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

my first ebay disaster........

Nightmare!!

This is how my WC turned up via DHL

Should have looked like this

You win some...you loose some!

Set in Stone

The north facing exterior wall of the family room is going to get its stone cladding very soon.  This is a detail the local planning department seemed to like and who were we object!  I was a bit hesitant at first, at the thought of what seemed like "random" cladding, but would have been willing to clad it in cotton wool just to get planning approved if I'm totally honest!  However I'm now almost converted to the idea.  

The rational behind the cladding and indeed the shape of the house was to break up it's "mass" and impact on the local landscape, so to create the impression that it could have been a series of buildings joined together. Couldn't really see why the planners weren't keen on my initial plans and why it was necessary to go down this route.....however, now I see my house taking shape, I think they may have got it just right!!

 Anyway, all this means that I now have to choose a stone to clad the said wall in.  I've decided to go with a dry limestone finish, similar to this picture above. This particular limestone comes from Cong in Co. Mayo.  A sample of this stone now needs to be approved by the planning office....hope they like it!!

Another Laundry Room Lovely......

Bought this sign recently from The Contemporary Home. It will hang above the door to my laundry room....I'll always have a smile on my face when I enter....LOVE IT!

I Stole Her Style...............

I have been following "The House that A-M Built" blog for a while now, and totally fell in love with A-M's walk-in pantry the minute I saw the post.....so much so in fact, I redesigned an area of my kitchen plan to have one just like it. There you go A-M, "imitation is my sincerest form of flattery"

A-M's kitchen and Walk-in Pantry

Mrs C's soon to be Walk-In Pantry

and for my next project............

Probably the coolest tree house EVER!!

Image via bungalowinsanity

I'm too easily distracted on a day when I have a million and one tasks to tick off the list....however just had to share this with someone!!

I'd love a tree house like this never mind the kids!!

Progress Pics

"Computer says"....we are 30% complete

Roofing is due to commence next week. I picked out the roof tiles last week, my roof shall be wearing Capco Berona, which is a fibre cement tile that looks like slate (can't really get excited about roof tiles!) I was shown the equivalent in Tegral, the Rivendale I think, but chose the Capco Berona as this was the most textured of the two options.

The house is rapidly taking shape all the internal walls upstairs will be complete by the end of this week. All my internal partition walls will be blocked rather than stud partitions, the benefits of this for me (well here's hoping) is greater sound proofing!!

Master Bedroom & Bathroom

This is the lovely Philippe Starck bath to go into the master bathroom

(another fantastic ebay bargain!!)

Image via architonic

I'm really looking forward to fitting out the kids rooms, it'll be fun that's for sure. I got some ideas from digsdigs.com a blog definitely worth a visit if you like this type of thing

For now you'll just have to use your imagination and try to see past that awful grey blockwork!!

Miss A.C's Room

There is a longish corridor into this bedroom

That's all for now folks...........BBFN x

BLACK & TAN.......inspired interior for the Conlon House

Black is the Colour

(click above to hear the brilliant Cara Dillon version of Black is the Colour accompanied by the Ulster Orchestra)

Interior inspiration from the bottom of a beer glass

so apt on this wet, wild & windy Wednesday here in Co. Limerick

I'm getting there with a theme to tie the interior of the house together

I'm thinking...

matt black base units in the kitchen

Thick oak worktops

rustic black slate flooring

&

distressed wide plank oak flooring

stainless steel appliances

big white walls

open shelving

Squashy vintage tan leather sofas

so.......waddaya think?

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............

Laundry Room Lovely........

I can't wait to get my hands on this funky heated towel rail which I bought today!

It's going in my laundry room.....how cool is this for drying your smalls on!

image courtesy of designradiator.dk

It's made by an Italian company called Deltacalor, whom I was totally unfamiliar with until very recently. They do however make the most fantastic radiators.....but not the cheapest around by any means.

Always on the look out for a bargain I bagged mine via ebay, (at a snip Mr C if you are reading this!!!) It's not a current model but that's fine with me, I'm sure our undies won't mind!!

A selection of some current designs from Deltacalor

They can be purchased in Ireland from Global Design

Stairway to Heaven

The next big decision is the staircase

Top of my list of things to do this week has been to decide on my stairs. The precast for my "upstairs" arrives on site this Friday, so if I'm going to go the whole hog and have concrete stairs to match my concrete floors, now is the time to jump or so I've been reliably informed by Mark my contractor. Well jump I have and concrete it is....floors and stairs co-ordinating already, a true Bradshaw/Beeny decision!!

So focused and on a mission, I've been browsing for ideas on www.concretestairs.ie, a "does exactly what is says on the tin" website, and the more imaginatively named www.stairporn.org, er.... "a not what it says on the tin" website, no naked bodies cavorting on steps, just great looking stairs!

image courtesy of stairporn

This is my favourite so far. It's the subtle curve and the delicate balustrading that get me here, two little words "LOVE IT". I will be delighted if I manage to recreate a staircase as beautiful as this in my own hallway. However, as a "realist" I appreciate that a certain amount of the said beauty would be lost in my own house, what with the numerous pairs of shoes stacked upon the subtly curving treads along with the layers of school sweaters, coats and bags that are likely to adorn the delicate balustrading come 3 o'clock.....

This next gem of a staircase is located in a studio on Majorca which listed on www.shootfactory.co.uk. I'd like the underside of my main staircase to be exposed like this one, rather than solid to the floor as above......what do you think? I'm definitely going to go for this style of staircase in the games room.

Image courtesy of Shootfactory via stairporn.org

Just thought I'd mention that Shootfactory is a full-service location agency, representing UK and international properties, studios and venues for TV, film, photo shoots, product launches and events. An amazing site to trawl for ideas if you are as hooked on houses as me!

Image courtesy of stairporn

I'm most likely going to clad the stair treads in wood. The rustic sleeper treads above appeal, but think this is a tad too chunky to go with the curve and the steel balustrading that I'm hankering after.

Image source unknown

I will probably go for a tread like this one, think it's quite quirky how they have used stainless steel for the riser. An alternative option to the delicate stainless steel balustrade would be to "keep it concrete" like this example.....it all comes down to budget at the end of the day.....will keep you posted!!

Ikea Dublin.......I'm so excited!!

Arriving into Dublin Port in the beginnings of Monday morning, we were greeted by glimmering shafts of early morning sun, so uplifting when all you were really expecting to be met with was grey and wet. We'd been away for almost three weeks and having the sun out to greet us made me feel really happy to be back home in Ireland again.....

The two weeks we spent cruising on Ventura were pretty good (would definitely reconmend to any families out there thinking of cruising....our girls were blown away with the kids clubs on board, and that always makes for a happy holiday!) However, nothing in comparison to being met with giant billboards everywhere announcing the opening of the new IKEA store in Dublin on 27th July, now that really did make my heart skip a beat!!

Image courtesy of decor8blog.com

Saw these new Ikea PS collection items on decor8 recently and was totally reminded why I am such an Ikea fan.......'Ikea is for life' and not just the student days!! Ikea will definitely feature in the new house as it did in the old....

I loved this Ikea wardrobe so much after my 4 year old customised it, I entered it into a competition on Mydeco!! Don't think it will be coming with us to the new house sadly :-(