It's a jungle out there!

It's been a while since I've blogged but life has continued a pace, days have merged into weeks into months.It really doesn't seem like six months since we spent our first Christmas in our Irish house.

Hubby has been working hard both on the house and also on our house and garden in UK, whilst I have been working two jobs meaning usually only having one day off every ten days.

It's been exhausting and family and friend catch up time has unfortunately gone by the wayside.

We spent the full month of April in Ireland and the weather was really kind to us again, meaning that we made great progress on painting the outside of the house.

We have just had another week there with equally favourable weather and we've finally finished the outside.

When you compare it to what it looked like when we first voted the place, the difference it makes is so heartening and hopefully it looks a lot more friendly and welcoming than it did.

 

  

                                                                                        

As well as trying to get some decorating done we have also welcomed quite a few guests already this year.

It's great to be able to entertain at last but it does mean that decorating has taken a bit of a back seat, the house is in the sort of state now that everything has been painted and needs its top coat and final touches. To the unknowing guest it looks ok and I suppose it sort of means we don't feel the urge to paint so strongly! To be honest its nice to sit and enjoy it rather than be working all the time.

With such good weather our attentions have also turned to the outside space. The site our house stands on is apparently 1.3 acres. Essentially it was a field with house built on it and as such it still looks like that. Over the winter everything had obviously died off but when we came back this last time, with the recent run of hot weather, it came as no surprise that everything had grown slightly.

It can be a bit daunting but we have enlisted the help of a local garden designer. He runs a local garden centre and we first came across him when we were listening to the local radio station on a Saturday morning. He does an hour long gardening Q&A show and as his garden centre was fairly local we decided to pay a visit. We found out he offered a garden design service and we decided it would be a good idea. Hubby and I like a nice garden but we are no experts. We have a fairly small garden in the UK which doesn't take too much work to maintain and have over the years developed some raised vegetable beds. 

With such a large area of land we knew we needed some help and really felt that we would end up saving ourselves money too. Trees, plants and other things for gardens can be so expensive and we could easily have bought loads of things and found that they didn't grow properly resulting in a large waste of money.

So Padraic from the garden centre has visited and we have discussed our ideas with him. He seemed very positive and we await his first set of plans. Once we have agreed on a design we like he will put together a 3 years plan for us to follow in order to achieve it.  

So hopefully we wont be looking at this 'field' for too much longer.

                 

                  

Maisie has enjoyed exploring the garden. She runs off and hides and waits for you throw her ball, sometimes its a bit hard to see her properly.....

 

Its a proper home....at last!

It has been a long coming but finally we have got not just a house but a home!

Since the summer hubby has been over in Ireland quite a lot, chasing up workmen to finish their jobs before we could start on our bit...the decorating.

At the end of August I got some leave from work and spent 10 days out there. It was great feeling I could finally take part, have a go and make a difference.
I had spent months deciding what colours I liked and once hubby had agreed we had chosen paints and set to.  There were a few changes though because when I arrived hubby had already painted our room and unfortunately I didn't really like the colour of one wall. I wanted a statement colour and the colour i had chosen wasn't 'statement' enough. There was a bit of a discussion and finally I was able to go and buy a better colour and when it was applied it was agreed that yes it probably did look better than before.

Goodness yes its bright but now all the furniture is in the room it does look better.

We also managed to finish another bedroom in time for a short visit from my parents who came over to see the house and to lend a hand. OK so there are no curtains yet but to be honest the only thing likely to be looking through that window is a cow in the field.

My mum helped me giving three rooms their first coat of paint and my dad did a brilliant job clearing out the garage which had become a dumping ground for packaging. At last we could see the back of the garage.

Once Mum and Dad had left we had a few days and we set about starting painting outside. The weather was good and so it was a great opportunity to get at least one coat of paint on before winter comes. It takes a lot of paint.

      

Before

After

Hubby got a good job!

