lady of Fatima, blessed and brought from Fatima by Mr C's aunt.
   

Mr C not being the overly religious type, thinks that this is all a bit "Father Ted", however I'm of the opinion one can never be "over blessed", so thanks Maureen!

We were so excited on Friday to see the blocks arriving on site, and to see the house finally begining to take shape.

Day 3....getting technical

Spent quite a bit of time today exchanging emails with the extremely helpful Ian from 21st Century Electrics.  I got Ian's contact from the Homebuilding & Renovating forum I had spotted him giving out sensible advice there, (I especially liked the post that informed me cheapest place to buy CAT6 cable was ebay!!)

The pressure has been on to finalise what cables we will be running for future AV systems.  We won't have much budget to add all the swanky boys toys to the system for a while, but know that the cabling needs to be in place now, boring yes, but has to be done.  I have found it so difficult to get any sense out of anyone til today, thanks to Ian,  I almost understand now the difference between CAT5 and CAT6 cabling, and what a 4x8 matrix can do for me!!  Should have this sorted now by the end of the week (she said with fingers tightly crossed).

   

  

Day 1 ....The Big One (thought it would never come around)

Well the day has finally arrived, work on site actually started today. The first job being to dig out the ditch to the front of the site, a pipe will be laid to drain all the water (and there was a fair bit of it around today) into the stream to the side. The small stream will be dug out further and will hopefully end up being a unique feature. The whole project is scheduled to be completed within 14 months, a nice dry summer would certainly help things along, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Our site....soon to be building site

click on the pic to enlarge

The site looked so beautiful today in the sunshine, in a way it does seem a shame that we will be spoiling all this with a house. Can't get too sentimental though, if it wasn't us putting up a house here, it would be someone else.

The site is located in Barringtons Bridge, Lisnagry which is just within the Limerick 'pressure zone' . This means that Mr C had to prove that he used to live just a stones throw away from where we intend to build, and that indeed his family were still living there. Planning can only be granted in areas like this to locals in need of housing or those who once were locals (like Mr C) and are returning to Ireland to live.