And we are back..kinda

Sheila writes...
And we moved back in, although the house changed so dramatically it is more a case of moving into a new house rather than our old house. Today seemed a long time coming and then suddenly we are here. The frustrations and disappointments are now a fading memory and our focus is "OMG how much stuff have we to put away". And of course the views.

It has been fantastic today, a few people dropped by noticing that we were in, once they came upstairs words like “wow” “OMG” “Holy Moly” were used. Technical terms, but you get the message.

Don't let me kid you into thinking the project is finished. The project got to a stage where we could sleep in the house because we had working toilets, hot water and electricity. As I type there are workmen crawling all over the house as they set up the utility room, put in skirting in the guest bedroom, starting the clean up outside the house and so on. The plumbers came to set up one working shower for us and will they be back Thursday to finish off their jobs.

The electrician is needed again to put up light fittings, install the network cabling for the broadband and finish off sockets. There is still a lot to do and it is going to take, probably, until the end of the summer before we could say "yes the house is done". 

The overwhelming feeling is of joy and fun that we are in and now have all the time in the world to settle in... well I say all the time I don’t really mean that. Because on Sunday our furniture from The Knoll is arriving at 9am 😊 And how amazing will that be. To see the furniture which we have used and live with for decades installed in our home in Ballyferriter will make it all feel real. Much to Peter’s despair I spend quite a bit of time reviewing the video’s I took before we left The Knoll saying “oh where are we going to put that!!”. 

It’s been an amazing journey so far and I never thought whilst watching all those Grand Design programmes that one day we’d do it ourselves. And we managed to survive without too many arguments or disagreements, maybe the occasional “really, what, are you sure” but mainly it's been good discussions and then decisions are made.

Looking to forward you visiting to see for yourselves.

Look how many vans fit in our "garden"

Sheila writes on Friday, January 17th

Day 17  out of 25

And what a day it’s been. Every trade was on-site beavering away. Workers were complaining there was not enough space for them to work in!

The electrician, who is about to head off to Austria for a skiing holiday, turned on the lights and wired up the sockets.

The tilers are finishing off the bathrooms.

Cremur – the bathroom people – are installing toilets and baths.

The builders are on-site installing doors.

The kitchen man is on-site preparing to paint the kitchen units.



The architect agrees we are on schedule for the house to be officially handed over to us next Friday, 24th January and we’ll begin the snagging list.

There’ll still be lots to do after we move in. The internal painting job is proving a challenge to find a painter. We’ll not have the oven or hob installed as we are waiting for the countertop.
If we were doing a dry January, I think we’ll be doing a "lettuce February". And the bedroom carpets are not scheduled to be laid until February 21st.

It's all go and that’s a good thing. Exciting times. 8 days to go and we’ll be able to move in.

Access to all areas

Sheila writes...

Day 8/25

It might not be THE stairway to heaven but it’s our stairway to our heavenly living room, kitchen and dining room.

We were thrilled when Sean Ní Cinnedie turned up at 10am with the staircase in his van. 13 months ago when we set out with our ideal design for a staircase we had sweeping bannisters, flowing steps that swept down into the hallway. As the quotes came in which were well into five figures we rethought our design. As an architect friend said to us, the function of a staircase is to get people up and down between floors. 

Our life was made considerably easier when we discovered that there is a furniture maker right here in Ballyferriter who made staircases! We saw some of his work and it looked fantastic. A series of meetings resulted in a beautiful staircase inviting everyone to walk up it. We are planning on a funky staircase runner that will add colour and fun into the hallway. The snap was taken before the star was complete but there was still daylight to see it.

There is another bonus to installing the staircase, no longer will we (or anyone) have to climb up the ladders to see the upstairs and the view. In fact for some, the issue was not necessarily climbing up but coming down was challenging.

At the same time the tilers are making super progress. The hallway is done and half the upstairs. The grey floor tile can be seen to the right of the staircase. There is 143sqm of this to lay as it is everywhere except the bedrooms and the bathrooms. The electrician has also got the second fix underway.

Our next big day is Tuesday when Noel Dempsey Kitchens will come to begin installing the units. They expect that to take two days and then on Thursday and Friday the units will be hand-painted.

Sheila writes...

Day 3/25

And the internal painting is complete. That’s to say that the ceilings have all been painted whilst the walls have been given a first coat. Somewhere in the next few weeks/months, the walls will need a second and third coat. But for now, the painting job is done.

The next critical step is for Aidan the floor tiler to turn up on Monday and tile the area where the stairs will be in the hallway as well as tile the flooring where the kitchen will be installed the following week.

And now we rest, or rather now we head to the UK for a very short weekend visit. More updates on what will be the 6th day of 25...

Oh and I just happened to spot a lovely empty field across the way from us #justsaying

And here are some snaps from Sheila

Entrance hall. The ladder indicates where the staircase will be installed on Janury 9th

The guest bedroom

The area for the kitchen and dining room, the stairs will rise in the bottom lefthand corner of the photo

Another view of the sitting room

The decorator has been.

Most of the walls and all the ceilings are being painted the same colour, prosaically called RAL 9002. It coordinates with the colour of the window frames. The ceilings are all done to a finish and the first, mix coat has been applied to all the walls. The walls will need to be hand-finished when the joinery second fix has been done. This is due to be underway on January 20th.

Next Monday will see the start of the tiling. All the floors, except the bedrooms, are being tiled so there is something like 140sqm to be done.
This snap will give you an idea of the wall colour - it catches the view from the two main windows in the sitting room.

Happy new Year to all our readers

Thursday 2nd January
Sheila writes

First day of 25.

In 25 days’, time we hope to be in our house… As someone with a vast amount of experience on builds pointed out to us yesterday (after seeing the current state of the house) with a look of shock on his face, that’s only three weeks’ away! Everything must go right over the next 25 days if we are to achieve our dream of moving into our new home.
The first part of that needed to happen today, Thursday 2nd January
Today the house is being painted internally. It was with relief/joy that we saw the painter's van, along with his mate, in the house at 9am this morning. He is due to finish the job by the end of Sunday. When I say finish, he’ll have finished painting all the ceilings and given all the walls the first coat of paint. The 2nd and 3rd coats will be completed during January and February.

The next critical step will take place on Monday. The tiling of the floors will begin. The tiling of the hallway must be completed by the end of Wednesday. Thursday sees the staircase being installed. An exciting few days ahead.

The heat pump being installed. It is not yet connected to the electricity supply and so we are seeing it as an art installation