We have also got the heating working, a fitted a working kitchen and bathrooms so we can live in it quite easily now whilst we finish off the painting.
This week has seen the last of the flooring fitted so finally no more dust!

Thought you would like to see some before and after photos:

The kitchen - before

The kitchen - now

The sunroom - before

The sun room - now

Dining area - before

Dining area - now

Upstairs roof space - before

Upstairs - two rooms and a shower room - now

Sunroom to dining room - before

Sunroom to dining room - now

Project Shanvallybeg

We have been over to Ireland again to start work on the interior painting. I could only stay for about 5 days before having to head home for work so I have left hubby and Maisie dog over in Ireland. 

The new heating tank has arrived and is in situ, we have painted the room and have had flooring fitted. It does look like a rocket doesn't it!

We went to town and bought some paint. We are giving everywhere a coat of white paint and then have had the pleasure of choosing colours! 

Some new furniture arrived whilst we were there, we managed to put it into the middle of one of the rooms so we can still paint round it.

I managed to give our bedroom and ensuite a coat of white paint and since I've left hubby has managed to finish painting both of the large rooms upstairs. 

So over to hubby for a few words about Ireland..............

The Shanvallybeg Project

So Monday Sharla and I arrived here in Drummin.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday washing all the walls and painting.

Friday I kicked a bucket of paint over and later that day the handle on my bucket decided to part, depositing a solution of Borax and water all down the stairs!

Saturday I had to take my best friend and work partner to the airport in Knock, as Sharla was back to work on Sunday in Shrewsbury.

So far two rooms under coated, 20 litres of paint gone and 13 more rooms plus a massive hallway to undercoat before two top coats!

Neighbours invited me for a drink Saturday evening, Martin had got a bottle of Bushmills in and Mary Jo had prepared loads of food.

However this was not before I finished Saturday off. Sharla had returned to Shropshire and Maisie with her broken leg was left to comfort me. Let's check the garage I thought. The key was really difficult to get in the lock. After about 5 minutes of trying bingo, turned the key pushed up the roller door but forgot to take the key out. Snap the key was now in two pieces one of which was still inside the lock.

My brilliant neighbours have given me the key to a house down the lane to get a shower, the only thing I currently don't have, whilst camping out here. Ah cotton wool buds I saw on the side. Must get some dust out of my ears before the shower. Snap, WTF, the cotton wool bud had just snapped in two. Better remove the other half I though, snap, now 25% of the stick left in my ear. Shower and shave, down to see Mary Jo and her medical skills to remove the bud from my ear! The cotton wool buds apparently have been there many years so very brittle as I found out!

Sunday, breakfast, some washing on the line and now two weeks or more of painting, apart from finding somebody to sort the garage door out! Currently electrics in the house but no heating or water, the latter coming from a tap in the back garden from a well on the hillside.

So as you can read it seems hubby is having quite a time of it.

New Year, New challenges

Firstly Happy New Year!
It's only taken me a week to finally get round to my blog again.
After a lovely Christmas and new year  spent with family, celebrating Christmas and a special 1st birthday on Christmas Day  for our grand daughter, life has returned to 'normal'.
Hubby is back at work and I've started this year with a more positive attitude than 2012 ended.
I've got a new business idea which I've decided to research  and see if its viable and today I went to my first ever  art class!
I've always had a romantic yearning to be able to paint but a box of watercolour paints which hubby bought for me about 8 years ago have been sat waiting to be used.
The wife of one of my patients has been telling me about a class she goes to in a local hall and when she reminded me about it last week, I decided that today was the day.
The group of 7 were a lovely bunch, very friendly and this week they were trying their hand at still life painting.
I set to and was pleasantly surprised when the tutor came round the group and said, ' oh yes, you can draw',
The two and a half hours flew by and I came away with a good drawing ready to be painted and a lovely glowing sense of achievement.

The still life subjects

An almost complete drawing